Stadler Rail Wins 100-million-dollar Contract in Texas

Stadler will deliver eight FLIRT3 trains to the Texan public transportation company Fort Worth Transportation Authority, known as “The T” for short. The contract also includes additional options. This is the first sale of FLIRT vehicles in the USA for Stadler Rail. On Tuesday, 9 June 2015, both companies signed the contract in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. The total value amounts to approximately 100 million US dollars. This includes all supplementary services. The delivery date from the factory is set for July 2017, with the subsequent approval period lasting until March 2018. The diesel-electric drive trains will operate on the new TEX Rail line, which will run between Fort Worth and the DFW International Airport, and they are due to start operating on this new line in September 2018.

This contract for “The T” is the fifth contract for Stadler Rail with an American company. To date, the company has sold 49 GTW multiple-unit trains in the USA. In contrast to previous contracts, national federal funds will make up a portion of the financing for the current order, making this the first time that the “Buy America Act” comes into play in a Stadler project. The act stipulates that 60 per cent of the added value is to be created in the USA. Stadler Rail has therefore decided to construct a new factory in the United States. A delegation including CEO Peter Spuhler and Martin Ritter, future CEO of Stadler US, is currently in the States examining various options for the new site.

The vehicle bodies and the bogies will be produced in one of Stadler’s Swiss factories, and final assembly will take place in the new factory in the USA.

Source : Stadler Rail