On December 20, the Massachusetts Mass Rapid Transit Agency (MBTA) announced that the first batch of new vehicles for the Orange Line subway made by CRRC had reached the MBTA plant and displayed the "Christmas package" sent from China on Twitter.

The four orange line subways were transported from Shanghai Port to the Port of New Jersey and transported to the MBTA factory. They were the first test-vehicle vehicles shipped from China. Professionals have begun inspections in the factory buildings. MBTA said that after six fully assembled test vehicles arrive, several months of testing will be conducted. The remaining 146 orange line vehicles are expected to be assembled in Chuntian Zhongda Vehicle Factory from April.

MBTA expects that the new orange line will be put into use in 2019, and the red line will wait until 2020. The new orange and red subway cars equipped with various safety and convenience technologies will rely on the new technology to help train two lines. The Orange Line subway will be able to start every 4 or 4 and a half hours, 40% faster than the current; the red line frequency can be increased to every 3 minutes, 50% faster.