China Northern wins Boston metro car order

USA: Massachusetts Department of Transportation board voted to award the CNR MA joint venture of China CNR Corp and CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles a $430·2m contract to supply 284 metro cars for Boston’s Red and Orange lines on October 22. An option for 58 cars would take the value to $566·6m.

CNR said the order means it now has global coverage, having contracts in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Australasia.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority had received proposals from Bombardier, CAF, CNR MA, CSR Qingdao Sifang, Hyundai Rotem and Kawasaki Rail Car, which were rated for technical and manufacturing experience, past performance, quality assurance and price. CAF did not meet performance guarantee requirements, while CSR was rejected on technical and manufacturing grounds.

CNR MA submitted the lowest bid. Because it is CNR’s first contract to supply heavy metro cars to the North American market, MBTA has negotiated a number of contract provisions designed to mitigate risk. Two manufacturing lines in Changchun will be dedicated to the project, a letter of credit will provide an additional $100m in security beyond what was required, and there will be a project office and regular meetings with MBTA.

CNR MA intends to invest $60m of its own resources building a final assembly plant and test track at a former Westinghouse site at 655 Page Boulevard in Springfield, which would serve as CNR MA’s US headquarters. CNR MA estimates the facility would create more than 150 manufacturing and 100 construction jobs. The contract requires 60% domestic content, minority and women owned business enterprise participation, and final assembly in Massachusetts.

The 152 Orange Line cars will replace the existing rolling stock and also increase the fleet by 32 cars to enable peak headways to be reduced from 6 min to 4 min. The Red Line order covers 132 cars to replace the ‘No 1’ series vehicles, and an option for 58 cars which if exercised would enable replacement of No 2 cars.

The new 100 km/h trainsets will provide capacity for an average of 15 more passengers per car, additional seating, wider and electrically-operated doors, four accessible areas per car to allow for ADA-compliant access even when one door is out of use, LED lighting, modern HVAC, automated passenger information, data recorders and CCTV with ‘live look in’ capability. The contract also includes spare parts, CCTV operator displays, gap mitigation Devices, LCD monitors, automatic passenger counting systems, and two training simulators.

The design process will take three years for the Orange Line cars based on China’s Type B and an additional 15 months for the Red Line cars based on the Type A. CNR will build an initial 12 cars in China. The pilot vehicles for the Orange Line are to be delivered in early 2018, with the Red Line pilot cars following about a year later. Production cars would be delivered at a rate of approximately four vehicles per month between winter 2018 and winter 2021 for the Orange Line and between autumn 2019 and spring 2021 for the Red Line.

The budget for the procurement of the Orange and Red Line vehicles is $801·3m, within a total project budget of $1·3bn, including depot expansion. This is to be funded entirely by state bonds.

中企赢得波士顿地铁5亿美元大单 日韩不服

　　人民网10月24日讯 据BBC报道，美国波士顿地铁决定采购中国央企北车集团生产的地铁车厢284节，以汰换老旧车队，涉及金额5.67亿美元。

　　美国马萨诸塞州交通局(MassDOT)理事会星期三(10月22日)向北车美国公司批出这份合同。新线的车辆将分配到马萨诸塞湾交通局(MBTA)旗下的波士顿橙线和红线运营。这是作为当今全球最大铁路车辆生产商的中国北车首次进入美国市场。北车美国这次击败的对手包括韩国现代Rotem、日本川崎重工和加拿大庞巴迪运输等城轨车辆大户。

　　波士顿地铁通车于1897年，是美国最早的地铁，比“地铁之母”伦敦地铁晚30多年。目前橙线与红线的列车以六节或四节车厢编组运营，已经服役40多年。

　　北车美国公司总经理卢西伟说，麻省当局于今年5月招标，而这次是继2011年获得法国的罐车订单后再次获得欧美国家采购整车。报道说，北车的地铁车辆能登陆美国，除了其经营业绩外，还依赖其领先的研发制造技术和可靠的生产工艺组织能力。

　　23日出版的《波士顿先驱报》说，MassDOT一致通过了向北车批出合同的决定。以北车长客为组建基础的北车美国将在麻省春田市(斯普林菲尔德)投资6000万美元建设总部与生产车间，并在此组装MBTA车厢，为当地创造超过250个就业岗位。新车厢将从2018年起交付。

　　MBTA官员对美国媒体说，局方已全面审查北车的资质，并未发现存在任何侵害人权问题。此外，局方也要求承包商至少在美国完成60%的生产工序，并要向麻省雇用的工人提供至少与区内其他企业相若的工资和福利。

　　不过，落选的企业投诉，北车的竞标价格之低“毫不现实”。《波士顿先驱报》从州政府相关人士得悉，落选企业不满当局并未事先查询竞标者会否修订其价格，正酝酿提出集体诉讼，挑战开标结果。其中，一名代表现代Rotem的律师说，帕特里克州长去年在香港私下会见过北车管理层，“几乎肯定”违反了采购程序。

　　《波士顿先驱报》还指出，MBTA前发言人莉迪娅·里韦拉目前是北车的顾问。报道说，现代Rotem的竞标价格为7.21亿元；川崎重工出价9.05亿元；庞巴迪运输作价10.8亿元。

　　对于竞争对手的指控，北车美国公司总经理卢西伟说，北车致力在美国市场建立据点，这次参与竞标和承诺兴建生产基地体现了这一点。(老任)