SPRINGFIELD, Dec. 18, 2018 — Marking a significant milestone in the delivery of subways to the MBTA, CRRC MA Chairman and President Jia Bo, joined by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Chinese Counsel General in New York Mr. Huang Pnig, MassDOT Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, Interim MBTA General Manager Jeff Gonneville, and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, gathered at CRRC MA’s Springfield manufacturing facility to applaud the on completion of the first pair of Orange Line cars to be delivered to the MBTA.
CRRC MA is underway with manufacturing 404 subway cars for the MBTA, including 152 new Orange Line and 252 Red Line vehicles. Located in Springfield, CRRC MA employ approximately 220 people, making its facility a major North American manufacturing hub. CRRC MA’s workforce receives instruction and training on state-of-the-art tools and equipment necessary to build the next generation of new rail cars. All production vehicles will be assembled and tested in the CRRC Rail Car Assembly Facility.
“We are proud to deliver on-time to America’s first transit system CRRC’s first subway cars built in the United States by talented workers standing with us today,” said CRRC MA Chairman and President Jia Bo. We have taken the importance of transportation in the region as a path to introduce local rail car manufacturing where hundreds of jobs have been created stimulating the local economy. Our achievements prove the existence of well-nourished partnerships born from mutual cooperation and respect. We look forward to building CRRC’s presence in the United States using our journey here in Massachusetts as the footprint to success.”
“Another good historic day for our Springfield – bringing back manufacturing and ‘boy, I know Governor Baker and the MBTA are happy, they can’t be made quick enough!’ I deeply appreciate CRRC’s and Governor Baker’s continued belief and investment in our Springfield. Also, my congratulations to new CRRC MA Chairman & President Jia Bo – continued success,” said Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.
“Part of the T’s efforts to turn itself around and improve service include rebuilding its culture from the inside out with a central focus on its customers,” said MassDOT Secretary Pollack. “While the MBTA still has a long way to go to, today is a major milestone in that these two new rail cars are the result of the system investments we’ve been making over the past three years, and are the first to be produced in Massachusetts that will ultimately lead to an entire fleet replacement.”
The vehicles for the MBTA are representative of all the modern workmanship, materials and technologies found in recent RFPs for heavy rail vehicles. The safety and customer amenities include stainless steel vehicles car shells that incorporate laser welding technology for better exterior finish, crash energy management for enhanced customer and operator safety, LCD monitors for customer information and train to wayside communications via a wireless network for monitoring and defect identification. All production vehicles will be manufactured and tested in the CRRC MA Rail Car Assembly Facility.
These state of the art vehicles provide improved passenger comfort and incorporate state of the art technology that includes: solid state microprocessor technology, LCD passenger information displays, CCTV cameras, platform Gap Mitigation, Automatic Passenger Counting.
