New METRORail cars provide more comfort, less congestion

HOUSTON – METRORail service got a boost with the launch of a new generation of light-rail cars on Wednesday.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, METRO Board Chairman Gilbert Garcia, Board Members, METRO President and CEO Tom Lambert and others were on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony as six new units were welcomed to the METRORail fleet.  

Other CAF vehicles will enter service over the weeks that lead to the April 2015 opening of two new METRORail East/Green and Southeast/Purple Lines.The new units will give METRO enough rail cars to stage double-car service most of the day Monday through Friday.  The H3 (CAF) cars join 19 H2 and 18 H1 (Siemens S70) cars already serving the North and Main St.(Red) Lines.

METRORail will have 76 cars to operate with once the 39 CAF H3 vehicle delivery is complete.  In 2014, 12.8 million boardings were recorded on METRORail and 122 million boardings have been recorded since service began in 2004.  

CAF USA, a subsidiary of Spain's Construcciones y Auxilliar de Ferrocarriles, is contracted to provide the new H3 cars to serve throughout the METRORail system.