Yes, I am aware of those plants. The Rochelle, IL, plant is actually Nippon Sharyo USA, althougth Sumitomo has contributed to some of the cars built there (including the new DMUs for Toronto). Kinki Sharyo has a light rail and streetcar plant. All of these plants would need to be substantially retooled for high speed trainsets, which may cost more than importing them from more established assembly lines. Note that the THSR 700Ts were built in Japan. Hitachi lacks a US plant, and they could win a bid. The main problem is the substantial risk that any manufacturer runs, as repeat orders in the US are rare.
NorthWest Buying trains built at an established factory that constructs trains for the Japanese market is cheaper than setting up a new factory to construct the trainsets in the United States. Most of these plants have shut down after building the cars (one example is the Wisconsin Talgo plant). Amtrak has acquired a Buy America waiver for the next generation of high speed trainsets. http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L16035
Buying trains built at an established factory that constructs trains for the Japanese market is cheaper than setting up a new factory to construct the trainsets in the United States. Most of these plants have shut down after building the cars (one example is the Wisconsin Talgo plant).
Amtrak has acquired a Buy America waiver for the next generation of high speed trainsets. http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L16035
For your information both Kawasaki and Sumatomo have active car building plants in the US, in Lincoln NE and Rochelle Il respectively. And then there is the cost of the ocean transport.
mmp70160 The TEXAS CENTRAL plans on using Japanese trains, and by not using any Federal funds, they can avoid the Buy American requiremnts, get their trains directly from Japan, and cut their train costs by about one-third.
The TEXAS CENTRAL plans on using Japanese trains, and by not using any Federal funds, they can avoid the Buy American requiremnts, get their trains directly from Japan, and cut their train costs by about one-third.
What's the basis of your cost reduction comment?
Oh, Balt! I had NOT taken a drink of coffee just before reading your post.
Certainly not in what some Japanese used many years ago--my mother, who was born in Japan (the daughter of missionaries) ,told me that, often, the Japanese would use large squares of cloth to pack what they needed while traveling.
Johnny
Must not be in his carry on.
wanswheel The prime minister’s luggage includes a simulator similar to this one, photographed in Singapore. Thursday he showed it to Gov. Jerry Brown at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. http://railtravelstation.com/2015/02/02/japanese-high-speed-rail-shinkansen-exhibition/
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
wanswheelI clicked your link and got a cordial invitation to subscribe. I clicked my link again and the nice Google doorman issued me another free pass.
This is strange. I click my link and go straight to the WSJ article. I click your link and I get a Google list of a bunch of articles (with the Abe article first) and then have to click again. I am emphatically not a WSJ subscriber ... so why does the link work for me but not for you?
Wizlish wanswheel Wall Street Journal says so. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=%22Abe+Aims+to+Get+U.S.+On+Board+Japanese+Trains%22&oq=%22Abe+Aims+to+Get+U.S.+On+Board+Japanese+Trains%22&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.1056404.1062211.0.1062541.4.3.0.1.0.0.119.285.1j2.3.0...0.0...1ac.1.hVBIKtF_ap4&gws_rd=ssl I think this is a better link to the WSJ article. Note the tie-in with maglev; compare this with Caroline Kennedy's appearance last week...
wanswheel Wall Street Journal says so. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=%22Abe+Aims+to+Get+U.S.+On+Board+Japanese+Trains%22&oq=%22Abe+Aims+to+Get+U.S.+On+Board+Japanese+Trains%22&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.1056404.1062211.0.1062541.4.3.0.1.0.0.119.285.1j2.3.0...0.0...1ac.1.hVBIKtF_ap4&gws_rd=ssl
Wall Street Journal says so.
I think this is a better link to the WSJ article.
Note the tie-in with maglev; compare this with Caroline Kennedy's appearance last week...
I clicked your link and got a cordial invitation to subscribe. I clicked my link again and the nice Google doorman issued me another free pass.
It will be interesting to hear what Mr. Abe has to say in California. Probably something like "Kawasaki let's the good times roll."
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/04/25/business/japanese-consortium-to-propose-kawasaki-heavy-bullet-trains-for-high-speed-line-in-california/#.VT-gtGdFCM9
CMStPnP I believe one problem Japan is going to have in this country is it has no production or assembly facilities in the United States unlike some of it's competitors who arrived sooner.
I believe one problem Japan is going to have in this country is it has no production or assembly facilities in the United States unlike some of it's competitors who arrived sooner.
Really? The article notes Kawasaki's plant in Lincoln NE but there is also Sumatomo's in Rochelle IL
Researching for an article a few years ago I was fascinated by the full page adds from the Japanese rail manufactuers attempting to sell their "bullet trains" here in the USA. Those ads were almost 50 years ago. We can all see how well that worked.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
Thats really what the top guy should do when visiting a foreign country. We might need to wait for a change in the Oval Office to see it again in this country and executed intelligently. However, the top guy should be selling and negotiating fair and even trade deals that boost jobs back home.
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