Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack visited the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) depot at Wellington on March 21 to view a mock up of the CRRC metro car for Boston’s Orange Line.
In October 2014, MassDOT awarded CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles (now part of CRRC Corp.) a $566.6 million contract to supply 152 vehicles to replace the PA3 cars built by Hawker Siddeley Canada between 1979 and 1981. MBTA also ordered 132 vehicles for the Red Line, an order that was subsequently increased to 252 cars.
The trains will be equipped with LED lighting, air-conditioning, and advanced passenger information systems. Assembly will be carried out by CRRC MA Corp. at its new 150,000-sqaure-foot plant in Springfield, Mass., where manufacturing is due to begin in April 2018. The Orange Line cars are scheduled to enter service between 2019 and 2023.
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