Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Chief Development Officer Kevin Kennedy, CRRC Chairman Diangio Cui, City and CRRC officials toured the 40-acre East Springfield land parcel that will soon become CRRC’s first American rail car manufacturing facility.
In 2014, CRRC was awarded a contract to design and manufacture 284 Orange and Red Line trains for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Completion of the facility is slated for the fall of 2017. In addition to manufacturing and production, the plant will also house engineering, research and development, and administrative offices in the former Westinghouse building.
Mayor Sarno stated, "It's back to the future - bringing back manufacturing and precision machining back to the City of Springfield. We are very proud and honored to partner with CRRC in this economic development project. We're especially pleased that this development is also helping us move forward on overall workforce development through partnering with Putnam Vocational Technical Academy, the Regional Employment Board, and our labor unions with apprentice programs and our local colleges. My administration will continue to push the ticket on creating more and more good paying jobs for Springfield and Western Massachusetts. Again, this is part of well over $2.5 billion in economic development projects going on in the City of Springfield.”
“We are proud to have Springfield as our partner on this journey to establish rail car manufacturing in a City rich with history, passion, and a commitment to improve the local economy through education and employment opportunities,” said Chairman Cui. “I look forward to standing here next year with Mayor Sarno, as we open the doors to a facility that will provide jobs, manufacturing expertise, and state-of-the-art rail car vehicles for North America.”
