Could Transmashholding expand to North America?

[NeueAmtrakCalifornia]

With Bombardier to sell its rail equipment to Alstom, its factory in Plattsburgh, NY is very likely not going to be retained by Alstom as they already have a factory in Hornell, NY. This would lead to Alstom having to sell it to someone else. The other railcar manufacturers either have a location in the state (Kawasaki, CAF) or are already content with having a factory as is (Stadler, CRRC, Siemens, Hitachi). This leaves a new player in town as the only choice. Currently, there appears to be only one company who might choose to establish a presence in North America: the Russian-based Transmashholding. Transmashholding has started expanding beyond Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe, such as into Africa by acquiring the DCD Rolling Stock plant in Boksburg, South Africa, with the intent of manufacturing rolling stock for Africa. With Bombardier's Plattsburgh, NY plant potentially to go into sale once Alstom completes the final outstanding orders from that factory, Transmashholding could make a big to acquire the location, thus establishing a presence in the US.

 

[jis]

Factories can and do get shut down and abandoned too [emoji57]

 

[NeueAmtrakCalifornia]

Factories can and do get shut down and abandoned too [emoji57]

But given that Plattsburgh NY pretty likely does not want to suffer a loss in jobs...

 

[jis]

But given that Plattsburgh NY pretty likely does not want to suffer a loss in jobs...

Even then, factories do close and cities/regions do lose jobs. Factories also get repurposed. Just because a factory produces rail equipment today does not mean it has to do so tomorrow.

 

[dlagrua]

As Jis has said, factories close irrespective of the needs of the citizens in that area. The political process controls where the jobs go. Have you been to Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore or New Jersey lately? The are are thousands of acres and hundreds of abandoned factories where Americans once made a living.

 

[jis]

As Jis has said, factories close irrespective of the needs of the citizens in that area. The political process controls where the jobs go. Have you been to Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore or New Jersey lately? The are are thousands of acres and hundreds of abandoned factories where Americans once made a living.

So true. Though for reasons that are not at all obvious to me, NJ seems to have done a much better job of reclaiming and repurposing old factory property into new residential and commercial developments than both Philly and Baltimore. What used to be horribly blighted areas of Newark around the NEC and NJT are now mostly new residential or commercial areas, or even just park land in some cases. But still the factories are mostly gone for good, barring a few exceptions, like pharma.

 

[Anderson]

So true. Though for reasons that are not at all obvious to me, NJ seems to have done a much better job of reclaiming and repurposing old factory property into new residential and commercial developments than both Philly and Baltimore. What used to be horribly blighted areas of Newark around the NEC and NJT are now mostly new residential or commercial areas, or even just park land in some cases. But still the factories are mostly gone for good, barring a few exceptions, like pharma.

I think at least part of that has to do with raw demand in the neighborhood: NJ is ripe for "spillover" from NYS (partly tax reasons) while the same thing doesn't apply to Baltimore (though Baltimore is doing better in this respect than it was). I think Baltimore is hurt by the fact that plenty of folks from DC will opt to go to Fredericksburg or elsewhere in VA instead of heading north.

 

[sttom]

Given how hysteric the government is about Russia, I wouldn't expect them to be winning many contracts even if they tried.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Russian made products are, generally speaking, well made, high quality, and very inexpensive for what they are. Since I discovered this in the late 90s importing Poljot (Pawl-yoat) I have been involved in a number of ventures importing watches (Poljot, Vostok, Slava, and Raketa) as well as winter clothing, tools, cameras, and boots. I am currently toying with the idea of trying Russian power tools, god knows why.

Selling Russian goods in the US is... frankly a fools errand. They are good products generally, if a bit over-built and low-tech- way better than cheap Chinese stuff. But almost all Americans assume they are complete garbage, and you have to overcome that incorrect assumption before you even get to the messy politics of it. Transmash has a good reputation, but add “government contract” to that mix and like in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboudit.

 

[me_little_me]

I am currently toying with the idea of trying Russian power tools, god knows why.

I heard Putin has put in election-hacking chips in electric drills! Read it on the internet so it must be true.

 

[jis]

I am currently toying with the idea of trying Russian power tools, god knows why.

You always had an adventurous streak in you

 

[NeueAmtrakCalifornia]

Forgot to mention this but there's also the possibility of Transmashholding establishing base in Mexico by acquiring Bombardier's Ciudad Sahagún plant if Alstom chooses not to retain it. Given the Mexican government's attempts in re-establishing passenger rail (so far it's just been the Mexico City-Toluca train but they can revive a Mexico City-Santiago de Querétaro line as a 200 km/h train by re-energizing the tracks after the botched HSR attempt with the Chinese) and TMH's willingness in investing in other countries' railways (South Africa and Argentina), TMH could also see Mexico as an opportunity to enter the North American rail network by modernizing at least the Mexico City-Santiago de Querétaro line and building new railway tracks.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I've mentioned this before, but when I was in Mexico City last year (almost a year ago, ahhh) the airport had big posters touting the coming high-speed rail system that was either in planning or just starting construction (or just, you know, wished for).

The corporate saga reminds me of VW's purchase of NSU. NSU made the first wankel engined cars (even before Mazda) and with the Ro80 also designed a stunning car to go with it, from engineering to design. But the problems with the seals on the rotors - and being a smaller auto maker - caused too much financial stress, hence it's sale. It looks strangely like a lot of Audi's over the years, which is exactly what they were - designed and engineered by the NSU designers who VW got with the purchase as they reintroduced the Audi name (there was also a VW version of the Ro80, the K70 iirc).

 

[NeueAmtrakCalifornia]

I've mentioned this before, but when I was in Mexico City last year (almost a year ago, ahhh) the airport had big posters touting the coming high-speed rail system that was either in planning or just starting construction (or just, you know, wished for).

There is one rail line in construction: The Mexico City-Toluca train, and it's not really high speed since it will run at 160 km/h. Also it will terminate at Metro Observatario, which is west of Buenavista (I can imagine it would increase the costs a lot by building a tunnel link to that station as it would have to deal with the metro lines it crosses), though it would enable through-running and integration with the Tren Suburbano system.

 

[Willbridge]

Note that the Oregon and Colorado steel mills are subsidiaries of a Russian steel firm. The smoother new segments of the SWC route use Pueblo steel. Parts of the Denver rail transit network roll on Pueblo steel, including -- if one looks closely -- segments cast when they melted up the old Mile High Stadium.

 

[NeueAmtrakCalifornia]

A little food for thought: The CAF plant in Elmira was formerly used by Sumirail (Sumitomo Rail) (1986-1989), ABB and later ADTranz (early 1990s-2000). After ADTranz completed their final order for SEPTA's Market-Frankford line, with no new work on the horizon, they were going to close it down, and Bombardier wasn't going to save it as they had their own facility in Plattsburgh NY. Then CAF purchased the site and it remained more-or-less dormant until Amtrak's Viewlier II order in the early 2010s. Now Bombardier's Plattsburgh NY plant is going to be on the receiving end by Alstom.

 

[Asher]

Russian made products are, generally speaking, well made, high quality, and very inexpensive for what they are. Since I discovered this in the late 90s importing Poljot (Pawl-yoat) I have been involved in a number of ventures importing watches (Poljot, Vostok, Slava, and Raketa) as well as winter clothing, tools, cameras, and boots. I am currently toying with the idea of trying Russian power tools, god knows why.

Selling Russian goods in the US is... frankly a fools errand. They are good products generally, if a bit over-built and low-tech- way better than cheap Chinese stuff. But almost all Americans assume they are complete garbage, and you have to overcome that incorrect assumption before you even get to the messy politics of it. Transmash has a good reputation, but add “government contract” to that mix and like in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboudit.

Would you buy a Russian car, would it be for performance, style, durability?

 

[jiml]

Would you buy a Russian car, would it be for performance, style, durability?

On that subject, was the Lada ever sold in the US?

 

[user 6862]

Would you buy a Russian car, would it be for performance, style, durability?

Yes, a Zil

 

[Seaboard92]

Да

I would buy any Russian product. It’s generally significantly cheaper, and significantly more durable. It’s designed so that when it breaks it can easily be fixed.

I also think I’m one of the few Russian speakers on this board.

 

[user 6862]

Да

I would buy any Russian product. It’s generally significantly cheaper, and significantly more durable. It’s designed so that when it breaks it can easily be fixed.

I also think I’m one of the few Russian speakers on this board.

What!

 

[MARC Rider]

I also think I’m one of the few Russian speakers on this board.

I took a year of Russian in college (40 years ago), but I don't remember much other than the Cyrillic alphabet and stuff like "Comrade Volkov works at a collective farm," and "Ya nichevo nye znayoo" ("I don't know anything.")

 

[Bob Dylan]

On that subject, was the Lada ever sold in the US?

Dont believe so but it was sold in Canada!

 

[Seaboard92]

What!

Yes I’ve had a lot of time over the years and I’ve taught myself Russian. And I communicate with friends in Russia almost everyday in Russian. It’s not a super hard language once you get passed the alphabet.

 

[Bob Dylan]

What!

Most of the Russian stuff I've seen has been old technology,poorly built and breaks down often with parts hard to impossible to get. YMMV