Maglev Backers Launch TV Ad Attack on Harry Reid
The war over high speed rail from Southern California to Nevada heated up this week as American Magline Group, backers of the proposed maglev train from Anaheim to Las Vegas, launched a TV ad attacking Senator Harry Reid for abandoning the maglev project and the jobs it would supposedly bring:
The “Ninety Thousand Jobs” spots cut by Mark Fierro on behalf of the American Magline Group threatens to give Reid’s campaign fits. The television commercials attempt to, ahem, encourage Reid to support American Magline’s Las Vegas-to-Anaheim maglev project.
Although the spots don’t mention Reid by name, they imply he’s on the wrong track.
Why are they so potentially devastating?
The spots don’t feature actors, crackpots or ominous snapshots in sepia tone. They star card-carrying members of Ironworkers Local 433, a hall with a 50 percent unemployment rate and no jobs on the horizon.
Those are Harry Reid voters. They are endorsing the maglev jobs he has rejected in favor of DesertXpress.
Although I couldn’t find the ad itself online, the description sounds bad enough. Senator Reid is facing a tough re-election battle this year anyway, and a TV ad featuring construction workers attacking him for not bringing jobs to the state isn’t helpful.
And yet, it’s not a fair criticism. The attack is based on Harry Reid’s shift in support from maglev to DesertXpress last June. Senator Reid’s move was the right one, since maglev is a stunningly expensive project that was highly unlikely to ever be built. This week, Reid shifted the $45 million in federal funds that were to go to help the maglev project complete studies away from that purpose and toward improvements on the freeway connector between Interstate 215 and the McCarran Airport Access road in Las Vegas. That appears to have been the trigger for the TV ads going to the airwaves, although the ads were likely produced in advance.
Reid defended his position in a press release yesterday:
Reid’s release cited what he called “the wildly inaccurate claim that their project will immediately create 90,000 jobs.” He also was critical of “maglev’s 30-year record of failure” and that at a minimum, developers should have been able to complete an environmental impact statement in the time they have been working on the project….
“I have no ill will toward the people behind the maglev project and want it to be clear that no one, including me, is stopping them from moving ahead with their project,” Reid’s release said. “During the many years I supported maglev, Congress made more than $50 million available, including a $45 million appropriation in 2008.
“We are now well into 2010 and maglev has failed to come up with the 20 percent match needed to obtain these federal funds, which is why I reprogrammed the $45 million for a transportation project in Southern Nevada that will actually create jobs right away,” the release said. “While Nevadans are rightfully impressed with the maglev technology, they, like me, just want to see something get done. DesertXpress is ready to break ground and put Nevadans back to work this year.”
These are solid arguments from Senator Reid about the problems with maglev. It’s not as if the maglev project would have been ready to break ground anytime in the near future – whereas the DesertXpress project is near a Record of Decision on its EIS process that would allow it to start construction soon.
Further, it wasn’t clear that maglev would actually make it out of the state of Nevada. American Magline released a series of documents accompanying its ad that included the following:
An April 8, 2009 letter from Bruce Aguilera, chairman of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood referencing an April 1 meeting at which it was acknowledged that work would focus on “the First Forty Miles” of the maglev project – the Las Vegas-Primm link. The letter indicated the funding would help complete the final stage of the environmental impact statement for that area and that work could be completed within 12-18 months.
Had this actually moved forward, the enormous costs of this “First Forty Miles” to Primm would have almost certainly made it unlikely that construction on the rest of the route would have ever begun. California would probably have never seen a mile of maglev track laid down as part of this project, even though it was intended to connect to Anaheim.
Still, there is nothing to indicate that maglev was anywhere close to being shovel ready. Whereas the California High Speed Rail project from SF to LA and Anaheim is expected to be able to start construction by 2012, bringing thousands of construction jobs to a state in desperate need of them, maglev would have taken much longer to start hiring workers.
American Magline also claims that Reid’s shift toward DesertXpress was politically motivated:
Magline officials have responded that they’ve met as many deadlines as rival DesertXpress. They also point out the obvious conflict in the senator’s message: His relationship with DesertXpress spokesman and investor Sig Rogich, who only weeks before winning Reid’s endorsement organized the “Republicans for Reid” group that raised eyebrows throughout the state Republican Party.
Even so, that doesn’t invalidate the larger point: that maglev wasn’t nearly as close to construction as its backers claim. It hadn’t created a funding plan and still had a number of major regulatory obstacles to overcome before any construction could happen. Senator Reid made the right call in switching his support to DesertXpress.
Mmmm… labor again being used to support a failed product!
Last year it was construction trades supporting a Breda vehicle purchase option for the Los Angeles Metro LRT system… and ignoring their poor performance in delivering vehicles on time and per specification on a current contract. If Metro purchased the option, Breda was saying they’d build a manufacturing site in Los Angeles. Construction trades lobbied hard for Metro to go with Breda…. saying it would bring jobs to LA.
Today, similar is occuring in Las Vegas. Reid is taking the blame for gazillion jobs being lost because funding, earmarked for maglev, assuming 20% match, was reallocated. Is Reid, not so subtly, being lobbied to make the Iron workers whole… at the proddying of the American Maglev group?
Probably.
Which leads me to wonder…. how many times must ‘labor’ be used as pawns to seek public sympathy… to exploit the weakness of politicians to ease someones pain? At some point…. the public just gets too saturated with stuff like this, particularly when it is junk, and begins to ignore the complaints from labor altogether.
It seems that organized labor should police themselves…. so-as to not go to this well too often.
wu ming Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 11:24 pm
contrary to your assumption, the entirety of organized labor doesn’t get to vote on the actions of every single local, and it’s not really “policed” in that sort of stalinist top-down manner. it’s not like this was some sweeping joint resolution of the entire AFL-CIO + the change to win labor coalition, it’s one ironworkers union local.
Brandon from San Diego Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:16 pm
You know what they say when you “assume.”
I’ve read comments about DesertXpress and most don’t like the idea of getting on a train in Victorville and would rather drive the rest of the way to Vegas, AS DX has a max speed of 150mph, Mag has a max speed of 310mph, The cost of Las Vegas to Primm is $1.8 Billion, I don’t know if the loan from China worked out or not, But China has confidence in the project and Maglev can climb the Cajon pass without tunneling as It can climb as much as a 10% Grade(an incline or slope). The Cajon pass Freeway Grade is less than 10%, So It could take people from Las Vegas NV to Anaheim CA or vice versa, Anything built from scratch is not cheap or even easy to do and this is proven Technology as China has their own Maglev system and Its been running for Years and carry lots of people, China is going to enlarge the Maglev beyond where It is too.
CA-NV Interstate Maglev website on a pdf
Alon Levy Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
The problem with maglev isn’t the specs – it’s the incompatibility with CAHSR. It’s interesting you mention China, which by and large dropped maglev and went with conventional HSR. It wanted an intercity maglev from Shanghai to Hangzhou for a while, but its overall record of lying on environmental issues and its violating Transrapid safety standards led to neighborhood opposition, which the government didn’t care enough to overrule.
The first forty miles are a complete waste of money – they connect Vegas to nothing. In fact, every maglev backer will tell you that the reason the Shanghai maglev failed is that it only goes to a suburb at the outer end of the subway, rather than to the city center. Either find a way to get LV maglev to LAUS or don’t build it.
Victor Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Maglev doesn’t have to be compatible with the CHSRA Tracks, Why should It? They are two different technologies, As to dropping Maglev, They do have plans to extend the line by 200Km(125 miles), China doesn’t let a few protesters stop them, They continue on anyway.
Shanghai maglev to be extended This was dated August 25, 2008.
According to this site Here There is a lot of activity going on and It’s eating up resources and China is doing pretty good in this recession, As they have a lot of public works projects, We haven’t had some large scale projects like that since the Depression(Before My time).
Alon Levy Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Since 2008, the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev project has been canceled again. In fact, the existing maglev is so low-performing that Shanghai’s currently extending the subway along the same route.
China, believe it or not, does listen to protesters when it’s not a core issue for the government. The Shanghai clique is no longer in power, and the current government couldn’t care less about gadgetbahn. It still clears people to make room for infrastructure, but prestige projects like the supertall Ferris wheel and maglev are out.
dejv Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 3:13 pm
They approved the project again recently. I bet that Chūō Shinkansen will be completed sooner though, as there is much more viable bussiness case.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Don’t worry, it will get canceled again – they’re about to open 350 km/h HSR on that route.
Matthew Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:37 pm
The German’s have tried and given up on maglev many times. The Chinese could have chosen this technology for their current massive investment in intercity rail, but didn’t. Why are other countries with more experience not using this technology? Because it’s too expensive, and provides only marginal benefit over conventional rail, which is much much cheaper. It’s idiocy to expect that it would be any different if we replicated that failed experiment here. We should be thankful to the Germans and Chinese that they wasted their money so we could have this information for free. If DesertXpress gets built, it can connect to CAHSR at Palmdale, resulting in a one seat ride from LA to Las Vegas. Trains could be scheduled to go direct from anywhere on the network to Las Vegas without a transfer, including from San Diego or San Francisco.
Matthew Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Here’s a map of how a built out HSR network could look to Las Vegas and Phoenix/Tucson
http://img9.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=47262_586px_cahsr_mapsvg_copy1_122_581lo.jpg
rafael Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:28 am
The idea behind the “first 40 miles” is to connect downtown Las Vegas to the planned Ivanpah Valley relief airport to be located between Primm and Jean. The state has already purchased the land required. This being Nevada, developers also want to construct a number of new casinos next to the new airport since land on the strip is becoming scarce.
The problem is that McCarran airport no longer looks like it will run out of capacity anytime soon. Since over 30% of all flights into Las Vegas are from California, connecting the city to the California HSR network with non-stop service would relieve the existing downtown airport very effectively, in addition to creating capacity for *light* freight (perishable fish, produce, flowers plus mail & packages etc.)
Maglev technology is incompatible with the steel wheels that California HSR will be based on, so even if such a system were built, passengers would have to execute a transfer in either Palmdale or Ontario. There simply isn’t any ROW nor any public funding for two competing HSR systems in the San Gabriel valley, so maglev would never be extended all the way to Anaheim or LA Union Station. The business case for freight maglev from LA/LB harbors to an inland container terminal east of I-15 near Ontario airport had de facto disappeared even before the Nov 2008 vote on prop 1A.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 8:52 am
That’s why there are proposals to link DesertXpress to California High Speed Rail by building a very easy and affordable extension west from Victorville across the flat desert to Palmdale.
rafael Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:39 am
It’s worth pointing out that DX is looking to use standard gauge steel wheels, but they’re still wobbly on other essential aspects of technological compatibility: track tolerances required for operation at 220mph, electrification at 25kV @ 60Hz, signaling, non-compliant rolling stock etc etc.
The devil is very much in the details. Without any public money on the table, DX will build whatever is least expensive and involves the least amount of FRA red tape. For the longest time, they were married to the concept of TalgoXXI diesel trains, which would top out at 125mph. For them, the only reasons for even considering electrification were higher top speed and lower fuel cost – NV has plenty of hydro/solar power to run a few trains.
If CAHSR and DX are ever to link their networks via a connector in the High Desert such that high speed trains can run between Anaheim/Irvine, SF, Sacramento and Las Vegas, it’s essential that California agencies insist DX select technology that is 100% compatible with the Golden State’s own project. Standard gauge steel wheels alone only gets them about 80% there.
Victor Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:44 am
Problem is will DX be compatible electricity wise with the CHSRA system or will they be like Maglev at having to merely exchange passengers at the station? I ask as DX has a top speed of only 150mph and the CHSRA has a top speed of 220mph. I’d rather keep the two apart from each other If the DX trains can’t keep up with the CHSRA trains. Just cause they use the same gauge track(Distance between the rails) and size of rail doesn’t mean they’ll be all that compatible.
Peter Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 11:20 am
Well, they could end up using the same equipment, enabling DX to run at 220 on CA’s HSR tracks, and vice versa. And the only reason that DX is “maxed out” at 150 is that that is the highest speed that the FRA currently has regulations for, IIRC. Most of the route could probably be run at 220 without any problems.
jimsf Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Well, if smart thinkers prevail, the chsra folks and the dx folks will talk, and realize for one thing, they can save money if they order the same trainsets together and get a volume discount and also. dx could be one of the first private operators that could lease rights on the ca track to provide single seat service from sf to lv for instance, so long as they use a cahsr compatible system and chsra should realize the revenue generating potential of leasing rights.
dejv Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 1:59 pm
It will. They’ll go for 25 kV at mains frequency, standard for every new HSL outside 15 kV 16,7 Hz territory. Actually 50 kV could make sense for DX because it would widen station spacing but I doubt they would risk it, HS trains are expensive enough even when there’s nothing custom in them.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Um, top speed has nothing to do with it. HSR has slow zones. North of SJ, it’ll be limited to 200 km/h, and in the LA Basin, it will be limited to (I think) 240. If DX builds the line with a top speed of 240, then CAHSR trains will run there at 240.
AndyDuncan Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 3:22 pm
DX has indicated that they want to run trains to LAUS. If they do, then they need rolling stock that can make it up the grade from Sylmar to Palmdale (and potentially on to Mojave, if Jim and I get our way) as fast as the CAHSR trains which will be running flat-out through that section. Whether or not the DX connection from Palmdale or Mojave to Vegas runs at 220mph or 150mph, they won’t be allowed to hold up traffic on the route from LA to the high desert.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 10:58 pm
The simulations have the trains topping out at 220 km/h through the mountain passes. Nothing’s going to hold up CAHSR.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:39 am
The speed limit through the Tehachapi Pass is 180 km/h, if I’m not mistaken. The only place where DX trains could possibly hold up faster CAHSR trains is between Palmdale and Mojave, which is to short to cause capacity problems.
Joey Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 2:42 pm
The real question is of loading gauges. The two lines must have a common platform height and train width in order to be compatible. Signaling might also be a question.
Mag-Lev technology is for countries who have money to burn and the U.S is not one of those countries. We have enough drama with the public’s low confidence in rail travel and then you talk about cutting corners and trying to jump ahead of other countries because you wan’t to think were badass. The only reason Maglev exists in a small part of China is because they built the thing no matter how much it cost at any cost even if it made no sense. Which means that like everything else, whoever buys and implements new technology will have to pay the full bill as opposed to REAL proven HSR technology, steel wheel on steel rail wich is Real Proven Technology.
Mag-lev would be cool but lets be real, nobody is going to build it. Especially in the U.S, if Germany (the home to Maglev) cancelled a Maglev project because it was too expensive then Their is Zero chance of it being built here. I can see regular HSR being built several times over vs. one Maglev line.
Joey Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
It will likely be several decades before Maglev becomes economically viable.
You know, I’d much rather the opposition to HSR came from maglev people than from highway people.
Victor Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
I don’t see why someone can’t support both Maglev and HSR, After all Highways aren’t going anywhere, Are very expensive to expand or build and I don’t see Local Car Traffic and Trucks getting on either HSR or Maglev and neither Maglev or HSR will by their very nature serve all communities, Highways serve smaller communities in that function very well, like a link in a chain really. HSR doesn’t have a place between Anaheim and Las Vegas as It would need very large radius tunnels cut by TBMs to climb up the Cajon Pass and 150mph(Victorville CA to Las Vegas NV, Why?)? That’s only roughly twice as fast as the freeway traffic(except on weekends and/or holidays), I have a front row seat and I get to see them(Maybe You even) crawling along like bugs on weekends and/or holidays(I don’t worry about that, But then I’m a local), Otherwise traffic moves pretty quickly out here and Yes I’ve traveled to Las Vegas from where I live near Barstow CA.
Risenmessiah Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 1:09 am
No, no, and NO!
Internecine warfare between the unions is the fastest way to kill HSR dead. Dead.
If the contractors are looking for a meal ticket, they need to be told the truth. HSR will be only be as successful as it is small. Build as few stations as possible, don’t try to hit everyone’s assmebly district. Build what needs to get built, not what you want. The reason why the Republican Party survives in CA is that it feeds on the public’s growing distrust of “unions”.
The anti-Reid ad is dangerous because conservative voters will immediately gravitate toward opposing HSR as a boondoogle and have zero sympathy for the hard hat crowd. Trust me, the highway people are their own worst enemy…they are nothing compared to the damage that the unions can do to the project.
EJ Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 8:44 pm
The unions are always just going to advocate whatever project they think will lead to the most concrete being poured and the most jobs for their members. It’s not like they’re fooling anyone – public benefit don’t enter into it, and everyone knows it. They can’t kill HSR.
The broken politics of america combined with the increasing illiteracy and lack of critical thinking skills of the american public, will doom this county, sooner rather than later.
The maglev crowd probably sees little risk in piling on Reid because the odds are he will not be re-elected. The monorail demonstrates that Sin City has a great reluctance to settle for conventional forms of transit. Let them fritter away their ill-gotten gains on gadgetbahns.
Jack Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 7:26 am
I was under the impression the monorail covered it’s operating expenses quite well. It has a management problem right? Something about the Taxi companies opposing a connection to the airport.
Robert Cruickshank Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 8:54 am
Exactly. The monorail was privately funded, so its problem is in repaying the construction costs.
The original plan was to go from Fremont Street, down the Strip, to the airport. But the casinos didn’t want it on the Strip, taxi companies flipped about the airport connection, and in order to save on costs they truncated the line.
In short, the planners made every classic mass transit mistake in the book. And yet the monorail STILL covers its operating costs.
Joey Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:30 am
That’s amazing, considering how much the monorail sucks, quite frankly, as a mode of transportation (I would know, I’ve ridden it).
tomh Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Agreed, if the goal is to be able to easily move between casinos down the strip, it’s an utter failure. I don’t get why the casinos didn’t want it to go down the strip. It could have been built elevated down the center.
jimsf Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:45 am
Doesn’t it seem like the taxi companies do this every time when it comes to linking a rail project to an airport, they tried it with sfo, the did it with lax. They hold the public hostage. It shouldn’t be allowed. Why is it that private business can’t succeed without all kinds of taxpayer subsidy and legal protection? American business operators must be terribly incompetent.
Reality Check Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 11:26 am
Yeah, you gotta love how the taxi companies got the minimum cab fare to/from SJC set to $15 — highest in the nation! (Oh, and how ped access/egress from SJC has been cut-off.)
SJ airport faces debt and failure after big drop in flights, pax
Roadshow: SJ Airport bans pedestrian access/egress
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/39736".Minimum SJ Airport taxi fare going to $15 — highest in the US
Reality Check Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 11:28 am
Oops, I goofed the last link … well that’s what happens when the “preview post” feature gets taken away. Here’s another try:
Minimum SJ Airport taxi fare going to $15 — highest in the US
Victor Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 9:47 am
Thankfully monorail is not Maglev, But then the Monorail got shoved around by the Casinos and has yet to go to the airport.
wu ming Reply:
March 21st, 2010 at 11:27 pm
yup, i suspect this is an attempt to pose as if they were the reason reid lost, in hopes of inflating their importance.
YouTube video title
The Shanghai Maglev Train – 250mph – from WINDING ROAD
At first I was very skeptical. After seeing the latest pdf and video I am only mildly skeptical. Maglev appears to work. Future versions of Maglev may be better than the current version so that we may regret getting on the first commercially viable train. HSR will someday be replaced by Maglev. By then it may have superconducting magnets. Maglev may be ready for prime-time before you can get an HSR ticket from San Diego to Sacramento. Maglev track appears to be made in mass-produced segments. That would help control the cost to only stratospheric levels. Maintenance would be much lower. No pantograph, rail, or wheel maintenance costs.
YouTube video title
Maglev Train – complete video presentation
YouTube video titles
Maglev Train – complete video presentation
The Shanghai Maglev Train – 250mph – from WINDING ROAD
Maglev may be ready by the time we can buy an HSR ticket from San Diego to Sacramento.
What everybody seems to forget is that speed is expensive. Maglev and HSR are equal when subjected to increasing air resistance. At high speeds, the wheel/rail friction becomes comparatively negligible. Profiling the nose of the train can lower front compression but nothing can be done to counter fluid friction along the whole length of the train. When you double the speed, you multiply power consumption by 8. TGV sud-est, whose commercial speed is 300km/h has 8.8Mw installed power, but uses only 1/3 of it on average. The shortened TGV (100m) which reached 574km/h consumed 31Mw. At that speed, you need power even downhill because the air resistance is stronger than gravity.
So, the problem for a company is: what share of the market do we want to capture and what is the most efficient speed to attain our objective.
I remember seeing a curve, drawn by an SNCF engineer, showing the relation between trip duration and market share for Paris-Marseille (750km). Market share increased very sharply from 4 to 3 1/2 hours, more gently to 3 hours, and then remained flat. On that line, speeds over 300km/h would in fact lower market share by obliging the company to raise fares to pay for the extra megawatts consumed.
In my opinion, the choice should be made not by having only maximum speed in mind but by evaluating less exciting things like: cost of building the line, cost of maintenance, connectivity with existing lines (important in Europe, probably less so in America), risk of being supplier dependent, and other down-to-earth considerations.
dejv Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:24 am
IIRC, the study comparing Berlin-Wien route by HSR and Transrapid stated that 300 km/h HSR needs similar power to 450 km/h Transrapid, mainly because of Transrapid being able to seat more people to the same cross section.
It should be vitally important for DX, connection to CAHSR multipies their catchment area.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 am
At equal speed, maglev consumes less energy than conventional HSR. The design parameters are such that if the technology were fully debugged and had multiple compatible vendors, and if connectivity to the existing system were not an issue, then there would be no reason whatsoever to go with conventional rail. But in reality the technology is barely out of testing, there are two incompatible vendors and that’s it, and connectivity to the existing rail system is of critical importance even in FRA-land.
slightly off topic but this just came in and I found it interesting…..
from a compilation newsletter and the CEO comments:
-In response to President Obama’s “Vision of High Speed Rail in America”, Amtrak’s Board of Directors has authorized CEO Joseph Boardman to create a department within the company dedicated to high speed rail, as part of an effort to maintain its position as premier operator of passenger trains in the US.
Last Friday Boardman announced the decision in a company-wide memo to employees, revealing that the new department will be headed by a vice president who will report directly to him.
“Specifically, this department will work on the planning and development activities that will allow us to significantly increase operating speed above 150mph on the Northeast Corridor” wrote Mr. Boardman. “It will also pursue partnerships with states and others in the passenger rail industry to develop federally-designated high speed rail corridors such as the new projects moving forward in Florida and California.” Amtrak is seeking to respond to the spike in interest from foreign operators, a product of increased demand which has been made possible by 2008′s recovery Act. Amtrak recently lost a contract to run commuter rail – Virginia Railway Express – to Keolis, a private company partly owned by the French Government. Keolis is the same company as Veolia and Connex, just different names. Veolia’s management was responsible for the horrific train wreck in California back in September, 2008. Connex runs MBTA commuter Rail in Boston and was responsible for squandering $25million appropriated from the state legislature 5 years ago for the overhaul and maintenance of locomotives and coaches. The money instead ended up at the company’s headquarters in France. Since then due to lack of intense preventative maintenance, locomotives are suffering frequent, daily breakdowns. The coaches have scratched an fogged windows that haven’t been replaced for 10 years as well as missing emergency tools. Finally, it should be noted that Amtrak will once again take over running Metro link Commuter rail this July.-
“The increasing demand for pasenger rail service means we will face new comptetion from companies all over the world, but we have several stratgic advantages that we must not waste. We have assets, partnerships and knowledge that others do not. And most importnatly we have an extmely skilled tima of emplyees tht is unmatched. In short, we are uniq
Andre Peretti Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
“Keolis is the same company as Veolia”. Oh no!
Veolia is the SNCF’s arch enemy. It has managed to capture a sizable part of the French rail freight and the SNCF’s unions accuse it of unfair competition. They say it employs non-union, undertrained, underpaid personnel. When the Chatsworth accident happened, they were quick to spread the information that Metrolink was run by Veolia, hinting that it would be criminal to let it run passenger trains in France.
Keolis is a private company funded by the SNCF to try to put an end to Veolia Transportation’s world monopoly on local transit. Lately, it snatched Melbourne’s light rail system from Veolia.
Veolia Transportation (formerly Connex) is a branch of a multinational group employing more than 300,000 people worldwide.
jimsf Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Not sure about all that… I just wrote was written on the news piece. The bottom line though sounds like these foreign companies are involved in a lot of nonsense. Meanwhile Amtrak is making a clear and specific move to become the hsr operator of choice in the US. I can say from an employee perspective, the company has already started ramping up – even more than before – the emphasis on safe operations and improved customer service – and this is directly related to these high speed operation goals.
Amtrak certainly has had its problems, but the workforce does an amazing job considering they are working with a 30+ year old rag tag fleet, and 40 years of being starved for cash. Ridership is still growing – including long distance.
The problem with these fly by night foreign ” oh we can do it for “x” amount of dollars” companies, is that they try to maximize profit by cuttting corners wherever they can, the same practice that has turned flying into a third world nightmare. They do this rather than focus on doing the job PROPERLY as a first priority, with profit second.
In fact, surely we have all noticed that for the last 30 years, American business has operated the same way. Forget quality, forget loyalty, forget next year, just maximize this quarter’s profits, consequences be damned. That is why every time you have to call company “x” in order to do the simplest of business or problem solving, it leaves you steaming and red faced by the time you hang up.
The brilliant republican harvard business grads of the late 20th century brought us this model and oh, gee, look at us now america. look at us now.
Andre Peretti Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:55 pm
“foreign companies”
In our modern world, this notion is dead. Veolia is headquartered in Paris, but its shareholders are Wall Street banks. Is it French, is it American? These big companies have no country and their only loyalty (if any) is to their shareholders.
Company pride and sense of public service as still exist in Amtrak and SNCF are more and more things of the past. Modern companies no longer have “workers”. They now have human “resources” which they occasionally “recycle”. Same words as for coal or oil, and same consideration.
Joey Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Yeah, the more I consider it, the more I think that a public operator would be better for CAHSR than a private one.
dejv Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:18 pm
This means just that paying agencies have too few power over money they pay to operators. Fix it and private operators will play nicely.
dejv Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
This means just one thing: agencies have way to few power over money they pay to private operators. Fix this issue and operators will play nicely.
Risenmessiah Reply:
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I tend to think the Japanese have the right idea. Regional nonprofit corporations that have exclusive operational rights. Amtrak probably needs to be broken up so that it can focus on what regional rail demands are. But that being said, a JR East is much preferred over the sort of transportation “management” offered by companies like Veolia.
jimsf Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:41 am
I think the possibility exists for amtrak, once these high speed, higher speed/emerging etc, corridors are in place, to become profitable as far as operations. To follow the steps of other operators such as SNCF, where the state railway, gradually becomes more a of private operator, with the state taking care of the infrastructure investment. I guess its possible that the NEC, florida, California, and the midwest 125-150mph corridors would generate enough revenue to support their own operation costs and enough profit to cover the difference on the long distance lines.
Hard to ay what the future holds. But I do know that all things being equal, I’d rather my railroads in the the US be run by homegrown folks and not a bunch of foreigners. I’ve just about had it up to here with america’s little “give it up to the world” binge that has left american workers in the employment line, and given american consumers boatloads of worthless, plastic crap.
Let me tell you something, I have no fewer than 8 staplers at work. 7 of them don’t work. 1, the oldest one does work. Guess where the 7 new ones, that don’t work, were made. Guess where the one thats 30 years old, that works like a charm, was made. Thats right. But guess what else. We can’t use that one because the company says the staples costs too much. So instead we keep buying chinese crap and then throwing them in the trash a month later.
ok sorry Im on a tangent this morning…..
Peter Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:12 am
That’s so weird. I just looked at my stapler, a solid metal one which ALWAYS works. Swingline, with “U.S.A.” stamped into it, made in Long Island City, NY. Then I looked at the crappy staplers by our copy machine, which have just been replaced AGAIN. Also Swingline, but “Made in China”. Big surprise there.
jimsf Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 12:33 pm
@ Peter-same ones. see its true I tell ya. and there you have it. the epitome of todays american business model. cheap cheap cheap, profit at any cost. I bought a broom at the 99 cent store yesterday. It left little plastic yellow bristles all over my apt. Now i have to go buy a real broom, plus the buck I spent. Didn’t save much huh.
Now, are we going to buy the chinese trains?
Peter Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Hell, just return the broom, say that their store sucks, and never go there again.
Andre Peretti Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 4:39 pm
You won’t have much choice. Maybe Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens will still have sales networks in the West, but the trains will be Chinese, just like the Swingline staplers. The Chinese got their technology for free and have an infinite reserve of slave labor. Who can beat that?
Alon Levy Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:32 pm
You know, this is exactly what people said about Japan and then South Korea. Both countries developed to the point of having to pay higher wages, and now compete on quality, not price. For all of Korea’s tech theft from Alstom, ROTEM is just one of many multinational rolling stock manufacturers.
And that’s without mentioning that the Velaro, Zefiro, and other technologies used in China are still heavier and more expensive than any modern Shinkansen model.
jimsf Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:43 pm
ok but what about my chinese staplers? When I can expect quality there? I mean, I have to do a lot of stapling you know.
Alon Levy Reply:
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Japanese railroads are for-profit, publicly traded companies, with competition among lines. They do not separate track ownership and train operation as the Europeans do; instead, each company has its own tracks, just like in pre-Amtrak America, and interoperation is done with trackage rights agreements.
ugh I hate this blog format.
….. to continue….
” we have assets, partnerships and knowledge that others do not. And most importantly we have an extremely skilled team of employees that is unmatched. In short, we are uniquely qualified to meet the goals laid out by President Obama and the administration’s Vision of High Speed Rail in America. Our new high speed rail department will will capitalize on these assets to ensure that we keep our position as the most effective, most professional high speed rail operator in the nation.”
ok so that might sound like your typical company pep talk, but actually, what he says is true. There isn’t anyone else in america who has these assets and the 20,000 well trained workforce in place. I also can say that we have and will continue to have an excellent focus on safety. and notice he specifically mentions the California project and our existing state partnerships.
and we keep our windows clean too.