CAF (again) lands Houston LRT order

Houston’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Thursday approved a $153 million contract with Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) for 39 light rail transit (LRT) vehicles, noting the company now was “fully compliant” with federal regulations and offered “the best value” to the city and Metro.

The Federal Transit Administration blocked an earlier contract awarded in 2009 by Metro to CAF for 103 LRT cars. FTA denied a request by Metro to have CAF build the first two cars outside the U.S. CAF is headquartered in Besain, Spain.

As an interim move, Metro last April awarded Siemens Industry, Inc. an $83 million contract for 19 LRT cars in a noncompetitive bid agreement.

"We are very pleased the FTA has placed its confidence in Metro and our revised procurement procedures, said Metro CEO George Greanias, "This is a huge undertaking and will benefit those who are producing the cars here in the U.S. as well as the citizens of Houston, who will have first-class, state-of-the-art trains.”