The first brand-new Red Line train produced by CRCC for the MBTA arrives at the Charles/MGH station in February 2022. Photo by Jack Cao | CC BY-SA 4.0
The head of the MBTA is “very confident” the Chinese manufacturer building new Red and Orange Line trains will be able to fulfill federal requests for information that have reportedly delayed delivery of new cars to the United States.
CommonWealth Beacon reported Tuesday that eight Red Line cars shipped from China to the United States were detained at the Port of Philadelphia as federal authorities examine whether CRRC, the manufacturer, is complying with a law banning the importation of goods produced using forced labor.
The new cars are part of an order that should help reverse the Red Line’s reliability struggles, which are driven by the age of its train fleet.
The oldest trains are 56 years old while the newest are 32 years old, and the extensive maintenance they require means the T has started running the rare shorter train on the Red Line to keep frequencies up even when too many cars are under repair to make a full compliment of six-car trains.
During a public meeting Thursday, MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said – without describing any details about the latest apparent hiccup – that he believes parties will be able to navigate the upheaval.
“While those challenges right now are going on, I do feel very confident that CRRC is in the midst of answering the last round of questions, and we will be able to get through this point where we can continue to deliver [train car] shells and continue production,” Eng said without making any explicit reference to a federal probe or questions about forced labor.
The Patrick administration first awarded a contract to CRRC in 2014 to build new Red and Orange Line fleets, and the project has been beset by numerous delays and setbacks since then. Last year, MBTA officials approved a contract “reset” that waived some penalties, pushed the total value to more than $1 billion and set the new completion date at the end of 2027.
President Donald Trump has been aggressively pursuing steep tariffs on China and other trading partners. Eng in March said that although the tariffs could impact CRRC, they would not “impact us [at the MBTA] and what we renegotiated.”
The T has received 48 Red Line cars from CRRC so far and expects to have 152 Orange Line cars by the end of the year, Eng said Thursday, praising the trains for “performing well.” CRRC ships components and train car “shells” to the United States, and final assembly takes place in Springfield.
“Those cars are being built right in Springfield, Massachusetts, [with an] over 400 U.S. [personnel] labor workforce that is proudly building these cars,” Eng said. “Thirty-two states across the nation are delivering components to build those cars. We’re confident that we will solve this with CRRC. They are pulling all the information together. They will be sending answers, and I just want to assure everyone that we’re on top of that piece.”
