BOISE -- A new deal for trains in Boston will likely save hundreds of jobs in Idaho.
The $114.6 million contract calls for Boise-based MotivePower to supply 20 locomotives to the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.
MotivePower says the project is expected to create or retain more than 1,200 jobs.
The company will manufacture locomotives at its facility in southeast Boise, with some parts supplied by GE Transportation of Erie, Penn.
MotivePower almost didn't get the deal.
Two years ago, Massachusetts planned to award it to a company in Spain, and asked for a waiver of the Buy America Act.
Idaho's congressional delegation lobbied against that waiver.
