Hitachi Rail Italy’s American subsidiary Hitachi Rail USA has opened its first train manufacturing facility in Medley, Florida.
At the new plant, the company will build Metrorail vehicles for the Department of Transportation and Public Works in Miami-Dade county.
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The 140,400ft² facility will be responsible for producing 136 cars and 272 motor bogies that will replace the Miami-Dade County’s Metrorail fleet.
Hitachi Rail Italy CEO Maurizio Manfellotto said: "This facility will enable us to increase our industrial capacity and build a vehicle that meets the requested transportation needs."
In the first week of January 2016, the new facility gained the certificate of occupancy.
The Medley manufacturing unit will deliver the assembly of the Metrorail vehicles from March, while the production is expected to continue until the first half of 2019.
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By GlobalDataThe first lot of completed vehicles will appear for the qualification testing phase later this year, while the plant is slated to be operational from the end of next year.
Miami-Dade county mayor Carlos Gimenez said: "This is the first facility that Hitachi Rail is opening in the US, and we are excited that the company has chosen to invest in our world-class community.
"The opening of this production facility is projected to create 100 jobs in Miami-Dade county and many local subcontracts.
"We look forward to working with Hitachi to put our residents to work, further diversify our economy, and deliver cleaner, safer, more reliable and convenient mobility options to our 2.6 million residents."
