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Company gearing up to build our new subway trains is having a bit of a quality-control problem
By adamg on Wed, 07/06/2016 - 9:02am
It's not just that the new subway cars CSR Sifang delivered to Singapore have cracks in them, but that it could take up to seven years to fix the damage.
However, the cars in question were built by CSR in China, while our new Red Line and Orange Line trains, to be delivered by 2022, will be built in Springfield.
H/t Bob.
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Comments
What Do You Expect From The Lowest Bidder?
Billy Bulger once said to former Governor, now Vice Presidential Candidate and noted passer outer William Weld - "Things Cost Money". Despite what you may think about the guy, he was right.
It costs money to move your tush from Forest Hills to Kendall. Fares go up and the reaction is if the T is murdering Siberian Husky puppies on the DTX Concourse.
You want a system that doesn't look like the Peruvian Railways then you have to pay for it. The T went with lowest bidder for the new cars in order to save money because no one likes to pay for things.
My roundtrip on the commuter rail is $19 a day plus parking. I don't mind because the cars have AC, they very rarely breakdown and the new engines are fast. They cost money and I was willing to pay for it.
You want the same, call your state rep., call your state senator. Perhaps we can even bring back Madame Scott to give the good old boys a pep talk about getting things done on time and done right. Please remember, less than $6 round trip Forest Hills to Porter is a bargain. You want comfort, pony up. You don't want to pay, then you are stuck outside Jackson Square on a day like today with no AC.
If CSR cited Singapore as a example of
their experience in submitting their bid to the MBTA, then perhaps that bid should be invalidated on the basis that the trains they built for Singapore have been proven to be defective.
But that would make way too much sense for us.
Quality control, no less
From a 2014 CSR bid document (271 pages, if you're on a mobile device):
QC should be the priority of
QC should be the priority of the buyers at the MBTA, relying on a vendor to ensure proper QC is rather foolish when you consider the consequences.
CNR won the MBTA contract,
CNR won the MBTA contract, not CSR. CNR and CSR have since merged to form CRRC. CSR did bid on the MBTA contract as well, but their proposal did not met the requirements of the spec.
Not only do things cost money
Not only do things cost money, but the state went with the low ball Chinese bidder because they were willing to build a factory from scratch in Springfield. Most other established railcar manufacturers with plants in North America balked at the idea of building a new factory in MA just to win this single contract. So we went with the lowest bidder and are still paying a wildly inflated cost for these new subway cars as a jobs subsidy to Springfield.
And yet springfield and
And yet springfield and western-state hicks out in the boonies still complain and begrudge every damn cent that goes to fuel the economic engine keeping them from turning out like maine.
The costs aren't inflated,
The costs aren't inflated, because CNR would have had to build a U.S. facility to bid on any U.S. order to meet FTA Buy America requirements. Because the MBTA is their first U.S. order, the costs to build the facility are not included in the bids, The costs for a Mass only plant would be included in the bids from any other company that already had U.S. facilities. The MBTA bids came in so low that they were able to buy 58 more Red Line cars than they had originally budgeted for.
Yes, but remember the promise behind Springfield ...
That it would be used as the company's North American factory and keep greater Springfielders employed?
Well, turns out Chicago also signed a deal with the company - which will be building the Chicago cars in Chicago.
The CTA deal was was bid by
The CTA deal was was bid by CSR before CSR and CNR merged into CRRC. The Springfield facility was the proposed location for assembly by a recent CRRC to SEPTA to build 45 bi-level cars.
Even if post CSR/CNR merger
Even if post CSR/CNR merger into CRRC the corporate parent decides to make the CSR Chicago facility the primary U.S. facility for CRRC instead of the CNR facility in Springfield, the CNR bid cost for the MBTA assumed they would be setting up Springfield as the main U.S. facility and did not include construction costs for the facility in the MBTA price. Its a loss to CRRC, not an added cost to the MBTA, if the Springfield facility is not fully used as originally planned by CNR.
Thats great that you can
Thats great that you can afford $19 a day down the drain in transport costs.
But someone working retail most likely makes $50 a day - before taxes. ($10 an hour, 5 hour shift). At $19 a day, it would be more financially prudent for them to get fired and take the welfare check.
Does that make sense to you?
Oh no, we subsidize someone $5 a day to get to work! Yeah, because thats better than subsidizing them $50 a day in welfare.
When I Worked In Retail.....
I walked to work. Saved a lot of money. I was able to save up and buy a car eventually.
Yes Geezerman
Now show us a place where you can work retail that you can both walk to work AND afford to walk to work.
If you haven't noticed, walking to work is now a rich person's perk.
Quincy, Weymouth, Malden, Revere, Waltham, Lynn, Lawrence
Get going. Lots of good opportunities out there for those of you who don't really want to try that hard.
Manchester NH too!
That is funny, because the
That is funny, because the commuter rail has the highest per rider subsidies in the system, and the subway has by far the lowest. Seems like you should be paying way more to move your tush on the CR to either North or South station. BTW, fares never cover operating expenses - let alone capital projects - in any public transit system in the world (excluding HK). The entire point of public transportation is 1) the private companies all went bankrupt/out of business as it was not sustainable, and 2) to be affordable to move masses of people to and from their jobs to keep the economy going.
While you were reading this post
The target date for the new cars moved to 2028
Worst of both worlds
So basically the new Red Line cars will be the quality of Made in China products but the costs of Made in the USA. Yikes.