As the Washington D.C. Metro prepares to award a contract later this year, it announced it will add additional cybersecurity safeguards if the Chinese state-owned CRRC is the winning bid. This announcement follows CRRC winning four of the five largest U.S. transit contracts to build rail cars with discounted bids since 2014. “This is part of a larger conversation about national security and China’s growing footprint in the U.S. industrial supply chain and infrastructure,” said Robert J. Puentes, president of the Eno Center for Transportation, a non-profit, independent think tank focused on transportation. Growing concerns over China’s footprint in the U.S. industrial supply chain and infrastructure have made Congress, the Pentagon, and industry experts concerned about the cybersecurity of the subway cars and the surveillance systems in the cars.
