New Orange Line Trains Arrive, Testing To Begin

JAMAICA PLAIN, MA — The first of the new Orange Line cars have arrived, the MBTA announced today, showing pictures of its early Christmas present being unwrapped in the MBTA train yard.

It's part of an Orange Line makeover. The four train cars were shipped from China, where they were built for a pilot project here in Boston.

"The delivery of the pilot cars represents an important milestone in the procurement of an entirely new Orange Line fleet. After the pilot cars arrive, they will be subjected to months of rigorous testing and inspection procedures," MBTA GM Luis Ramirez said in a statement sent to Patch.

The MBTA said that even after the first six fully assembled trains arrive in the U.S. by cargo ship this month, they will still be subjected to "months of rigorous testing."

The remaining 146 Orange Line cars will be assembled in Springfield. But it will be a while before we'll see them on the tracks near Boston. New trains will start to go into service on the Orange Line in 2019 and the Red line in 2020, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in an email.

China Railroad Rolling Stock Corp. — the Chinese government-owned rail firm that won the $566 million contract bid in 2014 to make new MBTA Orange and Red line trains — built a factory in Springfield to do the work.

Previously on Patch:

Orange Line Mockup Debuts in Boston

Winter Is Coming, And So Are The New Orange Line Trains

Orange Line Squirrel Gets Own Car Then Disappears

MBTA's Hopeful Vision Of The Future