USA: The New York MTA board selected lowest bidder Bombardier for a contract to supply 300 metro cars on March 28. Bombardier's bid of $600m beat a rival offer from a consortium of Alstom and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
From late 2016 the R179 cars will replace R32 vehicles which entered service on the C Line in 1964. The new trains will feature 'bright' interiors, digital voice announcements and passenger information, 'state-of-the art' climate control, airbag suspension and regenerative braking. Maintenance costs are expected to be 40% lower than the current cars once the new fleet is out of its two-year warranty period.
The order will be financed by $306m of federal funds which is already secured, and other pending and future federal grants.
The cars are to built at the Plattsburgh factory in New York State, where Bombardier is developing a Transportation Center of Excellence. This will be equipped to undertake the complete production and assembly of stainless steel bodyshells, which previously used components manufactured elsewhere in Plattsburgh.
- After a four-year hiatus MTA and the Poetry Society of America are reinstating the Poetry in Motion programme to display poems on trains. 'Our customers tell us again and again that even a small investment in art and music underground makes a huge difference to them,' said MTA Chairman Joseph J Lhota. 'It can really improve the entire experience of riding the subway.'
