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Building the plant that'll build our new subway cars
By adamg on Fri, 06/24/2016 - 3:59pm
The T posted a couple photos today of the Springfield site where a Chinese company is building a factory that will build new Orange Line and Red Line cars, which are expected to roll out between late 2018 and 2022.
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Comments
Dumb
I love the idiotic wastefulness of forcing them to build a single purpose factory to assemble one line of cars when we probably could have had them done cheaper and faster if our state laws permitted the winning bidder to assemble out of state.
You know what's smart,
You know what's smart, getting the lowest bidder to build an assembly plant in your state, their first in the US, when Federal law requires assembly of mass transit vehicles in the US.
So every other state that uses this Chinese company will probably build it here, to save on having to create their own expensive plants. #MassachusettsManufacturing in our #RustBelt.
ADDENDUM- More info on the bid from 2 years ago, for those who don't remember: http://www.universalhub.com/2014/state-likely-go-cheapest-bidder-replace...
New York already got several
New York already got several railcar manufacturers to build factories in that state. And they run a heck of a lot more trains than we do.
They didn't bid. Or they lost
They didn't bid. Or they lost.
Except they plan on using the
Except they plan on using the MBTA to get a foothold in the USA/West, and plan on using the plant to fulfill future US orders.
It's a law
The "Buy American Act" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_American_Act ) requires that foreign manufacturers of certain products must complete a certain percentage of the assembly, usually final assembly, in the USA.
Massachusetts sharpened that bu also requiring the rail cars be manufactured in Massachusetts.
The China rail corp plans to use the facility to fulfill this legal requirement for future bids and assembly of rail products in the USA.
For what its worth, Skoda (Czech Republic) is also bringing a presence to the USA with plans to start building here.
And again for what its worth, the Bombardier bilevel rail coaches now on the system had their final assembly done in a large building adjacent to the former Westinghouse plant in Hyde Park on the Dedham line. You could stand on the Reservation Road bridge and see the coaches moved in and out of the plant in various stages of assembly. The more-recent bilevels were manufactured by (Hyundai) Rotem in PA where a fleet of similar coaches were made for NJT.
Parts will be made in China but also in other parts of the world as needed; usually sub assemblies.
Efforts were made to select an existing building but none matched the need to deal with the plan to build new Red and Orange Line cars and also future business in the USA.
The cars will be made to the standard gauge rail as needed, not the broad rail gauge that Russia has in some places. BTW, that gauge is slowly being phased out. In some areas they still change out the wheel trucks when the gauge changes but they have also come up with a gauge changing system that changes the width of the wheel trucks on the fly. Check YouTube for that one.
The broader issue is that there are no companies that are resident in the USA that manufactures transit vehicles except for a few "heritage" reproducers such as Brookville and Gomaco. The few companies here are dedicated to heavy rail building such as locomotives and freight cars.
Even the new City Sprinter (Amtrak) electric locomotives are being built by Seimens but they have to ramp up a plant here as well. They are now building the "Charger" diesels for a couple of rail systems.
Transit systems are expanding in places so some fo these firms are seeing the demand and willing to build here to get a piece of the pie.
Thanks
Informative & interesting.
#hastobetrueireaditontheinterweb
I'm getting better at this.
#
They're just building the plant?
And a hearty wtf to that.
The first two pilot cars will
The first two pilot cars will come complete from China and will need about a year of testing before production car deliveries can begin. So the plant is not required to be complete for the initial testing of the cars to get underway.
WHY NOT
build them instate
at least the parts would be closer when they break down
Why Oh Why
Yes, but where are they making the pieces that hopefully hold the parts together? How long will it take to get those to Boston?
new subway cars!?!
I hope someone took track measurements!!
Maybe by the time they are
Maybe by the time they are done with the factory they'll realize it does get cold in MA in the winter and they'll spec the cars to withstand the cold?
Late- gut reaction
The 1st word that immediately came to mind. Construction is ALWAYS delayed. At least almost always & for a litany of reasons. Usually comes down to finger pointing and an argument of who's going to pay for OT required to catch up on schedule. Mark my words. This project will be delayed and therefore these T cars will be delayed as a result. So I agree that it's dumb to build a factory just to build these cars but for a diff reason. I love that there is now going to be a new manufacturing plant in state that will likely be state of the art. That's really cool. It's a terrible idea to tie the scheduled arrival of train cars to the scheduled construction of the very plant that is to produce them.
Plus are there any/enough skilled employees to actually run said plant?
The questions go on and on...
Wait a second
How are there not unused factories in Springfield already? I kind of thought they were trying to rebuild their industrial base.
Great point.
Seriously. There isn't a vacant building in Springfield (or somewhere in the 413) that couldn't be used? Though we are talking about China. The same China who builds cities just to build stuff. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3457155/Inside-Chi...
The real road to nowhere. I feel like I should've put a hashtag on that. #. There ya go.