Met Council approves purchase of plastic seats for light rail trains

The Metropolitan Council has authorized nearly $1.8 million for the design and manufacture of plastic light rail vehicle passenger seating inserts to replace the current cloth-covered seating.

The proposal was initially made at a council meeting on Feb. 24 and was approved Wednesday.

Metro Transit light rail vehicle maintenance project manager Jay Wesely estimated the savings from switching to plastic seating would be around $215,000 per year. He added that the new seats would last longer than the current cloth seats as well.

Metro Transit expected the expense of the seat replacement project to be between about $1 million and $2.2 million.