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Illinois seeks bids for new passenger locomotives
The “Guster” from Illinois is NOT going to like this!
Since it was announced in/about March 2013, this action has been suspect. It looks as if the Obama Administration wants to : a) bypass requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation; b) spread the “wealth” around to Illinois and California; c) cut Amtrak “out of the picture” on future procurement of passenger equipment; or d) do all of the above. This does not bode well for Amtrak.
I love that half of the mid-west is in on this purchase…except, of course, for my home state of Indiana, where it is commonly understood that only communists ride trains. #Indianafail
cant wait to ride behind these socialist locomotives!
I need 8 passenger locomotives for the 2018 time frame, maybe I can get a discount after Illinois pays for the development.
Actually, this move is in lock-step - given Obama’s socialist leanings. According to these tenets, only government can perform the job well. Industry will concentrate on efficiency, cost, performance. Those are the wrong These are the wrong factors according to the socialists. The correct factors are how many more people can they put to work per engine per shift - including indirect labor. Illinois is a master at creating inefficiency followed very closely by California. And when the cost to ride goes sky high those poor mindless commuters will have to depend on government subsidies in order to get to work. Perfect socialist plan to make the people of the country dependent on the government for subsistence.
There must be something in the water that people act and talk that buying new engines and passenger cars are socialist. Since WHEN?
Interesting how there are good passenger locomotives on the market and we have to prepare specifications for new ones - that in come cases in the past have not preformed.
The reason they are doing this is because there are new standards that have been put forth for HSR trainsets going forward by the NGEC. Safety, signaling, durability, etc. Yeah, porkulus is paying for it, but it could be an adaptation of an existing engine that ends up winning. Just because they are the first doesn’t make it bad. There will be more buyers after this.