Posted on 06/25/2010 3:33:50 AM PDT by Willie Green
Duke University analysis of U.S. rail manufacturing shows that Pennsylvania has 26 rail manufacturing facilities, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia
The U.S. rail manufacturing industry stands to undergo considerable growth in the coming years, as Amtrak upgrades its railcars and adds high-speed trains, and as lawmakers consider a transportation bill that calls for significantly greater investments in public transit, including rail, according to a new study by Duke University prepared for the Apollo Alliance. Pennsylvania, which is home to 26 rail-manufacturing facilities and is planning its own high-speed rail network, would reap major benefits from such a bill.
"Our research found that there is a healthy chain of U.S.-based suppliers that manufacture components and systems for rail cars, and many of them are located in Pennsylvania," said Marcy Lowe, a senior research analyst at the Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness (CGGC) and the report's lead author.
The report, U.S. Manufacture of Rail Vehicles for Intercity Passenger Rail and Urban Transit: A Value Chain Analysis, looks at the manufacture of U.S. rail vehicles in six categories: intercity passenger, high speed, regional, metro, light rail and streetcars. It finds that the U.S. rail supply chain includes at least 247 manufacturing locations in 35 states. The states with the most manufacturing facilities are New York (32 rail manufacturing facilities), Pennsylvania (26), Illinois (23), California (22) and Ohio (13). Although the U.S. rail manufacturing industry is small -- the report's authors estimate its employment at between 10,000 and 14,000 employees -- industry analysts expect it to grow due to pent-up demand for intercity and urban rail service.
"Pennsylvania has a real chance to be at the center of America's 21st century rail manufacturing industry," said Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance. "Our nation needs a new transportation policy that invests in expanded public transit and more energy-efficient transportation, including rail. Done right, these investments could mean a windfall of manufacturing jobs for Pennsylvanians."
Another study released today, by Transportation for America and the Economic Policy Institute, finds that a $500B transportation bill that invests heavily in public transit will create 7.2 million jobs across the economy, including 761,321 manufacturing jobs, of which 168,024 jobs would be located in the rail manufacturing sector. For more information, visit www.t4america.org.
The Duke University rail study found that manufacturers with facilities in Pennsylvania are Bombardier Transportation (Pittsburgh); Brookville Equipment (Brookville); Hyundai Rotem (Philadelphia); Kasgro Rail (New Castle); GE Transportation (Erie and Grove City); Amsted Industries (Camp Hill); Ansaldo STS USA (Pittsburgh); Bentech (Philadelphia); CAM Innovation Inc (Hanover); Converteam Inc (Pittsburgh); Mitsubishi Electric (Pittsburgh); North American Specialty Glass (Trumbauersville); ORX Railway (Tipton); Penn Machine Company (Blairsville); PHW (East Pittsburgh); Standard Steel (Pittsburgh and Burnham); USSC Group (Exton); UTC Rail Inc (Morton); Westcode Inc (Wilmerding and Greensburg); WEXCO Industries (Philadelphia); Young Windows (Conshohocken); and ZF Sachs Automotive of America (Pittsburgh). They produce a variety of equipment, including driving control systems, door systems, engines and windows.
A similar study on transit bus manufacturing released by Duke researchers in October 2009 identified eight transit bus-manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania. These companies also would benefit from increased public transit investments in a new transportation bill.
The report's authors conclude that to grow the U.S. rail manufacturing industry will require committing much larger and more consistent U.S. investments to intercity passenger and urban transit rail. The report also recommends that Buy America provisions be improved through additional accountability mechanisms and the closing of loopholes. Finally, it recommends that policymakers and manufacturers implement measures to capture higher-value activities in the supply chain, such as design and engineering, for the U.S. market. Currently those activities are mostly performed abroad.
Mine are made on the west side of Chicago. Check the label.
Considering that the cost of punching a tunnel 500 yards under the Allegheny is at $600 million right now and increasing every day, how much tax money will it take for a 3 mile long tunnel?
All of these projects would be a lot cheaper if they just got off their dupas and built the dang thing instead of arguing about it and dragging it out fot 10~15 years.
Those tunnel boring machines work pretty slick!
I bet they can burrow to Oakland in no time.
Those hills aren't made of granite, you know.
Probably sandstone or shale or limestone or something easier to cut through like that.
I'd say a lot cheaper than it cost to build all the other tunnels in Pittsburgh back when they used pollocks with pickaxes.
(all dollars adjusted to account for inflation of course.)
Willie, it's the damn Port Authority. They could take till the next ice age to make a three minute egg. They are not about transportation, public service or efficiency. It is an organization designed solely for political patronage.
Probably sandstone or shale or limestone or something easier to cut through like that.
And probably some 19th century abandoned coal mines filled with methane and water.
Willie, it's the damn Port Authority.Holy cimoli Ditto, at whining abaht the PortaThority anat is startin to grate on my nerves. Someone needs to cut through the red tape and just poke a tube through the rock. It ain't like you aint got no miners left in the area that forgot how to do it. Just get off yer butt and get 'er done. Worry how to pay for the dam thing later.
Sheeesh.... no wonder the Pirates can't win crap anymore.
You sound like Nancy Pelosi -- eager to spend someone elses money. We're already so far in the hole in this country that even my grandchildren won't be able to pay for it.
That stupid damn hole under the river is the biggest waste of tax money I have ever seen and there is zero potential for enough ridership to even pay for a fraction of it. Aside for the hundreds of millions being spent on it now, it will cost tens of millions a year in maintenance in the future and PAT can't afford to maintain what they already have.
You are really getting old with this choo-choo train obsession.
We're already so far in the hole in this country that even my grandchildren won't be able to pay for it.
Maybe it's time to tell that Scaife whacknut to ante up, or start taking his name off of everything.
Heck, he wasn't the one who earned the privilege to put their name on everything anyway.
Elsie Hillman too. She's been skating by for several years now, pissing money away on Andy Warhol. Hasn't done anything substantive since the Pitt library was built back in the early '70s.
WOW! Now it's bash the rich and take their money. Do you realize you are posting on FreeRepublic and not some Commie forum?
How about this? Maybe you should pay my mortgage for me and in return I'll name my house the Choo-choo Willie's Whistle Stop and put a Lyonel train in the gameroom.
Hasn't done anything substantive since the Pitt library was built back in the early '70s.
Hey! There's an idea!
Tell Elsie that instead of the T coming outta the ground next to Andy Carnegie's building, we'll deliver it right to the front door of her building... complete with the red carpet!!!
That Scaif guy might have to walk a little further, but I don't think he's gonna pony up anyway. Something wrong with that dude... he's a lot more pennypinching then the ones who came before him.
Do you realize you are posting on FreeRepublic and not some Commie forum?
Of course I do... maybe if he's lurking here, I can shame him into understanding how easy it would be for them to do it if they just cut through a little red tape.
Or don't you think that Scaife and Hillman know how to cut through the Pittsburgh red tape anymore?
Willie, if they spent every last penny they have, they couldn't build the stupid system you want. To their credit, they donate significant money to causes that make a real difference, not to pie in the sky boondoggles that no one needs or wants.
It ain't the 1950s and Davie Lawrence is long dead. Red Tape today is made from steel and it is designed not to be cut. It has a meter on it, and it can only be opened by putting money in the meter. That is how politicians, the public workers unions and other moochers, extortionists and rent seekers avail themselves to the public trough.
It has a meter on it, and it can only be opened by putting money in the meter.
We just need Scaife and Elsie to prime the pump...
Theresa Heinz will be in such a mad scramble to ketchup, we can stick her with the rest of the tab!!!
Rail in the US is unbelievably underdeveloped. Amtrak only served 29 million passenger in 2008 and has 19000 employess. Deutsche Bahn served 1.9 billion passengers in 2008 and has 240000 employees! And Germany has a much smaller population than the US.
Rail in the US is unbelievably underdeveloped.
Well you're right... but "underdeveloped" isn't quite the right word.
Our government abandoned passenger rail in favor of highway and airline development way back in the 1950s. And the railroads shed passenger service in favor of freight just in a frantic effort to survive.
So instead of "underdeveloped", I'd say that it's suffering from disrepair and neglect. Now, some 40 years or so later, when we no longer live in an era of cheap oil, the Oil, Highway Freight Railroad and Airline Lobbies (among others), are desperately trying to prevent passenger rail systems from making a comback in the market.
What will the government do — force people at gunpoint to ride trains? What a friggin’ waste of the taxpayer’s money!Willie wept. Sad Willie, socialism is simply NOT a FREE REPUBLIC virtue. Not now, not never.
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