Bombardier Transportation announced today that it has received an order for 54 MultiLevel commuter rail vehicles from the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). The order is valued at approximately $154 million US (112 million euro).

MTA is the third transit system in North America to order these innovative passenger rail cars.  Bombardier has provided 329 MultiLevel vehicles to the New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ TRANSIT) and 160 of the same type of cars to the Agence Metropolitaine de Transport of Montréal. Last year, Bombardier received a contract from NJ TRANSIT for 100 additional MultiLevel vehicles with options for up to 79 additional cars. With this new order, MTA is exercising contract options that have been assigned to MTA by NJ TRANSIT.

The new cars for MTA will run on the Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) Train Service’s Brunswick, Camden and Penn Lines. The vehicles will both replace older cars that will be retired, and expand the MARC fleet. Deliveries are scheduled to take place between May and December 2013.

“Bombardier is partnering with MTA to offer Maryland commuters innovative, reliable, safe and comfortable MultiLevel vehicles that will further improve public transportation by making it even more passenger, operator and environmentally friendly,” said Raymond Bachant, President, Bombardier Transportation, North America.

The MultiLevel vehicles feature upper and lower seating levels as well as a spacious intermediate level at each end of the car – making them truly “multi-level” – and offer high levels of capacity, comfort and convenience. Each coach has 15 to 30 per cent more seating capacity then a typical single-level car, yet is specially designed to meet the infrastructure constraints of certain rail networks, such as those posed by tunnels.

Comfort features include a two-by-two seating configuration that eliminates the middle seat found on many single-level vehicles, specially designed seats with improved lumbar support, and more leg room, knee room and seat width than found in conventional coaches. Large side doors located at the intermediate level provide accessibility from both high and low level platforms.

The vehicles also offer state-of-the-art technical features including an automated public address system, LED destination screens, and external public address speakers to keep passengers informed, whether on the train or on the platform; an advanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; microprocessor controlled door systems; and a monitoring system that instantly diagnoses and displays the status of all major train systems.  In addition, the MultiLevel vehicles can be adapted for commuter, regional, or intercity use.

MTA is a division of the Maryland Department of Transportation and one of the largest multi-modal transit systems in the United States. Recently, Bombardier refurbished 34 single-level commuter coaches for MTA. Prior to that, Bombardier was a member of the consortium that supplied MTA with six electric locomotives.