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[Urgent] Brightline West Waiver is Being Lobbied Against by Alstom and Wabtec (Patreon)

Published:
2024-01-25 16:55:32
Imported:
2026-10
Tags:

Content

The video has all the details, but in typical non-competitive business practices 2 companies do not want High Speed Rail to come easy in the US. Buy America can be good, but in this instance its good to waiver it in favor of the better train control system.

Files

Brightline West HSR is Potentially Delayed if this Waiver is Blocked

The FRA Wavier Comment Page: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FRA-2023-0099-0001/comment?sortBy=postedDate&sortDirection=desc ERTMS Info: https://www.ertms.net/about-ertms/ertms-in-brief/ My Social Media & Discord found here: https://linktr.ee/alanthefisher Wanna send something for me to include in a video? PO Box 38619 Philadelphia, PA 19104A The Armchair Urbanist Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhycIWhOLttikNg2Z1aJvGPoqijpGs9qh

Comments

Joshua (aka J-Bahn)

Made a comment: The Buy America requirements should be waived in this case. Blocking this waiver would essentially skew any bidding process in favor of Alstom for train manufacturing and Wabtec in terms of signaling train control. This has the potential to negatively impact Brightline West, on which the success of future passenger and high-speed rail ultimately rests. Alstom's arguments that waivers should not granted represent a blatant attempt to monopolize the market for high-speed rail equipment. With the extreme delays with the Avelia Liberty trainsets for service in the Northeast Corridor, Alstom has so far shown itself to be unsatisfactory in producing high-speed trains that are capable are reliable regular service in North America. Alstom likely seeks to block this waiver to cover for their poor performance in the American market. It is completely reasonable that the government should relax its regulations to allow other manufacturers such as Siemens, CAF, Talgo, Steadler, Hitachi, etc to produce the trains abroad to expedite production time. (It would of course be reasonable to exclude companies from China) If these models prove successful, these companies can easily begin to manufacture them in the US under the Buy America Law. In the long term, granting the waiver would likely result in additional competition, meaning would lower prices for high-speed trainsets, essential if the US is to create more high-speed rail routes. Conversely, if the waiver is not given, Alstom will likely be given the contract. If the trainsets for Brighline West have the same problems as on the Northeast Corridor, the success of Brighline West could be compromised, and it could kill the prospect of additional high-speed rail projects in the United States. This would result, ironically, in fewer opportunities for jobs to be created, in the long term, with the construction of high-speed trains in the United States. Similarly, as for the arguments for Wabtec, Brightline West should be able to decide for itself which signaling system is best to use. There is a plausible argument to be made that ERTMS train control is superior to the train control offered by Wabtec, and has been widely deployed on high-speed rail systems across Europe and Asia. As Wabtec does not offer a system with the superior benefits of ERMTS (notably with information being relayed to the train via ground-based systems rather than less reliable satellite-based systems, the regulations should be waived. If ERTMS systems prove superior, it would provide an incentive for Wabtec to begin offering such systems across the country as well as for foreign manufacturers to begin manufacturing the technology in the US. In essence, the Buy American Acts have ignored the reality that US rail manufacturing has declined since its passage (due to lack of government subsidies for or for public transportation). As a result, as we finally try to catch up to the rest of the world in terms of transit and high-speed rail, it is necessary to relax our regulations to allow more advanced foreign technology into the US. Once more advanced railcars and signaling systems have jumped and started the growth of more transit across the US, foreign manufacturers will be compelled to offer advanced products in the US, and US manufacturers will be compelled to diversify their products. Companies opposing the waivers do not have the long-term concerns of American labor or transportation in mind. Their primary motivation is their short-term bottom line. Please accept Brightline West´s request to waive Buy America requirements for these trainsets.

Adam St. Denis

I actually filled out a comment when I saw this pop up on Reddit yesterday. Hopefully we can hold off the stupid through volume and sanity will prevail here.

Alan Fisher

I'm not sure if its best to mention the companies in the comment, but overall this is good