Subject: CAF Article
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Devon Archer" <[email-masked]>, "Mike Muldoon" <[email-masked]>, "Neil Callahan" <[email-masked]>, "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:54:15 -0400

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’

Zoom
Photos

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

Yellow Pages
Find whatever you're looking for
with Totally Local Yellow Pages

Search provided by local.com
Featured Business »
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
[email-masked]
P Consider the environment before printing this email.