BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on Wednesday exercised an option to purchase 41 bilevel commuter railcars from Hyundai Rotem, adding to an earlier order for 83 of the cars.
“As we continue to see a strong return of our ridership on commuter rail, investing in our rolling stock allows us to not only improve service levels but provides the public with a more comfortable and reliable experience,” MBTA CEO Phillip Eng said at a ceremony to sign the option agreement. “I thank the commitment from Hyundai Rotem to continue delivering quality cars for our riders and the MBTA managers that have overseen the production and quality assurance testing as we improve service and replace the aging fleet.”
Features of the cars include seating for up to 179 passengers per car; designated areas for passengers with disabilities; accessible restrooms with hands-free faucets; real-time information systems with automated announcements and message displays; USB ports at passenger tables; and bike racks.
As of Wednesday, 76 cars from the original order have been delivered, with 64 in service, under a $305 million contract. The remaining cars are expected to be in service by the end of the year.
“We will always strive for excellence so that we can deliver the cars that can lead to customer satisfaction in time,” said Hyundai Rotem CEO Yong Bae Lee. “Hyundai Rotem will actively participate in the future U.S. rolling-stock market by utilizing its past performance of cooperating with local transportation authorities.”
Hyundai Rotem stumbled BADLY in their foray into US domestic assembly for the domestic market. So much so the safe money was we would never hear from them again when they closed up shop in Philadelphia. But the product for the T eventually got all the kinks ironed out and they came back for more. They have a history of good products so hopefully this news means that ugly chapter is behind them.
The article doesn’t state when the original contract was signed or how long it has taken to get the cars in service. Might have been 10 years or five.
MBTA placed the original order in 2019.
It is an interesting tale worth telling…or at least doing a web search. A little hint: no Fed money.
Looks as though this is a far better outfit than CRRC. (I think those are the correct initials.)
What’s funny is that CRRC formally complained about Rotem getting the no-bid contract for these cars. Since then they’ve lost the SEPTA commuter car contract.