MassDOT to award Green Line rail-car contract to CAF

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation's (MassDOT) board recently approved awarding a contract to CAF USA Inc. to provide 24 rail cars for the Green Line Extension (GLX) project.

The vehicle procurement will help improve service reliability on the entire Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) Green Line system, MassDOT and MBTA officials said in a press release. The GLX project will extend existing Green Line service from a relocated Lechmere Station in East Cambridge to Union Square in Somerville and College Avenue in Medford.

The vehicle procurement is estimated to cost $118 million, with half of the funding expected to come from a Federal Transit Administration New Starts grant. The cars are slated to be delivered between the late 2017 and late 2018, officials said.

CAF will use two locations to complete the order: its plant in Spain where it will manufacture the shells and frames, and its plant in Elmira, N.Y., where final assembly and testing will occur.

The cars will be designed to meet the latest federal Americans with Disabilities Act requirements with 70 percent of the car being low-floor, with four wheelchair/stroller locations, as well as four "perch" seats in the center section. In addition, accessible features will be laid out symmetrically and all priority seats will have space underneath to accommodate service animals and/or other mobility equipment.

Later this year, MassDOT''s board is expected to award a contract for 74 new Red Line cars and 152 new Orange Line cars, officials said.