When Florida Department of Transportation officials chose a Colorado company early last year to build 10 railcars for its new Orlando commuter system, they knew the company was in financial trouble.
Nevertheless, the department moved forward with the $45 million contract, and is having to scramble now that Colorado Railcar went out of business at the end of the year. The state had to rewrite the railcar proposal to get new companies to bid.
The last-minute change is one more stumble in the state's controversial efforts to bring commuter rail to Orlando. Last May, state lawmakers rejected an agreement with CSX Transportation, the company planning to sell tracks to the state for the $1.2 billion, 61-mile system. The agreement would have freed CSX from responsibility if one of its (freight)trains caused a commuter accident while using the tracks.
Hmmm, now they want old-fashioned locomotive-hauled trains instead of CA Marin county's choice for light rail cars below? So much for John Mica's rhetoric of getting Florida into the 21st Century! Bulgaria and other so-called lesser advanced countries are light years ahead of us, but then again they don't have to worry about pleasing CSX.
The state originally advertised the railcar bid invitation in February. It was so narrowly written that Colorado Railcar was the only company that qualified. In a Tampa Tribune story about the purchase, state officials said the company produced precisely the kind of railcar it wanted for the Orlando system. It's a fuel-efficient vehicle that combines the engine and seating in one unit but is also sturdy enough to withstand a collision with a freight train. The revised bid is for the more traditional locomotive-hauled train.
Meanwhile Marin county in CA found a better solution, which is far more energy efficient and environmentally clean:
The closure ( of Colorado Railcar) may have little effect on SMART, which can choose to run lighter, European-built, diesel-powered rail cars instead.
If the rail agency chooses to stay with the heavier cars, however, Siemens Transportation of Germany is planning to develop and build such cars at its Sacramento plant, filling the void left by Colorado Railcar.
"It is part of our growth strategy and product development plan," said Frank Guzzo, business development director in Sacramento. "we clearly see a niche market."
Voters in Sonoma and Marin counties approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase in November, and SMART is now looking to start Cloverdale-to-Larkspur service in 2014.
SMART is planning to request proposals for its rail cars within the next two months and award a purchase contract next year.
The transit district has budgeted $88 million for 14 self-propelled, diesel-powered rail cars. The cars will take two to three years to build.
SMART initially had specified the Colorado Railcar vehicles, which are classed as heavy rail, diesel-powered vehicles, in its 2006 environmental impact report.
However, in a 2008 supplemental report, SMART indicated that it could also use lightweight European-style rail cars by running freight train service in off hours.
"The major difference between the two is how they operate in conjunction with freight on the same corridor," Coursey said. "To use the light cars, you need to have time separation, they cannot be operating at the same time as freight."
The most popular lightweight cars available are made by Siemens in Germany.
There are 12 of them in use by the North Coast Transit District in San Diego on its 22-mile Sprinter service from Oceanside to Escondido.
District spokesman Tom Kelleher said the freight service runs at night on the Southern California tracks to meet the federal rules against running lightweight cars and freight together. The lightweight cars are not as crash resistant as heavy-rail cars.
While Mica's Pet Project is dragging on, bending over backwards for CSX's freight needs is clearly not in our best interest.
Here is what the President of the Passenger Rail Asociation said when Colorado Railcar had been selected by Florida DOT:
Since Colorado Railcar announced production of its new vehicle in 2002,
only three transit agencies - in Florida, Oregon and Alaska - have purchased
any.They're expensive, said Paul Dyson, president of the Passenger Rail
Association of California and Nevada. They cost about twice as much as the
locomotive-passenger car combination.And although they use less fuel than the
locomotive train, they use more fuel than other DMUs. That's because Colorado
Railcar had to beef up its vehicles to meet the federal crash standards."If I
were a Florida taxpayer, I'd be asking the state if they've looked at every
alternative," Dyson said.
And Siemens' Frank Guzzo typified the selection process as a done deal favoring Colorado Rail:
One of the potential bidders was a Korean company, Rotem, that designs
crash-worthy DMUs and has a U.S. plant. It was planning to build cars for the
Raleigh, N.C., commuter system until federal funding for that project fell
through. Its cars, however, have only one level, and Florida officials said they
need bilevel cars for the Orlando system.
Another company, Siemens, was also interested and proposed scheduling freight and commuter trains at different times so the state could use the company's lighter DMU. But the state said no, said Siemens' Frank Guzzo.
"There could have been other ways to approach the project. We had offered an alternative," Guzzo said. But the state "was fixated
on this one approach."
Lobbying Connections:
By 2002, Mica was pushing a new plan to use existing CSX freight tracks - and Colorado Railcar vehicles.The railcars weren't in service, but Mica had met Rader and was intrigued by his efforts to build a new kind of railcar. He can't recall where he met Rader.
A September 2002 news release on Mica's Web site announced that he "had secured $8 million for ... a national demonstration of a new commuter rail technology." It said he planned to show off an example of that technology, a Colorado Railcar DMU, in Orlando the next month. ( ***Does everyone see the lie in Mica's announcement)
The amount was down to $4 million by the time the transportation bill with the earmark passed in early 2003.
In August 2003, after Congress approved the railcar earmark, the law firm Greenberg, Traurig registered to lobby for Colorado Railcar.
One of the Colorado Railcar lobbyists was Duane Gibson, former chief aid to
U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who was chairman of the House Transportation
Committee from 2001 to 2007. Gibson continued to represent the company after he
left the law firm."I spoke to Duane about Colorado Railcar," Mica said. "I can't remember if they were looking for someone to represent them or what." He also can't remember precisely when it was, but he said he is sure Gibson was not at Greenberg, Traurig at the time.
Tom Rader founded Colorado Railcar and was removed as its president this
year. Since 2003, Rader and his company have reported spending nearly $300,000
on lobbyists and federal campaign contributions. Rader gave Mica's political
campaigns a total of $3,000 for 2004 and 2005.
Mica angrily denied that lobbying or campaign contributions had anything to
do with his position. "My relationship with the company has been nothing but
above the board," he said. The company spent its own money developing a new kind
of fuel-efficient railcar and deserves government help, Mica said.
Pretty fishy if you ask me! I wish we had some investigative reporters dig up some more on this. Could turn out to be a really big national scandal.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul/20/200015/na-railcar-deal-missing-key-component-the-tracks/c_2/#comments
And here is a final revealing comment made in the comment section of the TBO to the above story:
Why is FDOT and Congressman Mica's CSX mainline trackage in Orlando is
worth $420 million for 61 miles while the EJ&E Railroad in Chicago is
selling 200 miles of their mainline for only $300 million to the Canadian
National RR. Could this be more of those educational "improvements" in fuzzy
math that Jeb was able to accomplish with his educational system "reforms"?And please explain why Illinois' and Indiana' Senators and Representatives have
called in the "key Federal railroad regulatory agency" to review their Chicago
CN-EJ&E rail transaction but the Surface Transportation Board is
conspicuously absent in Florida to deal with the Orlando CSX-EVWN transaction?
Sounds like the Tampa Tribune is doing some outstanding investigative reporting
on your choo choo friends! Keep up the great work Media General. The rest of
Florida's media outlets may be missing the next Watergate in progress, all the
"King's" men may fall. And oh by the way, I want to be able to ride trains in
Florida just like they do in California, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New
York, Virginia and a host of other states, but we won't get them here until
someone cleans up this CSX mess. Thanks Trib for bringing out the mop.
