Kinkisharyo lands deal for light-rail vehicles
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors on Thursday approved a major light rail vehicle overhaul contract with Kinkisharyo International LLC, of Palmdale.
The Metro Board also approved a $679.4 million total budget for the I-5 North County Enhancement Project in the Santa Clarita Valley, which will effectively move the project into the construction phase.
The $170.3 million light rail vehicle overhaul contract with Kinkisharyo is for four-and-a-half years. It will ensure that more than 100 jobs remain in the Antelope Valley at the company’s plant in Palmdale.
“With all the challenges that workers throughout the county have had to endure over the past year, this is great news for the City of Palmdale, the greater Antelope Valley and the County
of Los Angeles,” 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger said. “Anytime we can keep high quality jobs in our region, it’s a good day.”
Kinkisharyo recently completed a major contract with Metro, delivering 235 brand new light rail vehicles on time and on budget.
The I-5 North County Enhancement Project is designed to improve the operations and safety of the freeway corridor, improve the movement of freight and passenger vehicles, and accommodate expected growth between Santa Clarita and Castaic in large part through the addition of one HOV lane in each direction, along with other improvements along the 14-mile corridor.
“This project has been many years in coming and was deemed to be the highest priority for the north Los Angeles County during the bottom-up Measure M process,” Barger said. “I am happy to see these critical mobility improvements moving forward and want to thank our local Santa Clarita Valley stakeholders who have advocated for these enhancements. The I-5 is the backbone for trade in the western US and our federal and state partners recognized the importance of this project by providing significant funding.”
Improvements will also involve a two-mile extension of truck lanes, improvements to auxiliary lanes at multiple locations, and widening or upgrading seven bridges, including the replacement of the Weldon Canyon bridge.