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Airport Board to Vote on Palmdale Factory Lease

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners was scheduled to vote Monday on recommending approval for a five-year lease with Japanese railcar manufacturer Kinkisharyo International LCC for space in Palmdale. The lease covers 250,000 square feet in two buildings owned by the airport that would be used to manufacture railcars for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority. Kinkisharyo, the U.S. arm of Kinki Sharyo Co. Ltd. of Osaka, will pay $4.6 million in rent for the initial five years, with an option for an additional five years. The lease agreement now goes before the Los Angeles City Council for final approval. The two buildings Kinkisharyo will lease are part of Site 9, a former aircraft manufacturing center used in assembling the B-1 bomber and later for aircraft repairs. The Metro job includes an initial contract for 78 light rail vehicles and four options to buy another 157 light railcars. The total contract value for 235 new railcars would be $890 million. The cars would operate on the Blue, Gold and Expo lines and a planned extension of the Expo line down Crenshaw Boulevard to Los Angeles International Airport. The light rail contract is the first the Japanese company has had with Metro. It has previously supplied railcars for public transportation projects in Dallas, Phoenix and other U.S. cities.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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