NEW YORK – Virginia Railway Express has signed a contract with Sumitomo Corp. of America for up to 50 bilevel commuter cars. Sumitomo partner Nippon Sharyo will construct the cars. The base order is for eight cars at a price of $21 million for delivery in 2014.
 
The contract includes an option for VRE to purchase an additional 42 cars for $119 million. VRE will use the cars to replace older cars and add more cars to handle an increase in ridership. The cars will be manufactured at the new Nippon Sharyo plant in Rochelle, Ill.
 
Sumitomo’s VRE order follows an order of 160 bilevel cars for Metra in Illinois, 12 single-level Diesel Multiple Units for Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit in California, and 18 single-level DMUs for Metrolinx (GO Transit) in Toronto. Delivery of the DMUs to Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit and Metrolinx is expected at the end of 2013.