South Korean rail manufacturer Hyundai Rotem Co., part of the Hyundai Motor Group, has been awarded a $663.7 million contract to build electric trains for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA).
Hyundai Rotem USA Corp. will replace LACMTA’s metro trains, which have been in service since 1993, and will handle the expected increase in transit demand during the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles. This is Hyundai Rotem’s largest order to date in the USA. Los Angeles – the secondlargest con-urban area in US after New York – currently has two fully-fledged metro lines (Red Line and Purple Line), in addition to its four light rail lines, which largely run level-free on its own right-of-way.
To see Hyundai Rotem’s train manufacturing technology, vehicle performance and testing capabilities, LA transit officials visited the test track built by Korea Railroad Corp (KORAIL) in Osong. Hyundai Rotem plans to deliver its trains to LACMTA by April 2028 after the performance tests are completed.
The two-car HR5000 vehicles each have a capacity of 245 passengers. Hyundai Rotem will produce a total of 182 carriages for the then continuous metro trains in Los Angeles. Hyundai Rotem has ordered 91 gangway systems from the HÜBNER Group. They allow passengers to switch back and forth between the train parts, thus increasing comfort and transport capacity. This is because each of the new trains can be coupled with two more. This creates additional flexibility to adapt transport capacities to demand at short notice. Unlike in other parts of the world, gangways between individual cars are not yet so common in the USA.
HÜBNER USA will design the gangway systems in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and manufacture them in Dunlap, Tennessee. Production is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2025. Each gangway system consists of a pressure-stable and pressure-tight double corrugated bellows with combi-bridge that ensures gap-free and step-free movement compensation on the vehicle floor.
08.04.2025
