On 02.09.16 17:02, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   > John Levine  wrote:   
   >   
   >>>> I realize that Australians may not be familiar with all of the details   
   >>>> of North American geography, but where do you think Hornell, New York is?   
   >   
   >>> This would be the point of final assembly to comply with Buy American. The   
   >>> components that add real value to the railcar are made elsewhere.   
   >   
   >> Most countries have buy-local rules for their railways, so they are   
   >> already set up to do the manufacturing in country.  After all, it's   
   >> not like it's cheaper to pay employees in France.   
   >   
   > You continue to knowingly misrepresent the manufacturing process, because   
   > cheaply paid employees doing final assembly are irrelevant. Every country's   
   > "buy local" rules are a joke; Canada has rules in which they discriminate   
   > against neighboring provinces.   
   >   
   > Final assembly isn't the point at which significant value is added. If   
   > wages of workers performing final assembly are a little higher in one   
   > country versus another country, it doesn't make all that much difference in   
   > the manufacturer's costs. With respect to railcars, where final assembly   
   > takes place is not where the true value is added in the manufacturing   
   > process.   
   >   
   > Significant value is created in the design phase and the skilled   
   > manufacturer of major components, very little of which occurs in   
   > Hornell. That's what you want to keep in your own country, but nearly   
   > no design work and nearly no components manufacturing work takes place   
   > in the United States. The domestic market is simply too small and goes   
   > through far too many feast and famine periods.   
   >   
   >> The Hornell factory already builds cars for NYCT, NJT, CTA, MARTA, and   
   >> Amtrak California.  Wikipedia says it's the site of the old Erie   
   >> Lackawanna shops, and that they import car bodies from Brazil but   
   >> build the locomotives and traction motors there.   
   >   
   >> http://www.alstom.com/Global/US/Resources/Documents/Hornell%2   
   Site%20Brochure_Oct2010.pdf   
   >   
   > No CTA "L" cars were built in Hornell. Instead, CTA had sent the second order   
   > of Budd cars there for mid-life rehab, a process that years ago used to   
   > be called "ongoing maintenance" and something that was performed locally.   
   >   
   > There were 600 cars in the 2600 series (numbered 2601 through 3200),   
   > although several had been scrapped due to wrecks by the time they were   
   > sent away for rehab and I don't recall how many went through the process,   
   > but it was at least 590.   
   >   
   They also did a rebuild of the R-32s as well as the M3 series, IIRC.   
      
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