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Chicago CTA to purchase Chinese-company ‘L’ cars
Can’t help but wonder what concessions were made by these ’ bastions ’ of Democrat politics , to ’ land ’ these contracts, and probably undercut the bids of every one else that’s already established in this country. Quite the ’ feather ’ in their caps, wouldn’t you agree ?
To bad can’t be a USA company
There are no U.S.-based passenger rail manufacturers. And if it were a Republican administration, there would be no order for new cars.
All the US-based passenger rail manufacturers went out of business when Reagan was president.
What ever happened to the “Buy American” thingie? Democrats, methinks!
“Buy American” seems to generally mean “made in the USA” more than it means “made by a US-based company.” It’s all about jobs, you know. At least no one can say these cars will be made by Chinese workers for
If these are as safe and well made as most products made by Chinese companies, I won’t be riding the CTA anymore.
I wonder where the factory will be. La Grange, perhaps?
According to an article at International Railway Journal (IRJ), the plant will be built at 135th&Torrance Ave.
As for the reference to the currently in service 5000-series, those only have inward-facing seats, contrary to previous classes of CTA cars. Passenger complains apparently prompted CTA to, for the first time in its history, ask for rider input in advance and decided to restore both lateral and transversal seating for the 7000-class. That was mighty classy of CTA, doncha think?
Hmm. 135th and Torrance is right across the NICTD/South Shore tracks from the Ford plant. The city just finished a multi-year project to make Torrance go under the NS (ex-NKP) tracks, which involved a whole new bridge for the South Shore over both the street and NS.
But does this mean Torrance is now a beautiful thoroughfare for north-south traffic in the far southern reaches of the city? Noooooo… In the mean time, the Torrance bridge over the Grand Calumet River (which is actually the smallest of all the Calumet rivers) was condemned; it was exploded last week and the new one won’t be done for another year and a half.
It looks like a couple of autorack unloading lots are on that site. I guess those are going away.
Why not order them from Alstom, Bombardier, CAF or Kawasaki ? At least they’re owned by companies that already have plants here and are from countries that are our friends and allies !
China is not a friend or ally ! They support international aggression and terrorism through North Korea and Iran, and we only co-exist with them for the sake of ’ world peace ’ , supposedly !
With current and future demands for rail cars you’d think an American owned company should get into the business. Look at all the work Siemens has. It would take a committed management team that knows rail construction. I am sure there are plenty in this country who could do it.
I just don’t like the idea of American cities and states financing the Chinese Communist government.
1.3 billion, so why didn’t they build 'em in China? Probably would save bankrupt Chicago 3/4 of a billion or so. Oh, I forgot, the union’s would be unhappy.
I’d settle for slightly less than the state of the art for cars built by an ally instead of China. The CTA is nuts!!!
The article says that the facility will be an assembly plant.
This probably means that the component parts will be manufactured in China, imported, and assembled here.
Well, maybe if we’re lucky somebody will at least partially buy the Chinese out and make it an American company.
New CTA rail cars made in Chicago? Good. New CTA rail line from Midway to JeffPark? Great.
Paul re: your comment “If these are as safe and well made as most products made by Chinese companies, I won’t be riding the CTA anymore.” I assume you used a smartphone or computer to make your post. May want to check and see where it was made!