Hyundai Rotem wins subway car order for LA Metro

[Caesar La Rock]

Well looks like Hyundai Rotem wins a contract to build subway cars for LA Metro. 182 cars are being built and are to be delivered in time for the Olympics in 2028.
https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/metros/hyundai-rotem-wins-us-664m-order-for-la-metro-trains/

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

Wonder where they will be built. Some documents I found from Metro Board of Directors said they toured Rotem plants in both South Korea and the U.S. (Attachment A). News reports and Google Maps say the Philadelphia plant closed in 2018. The US offices are still in suburban Philly.

The documents say the contract was awarded in November. Many news reports came out in the past few days though, such as the one above. Somewhat in contrast to the reports:

• Only 42 of the 182 cars are expected before the 2028 Olympics.
• Besides Stadler, the other bidder was Hitachi. But it was Stadler that filed a protest in November, apparently resolved mid-January.

I guess the notable thing everyone is noticing is that Hyundai's was the high bid.

The news reports don't mention previous Hyundai problems delivering to SEPTA and MBTA. It's delivered plenty around the world since then, it seems.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

Wonder where they will be built. Some documents I found from Metro Board of Directors said they toured Rotem plants in both South Korea and the U.S. (Attachment A). News reports and Google Maps say the Philadelphia plant closed in 2018. The US offices are still in suburban Philly.

The documents say the contract was awarded in November. Many news reports came out in the past few days though, such as the one above. Somewhat in contrast to the reports:

• Only 42 of the 182 cars are expected before the 2028 Olympics.
• Besides Stadler, the other bidder was Hitachi. But it was Stadler that filed a protest in November, apparently resolved mid-January.

I guess the notable thing everyone is noticing is that Hyundai's was the high bid.

The news reports don't mention previous Hyundai problems delivering to SEPTA and MBTA. It's delivered plenty around the world since then, it seems.

In fairness, they were new to the US when they bidded on those contracts, so I'd assume their quality has improved since then. Also, IIRC the issues with the Silverliner Vs was more of a truck/bogie issue. I'm not sure if Rotem built those bogies themselves, as I've heard those trucks were fabricated by someone else.