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I buy this. Even from a pure equipment allocation standpoint it would be more difficult for a particular state or region to spin up a job, let alone somewhere t
by dclowd9901 4y ago
I buy this. Even from a pure equipment allocation standpoint it would be more difficult for a particular state or region to spin up a job, let alone somewhere that has literally no existing rail infra to speak of.
In the article, they mention that Italy has something like a SWAT team of rail planning and designing consultants at the national level that swoop in on local projects and offer guidance. That’s just not something you get to unless you have a preponderance of rail projects under your belt.
- beezlebroxxxxxx 4y agoHearing about an Italian SWAT team for rail development just makes me think: "hire them." I wonder if it would be cheaper to just hire all of the talent, and then just buy Italian rail components if they are available and work. That is essentially what the tech industry in the US does now anyway. I guess certain "Buy American" protections get in the way of that, for good and bad reasons; but it's annoying that one solution is basically touching the third rail (sorry couldn't resist the train joke) in the country. Hire or import talent from abroad and learn from them, America's whole industrial history is basically a loop of that over time.
- bombcar 4y agoCalifornia HSR basically did that, and the (French?) company left in a huff after a few years saying the working conditions were untenable. Much of our existing light rail rolling stock is European companies anyway - they make a deal to build a factory in the US to get the bid, usually. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_S700_and_S70 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_S700_and_S70