MBTA general manager Beverly Scott is recommending that the state Department of Transportation board of directors vote to award a contract to build 284 new Red Line and Orange Line cars to CNR MA, a joint venture of China CNR Corporation Limited and CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd., Wednesday.

A Staff Summary first seen on Reddit Boston, with the headline “Here’s why the MBTA recommended the Chinese manufacturer to build new train cars,” outlines details – costs, benefits, risk, etc. – of CNR MA’s proposed $566.6 million contract; we’ve included that, in full, at the bottom of this post.

There’s a lot to get into with this, but just to recap: Tuesday morning, word spread that CNR MA, an entity owned by China’s government, was the top bidder for a contract to build and deliver the new fleet of cars. The contract includes the purchase of 152 new Orange Line vehicles and 132 new Red Line vehicles, with an option to purchase 58 additional Red Line cars.

New Orange Line cars are slated to hit the tracks in late-2018, while Red Line cars are expected in service in fall 2019. If awarded the contract, CNR MA, a newly formed entity of CNR Corp., the largest rail car manufacturer in the world, plans to build the cars at its 53 million-square-foot facility in Changchun. The cars would be shipped to Springfield, MA for final assembly at CNR MA’s planned North American headquarters – a 150,000-square-foot facility which would be built as part of the contract.

Governor Deval Patrick thrust his support behind construction of this new facility at a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Springfield, suggesting the MassDOT board of directors vote is more of a formality than anything else..

Awarding CNR MA the contract would come with some risks. For one, Back Bay state Rep. Byron Rushing has asked for assurances from MassDOT officials that the Chinese manufacturer does not have a history of violating workers’ human rights. And two, should CNR MA’s contract receive approval, it will be the manufacturer’s first attempt to deliver heavy-rail trains to a North American market.

Now for the good news. If all goes well, T riders will be treated to new cars, with updated features; the transit authority itself, meanwhile, would be able to save some money – money that is currently used to repair and maintain 32-year-old and 44-year-old Orange and Red Line cars.

Now that that’s out of the way, feel free to scroll through the Staff Summary embedded below; we’ll be doing the same.

MBTA Orange and Red Line Cars RFP

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Correction: The original version on this story incorrectly called CNR MA the largest rail car manufacturer in the world; CNR Corp. is the largest. The post has been updated.

Photo via Public Domain

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