Generating a great deal of controversy, and two bid
protests, Los Angeles County MTA voted Monday, April 30, to award the $890
million contract for construction of 235 new subway cars to Kinkisharyo
International, a Japanese company that doesn’t even have a factory on this side
of the Pacific yet. The new cars are needed to put rolling stock on the rails
for the Crenshaw, Expo, Santa Monica and extended Gold lines, and to make up
for a failed 100 car contract with Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda which fell
apart late in 2009.
Competing bidders Siemens of Germany and
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles of Spain, both of which already have
plants on American soil, are prosecuting protests of the award to the Japanese
firm. Also opposing the award are the Urban League, Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Siemens, which
already has a factory in Sacramento, promised to open a new one in Los Angeles,
and to invest $5 million in job training programs there. Siemens’ bid could
have created up to 1,122 new American jobs, the opponents of the award say.
CAF USA has a plant in Elmira, New York. Though the
Siemens price was more than the Japanese concern, CAF USA underbid Kinkisharyo
by $104.4 million. CAF’s proposal predicts creation of 205 U.S. jobs. The Federal
Transit Administration is reviewing the Japanese bid to determine whether
stimulus legislation “buy American” requirements have been met, and final
approval of the award is subject to the results of that review. METRO CEO Art
Leahy says he is confident the FTA will approve the contract with the Japanese.
Well, you may ask, where are the full blooded
American bidders? There aren’t any. Since Budd stopped manufacturing rail cars
on April 3, 1987, and sold its designs to Canadian rail car and aircraft maker
Bombardier, there hasn’t been any all-American passenger rail car maker on the
scene. So much for Congressional mandates that stimulus funds be used to
purchase products “Made In USA.”
