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Hornell's Alstom loses again; Amtrak job goes to CAF
Hogan: ‘There are other contracts coming, but as time goes on,
I’m more and more nervous’

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Andy Thompson
The main Alstom facility in Hornell, where work on a contract for
Amtrak would have taken place.


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By Tyler Briggs
The Evening Tribune
Posted Jul 26, 2010 @ 08:51 AM
Hornell, N.Y. —
Work on the $298.1 million Amtrak contract won’t be coming to
Hornell, instead going 60 miles east, in Elmira.

Amtrak awarded the contract to the U.S. unit of Construcciones y
Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA, a Spanish train maker known as CAF.

The $298.1 million order will buy 130 new single-level rail cars as
part of a plan to replace Amtrak’s aging fleet. The five-year
contract will also create 575 jobs to perform manufacturing and
assembly work at CAF’s Elmira plant, according to a release from
Amtrak.

The first car is scheduled to roll of the assembly line in October 2012.

Joseph Boardman, president and CEO of Amtrak, said in the release that
the 130 rail cars are similar to the popular Viewliner model and
includes 25 sleeping cars, 25 diners, 55 baggage cars and 25 baggage/
dormitory cars. They will replace and supplement the existing fleet,
and Amtrak will begin to retire its oldest cars — some of which have
been in service since the 1940s.

In addition to the Elmira manufacturer, Alstom Transportation in
Hornell, Kawasaki in Yonkers and Bombardier in Plattsburgh were all
vying for the contract.

Because of a requirement that all of the contract-related work be done
in the U.S., Alstom and CAF rose to the top.

But Amtrak’s decision is another tough blow for Alstom, which lost
out on its last contract attempt to Kawasaki for work on the
Washington Metro Area Transit Authority project to build 648 7000-
series rail cars.

Alstom built the first production of Viewliner cars in 1995, and
officials thought they were in great shape to earn this new contract.

Mayor Shawn Hogan was baffled at the news, adding that Alstom was
outbid by $90 million by CAF. Alstom was reportedly outbid by Kawasaki
by $120 million.

“First of all, I’m stunned,” the mayor said. “$90 million to
CAF, who’s not really one of the top prime players in the rail car
business ... I don’t know if CAF bought the contract and bid for a
loss. I’m certainly troubled by this string of losses with Alstom and
their bidding process.

“Either they’re being victimized by companies that are bidding for
a loss, or something is horribly wrong structurally with the internal
organization of Alstom, with who approves the bids or who’s involved
in the bidding process,” Hogan said.

“I don’t know. I can’t fathom that anybody else could do a better
job, a more quality job at a lower cost than the workforce here,” he
continued. “I don’t think it’s workforce related. I think it’s
something inside.”

There are upcoming contracts that Alstom is in the running for —
including rehabbing 120 cars for the Port Authority Transit
Corporation, building 210 R-179 cars for MTA NYC Transit, and building
200 cars for Bay Area Rapid Transit — but the mayor was less than
cheerful about Alstom securing those contracts.

“There are other contracts coming, but as time goes on, I’m more
and more nervous,” Hogan said. “These are all contracts that Alstom
should win, but I said that about WMATA and I said it about Viewliner.
I don’t want to be critical of anybody, but then again you have to
start scratching your head.”


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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