Woojin Wins Contract to Upgrade LA Metro Fleet

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Korean supplier will fit 74 Ansaldo Breda cars with a new traction control system.

Korean rolling stock manufacturer Woojin Industrial Systems has been awarded a $210 million contract by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) to upgrade 74 rapid transit cars built in 1999 by Ansaldo Breda of Italy.

Work is due to be completed within a period of four years and eight months, and includes installation of a new traction control and monitoring system, as well as a new auxiliary power supply system, passenger information screens and air-conditioning systems.

Woojin says that the contract will include renovating the traction control and other onboard systems of 14 rapid transit cars that were left incomplete by a manufacturer based outside the United States.

LACMTA selected Woojin as preferred bidder in February. Woojin submitted its initial bid in December 2022 and the tender evaluation process included LACTMA inspection of Woojin’s U.S. manufacturing plant in July 2023. Woojin submitted its final proposal in November 2023.

Woojin has a plant located at Sante Fe Springs in Los Angeles County that opened in 2011 to serve the U.S. transit market. It will build a new plant to fulfill the LACTMA contract and comply with the Buy America Act specifying domestic production for federally-funded orders.

This article first appeared on the website of IRJ, Railway Age’s sister publication.