New Red and Orange Line Cars

How are the new Trump tariffs going to impact the MBTA’s order for new Orange and Red line cars? Will CRRC no longer be willing to finish the order after the new tariffs go into effect? Will the T be stuck with 130 OL cars and 28 RL cars? If CRRC wants more funding from the T to finish the order, will the MBTA be able to pony up extra cash after the fiscal cliff?

It’s really bad since the Red Line fleet is in a dire state and needs to go, but we only have 4 new trainsets on the Red Line. If CRRC can’t complete the order, or the MBTA can’t pony up additional funding for the replacement cars, the T’s Red Line is going to be screwed.
 
Restarting the procurement would probably cost more than the tariff itself. And who knows, maybe a deal can be cut with the GOP for train imports, as long as someone gets paid the right money.
 
Longfellow said:
Restarting the procurement would probably cost more than the tariff itself. And who knows, maybe a deal can be cut with the GOP for train imports, as long as someone gets paid the right money.
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In that case wouldn’t that mean that CRRC would demand more money from the T to cover the new Trump tariffs? The T is going to have to blow up the cost of the new rail cars and pony up extra cash to finish the Red Line order even with the fiscal cliff.

Also, do we even have any domestic passenger train production by domestic US companies at all? If the answer is no, then the tariffs are just one way for Agenda 47 to get rid of transit from the US altogether.
 
Delvin4519 said:
In that case wouldn’t that mean that CRRC would demand more money from the T to cover the new Trump tariffs? The T is going to have to blow up the cost of the new rail cars and pony up extra cash to finish the Red Line order even with the fiscal cliff.
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$55M of the $148M increase in the last CRRC contract revision from May was already a tariffs adjustment. This isn't a new thing in the slightest. To even establish bounds for a future increase, you first have to determine how many cars are paid for by January 20 at the earliest (or considerably later...since tariffs aren't going to be a Day 1 thing with the jurisdiction of how much an Admin. can act alone without Congress being a thorough legal/logistical mess largely untested at the scope of these theoretical tariffs). Not how many cars are accepted for service, not how many are delivered on MBTA property...how many are paid for. They could be paying for them midpoint in assembly or in installments before the cars are even shipped from China, for all we know. Unless you can cite the payment schedule from the contract fine print, you don't know how much of an issue this really is.
Delvin4519 said:
Also, do we even have any domestic passenger train production by domestic US companies at all? If the answer is no, then the tariffs are just one way for Agenda 47 to get rid of transit from the US altogether.
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Brookville Equipment Corp. is the last solely U.S.-based rolling stock company, and they only do small orders of LRV's and locomotives. Wabtec is also here if you're strictly talking diesel locomotives, as they're the overwhelming worldwide market leader there. All HRT/metro cars are foreign-sourced. But the tariffs are being targeted at the Chinese...so CRRC being the only Chinese rolling stock maker with active U.S. contracts is the literal only one in the crosshairs, and they're almost done with their other two active U.S. orders and well on their way to exiting the domestic market after all their delivery failures. It's a real reach to conclude that this is somehow a credible vector to "get rid of transit", because it's basically not going to disrupt anyone's buying plans but the MBTA's. Purely theoretically. Again...depending on whether the legal authority even exists to unilaterally impose those intended tariffs without the input of a Congress that intends (per Sen. McConnell today) to still have an intact Senate filibuster.


Delvin...I know given your posting history that you physically can't help yourself with the incessant doomscrolling. But is this really a productive endeavor to be heaping it all over aB today when you don't have anywhere close to enough of the pertinent facts handy to foretell the doom? Breathe, damnit.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Delvin...I know given your posting history that you physically can't help yourself with the incessant doomscrolling. But is this really a productive endeavor to be heaping it all over aB today when you don't have anywhere close to enough of the pertinent facts handy to foretell the doom? Breathe, damnit.
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Wise words.
 
New Red Line trains (from u/ChemStack on Reddit)
redline.jpeg
 
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