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M II A II R II K

M II A II R II K

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The Case for LRT "Made in Hamilton"


Nicholas Kevlahan

http://hamiltonlightrail.com/article/the_case_for_lrt_made_in_hamilton__draft/

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Hamilton's politicians, businesses and unions should be working hard to make sure North America's first LRT manufacturing plant is built right here. LRT "made in Hamilton".


1. Dozens of Canadian and US cities are currently installing new LRT systems. This is an enormous market, both for new equipment and maintenance contracts for existing stock.

2. There is no LRT manufacturer in North America (though a subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works is working on a prototype streetcar that would be used on the Portland Steetcar line). All current LRT systems are manufactured in Europe.

3. Bombardier is one of the top LRT manufacturers, but its factory is in Germany and is booked solid for the next five years.

4. To take full advantage of the economic multiplier effect LRT manufacturing and research and development should take place in Ontario.

5. LRT is a green technology of the future, that will allow Ontario to shift to more sustainable forms of employment.

6. LRT is recession proof, since its products are bought by government (and big infrastructure projects are often undertaken as stimulus during economic downturns).

7. Hamilton is extremely well placed to host an LRT manufacturing and research facility for the following reasons:

a) It is the Canadian city with the strongest record of heavy industry and manufacturing.

b) It is close to a large pool of highly skilled workers (including some from the auto industry).

c) It is home to National Steel Car which is North America's largest manufacturer of railway freight cars, and built passenger rail until the 1960s.

d) Hamilton's LRT system will act as a showcase and test bed for the new LRT systems.

e) McMaster University has world class expertise in steel manufacturing, and the Canadian Government's Materials Technology Laboratory is moving to McMaster's Innovation Research Park.

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I wouldn't mind if our government used some stimulus money to help fund a factory to make LRT vehicles in Hamilton. I think more and more, even medium sized cities are going to adopt LRT or even streetcars to help their respective populations get around. I thought Hamilton was still debating BRT or LRT though, I hope the opt for LRT and the city gets two lines. The planned east/west route as well as a north/south route that could make the climb up the escarpment and serve Hamilton's airport as well. I think Hamilton, with GO, the airport and HSR could be a real transit hub whose workforce would work well in an LRT mfg. environment.
 
I'd almost rather it not be in Hamilton, so other Ontario cities are not forced to buy the streetcars regardless of their quality, price or appropriateness.
 
M II A II R II K said:
The Case for LRT "Made in Hamilton"


Nicholas Kevlahan

http://hamiltonlightrail.com/article/the_case_for_lrt_made_in_hamilton__draft/

##################################################

Hamilton's politicians, businesses and unions should be working hard to make sure North America's first LRT manufacturing plant is built right here. LRT "made in Hamilton".
Click to expand...

With respect, I don't think that Hamilton is much (any?) better qualified than a host of other places (within and outside Southern Ontario) even based upon your own points.


Points 1 thru 6 are all generic points about the industry itself and, whether true or not, do not point directly at Hamilton.

Point 7 a.....there are other cities in canada with manufacturing histories some with a bit more un-used capacity as well. 7 b) if you are looking for underemployed/underutilzed skilled industrial workers with auto industry experience I might look to Windsor or Oshawa first. 7c) unless you are proposing that National Rail Car build the LRTs...not sure what them being in town does for the Hamilton case? 7d) Is Hamilton the only city thinking of building an LRT? What would make theirs, specifically, the showcase? Is it a better showcase than the discussed LRT in Peel Region? or the extensive planned network in Toronto? 7e) I'll give you that one only cause I can't be bothered to research it to find out if it even offers an advantage or if that advantage could not be replicated anywhere else.

I assume you are from Hamilton and, if so, admire your civic pride but there is really no reason Hamilton would be any better or worse than a lot of places for this sort of manufacturing. If there was an indicated need for LRT manufacturing in NA then Hamilton should (as should a lot of cities) get in the game to attract it to their town....but don't kid yourself into thinking it has any massive advantage over other cities and the bidding for an LRT facility would draw a lot of very aggressive municipalities from all over the continent......that is if the manufacturers even want to open a facility in NA.
 
Hamilton's system can be a good showcase of LRT. Actually, Hamilton was chosen for the ICTS demonstration line because of its ability to showcase the possibilities of the technology. The route had an urban component, a suburban component, and most importantly a very challenging topography. Does any other LRT in Ontario (or elsewhere) have all those challenges?

That doesn't necessarily make Hamilton a good choice for an LRT plant. But I don't think its a bad choice, and if the city wants to revive its industrial decline with some new industries I say good luck.
 
Wouldn't the Bombardier plant that manufactured the new streetcars just re-tool to pump out LRVs for Transit City? There should be tons of commonality between the two platform which would presumably lead to lots of commonality in tooling and the manufacturing processes.
 
I would like to see it in toronto as well. There are plenty of communities that could possibly get new life from such jobs. Theres industrial land near Jane and Finch... Or Lawrence , Eglinton West...
 
Thunder Bay might have something to say about moving their rail manufacturing jobs to Toronto or Hamilton.
 
Not sure how many International Transit Vehicle Manufacturers might be interested in locating an assembly facility in such a Big Time Union Town as Hamilton.
 
Why should toronto care about what thunder bay thinks... When the province and the country start giving Toronto what it deserves financially sure Id care. until that happens Toronto miswell just do things that benefits itself...
 
I don't mind an LRT "factory" going to either Thunder Bay or Hamilton. Most anywhere in Ontario would be beneficial.
 
sixrings said:
Why should toronto care about what thunder bay thinks... When the province and the country start giving Toronto what it deserves financially sure Id care. until that happens Toronto miswell just do things that benefits itself...
Click to expand...

Ontario paid 2/3rds the price of the downtown streetcars and 100% of the cost of the Transit City vehicles and I'm pretty sure Thunder Bay is in Ontario. There aren't that many employers in Thunder Bay so I guess the question is, is our money better spent getting good quality equipment built where labour costs and land costs are low, or sending more social assistance to Thunder Bay. In addition, does it really make sense to build a street car factory in every city that needs street cars? That will simply increase the cost of manufacturing due to reduced economies of scale. If one city can play the only by local game then every city can.
 
Basically what McGuinty has told auto workers in S. Ont. is that there is no future in their present jobs, but if they want to work in LRV manufacture they had better move their families to TBay. How likely is that to happen? Here's what I would have done - told TB they get to work on heavy rail projects such as GO EMUs, and DMUs for an expanded Northland network as well as pumping out standard bilevels for WCE and a WCE-scale GO project for Ottawa. (say F59 or MP36+6 from Smiths Falls, Alexandria and Pembroke)

Then I'd have told LRV manufacturers that the Province of Ontario would guarantee to buy x LRVs a year to Ontario's specification and that they would take responsibility for assigning them to transit systems, as China did with aircraft orders for years and probably still does. With 600 for Toronto plus Hamilton, Waterloo, Peel and Ottawa you're looking at a number roughly equal to 2/3 of the entire production from day 1 of Alstom La Rochelle's Citadis line, even if a single LRV never left the province. If Ontario then persuaded other provinces to sign up, or garnered workshare for US non-Buy America orders such as CapitalMetro in Austin TX there might even be scope to locate a second LRV manufacturer in Ontario, especially if light rail was rolled out to other Ontario cities of a similar size and scale to those in France like Orleans and Valenciennes.
 
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