USA: New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Finance Committee has approved the $2·3bn purchase of 316 Alstom M-9A electric multiple-unit cars, with 160 to be allocated to the Long Island Rail Road and 156 to Metro-North.
‘We’re looking to buy almost 2 000 railcars as part of the new Capital Plan — $10·9bn worth — and this 300+ order gets us off to a strong start’, said MTA Chair & CEO Janno Lieber on June 23.
The first cars are to be delivered in Q4 2029 and will enter service on LIRR in 2030. All are to be delivered by 2032, operating on LIRR’s electric route and on Metro-North’s Hudson and Harlem lines. The M-9A cars will replace Metro-North’s M-3 cars that are beyond their service life, and allow the LIRR to retire its M-3 cars whose life has been extended to support the opening of New York’s Grand Central Madison station under the East Side Access programme.
Features will include USB charging ports and accessibility improvements including powered toilet doors. There are options to order up to 180 more cars for LIRR and 62 for Metro-North.
Eight potential suppliers had expressed interest in the order, with Bombardier Transportation, CRRC Sifang America and Hyundai Rotem USA prequalifying.
Hyundai Rotem USA did not submit a proposal, and CRRC’s offer was excluded because of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Bombardier Transportation was subsequently acquired by Alstom, and finalising the order took a significant time as Alstom’s post-acquisition position on the technical specification and terms and conditions was significantly different. Extensive negotiations were undertaken to secure more efficient pricing and improve production timing, with an increase in the base order from 222 to 316 cars to reduce the price per car. Alstom will make parts available for 20 years after the acceptance of the last car, and it has agreed that 40% of the materials incorporated into these cars will be commercial off-the-shelf.
MTA Chief of Rolling Stock Programme Tim Mulligan said ‘the MTA is the biggest railcar purchaser in North America, and we are using innovative methods to bring down costs and delivery time. By building on the reliable design of previous cars, we were able to work with the contractor to get things done better, faster and cheaper.’
In depth: now read our interview with Tim Mulligan from February 2025.
