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Washington Screws Lincoln!


Razors Edge

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DC and Nebraska, that is.  Actually, it seems that Lincoln tried to screw Washington with subpar manufacturing, but possibly that was due to Washington creating unrealistic expectations, and now the Japanese are involved and making some threats!  AYAYAYA!

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The parent company of Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing reported huge losses in its rail car division — largely because of issues at its U.S. operations based in Lincoln — and the head of the company suggested it could exit the business altogether.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries on Tuesday reported an overall loss of 3.5 billion yen, or about $31.6 million, for the first two quarters of its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

However, its rolling stock division, which is the one that makes train cars, lost more than $78 million during the six-month period, much of it because of cost overruns and other problems at its U.S. operations, which are based in Lincoln and employ several hundred people.

And Kawasaki Heavy gave a very dire forecast for the rolling stock division going forward. 

According to a presentation it gave Tuesday, it has seen increased material and production costs on its U.S. projects, as well as added costs to repair defects on cars sent to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

All that adds up to a forecast loss for the year for the division of more than $128 million.

In addition to the added costs, Kawasaki Heavy Industries President Yoshinori Kanehana said during a news conference in Japan that U.S. operations are facing additional challenges, including difficulty finding enough workers and requirements to use U.S. suppliers, even if they don't provide the best products.

 

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We had three local plants making rail cars when I was younger. Pullman Standard in Butler, Pa. Greenville Steel Car in Greenville, Pa. and GATX in Masury, Ohio. As more and more rail lines got turned into bike trails they all shut down. I haven’t had to sit at a railroad crossing and wait on a train in this area for many years. :skipping:

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10 hours ago, MickinMD said:

If they sent Washington cars with defects, wasn't Lincoln trying to screw Washington?

The "little" folks never like to be told they are the ones screwing Washington.  And somehow, they'll twist it around to make it seem like DC is just being too darn persnickety and it is really DC's fault the train cars can't be built properly, quickly, and for a big profit.

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4 hours ago, Longjohn said:

We had three local plants making rail cars when I was younger. Pullman Standard in Butler, Pa. Greenville Steel Car in Greenville, Pa. and GATX in Masury, Ohio. As more and more rail lines got turned into bike trails they all shut down. I haven’t had to sit at a railroad crossing and wait on a train in this area for many years. :skipping:

Yeah - I'd say Big Train has seen its peak in the US.  Even if we added high speed passenger trains and continue boosting our use of rail to move commercial goods, it is unlikely that we will add too much new track, and very unlikely new track will run anywhere not already with an existing right-of-way. I don't see too many freight trains where I am, but I do see them a little bit out farther into the countryside, but can't remember the last time we were delayed.  I think it was a few years ago when we were riding the C&O that we had to stop for ten minutes or so to let the train roll past, but we actually enjoyed that.  It is pretty fun to actually be near a long freight train as it rolls by - the noise, wind, and even smell is unique and, to me, nice. 

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13 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Yeah - I'd say Big Train has seen its peak in the US.  Even if we added high speed passenger trains and continue boosting our use of rail to move commercial goods, it is unlikely that we will add too much new track, and very unlikely new track will run anywhere not already with an existing right-of-way. I don't see too many freight trains where I am, but I do see them a little bit out farther into the countryside, but can't remember the last time we were delayed.  I think it was a few years ago when we were riding the C&O that we had to stop for ten minutes or so to let the train roll past, but we actually enjoyed that.  It is pretty fun to actually be near a long freight train as it rolls by - the noise, wind, and even smell is unique and, to me, nice. 

Big Train lost the political fight to Big Car in the 1950s. What will happen is that when oil prices spike, that will drive a lot of freight to rail, and that will get Congress to finally  give rail the support it deserves, and the country needs.

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There is a local line that serves the lumber mills out in BFE.  The other day we were tailgating and the train rolls by. 5 engines and cars loaded with dimensional lumber. That train horn was loud. There is about 4-5 crossings there in the middle of town. Probably took 10 minutes. 

In portland the issue is trains putting cars onto a side track. They are only supposed to block for 15 minutes. I think 30 is more common. 

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Every time politicians brag about the jobs they brought in, I think, how many did you lose and what was the net gain vs loss.

When Central Florida was debating high speed rail, Orlando to Tampa and eventually Miami, it was a political (and Tea Party) issue that the Governor quashed (the one just elected Senator). All the potential bidders were foreign since the US doesn't have the manufacturing and technology at a level of the countries actually using it. One such bidder was Siemens, who have a sizeable presence locally after taking over Westinghouse. At about the same time, Charlotte approved the rail system. As a Realtor, I saw (and profited) from the corporate re-locations as Siemens transferred their engineers to Charlotte. Lose high paying engineer jobs, gain minimum wage hospitality industry jobs and brag about the job gains.

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3 hours ago, Tizeye said:

Every time politicians brag about the jobs they brought in, I think, how many did you lose and what was the net gain vs loss.

When Central Florida was debating high speed rail, Orlando to Tampa and eventually Miami, it was a political (and Tea Party) issue that the Governor quashed (the one just elected Senator). All the potential bidders were foreign since the US doesn't have the manufacturing and technology at a level of the countries actually using it. One such bidder was Siemens, who have a sizeable presence locally after taking over Westinghouse. At about the same time, Charlotte approved the rail system. As a Realtor, I saw (and profited) from the corporate re-locations as Siemens transferred their engineers to Charlotte. Lose high paying engineer jobs, gain minimum wage hospitality industry jobs and brag about the job gains.

Honestly, one would think Disney would want a high speed train route running through Orlando and connecting to as much of the US as possible.  I think it takes two driving days for us to get there from DC, but a 180mph bullet train that made a half dozen stops from here to there would be awesome!

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We have about a gazillion train lines around here. I see trains all the time. Although they are routed in a manner that they don’t impact traffic at all. 

We have a commuter light rail network, but it doesn’t go to the airport, and it only accesses portions of the city. There’s Amtrak, but it takes substantially longer to take the train to drive across state, so it’s benefit is really limited. I would fully support regional and national train line development.

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3 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I would fully support regional and national train line development.

Freight trains or passenger trains?

Sharing tracks or separate tracks?

Subsidized or purely private?

Eminent domain or piece it together over decades?

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18 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

Honestly, one would think Disney would want a high speed train route running through Orlando and connecting to as much of the US as possible. 

The problem is, if Disney is involved, Disney demands. There were plans to develop a spur from the airport connecting to the main line, with the intent to carry tourist to the hotels. While this, technically, would have competed with Disney's shuttle busses, that wasn't the issue. Rather, they wanted the spur to go directly to them without stops at competing Universal Studios, Sea World, or competing hotels along International Drive. That effectively killed it as they were part of the money to finance it...but not 100%.

We do have Amtrack for Winter Park (very quaint station) and Orlando, but it is cheaper to fly. That same rail line is used for "light rail" which is a heavy diesel and two cars - no nights or weekend schedule yet. Also, I thing Sanford still had the car-train direct to DC, but again, very expensive.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Freight trains or passenger trains?

Sharing tracks or separate tracks?

Subsidized or purely private?

Eminent domain or piece it together over decades?

Passenger.

Freight is already well established, at least in my region, and nationally, as I understand things.

I’m not an engineer (of either type), but high speed rail would have to be largely separate track, I believe. And I think government should take the lead on these types of programs. And it should be done pronto.

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36 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Today? None.

I was expecting high speed train implementation would have happened during the Obama administration. Maybe not along the North East Corridor due to existing train congestion, but certainly east/west. NYC, Philly, Pittsburgh, Chicago, etc. 

Republicans fought everything Obama wanted to do, "The Party of No".

Building high speed rail would be such a PIA in this country, few want to risk their political capital in an attempt that is almost certain to fail. At some point, we simply have to start working on our infrastructure problems. We started slacking off in the 70s, and it's gotten really bad.

That will include physical infrastructure, like schools, functional infrastructure like the power grid, and human 'infrastructure' like education and health care.

The cost will go over a trillion, and in that situation, I am not sure that even needed upgrades to trains will get support.

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