The CTA is set to begin planning for another set of new “L” cars, after the agency received $200 million in federal funding.

The grant from the Federal Transit Administration, announced Friday, will allow the CTA to buy up to 300 new electric train cars to replace aging cars built four decades ago. But the agency is still years away from determining specifics about the cars, including features, costs and additional sources of funding.

Public transit rail cars typically have a useful life of 31 years, and after that often need more frequent, expensive repairs, members of the Illinois congressional delegation said in a joint statement. That can affect the reliability of service.

“CTA now has funding needed to begin planning and designing for the future procurement of our next-generation of railcars, which will allow us to provide our riders with safer and more reliable rail services, as well as improved technologies to make public transit a more convenient and accessible travel option,” CTA President Dorval Carter said in a statement.

The grant to the CTA was one of six announced Friday, and is funded by the massive federal infrastructure program signed into law in 2021. Other transit agencies that received funding were in Cleveland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and South Florida.

“These grants will help bring riders faster, safer, more reliable service on America’s rails,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

The funding comes after the CTA recently began running new, 7000-series train cars on the Blue Line, identifiable by their bright blue end caps. The CTA had been testing the trains with passengers since early 2021, and they began entering regular service earlier this year.

The CTA awarded the $1.3 billion contract for the cars in 2016 to CRRC Sifang America, which was to provide 846 new rail cars over 10 years. CRRC Sifang America agreed to build the cars in Chicago, and built a plant in the Hegewisch neighborhood that began operating in summer 2019.

The 7000-series cars are the first new CTA cars since 2011, and feature a new seating configuration, redesigned windbreak panels next to the passenger doors, and displays in the center of the cars that show a moving rail system map including the line and upcoming stations. Improved suspension is intended to provide a smoother ride, and the cars include sensors to adjust the height of the floor to station platforms.

The latest funding is set to go to the next generation of rail cars: the 9000-series.

sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com