Since then, 145 years later – on April 7, 2017 – 33 employees from the Springfield-based rail car builder, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) Massachusetts (MA), prepared to travel to China for three months of technical training and departed the Bradley International Airport.
Their destination was CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co Ltd, based in Changchun city of the northeastern Jilin province.
CRRC employees, who have already learned the basics of spoken Chinese, will be assigned to different workshops to practice their learning, after being technically trained and taught the company’s corporate culture.
ia was speaking at a CRRC MA’s supplier diversity and procurement fair on Thursday at its rail car manufacturing complex in East Springfield, Massachusetts.
The outreach event was hosted by CRRC MA for local minority- and women-owned businesses, which introduced the various companies in its supply chain to the many diverse businesses in the region. Some 35 vendors were invited and about 300 people attended the fair.
The gathering would be the last social event in the $95 million, 204,000 square-foot factory before production begins.
Gov. Charlie Baker joined Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, CRRC vice president Weiping Yu, and state and local officials to announce the groundbreaking for a $95 million railcar manufacturing facility to make Orange and Red Line subway cars and to support future North American operations on Sept. 3. Over 100 construction jobs will be created to restore the historic Westinghouse building and to build the new facility for the fabrication of the railcars. The facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017. Staffing for CRRC USA Rail Corporation will focus on the greater Springfield region, with an initial estimate of 150 employees.
Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., the largest maker of transit and rail passenger cars in the world, said Monday night it plans to build a 125,000-square-foot rail car assembly plant and accompanying 33,750-square-foot office building on the 40-acre former Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard in East Springfield.
A Chinese railroad car manufacturer wants to assemble MBTA transit cars at the 40-acre former Westinghouse site on Page Boulevard and make Springfield the hub for its North American manufacturing operations.
