By Tonya Alanez and Lauren Albano Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent
Nearly 150 workers at a Springfield factory who were temporarily laid off because US Customs and Border Protection seized subway car shells shipped from China last year, hampering factory production of MBTA Red Line cars, will gradually be able to return to work.
Congressman Richard E. Neal, who represents Springfield, negotiated the release of the subway car shells this week, paving the way for the return of the workers who retrofit and complete assembly of the cars for the MBTA.
“I’m delighted,” Neal said in an interview with the Globe Thursday.
The 142 employees, including electricians, engineers, and others, were furloughed Monday, leaving 280 employees at CRRC MA’s factory in Springfield.
CRRC MA, an affiliateof a Chinese-owned company, has a local office in Quincy.
The car shells were seized nearly 10 months ago at the Port of Philadelphia and returned to China over concerns about forced or child labor.
Neal, a Democrat, reached across the aisle, so to speak, to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Prepared with a cue card detailing the number of unionized manufacturing jobs impacted by the impounded shells, Neal approached Wiles.
“If you’ve got the president’s chief of staff sitting three seats away from you, you ought to be able, if you have a major issue, to get their attention,” Neal said.
“The minute I said 140 unionized manufacturing jobs, I think that got her attention,” Neal said.
Neal gave Wiles the cue card and asked if she would take a call from Governor Maura Healey. Wiles agreed.
Healey praised the development as “great news.”
“These parts are essential for delivering the safe and reliable service that Red Line riders deserve, while also supporting hundreds of good jobs in Springfield,” Healey said in a statement.
“That’s why we worked so hard to get them released and to get this project back on track, and I’m grateful for the strong partnership of Congressman Neal and Interim Secretary and General Manager Eng throughout this process,” Healey said.
Phil Eng, the T’s general manager and interim state transportation secretary, said an MBTA team was key to helping Neal and Healey negotiate the release of the car shells.
“For any project, we know that there are things within our control and outside our control,” Eng said in a statement. “ . . . we had provided the necessary documentation to meet the (government’s) requirements.”
He lauded “the workforce in Springfield for its dedication and commitment and for delivering cars that are providing our riders with safe and reliable service.”
He also thanked customs and border patrol for ” engaging in a regular dialogue that allowed us to bring this matter to a successful resolution.”
In 2014, the MBTA awarded CRRC MA a lucrative contract to assemble hundreds of new Red and Orange Line cars. The project has been beset by delays, malfunctions, and public frustration.
The car shells from China were seized May 25 at the Port of Philadelphia over concerns about the shipment’s compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
That act forbids importing goods connected to forced labor in Xinjiang, a territory in northwest China and long the site of Chinese government abuses against the region’s native Uyghur population, an ethnic minority.
The labor concerns have since been resolved.
Some of the impounded car shells were also bound for Los Angeles and its metro system to be assembled in advance of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
CRRC MA spokesperson Lydia Rivera said the company will gradually return the furloughed employees to work.
“With the release of the shells, CRRC MA’s business operations will gradually resume with the goal to recall affected employees from furlough to resume the work of providing safe quality vehicles to MBTA and Los Angeles METRO,” Rivera said in a statement.
Rivera did not say how long it would take to return the car shells from China, or how many were impounded.
Neal’s communications director, Jack Chamberland, said that once the shells are released, the delivery will take about four or five days. That will dictate the timeline for the return of the workers, he said.
More than 250 of the factory’s workers belong to local unions, IBEW Local Union 7 and Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 63. Union officials could not be reached for comment.
US Customs officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In January, CRRC MA said it planned to furlough 161 workers due to the holdup of shipments of parts and supplies. The company had said the temporary furloughs would go into effect March 16 and would last two months.
CRRC MA opened its Springfield factory in 2017 to much fanfare. The MBTA tasked the company with assembling 404 new train cars for its aging Orange and Red line fleets.
The company has fulfilled the T’s order for 152 Orange Line cars, according to the agency.
As of Jan. 30, CRRC MA has supplied 60 of the 252 ordered Red Line cars.
The company has stumbled through its assignment, tripped up by delays, train recalls, and repeated quality concerns.
