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December 19, 2009

Bombardier sees opportunities in high-speed rail plans

By DAN HEATH

PLATTSBURGH — Bombardier Transportation sees an opportunity for its Plattsburgh plant if high-speed-rail plans come to fruition.

Alain Aumais, general manager at Bombardier Transportation in Plattsburgh, said the company is ready to work on high-speed rail equipment at the Plattsburgh plant during a recent presentation at the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce.

The company has extensive experience in such manufacture, such as the Acela trains that run in the Northeast corridor and high-speed trains overseas. He said that can be replicated at its North American facilities.

"It would be great for the region and all of our other suppliers," Aumais said. "We will be ready to do final assembly and testing in Plattsburgh."

Contract pursued


Bombardier was one of more than 30 companies that recently committed to establish or expand U.S. operations and manufacturing jobs if chosen to build the next generation of high-speed rail lines or improve intercity rail service.

The company is preparing to start work to do final assembly of 406 railcars for the Chicago Transit Authority. Aumais said 10 prototypes are currently being tested in Chicago.

"In the next year we could start production in about June," he said.

The company continues to pursue a contract to build an additional 179 railcars for New Jersey Transit, Aumais said. The winner of that contract is expected to be announced early next year.

Offset job losses


The company has also bid to build 20 locomotives for Amtrak and hopes to receive that decision soon. It would include assembly and testing work in Plattsburgh, he said.

The new contracts could help offset jobs to be lost when the original New Jersey Transit contract ends this year. That will result in layoffs of about 150 employees, which would leave a workforce of about 200 in Plattsburgh.

Ann Purdue, high-speed rail program manager for the New York State Department of Transportation, provided an update of its Intercity High Speed Rail Passenger Program.

Shovel-ready


There is $8 billion in funding available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to jump-start railroad projects. Purdue said it is hoped the federal government will provide between $1.2 billion and $4 billion in annual ongoing support.

The funding resulted in applications for projects totaling $57 billion.

The New York DOT has 37 projects, 26 of which are shovel-ready.

One is the Adirondack Corridor Service Reliability Initiative. It calls for $23.5 million in improvements to the Canadian Pacific rail system between Rouses Point and Schenectady.

That includes a line upgrade between Schenectady and Whitehall and another between Rouses Point and Plattsburgh. That would allow Amtrak to increase its top speed from 60 miles per hour to 79 miles per hour on those parts of the line.

Reduce trip time


Purdue said there are two passenger runs per day on the Montreal-Albany route. The scheduled time for the 240-mile trip is eight hours, but trains were on time only 57 percent of the time in 2009.

The average speed along the entire line is 30 miles per hour, she said. That is mainly due to slower speeds along Lake Champlain and congestion issues with passenger and freight trains on the same set of tracks.

Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas said people realize the line will not be able to be a true high-speed rail. The aim is to reduce the trip time so it is closer to the time it would take to drive between Montreal and Albany.

Another part of the problem is it frequently takes more than one hour to clear customs at Rouses Point. The initiative also calls for a facility to conduct border inspections on an existing side track rather than on the main line.

Douglas said U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand continue to press improvements to the border-crossing process for rail passengers.

Jobs created


A larger high-speed rail project calls for a dedicated high-speed rail line between Buffalo and Albany. A High Speed Rail NY Coalition fact sheet indicates the $4.7 billion project would create 247,825 construction jobs.

It would also require manufacture of 25 locomotives, 81 coach cars and 21 cafe cars.

Any time high-speed rail is in the discussion, that's good for Plattsburgh because of Bombardier and its suppliers, Douglas said.

E-mail Dan Heath at: dheath@pressrepublican.com


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