$20 million Alstom investment in Hornell would give new life to old Erie shops

A $20 million investment. At least 500 new jobs.

That is what award of the Bay Area Rapid Transit contract could mean for Alstom.

A 775-car job for the San Francisco Bay area commuter service would spur the deepest level of investment in Hornell yet by the French transportation giant, with a promise to establish a new aluminum car shell manufacturing facility inside the present main car shop. If built, it would be be the only aluminum car shell manufacturing plant in the United States.

Alstom now is awaiting final word on the roughly $3.4 billion contract, which has been initially secured by Montreal-based competitor Bombardier. However, BART has given Bombardier 15 days to submit information necessary for a ‘Buy America’ audit, mandated for all federally-funded transit projects in order to determine whether at least 60 percent of the work on the new vehicles will take place in the United States.

Alstom maintains it will do at least 95 percent of work on the cars in the U.S., and with a bid that was just 2 percent higher than Bombardier’s, is hopeful that its plan to do nearly all work in the U.S. will put its bid at the top. A third competitor, South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem, was 4 percent off the Bombardier bid.

“While we cannot discuss specifics of an ongoing procurement process, Alstom’s proposal for building BART’s next-generation rail fleet placed top priority on creating high-quality jobs for American workers,”?Adam Pratt, U.S. Media Relations Manager for Alstom, said in a statement. “The cars we deliver would be 95 percent made in America — a level of domestic content the U.S. rail market hasn't seen for decades.”

Pratt added that “this commitment to America’s workforce would mean 500 new jobs at Alstom sites, and thousands more with supplier companies across the country. Our investment of $20 million to create the country’s only aluminum car body manufacturing facility would support the BART contract while also establishing domestic support for future projects.”

It is the new aluminum car shell manufacturing facility that has the attention of Hornell leaders. Prior to this, car shells were manufactured at Alstom sites in Spain and Brazil. Bombardier is expected to use aluminum car bodies from its plants in?Canada and Mexico.

“I’ve been working with Alstom officials on this for the past several years because this has been a desire of theirs for some time,”?said Hogan, who noted that the investment would have been made had Alstom won the Amtrak Surfliner contract in 2010.

Past contracts have involved huge expense from shipping the shells from Brazil, Hogan said, adding that in the R-160 contract with New York City, at least $50 million of the expense was due to shipping, with offloading from boats in Baltimore and then trucking to Hornell. Another problem has been the potential for damage during shipping, Hogan said.

The move, he said, would “add a whole new dimension here in Hornell” and add a new set of skill sets for the work force.

“It would make Hornell one of the only communities in the nation with a full-scale rail car building operation,”?Hogan said. Hornell now has climate control and water testing buildings.

“This would make Hornell a transit car center of excellence for our whole nation,” Hogan said.

James K. Allison, spokesman for BART, said the current schedule calls for BART staff to make a presentation that recommends award of the new car contract on April 26. The board may then take action authorizing award of the contract at its May 10th board meeting.