Money Street News


Rendering of bilevel commuter railcars with red and blue striping
A rendering of the bilevel commuter cars SEPTA ordered from CRRC. The transit agency has cancelled the order, which is more than four years behind schedule with no cars delivered. CRRC MA

PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has “terminated with cause” its contract with the U.S. affiliate of Chinese railcar manufacturer CRRC for 45 bilevel commuter railcars, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

The contract was awarded in 2017, and the first cars were to have been completed in 2019 [see “SEPTA awards bid for Chinese bilevel cars,” Trains News Wire, March 24, 2017], but none have been delivered. The $185 million contract underbid Bombardier, the only other finalist, by $34 million; it came at a time when CRRC had yet to deliver any equipment in North America, but had orders in hand for equipment in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

SEPTA said in a statement that it is “assessing its options for recouping funds that have been spent on the project.” That is more than $50 million, the Inquirer reports.

The locomotive-hauled SEPTA cars, CRRC’s first commuter cars for North America, were to have seated 130 passengers and were intended to address crowding that had developed on SEPTA’s commuter lines since 2000. By 2019, they were already a year behind schedule, and in 2022, the Inquirer reports, SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards had reported issues with wiring, emergency exit windows, and failed watertightness and brake-test failures.

CRRC, a state-owned company, is the world’s largest rolling stock manufacturer. The SEPTA contract was with CRRC MA, the affiliate of the Chinese firm that opened a factory in Springfield, Mass., to meet “Buy America” requirements for a 404-car order for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rapid-transit equipment. The first portion of that order was placed in 2014 and remains years from completion; it has been plagued with quality-control issues and operational problems for the cars that have reached service. In March, the MBTA agreed to pay $148 million beyond the initial $870 million of the two-part in an effort to see it completed by 2027 [see “MBTA to pay more …,” News Wire, March 29, 2024]. Without the additional funds, the MBTA said the order would have been completed no earlier than 2029.

Subsequent diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China, security concerns, and congressional and industry concerns over CRRC’s potential to set artificially low prices — along with its issues in fulfilling its first American contracts — have essentially driven the Chinese manufacturer out of the U.S. passenger rail market. One provision of the MBTA agreement to complete its Red and Orange Line cars gives the transit agency an option to buy the Springfield, Mass., plant if CRRC sells it.



Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Get our latest downloads and information first. Complete the form below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.


No, thank you. I do not want.
100% secure your website.