Hitachi wins Washington Metro order

HITACHI Rail has won a $2.2 billion contract to build up to 800 new EMU vehicles for DC Metro operator Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

An initial order for 256 of the new 8000 series cars has been confirmed. These will be used to replace the existing 2000 and

3000 series trains which were built in Italy in the early 1980s at the former Breda factory in Pistoia, now owned by Hitachi, although the company says the new trains will be wholly made in the USA.

A new plant is planned in the Washington area to manufacture and assemble the new trains. The first are due in 2024.

Airport line is close

The Washington Metro extension to Dulles International Airport will finally open in 2022 after more than a decade of construction. Much of the route runs in the middle of the main road that serves the airport – and was designed for a metro line as long ago as the 1960s!