The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) has finalised a $210m deal with rolling stock manufacturer Woojin Industrial Systems to refurbish and modernise 74 metro cars.
Woojin was the only bidder for the project with its initial bid in December 2022, leading LACMTA to declare it as the preferred bidder in February 2024, but the South Korean company has now finally confirmed the deal with the transit authority.
The refurbishments will cover a fleet of heavy rail cars built by AnsaldoBreda in 1999 and are set to take more than four years to complete, with LACMTA hoping the project will be finished in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics hosted in Los Angeles.
Woojin will reportedly build a new facility to accommodate work on the LACMTA modernisation project alongside its existing facility in Santa Fe Springs in Los Angeles County.
LACMTA will be hoping that the project is able to run smoothly after the Californian authority became involved in a lawsuit with rolling stock company Talgo in 2022 over a dispute around a previous refurbishment contract for the 74 cars.
According to LACMTA’s suit, Talgo was withholding 10 metro cars from the authority after it withdrew the contract citing delays and issues with its delivery, though the rolling stock manufacturer subsequently filed a countersuit alleging LACMTA owed it $60m.
The Woojin contract is one of a number of investments into rail infrastructure around Los Angeles ahead of 2028, alongside major projects such as the construction of Brightline West, a high-speed line connecting Southern California to Las Vegas, Nevada, which broke ground earlier this year.
