The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has approved the purchase of 24 light rail vehicles from Besain, Spain-based Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) for Boston's Green Line, the light rail transit portion of the "T."
Roughly half the $118 million contract is being funded by a Federal Transit Administration "New Starts" grant. The bodyshells and underframes will be manufactured in Spain, with final assembly taking place at CAF USA's plant in Elmira, N.Y. Delivery will start in late 2017.
The new LRVs will be the ninth generation of vehicle to operate on the four-branch Green Line. The units will be designed to meet the latest disability requirements with 70% of the vehicles being low-floor. There will be four wheelchair/stroller locations as well as four perch seats in the central section. All priority seats will have space underneath to accommodate guide dogs and other mobility equipment.
The new vehicles will include crash energy management features and they will be equipped with external and internal CCTV. They will also feature dynamic computer-controlled lighting, heating, and cooling technologies to improve passenger comfort.
Later this year, MassDOT expects to award a contract for 74 new metro cars for the Red Line and 152 cars for the Orange Line.
Under a $1.3 billion project, the four-branch Green Line will have be extended from its current terminus at Lechmere Station (Cambridge) north to Somerville and Medford, Mass. , roughly parallel to Interstate 93.
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