A BETTER WAY TO BUY A RAIL CAR

Imagine the next time you bought a car, you selected more than the paint color and type of transmission.
 
Imagine you picked the gauge of the undercarriage, the size of the brake lines, the routing of the exhaust pipe and the placement of the trunk.
 
Imagine how long it would take and how much it would cost?
 
It’s no wonder we prefer to buy what’s already parked on the lot.  

For many years, U.S. transit agencies have insisted on developing one-off rolling stock every time they order new rail cars. It’s an expensive and time-consuming process, that virtually killed the rail car industry here in the United States.
 
At Houston METRO, we opted to change our ways when it came time to buy 100 new cars for the build out of our light-rail system.
We went to the industry with just two criteria: we wanted a model already running somewhere in the world and we wanted a car with an air conditioning system that could handle the heat and humidity of Houston’s semi-tropical climate.

The idea was so simple even the five manufacturers we talked to were skeptical.

In the end, we ordered from CAF of Spain.

What did METRO save with our off-the-rack purchase?

We cut $10 million in the costs needed to develop the latest-and-greatest car, we shaved delivery time by one year, we got an industry-startling price of $3.1 million per car, and, because CAF knows its cars better than we do, the company agreed to maintain the cars for eight years at a guaranteed price.

The concept is basic, yet the benefits for Houston taxpayers profound.