The Mafersa coaches are a class of 38

passenger railroad car A passenger railroad car or passenger car (American English), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (British English and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (Indian English) is a railroad car that is designed to ca ...

s built by Brazilian manufacturer

Mafersa Mafersa S.A. is a Brazilian manufacturer of passenger rail cars, buses and trolleybuses, and related components. It was founded in 1944 and was located in the city of São Paulo.Bushell, Chris (Ed.) (1997). ''Jane's Urban Transport Systems 199 ...

. Originally built for

Virginia Railway Express Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksbur ...

(VRE) in 1991–92, they are currently operated by

Connecticut Department of Transportation The Connecticut Department of Transportation (officially referred to as CTDOT, occasionally ConnDOT, and CDOT in rare instances) is responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit systems, por ...

(CTDOT) for

CT Rail CT Rail, stylized as CT''rail'', is the brand for commuter rail services overseen by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), in the U.S. state of Connecticut, with services on the Hartford Line extending into Massachusetts. CTDOT ove ...

service and by

QIT-Fer et Titane QIT-Fer et Titane (QIT from its old name "Quebec Iron and Titanium") is a Canadian mining company located in Quebec. The company operates an ilmenite (titanium oxide ore) mine at (aka Lake Tio) in northern Quebec, and in the southern Quebec mu ...

History

Mafersa built the coaches new for VRE for $24.7 million. VRE sold 33 of the coaches to CTDOT in 2004 for its

Shore Line East Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and i ...

service.

, a

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

mining company, purchased the remaining five cars in 2008. The CTDOT cars were used for

service until 2022, then moved to

Hartford Line The Hartford Line is a commuter rail service between New Haven, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, using the Amtrak-owned New Haven–Springfield Line. The project is a joint venture between the states of Connecticut and Massachuset ...

service. In August 2023, CTDOT approved a contract with

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

for 60 single-level passenger cars, which will replace the Mafersa coaches in Hartford Line service (as well as

Shoreliner Shoreliners are a class of locomotive-hauled rail car used by the Metro-North Railroad. They are similar to the Comet (railcar), Comet coaches used by New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, New Jersey Transit. Ownership of the fleet is split betwe ...

cars on other lines) beginning in 2026.

References

External links

* Passenger rail transportation in Virginia Metro-North Railroad {{CTrail navbox