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Company alleges hanky-panky and safety issues in suit over subway-car project it lost out on
By adamg on Wed, 01/21/2015 - 2:35pm
Hyundai Rotem, the South Korean company that started delivering commuter-rail trains 2 1/2 years late, is suing the state for awarding the contract to build new Red and Orange Line trains.
In a lawsuit filed this week in US District Court in Boston, Hyundai Rotem alleges winning bidder CNR shmoozed then Gov. Patrick and Transportation Secretary Richard Davey at a secret meeting in Hong Kong despite explicit directions in bid documents to not try to contact state officials and failed to tell the state it was in the process of being bought by one of the companies that was ruled unqualified for the state project.
Hyundai Rotem also charges the company persuaded the officials to change a bid requirement that bidders have experience building North American heavy-rail cars, such as subway cars, which CNR does not. The South Korean company says this could lead to serious safety issues for riders, because the US has unique construction requirements for creating crumple zones in the event of a crash:
The MBTA admitted in its evaluation that CNR did not demonstrate familiarity with the American safety standards when interviewed by the MBTA, thus raising serious questions, albeit overlooked or ignored by the MBTA, as to whether CNR or its joint venturers can deliver subway cars to Boston which are sufficiently reliable and safe for the MBTA and the ridership.
And, Hyundai Rotem continues, CNR seems to specialize in car construction in places such as "Turkmenistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ethiopia, all countries with minimal or non-existent technical safety and reliability standards."
Hyndai Rotem wants a judge to toss the state's $567-million contract with CNR and force the state to hire it instead as "the lowest responsible and eligible bidder."
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete Hyundai Rotem complaint | 159.88 KB |
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Comments
someone's
just mad that they kissed up and didn't get the job.
Yay lets add more costs to these cars due to legal fees. /s I mean by the time we're done, maybe we should have just gone with Bombardier or Siemens.
You know...
You know, I'm all for seeing the government spend money responsibly and get the most bang for our collective bucks, but I'll be curious to see how these CNR trains work out (Assuming Hyundai doesn't derail this deal).
I've been in London a few times over the last couple months and the new Bombardier trains they're running on many of their lines are AMAZING. Especially the ones where you can walk through the entire length of the train (No doors between cars). They cost more, but generally speaking the Bombardier products I think wear really well. I'd rather see us shell out more up front for lower running & maintenance costs down the road.
But I will give CNR that they have trains running on the Hong Kong metro system, which is a great system (And also one that actually makes money).
maintenance costs down the road?
...hell, Hyundai's trains didn't even make it that far before they had to be serviced!
Bombardier
The biggest problem was the stupid requirement final assembly be in MA. This sort of thing is why Bombardier's bid was so much higher even though they likely would have made good cars. I would rather see the cars assembled where the company already have experienced workers and tooling. Building a new factory is a recipe for delays, cost overruns, and manufacturing problems.
Many people get upset over welfare given directly to people but that sort of stipulation is just another form of welfare -- only one that will end up helping select corporations more then normal citizens.
Logistical reasons?
If they were assembled elsewhere (final assembled), how would they get here?
Train
via Train or tractor trailers. Same way anything overseas is made comes here. (via a boat initially)
Actually knowing Bombardier, they'd come down via truck or train from Quebec.
The state mandated that the cars be made in the US, specifically assembled in MA for the MBTA.
Umm, the way they always do
It's not as if the Red/Orange line trains can run on normal RR track from Springfield. They'd be shipped or trucked here as they have in the past.
That said, perhaps this was part of the ploy to link Springfield with Boston -- just extend the Red Line from Alwife!
Actually
MBTA trains run on standard gauge track, and there are interconnects on the MBTA network to the national rail network.
That being said, you'd have to hook them up to a locomotive & push them since they need the 3rd rail.
Interesting
I know the track gauge is the same but I didn't know they had fabricated the interlocking bits to allow the light rail cars to attach to a locomotive.
Not the Green Line
The heavy rail lines, Red, Blue and Orange.
The T as policy no longer has
The T as policy no longer has subway or light rail rolling stock delivered by rail, but has in the past.
The only existing connections to the national rail network, IIRC, are a disused track connection on the orange line near Wellington (connects o the Haverhill line), and I think there might be one on the red line near Cabot yard.
The MBTA doesn't decide how
The MBTA doesn't decide how the equipment is shipped, it is up to the builder as part of their proposal/bid. For about the last 30 years, every light rail and heavy rail car has come via truck. The commuter rail equipment can be shipped in a freight train on their own wheels. The last rapid transit cars to be delivered on their own wheels via freight train were the present Orange Line cars in 1979-81, which were shipped from Thunder Bay Ontario to Boston on the back end of freight trains coupled to "spacer cars" which had a rapid transit car coupler on one end and a conventional freight car coupler on the other.
The T absolutely does specify
The T absolutely does specify how the equipment is delivered. Sure, the bidder might have suggested in their proposal delivery via rail or truck, but the T has the final say on it, primarily because not all the rapid transit lines have connections to the national rail network
Agreed
I 300% agree. While I like to support "Made in the USA", there's just certain things that other countries just do better than us.
Didn't we learn anything from the Boeing Cars and how 'dictating' where/how they are made resulted in a disaster.
The NYC subway and commuter
The NYC subway and commuter railroads know what they're doing. They end up buying railcars from Bombardier and Kawasaki, and they haven't had any quality issues.
It's too bad the T can't learn from this.
-
To be fair, all of the three corporations that made the last 3500+ subway cars for NYC do their manufacturing in NY.
Alstom's plant is in Hornell, NY.
Kawasaki's plant is in Yonkers, NY.
Bombardier's plant is in Plattsburgh, NY.
See something similar going on with our Made-In-Massachusetts requirement?
Ditto
My bet is that Hyundi Rotem put their plant in Philly for the same reason.
I will admit that a side effect of the Made-In-Massachusetts requirement would be that foreign firms with a presence in the USA already would be disadvantaged, but on the other hand, how hard would it be to plunk down an assembly facility in Springfield. There are enough sites not being used, so the issue would be the installation of tools and recruitment of employees.
Or, of course, some American industrial company can figure out that there is a market for passenger rail cars and get back into the business. Just saying.
As I said in the other post
The real scandal should be that they [Hyundai] were allowed to get as far as they did in the bidding. After a 30 month delay and faulty cars their bid should have been quickly removed from moving onto further consideration on any new delivery.
Edit: Specified the "they"
Which "they"?
Which "they"?
USA
Is there really not a single American company that can make these? Support USA!
Sorry, no
"The problem, however, is that in key parts of the mass-transit industry, domestic suppliers have exited the business, so public capital investments in mass transit become significantly captured by imports. There is no longer any U.S.–based producer of subways..."
So said The American Prospect in 2009. I don't think any new domestic subway manufacturer has started up since then.
What makes Hyndai Rotem think
That they could possible qualify under the criteria they cite?
I don't know how things work in S. Korea, but I certaily don't consider "delivering commuter-rail trains 2 1/2 years late" the sign of a responsible bidder.
I don't know how things work
Usually they just bribe the family who controls the company or the politicians.
Ahhhh...
...feels just like home....