Malachi Vivenzio has worked at CRRC MA’s sprawling subway car factory on Page Boulevard for seven years, leaving a job as a grocery clerk and rising to a post as an electrical engineer.

He’s working on subway cars for Boston’s MBTA and, soon, the Los Angeles Metro.

It’s a success story that almost derailed in 2025, when U.S. Customs blocked unfinished rail cars and other parts from China, eventually forcing 160 layoffs at the factory in January. By March, management here was ready to have “160 more difficult conversations.”

Vivenzio, of Springfield, knew the pant and his job were in danger.

“Am I going to be able to put food on the table?” he said. “Am I going to be able to take care of my son?”

Lead electrical installer Edward White feared he, too, would be laid off.

“We were so worried,” said White, a member of Electrical Workers Local 7 and also a Springfield resident. “Everybody here has worked so hard.”

They told their stories Thursday to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kimberly Driscoll, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Phil Eng and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno.

The Chinese-state-owned plant and officials celebrated the return of workers after — at Neal and Healey’s request — U.S. Customs and Border Protection started allowing the CRRC to import shells and parts again to Springfield.

CRRC has a plant in Chicago, as well.

Not all the employees are back. But Neal said the remaining 64 still on layoff are due back in September as more materials arrive.

“I don’t know many stories where you get 300 unionized manufacturing jobs in urban America,” Neal said in an interview. “This is not about a social media meme. This is about buying a home, raising a family.”

Under former Gov. Deval Patrick, Massachusetts gave up federal money on the Red and Orange line car replacement projects so it could mandate that assembly work be done in the state. The idea was to create a local rail car industry.

CRRC ultimately won the bid, spent $95 million and built a 204,000-square-foot rail car manufacturing facility on a 40-acre East Springfield site that was once a Westinghouse plant employing thousands. The site had been leveled for a casino.

The plant started production in December 2018. Initially, there were problems with build quality and delays, but the factory survived COVID and was gearing up for more production.

Then U.S. Customs stopped the shells and parts, citing concerns over child labor and forced labor of the Uyghur ethnic minority in CRRC’s supply chain.

CRRC said it sent documentation otherwise, and Eng said the state worked on CRRC’s behalf. But nothing happened.

Then in March, Neal’s connections in D.C. led to a conversation with Healey and the White House. Soon after, the block was lifted.

The plant now has seven pairs of car shells for the T’s Red Line, 14 cars in total, and two more were set to arrive later Thursday, said Brian Kendall, director of production for the MBTA project.

Once the shells arrive in this country, it takes 250 union employees performing 4,000 collective hours of work at 10 separate manufacturing stations over 100 days to finish a $2.5 million subway car, said Kendall.

The plant finished the 152-car Orange Line order in December.

Sixty-eight Red Line cars have been delivered out of 252 total.

“We’re looking forward to each and every one of those cars, “ Eng said. “There is much important work ahead.”

Eng addressed the workers.

“Because of each and every one of you, Red Line riders in Boston, Cambridge, Quincy, Dorchester and Braintree get to experience a new modern, state of the art fleet,” he said.

The Los Angeles cars are part of a gear-up for the 2030 Olympics.

But after the orders for Los Angeles and the T, there isn’t more work booked for the sprawling plant.

A federal law from 2019 restricts how much business transit agencies can do with state-owned CRRC, save for those that were already ordering from it: The T, Chicago, Philadelphia’s Septa and Los Angeles Metro.

“I’m working on it and at it and pretty consistent. I’ve had those conversations,” Neal said. “My plan is to make sure that this plant is up and running for a long time.”

Eng also spoke of ensuring the plant’s future with more contracts.

Neal said Eng has a plan where it’s conceivable, based on additional work, where you could have three shifts, seven days and seven nights a week.

Septa canceled its order for double-decker regional rail cars in 2024 over the foreign versus U.S. parts used.

But Neal said he’s talking with members of Congress representing the Philadelphia area in hopes of reviving that deal.

Healey is part of that effort. She expressed her hopes, as well.

“We know we’re going to see more contracts coming for more trains, not just in Massachusetts, but around the country and from other countries,” Healey said. “So, there should be great work for the workforce here in Springfield for years to come. That’s a really great thing.”

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