PITTSBURG, Calif. — Bombardier Transportation announced Friday it would open a new railcar assembly plant in Pittsburg, with new Bay Area Rapid Transit cars to be the first equipment built at the site.
Assembly of equipment for the 775-car order is currently taking place at Bombardier’s plant in upstate New York, but will be transferred to the California site.
“We are pleased that the new rail cars for Bay Area passengers will now be produced in the Bay Area by Bay Area citizens,” said Elliott G. Sander, Bombardier’s president, Americas Division, in a press release. “The Pittsburg site will also enable Bombardier to pursue additional business opportunities in the growing rail transit equipment market on the West Coast and to serve this market with increased effectiveness.”
The San Jose Mercury News reports that Bombardier will lease more than 122,000 square feet of a 200,000-square-foot warehouse from Hitachi for the assembly plant in the in the East Bay community. About 50 people will work at the plant when it opens in September, with that number eventually expanding to about 115. The move will free up space at Bombardier’s Plattsburg, N.Y., plant for orders from East Coast customers.
As of Friday, 84 of the new BART cars have been delivered, with 75 in service.
