A Chinese-owned railroad car manufacturer being recommended for a $556.6 million state contract plans to build a 150,000 square-foot facility in Springfield to assemble new Orange and Red Line MBTA cars, bringing 250 jobs to that city, Gov. Deval Patrick said Tuesday.
Patrick and outgoing Transportation Secretary Richard Davey were in Springfield on Tuesday to announce the details of the contract that his administration is recommending for the purchase of 284 new subway cars.
The proposed contract comes as some critics, including state Rep. Byron Rushing, have raised questions about doing business with China because of concerns over human rights violations in that country.
The board of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is expected to vote Wednesday on the contract for CNR MA Corporation, a subsidiary of China CNR Corporation Limited and CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Co.
The Patrick administration said CNR MA submitted the lowest of four bids that met the minimum qualifications for the contract.
Asked about human rights concerns, Patrick on Monday told reporters that the contract had been "thoroughly vetted" through a "transparent and rigorous, competitive process." Patrick said he met with the contractor while travelling last year in Hong Kong.
"Understand that a condition of the deal is that the coaches be assembled right here in Massachusetts, so most of the work is going to be done here," Patrick said.
The Department of Transportation solicited bids for 152 new Orange Line cars to replace the 32-year old fleet and 132 new Red Line cars that haven’t been upgraded for over four decades. The design process is expected to take three years for the Orange Line and an additional 15 months for Red Line cars, with pilot cars expected to be delivered on the Orange Line in early 2018 and Red Line cars a year later.
CNR MA plans to build a $60 million manufacturing facility on Page Boulevard in Springfield to serve as the company’s U.S. headquarters with assembly and office space and a test track for the new MBTA cars. The company estimates creating 150 new manufacturing jobs and 100 construction jobs. Work on the new plant will begin in the fall of 2015.
The new cars are expected to be delivered at a rate of four per month starting in the winter of 2018 for the Orange Line and the fall of 2019 on the Red Line. The last cars will be delivered to the MBTA in the spring of 2021, according to the proposed contract.
The new Orange and Red Line cars will have wider doors and allow for an average of 15 more passengers per car. They will also have LED information signs, automatic station announcements, and video surveillance with "live look in" capability.
The MBTA said the new cars will also reduce rider wait times during rush hour.
The contract would be funded by state borrowing authorized by the Legislature this year in a transportation bond bill and funded in part by increased revenues made available through new taxes approved in 2013 by lawmakers for infrastructure improvement.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker said he was "glad" the MBTA cars would be assembled in Massachusetts, but stressed that, if elected, he would make it a priority to give preference to Massachusetts companies and employers for state contracts.
Passenger rail coach manufacturing has largely moved overseas, and no companies in Massachusetts construct the type of subway cars Massachusetts is looking to purchase.
In 2008, when MassDOT was looking to upgrade its commuter rail fleet, the $190 million contract went to the South Korean company Hyundai Rotem, who has been criticized by transportation officials for falling behind schedule and delivering trains that needed to be fixed once they arrived in Massachusetts.
