CRRC Corporation Limited has inked an agreement with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) on 5 April 2017, which manages most of the public transportation services in the Greater Boston area in the US, to supply the latter with 134 subway trains.
CRRC won a bid to supply 284 subway trains to Boston for 567 million USD in 2014.
The latest order of 134 trains is a purchase in addition to the previous contract. All of the 418 cars will be assembled at a base in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Citing the MBTA, a Boston Globe report said that while such an extra purchase needs to go through a bidding process, only CRRC can produce the cars based on the specifications required and that using trains produced by one manufacturer is conducive to implementing standardized management and maintenance.
Local media in the US has reported that the train cases will be transported to Springfield for assembly and that some parts of the components will also be manufactured at the base.
The deal will reportedly create around 150 local jobs.
Construction of the Springfield assembly site started in 2015 and is scheduled to be completed later this year.
The newly purchased 134 trains are expected to go into use in 2023.