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Regarding point 9 about the inability to look outside North America. I always wondered why it seems transit agencies haven't looked to bring in teams of people

Regarding point 9 about the inability to look outside North America. I always wondered why it seems transit agencies haven't looked to bring in teams of people who have managed/built successful projects in Europe, Asia, or even closer like Mexico City. California HSR for example went to solicit bids from foreign operators and selected Deutsche Bahn/German Railways. But AFAIK the initial design work/RFP/proposals were done by California and domestic engineers, who obviously wouldn't have much, if any, experience in designing or managing HSR construction. Would an experienced team be able to overcome a very different regulatory and political environment to make a difference in cost and time?

wil421 8y ago
I think you’re confused about what these projects really are. They are not construction projects they are job creation programs. Both the unions and politicians use them as such to bolster their own interests.
- pas 8y ago
  That's natural. Unions and politicians will always act in their best interest. And a HSR project seems to be in their best interest. Unions see it as good jobs, politicians see it as something for their constituents. Of course this backfires when the NIMBY folks don't want anything built, and those who are okay with the idea want it done cheaper. (So the unions are not going to be happy.) So the project stalls.
dashundchen 8y ago
Replying to myself to add- I wonder if it extends down to the construction itself (not that a project would hire the workers abroad, but maybe mixing up supervisors/foreman/leads or sending them for training). Orders of magnitude smaller in scale but in my observations, even things like urban sidewalk, sewer and road construction seem to be conducted entirely differently in Germany, for example, vs North America. Is the difference in construction specs? Formal vocational education of trades and apprenticeships vs the US? I don't know, but the final products seem to be much higher quality than public projects in the US and I doubt they're spending multiples more.
- ams6110 8y ago
  > urban sidewalk, sewer and road construction In many places in the US, these smaller infrastructure projects are done by city crews, not contractors. These crews employ friends and friends of friends hired by political managers, not people who know what they are doing. Where I live for example, the quality of any street paving done by the city vs. done by a private contractor is markedly inferior.
  - sanxiyn 8y ago
    Why does this happen? I thought US was famous for favoring small government and zealous for tax dollars to be well spent.
    - fjp 8y ago
      In theory your local government has the local knowledge to allocate money and resources better than some hated bureaucrat in some far-away city. In reality local government has almost zero transparency and people don't care about local government as much so it's a massive exercise in grift. Money disappears, contracts are given out to someone's friend at a jacked up price, a few officials can block a project completely, safety specs are ignored, etc. etc. etc. If a project ordered at the state or federal level ever makes it into existence you can guarantee hundreds of hands have squeezed every dollar out of it for themselves or their friends long before a shovel ever broke ground.
  - jessaustin 8y ago
    Typically repair is done by the municipality, and quality varies quite a bit for mostly opaque reasons. New construction is done by private contractors, and quality is determined mostly by the inspection agency. Whatever they let the contractor get away with, the contractor will do.
wwweston 8y ago
There's probably a tradeoff between the potential expertise of a foreign experienced operator and the potential domestic economic stimulation.
zaphod12 8y ago
NYC MTA brought in the former leader of London's underground and Toronto's public transit
- frosted-flakes 8y ago
  Andy Byford was the CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission and the COO for RailCorp in NSW, Australia, but he was not the former leader of the Underground; he only held managerial positions there (a station manager and general manager of customer service on some lines).

wil421 8y ago

I think you’re confused about what these projects really are. They are not construction projects they are job creation programs. Both the unions and politicians use them as such to bolster their own interests.

pas 8y ago
That's natural. Unions and politicians will always act in their best interest. And a HSR project seems to be in their best interest. Unions see it as good jobs, politicians see it as something for their constituents. Of course this backfires when the NIMBY folks don't want anything built, and those who are okay with the idea want it done cheaper. (So the unions are not going to be happy.) So the project stalls.

dashundchen 8y ago

Replying to myself to add- I wonder if it extends down to the construction itself (not that a project would hire the workers abroad, but maybe mixing up supervisors/foreman/leads or sending them for training). Orders of magnitude smaller in scale but in my observations, even things like urban sidewalk, sewer and road construction seem to be conducted entirely differently in Germany, for example, vs North America. Is the difference in construction specs? Formal vocational education of trades and apprenticeships vs the US? I don't know, but the final products seem to be much higher quality than public projects in the US and I doubt they're spending multiples more.

ams6110 8y ago
> urban sidewalk, sewer and road construction In many places in the US, these smaller infrastructure projects are done by city crews, not contractors. These crews employ friends and friends of friends hired by political managers, not people who know what they are doing. Where I live for example, the quality of any street paving done by the city vs. done by a private contractor is markedly inferior.
- sanxiyn 8y ago
  Why does this happen? I thought US was famous for favoring small government and zealous for tax dollars to be well spent.
  - fjp 8y ago
    In theory your local government has the local knowledge to allocate money and resources better than some hated bureaucrat in some far-away city. In reality local government has almost zero transparency and people don't care about local government as much so it's a massive exercise in grift. Money disappears, contracts are given out to someone's friend at a jacked up price, a few officials can block a project completely, safety specs are ignored, etc. etc. etc. If a project ordered at the state or federal level ever makes it into existence you can guarantee hundreds of hands have squeezed every dollar out of it for themselves or their friends long before a shovel ever broke ground.
- jessaustin 8y ago
  Typically repair is done by the municipality, and quality varies quite a bit for mostly opaque reasons. New construction is done by private contractors, and quality is determined mostly by the inspection agency. Whatever they let the contractor get away with, the contractor will do.

wwweston 8y ago

There's probably a tradeoff between the potential expertise of a foreign experienced operator and the potential domestic economic stimulation.

zaphod12 8y ago

NYC MTA brought in the former leader of London's underground and Toronto's public transit

frosted-flakes 8y ago
Andy Byford was the CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission and the COO for RailCorp in NSW, Australia, but he was not the former leader of the Underground; he only held managerial positions there (a station manager and general manager of customer service on some lines).