Bombardier is doing a multi year new car build for BART. Although the first new cars of these series was produced in New York and shipped to California, it appears to have moved production to a plant in Pittsburg, that was previously used by Bombardier (then AEG transportation) for the BART Rehab project and also by Morrison Knudsen for the BART C2 car build. This move probably satisfies the local politicians that serve northeastern Contra Costa County, whose BART property taxes are collected and provides little BART service there. The reward: jobs...
CSSHEGEWISCH It's also possible that Bombardier opened its California plant to be in a better position to compete with Siemens on West Coast orders.
It's also possible that Bombardier opened its California plant to be in a better position to compete with Siemens on West Coast orders.
Likely. And also there is already a skilled workforce there.
Building railcars in those states where so many of them will be ultimately be purcased and used is sensible.
If the decision was simply a business one for more space I am OK with it but to me this appears as a political decision made to appease politicians in California, if that is the case this is really stupid and it is a big reason why American Built Railcars cost so much. One of your goals as a manufacturer is to build a backlog of orders that extends 3-5 years into the future before you build or expand into another plant. Rare do I see manufacturers build a plant based on two orders. Maybe they are doing this to be more competitive with delivery dates on a future Amtrak order?
They keep opening and closing plants everywhere to appease local politicians (so they can claim they created jobs) and it is a very good bet those costs are passed on in the railcar order each time rail cars are ordered. I have a hard time believeing the costs are absorbed entirely by the Manufacturer, in the case of Talgo in Milwaukee they were passed on (and thank goodness that no-bid order fell apart). Perhaps there are some savings in doing this in that the shipping costs from NY to CA of a completed railcar are probably fairly significant. Oh well, not sure anything can be done about this. As a taxpayer it is frustrating to watch.
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/06/17-bombardier-to-open-railcar-assembly-plant-in-california
Open - Close - Open - Close - Open - Close.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.