Feb. 15—The MBTA promised its riders they'd see new CRRC-built Red Line cars by the end of 2020, and the transit system delivered.
With less than a day to spare.
That's par for the course for Chinese-owned CRRC MA, where work to replace aging Red Line and Orange Line cars is still about a year behind schedule. Problems with equipment, supplies and the workforce began even before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted both operations at the Springfield factory and its supply chain, which stretches back to China.
Mechanical problems, included noise coming from the undercarriage and trouble with doors, cropped up on Orange Line cars already in service in Greater Boston in late 2019.
Vince Conti, CRRC MA's director of business administration, acknowledged the issues.
"Lessons learned from overcommitting and under delivering based on an under-trained work force," Conti said. "Unfortunately the MBTA paid the price for that."
Add to that a fraught trade relationship between the U.S. and China, one that deteriorated over the last four years. The Trump administration slapped 25% tariffs on rail cars and parts as some in Washington complained that the Chinese, by establishing CRRC here, were trying to destroy international competitors.
CRRC says it is looking forward to a brighter 2021 with new leadership in Washington, more and better-trained workers, and a smoother supply chain as it ramps up production not just for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority but also for Philadelphia and Los Angeles.
Change will come under the Biden administration, said U.S. Rep. Richard Neal. Last year he Neal brokered a deal buying time for CRRC when lawmakers wanted to bar it from getting any federal transportation money.
"I think that they are probably going to get a more careful introspection on the use of tariffs," Neal said. "I think that the review needs to be comprehensive and it needs to be robust."
But Neal said China still faces criticism about unfair trade practices.
"They use economic means and in some cases the threat of military might in Hong Kong to expand their economic interests," he said.
That's why agreements like the new North American trade pact and a multilateral trade deal with the European Union are important. And so is the American relationship with China.
"It's the most important bilateral consideration in the world," said Neal, who campaigned this summer in part on having saved CRRC jobs. He chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tariffs. "There are examples, like CRRC, where the relationship works."
"It's an extraordinary investment that was made on Page Boulevard," he said. "So many people have fond memories of Westinghouse."
Westinghouse had a plant on the site from 1915-70. Conti said CRRC is improving things inside its mammoth plant, which began production in 2018.
The first MBTA Orange Line cars built by CRRC in Springfield went into service in 2019.
CRRC has adjusted its schedules to work with suppliers and bring in new materials — materials that will avoid quality control problems that have plagued production over the past few years.
The company has ramped up hiring. It has 376 employees in the state, 293 of them at the Springfield plant and the rest in Boston working with the T.
Of the Springfield employees, 212 are union production workers. They now are getting or have recently received training in everything from reading blueprints to wiring to drilling a hole.
"Everything is different on a rail car," Conti said. "Drilling a hole is not like drilling a hole at home. You have to use tapping fluid, it has to be precise."
The factory has a first-of-its-kind, state-sponsored apprenticeship program in railroad car manufacturing. It features 2,000 hours of technical training at CRRC in addition to 150 hours of related technical instruction provided by Sheet Metal Workers Local 63.
COVID-19 has made it tough for Conti and his managers to maintain their workforce.
On average, 23 people who normally would be on the CRRC factory floor are out with COVID-19 issues. Those can include illness or the inability to get child care.
"It's been very significant for us to manage through that," he said.
Rail cars come to CRRC in Springfield as shells manufactured in China. They're shipped here by sea, usually to the Port of Philadelphia, and then carried north by rail. The shells spend about three months at the Springfield factory, getting everything from lights to motors installed. About 60% of the parts are U.S.-made. After assembly, the cars are tested on the factory's 2,000-foot track along Interstate 291.
Passengers ride on one of the new MBTA Red Line cars produced by CRRC in China. Additional Red Line cars will be assembled in Springfield.
Conti said the industry is taking root here.
"Let's be open about that," Conti said. "This Is the first time in about 100 years we've had rail car manufacturing in the state of Massachusetts."
Wason Manufacturing Co., which made railroad passenger cars, went out of business in the 1930s. It was one of the largest makers of railroad cars and locomotives in the country and operated here starting in 1845. The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum has a Wason trolley car.
The state went without federal money on the new trains project so it could require final assembly in Massachusetts. The state's idea, under former Gov. Deval Patrick, was to make Massachusetts a center for rail car manufacturing again.
CRRC received a $566 million contract from the MBTA in 2014 to build 152 Orange Line cars and 252 Red Line cars in Springfield. In 2016, the state upped the order with another 120 Red Line cars, with a production cost of $277 million.
The Orange Line project is expected to be completed in 2023, the Red Line in 2024.
The MBTA said in December that it recently accepted the 24th new Orange Line car. Orange Line trains have six cars each. To date, the Orange Line typically has three new six-car trains, or 18 cars total, in service daily.
The first new Red Line pilot train that entered service at the end of December had prototype cars made in China. Subsequent cars will be made in Springfield.
Southern California officials voted in 2016 to buy 64 new subway cars for the Los Angeles-area Metro Red Line and Purple Line from CRRC at a cost of $178.4 million.
In 2017, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority ordered 45 double-decker rail cars from CRRC at a cost of $137.5 million. Today, the cost is up slightly to $138 million.
In December, Conti said he expects to get pilot cars from China in the new Los Angeles design in February. The double-decker SEPTA cars will arrive for the first time in May.
___
(c)2021 The Republican, Springfield, Mass.
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