From: rcp27g@gmail.com

Adam H. Kerman  wrote:
> John Levine  wrote:
>
>>> Significant value is created in the design phase and the skilled
>>> manufacturer of major components, very little of which occurs in
>>> Hornell.
>
>> Huh.  I would have thought that traction motors and locomotives were
>> major components, but opinions apparently differ.
>
> Feel free to demonstrate that they design and manufacture nearly all the
> parts for traction motors there, since you're ignoring what I'm saying.
>
> As far as a locomotive, that's just a platform that valuable components
> are assembled to. Final assembly of a locomotive is not where the major
> value is added. In locomotive construction, the skilled labor does
> the wiring for control systems, as an example.
>
> EMD, years ago, kept the locomotive engine factory at McCook, Illinois,
> but consolidated all final assembly at London, Ontario. The significant
> value was added in McCook. Under Caterpiller ownership, final assembly
> was moved to Indiana. They closed London given the demands of the auto
> workers union. They kept McCook 'cuz cheaper labor wasn't the issue.
>
>> And in any event, who else could they have picked to build train sets?
>> Bombardier?  Hitachi?
>
> If the nations of the world didn't have "buy domestic" laws and the
> United States didn't have excessive buff strength requirements that
> effectively freeze out European train sets? What's the
> point in speculating.

How long have you got and how much money are you willing to pay? These
trains are not a clean sheet new design, they are built on decades of
experience within Alstom of both the TGV and Pendolino platforms. The cost
of reproducing all of that experience in order to actually design these
trains in the US would be astronomical if it can then only be used to sell
a once-in-20-years NEC equipment order. There is a good reason why, if you
want a 200 mph capable tilting train there are basically only three
suppliers in the world who can meet the requirement. There simply isn't
enough demand to support more. It's the same reason why there are only two
global suppliers of 200+ seat airframes, three suppliers for their engines
and so on.

Robin

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