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Adtranz a global player Light rail vehicle maker could provide local jobs Sunday, June 06, 1999 By Joe Grata, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The economically depressed Mon Valley may be on track to gaining an important niche in the transit industry and to gaining up to 200 jobs.
Adtranz North America is bidding to build 28 light rail vehicles and renovate 55 existing LRVs for the Port Authority. And, if it is successful, it plans to develop a facility in McKeesport to do the work.
The West Mifflin-headquartered company has already picked a place: One of U.S. Steel Corp.'s abandoned National Tube Division buildings, which would be fitted with equipment necessary to handle 40-ton vehicles.
Adtranz also is trying to win a state-sponsored contract to build modern passenger trains, another project that would be done in McKeesport.
Both contracts could create up to 200 jobs and add to employment at two Adtranz facilities in West Mifflin.
"We'll be submitting what we feel is a very competitive bid" for the Port Authority's business, said Peter M. Stetler, executive vice president-rolling stock for Adtranz, which has grown into a major player in the transit industry in North America and elsewhere.
Adtranz's bid, being developed as part of a consortium that includes an unidentified car-body builder, but believed to be Italy-based Breda, is due July 16 at the Port Authority.
At least two other transit companies, including Siemens Corp., which built the present LRVs in a consortium with the German-based Duewag Corp., are said to be trying to win the contract, expected to be worth $110 million to $125 million.
"We would love to do the business in our home community," Stetler said. "We would be the only bidder to do the work in Allegheny County."
Adtranz not only makes automated people movers operating at many airports, but it also builds and rebuilds propulsion systems, electronics, control units and other components, for both light- and heavy-rail transit systems and trains worldwide.
Adtranz is negotiating with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to manufacture seven sets of high-speed, self-propelled passenger trains to upgrade service between Harrisburg and Philadelphia in the "Keystone corridor." The contract includes options to build as many as 14 additional train sets, to be sold in other parts of the United States.
PennDOT has yet to make a decision about the modern trains, to be equipped with diesel engines under the floor and containing food service and other amenities. "It has been 18 months," Stetler said.
"Negotiations [with Adtranz] are continuing," PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said.
If Adtranz is successful in winning both contracts, Stetler said that besides beefing up the company payroll, other regional businesses would benefit. "We buy most of our components locally," he said.
The Port Authority is buying new LRVs as part of rebuilding the final 12 miles of the South Hills light-rail system, and renovating the existing 55 LRVs that have reached "midlife."
The LRVs need extensive repairs, plus modifications to gearboxes that have been a maintenance nightmare for the past 15 years and have disrupted service.
"We would like to see Adtranz be an aggressive competitor for the contract," Port Authority General Manager Paul Skoutelas said. "The fact that they're nearby [West Mifflin] could be of benefit."
The authority will have some leeway in whom it chooses for the LRV contract because, for the first time, a change in state law enables authority officials to do what is called a "negotiated procurement." That is, the authority can consider such things as quality, delivery schedules and other factors, instead of being legally bound to accept only the low bid.
The authority will form a technical committee to evaluate the proposal from Adtranz and others. That committee will include representatives from the consulting firm that helped prepare the specifications and PennDOT.
The contract award must be based on objective criteria and supported with information. "So, nobody can predict the outcome," Skoutelas said.
The authority wants the contract recipient to deliver the first new LRV within 24 months, or about December 2001, so that existing LRVs can be taken out of service for renovation without affecting service for South Hills and Downtown subway riders -- about 26,000 a day.
Interest in the authority's LRV procurement order is not as strong as officials hoped, partly because the field of light rail car builders is limited, and partly because authority tracks aren't standard gauge in the industry.
That is, the T tracks are 5 feet, 2 1/2 inches wide, while light-rail tracks elsewhere in most of North America are 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches wide, meaning that the heavy wheel, axle, motor and spring assemblies must be custom-built. Broad-gauge tracks were established for transit in Pennsylvania in the 1800s to keep freight trains hauling steel and coal from using them.
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