Ground broken on CRRC factory in Chicago

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Image: CTA/ CRRC.
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Ground has been broken on a new assembly facility on Chicago’s Southeast Side for CTA’s new 7000 Series trains.

Last year, transport body CTA awarded CRRC Sifang America, a subsidiary of China’s CRRC, the contract to supply up to 846 new rail cars, with an initial firm order for 400 carriages.

They will be the first trains to be produced in the city since 1964 and the first new trains to be ordered by CTA since 2006. The first new 7000 Series carriages will be completed in 2019, CTA has said.

The $100 million site is scheduled to be completed in spring 2018. CRRC has committed to employing at least 169 employees in the factory and warehouse and around 200 during the site’s construction.

Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, who attended the groundbreaking, said: “This new facility represents a major investment in Chicago that will bring economic opportunities to the Southeast Side, while creating good-paying jobs for hundreds of workers.”

He added: “The rail cars that emerge from this facility will be the latest step we’ve taken to invest in world-class transportation, and to create a 21st Century transit system.”

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