HYUNDAI Rotem has beaten rival Stadler to win an order from Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA) to supply 182 HR5000 cars for the LA Metro.
The contract value is around $US 663.7m and includes provision for a follow-on order for 50 cars vehicles at an additional and as yet unspecified cost.
HR will deliver two-car trains, each with a capacity of 245 passengers, designed to enable up to three trains to run in multiple. They will operate on LA Metro’s B (Red) Line, which runs for 26.4km between downtown LA and northern Hollywood, and the D (Purple) Line, which runs between downtown LA and Koreatown (10.3km).
Hyundai Rotem has committed to delivering the new trains ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and Paralympics, when passenger numbers are expected to soar.
“Based on the experience and capabilities we have accumulated while carrying out numerous local projects in the United States, we will do our best to deliver electric trains that will satisfy both local citizens and tourists,” says a spokesperson for Hyundai Rotem.
LACMTA has stressed that the contract was decided on factors in addition to price, including contract fulfilment ability, performance, quality, and technology. Stadler queried this bid assessment methodology, but LACTMA has insisted that Hyundai Rotem, whose bid was the most expensive, had still won.
Last summer LACMTA took delivery of the first of a new fleet of HR4000 trains ordered from CRRC in December 2016 and assembled at the Chinese supplier’s plant in Springfield, Massachusetts. The 64 cars, which arrived significantly later than expected, could finally enter service later this year, also on lines B and D.
The order for the HR4000 trains was the first from a $US 647m framework deal that included options for a further 218 vehicles, which LACMTA has not exercised.
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