New LRVs rolling on LA Gold Line extension

Kinkisharyo International’s new P3010 light rail vehicles (LRVs) rolled into their first revenue service on March 5, 2016 as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) opened its $1 billion Gold Line Extension now serving Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte/City of Hope, Irwindale, Azusa and APU/Citrus College.

The cars were built under a contract that was given the notice to proceed in August 2012, meaning that the vehicles went from concept to revenue service in an unprecedented 43 months. Despite the speed of design and production, LACMTA officials have called the LRVs among the highest quality they have ever received.

“This is a very proud moment for our company,” said Teiji Tani, President of Kinkisharyo International. “We have worked extremely hard to deliver LACMTA’s LRVs on-time and with the highest possible quality. The people of Los Angeles County will enjoy reliable operation of these great cars for many years to come.”

“The on-time and high-quality delivery of these rail vehicles are an outstanding example of a true partnership between LACMTA and Kinkisharyo,” said Phillip Washington, CEO of LACMTA. “We appreciated the extraordinary lengths to which Kinkisharyo has gone to ensure the success of this opening.”

The new LRVs are some of the most advanced in the United States, Kinkisharyo says. They are capable of operating on all six of LACMTA’s light rail lines. In addition to the Gold Line, they will be put into revenue service when the final phase of the Expo Line opens on May 20, 2016.

In addition, the cars are fully Buy America-compliant. They are manufactured with components from the United States and Japan and assembled by American workers at a new plant in Palmdale, Calif.. Since the beginning of the contract, Kinkisharyo has trained and employed over 200 American workers, and is in full compliance with the United States Employment Plan it filed as part of its contract bid.

All told, Kinkisharyo has delivered 21 cars to LACMTA for use on the Gold Line Extension and for integration testing on its other lines. Kinkisharyo and LACMTA have contracted for a total of 235 cars to be delivered over the life of the contract.

Additionally, just one day after the grand opening of the extension project, a big-rig crashed into the Gold Line and resulted in the suspension of service between Aracdia and Allen. Power was restored on March 7 at 3:30 a.m. PST so regular service is now operating, a LACMTA spokeswoman says.