On 12 April 2017, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and CRRC signed the USD 647 million contract on the purchase of 282 metro cars.
Under the contract, Metro’s initial payment was set at USD 178 million for 64 rail cars. The first batch of HR 4000 rail cars will be delivered in September 2021 replacing 30 cars on Red and Purple Line and 34 trains will be put into service on the Purple Line extension that will be launched in 2023.
“We anticipate there will be 50,000 weekday boarding once all 7 new stations are built, and there will be nearly 80,000 new daily trips on this entire Metro rail system as a result of the opening of the Purple Line Extension. We are going to need these trains to meet our future ridership demand,” LA Metro CEO Phillip Washington said at a signing ceremony.
A new facility will also be purchased in the LA region to manufacture major components for propulsion, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems.
Therefore, the contract will create about 50 jobs generating up to USD 38 million in local wages and benefits. About 10 percent of all the new jobs will be created for disadvantaged workers and workers from lower social economic communities. “We work with the local companies, local government and local educational institutions to create a win-win situation,” CRRC President Xi Guohua said.
As required by LA Metro, the new trains will run up to 120 kph and can be in service for 40 years.
Compared with the existing trains, the new cars also come with improvements for passengers’ experience, including active line maps, LED displays and special designs between the train sets which will allow people to move more freely from one car to another.
In March 2017, the Metro announced that it had contracted China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation to build 64 new rail cars. China Railway has committed to delivering the first pilot vehicle by the spring of 2020, and the entire base order of 64 metro cars by September 2021. In addition, the company announced the option to buy additional 218 metro cars.
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