AnsaldoBreda (AB) (http://www.ansaldobredainc.com), whose local spokesperson is Mr. Fabio Ficano, has discussed his company's plans for building a green rail car manufacturing and maintenance facility on the property. PNL supports this vision. PNL has the local skills and capabilities to help AB's conceptual vision become engineered reality. The site is currently owned by the City of Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Authority (CRA). CRA has performed some environmental clean up of the site, and presently operates systems which treat subsurface impacted soils and groundwater.

For AnsaldoBreda's plans to be realized in a timely manner, the green manufacturing facility will need to be "integrated" with these remediation systems which take of the subsurface soils. PNL is expert in the green redevelopment (http://www.GreenStructure.com) of Brownfields Sites, and stands ready to assist at the CleanTech Site.

Further details on the CleanTech site and PNL's capabilities are at http://www.PRPblog.com/CleanTech

Since I believe this blog is one of the most trustworthy of the industry, I think it’s everybody’s duty to be honest and accurate on the topic so I will address all of your concerns in the same order you described them. I will be brief and hope you understand I am not trying to be confrontational, merely accurate:

1) 19 (nineteen) AnsaldoBreda vehicles have already been accepted and are already property of the MTA. 3 more are going through the commissioning process (already in MTA’s yard) and another 28 are waiting in Pittsburg, CA to be consigned;

2) We did fly two vehicles to L.A. in order to be punctual. This should be the ultimate evidence that we take our commitment to the Authority very seriously;

3) Until December 2008, AnsaldoBreda continued to receive great compliments (verbally and in writing) from MTA for our performance and for our rail cars. The entire MTA staff, with the exceptions of two or three individuals, still call us to praise our product;

4) In Denmark the vehicles were supposed to be delivered in 2006, the amount of the bid was 5 billion DKK and not US dollars and the rail authority already has 8 trains in its possession;

5) In Boston, I can assure you that our relationship with the MBTA is sound and certainly far from having us banned to participate in future bids. I would welcome documents that prove the contrary;

6) The Oslo is not an AnsaldoBreda contract. This contract was signed by Firema Locomotive Ansaldo not AnsaldoBreda, different name, different company;
7) The high Speed train from Brussels to Amsterdam is currently being tested in Czech Republic because the line between Brussels and Amsterdam is not ready. No train could be delivered (AB or other) until the line is completed;

8) The Gothenburg, Sweden contract will be completed in 2009 and we are currently negotiating with the Customer more option vehicles;

9) Copenhagen is by far one of the most incredible vehicles in the world. The whole city proudly regards it as an icon of modernity and state of the art. Its performance encouraged other cities, such as Taipei and Honolulu to use the driverless technology as their preferred approach to modern transportation;

10) You have to look for a success story to find one where the Train sector is concerned, because bad news stories sell better than good news stories. For AnsaldoBreda there are numerous success stories from the cities mentioned above, including LACMTA - online and offline - which we are of course happy to share with those interested;

11) If you were to commission an unbiased third party to build a competitive matrix of the worlds best train makers, you would find that our performance meets and exceeds that of almost all of these with regards to performance, safety, quality control, innovation and on-time delivery. You would also find that we have no record of safety-related law suits or corruption with public officials – something not all of our competitors can claim;

12) We, as well as our competitors, have well organized facilities that satisfy our industrial needs. Our intention to build and operate a state of the art facility in Los Angeles County would be the result of a growing need to produce and consign new rail cars in this geographical area. I’m not sure I understand your reasoning for defying entirely the goal of Prop “R”, which is to create new jobs in Los Angeles related to transportation. By giving preference to all of the other rail manufacturers you mention, the money (from LA county taxpayers) will be leaving the county, or state;

13) We do not have “fly-by-night” facilities. Our skilled colleagues are paid well beyond the average in this industry which in any case pays multipliers of the minimum wage + health benefits + pension plan + above the average vacation time;

14) Since the buses in Seattle were built something like 25 years ago, when I was barely a teenager, I don’t have all the data handy, but if the board feels that that contract has relevance to today’s options, I would be more than happy to inquire our company’s archive and get that information;

15) To conclude, I believe your dislike for AnsaldoBreda is based upon partial facts, but of course respect your right to your opinion. In all candor, I hope to change that opinion by providing you the facts necessary for a balanced and educated evaluation of what is best for the people of Los Angeles, not just in the Rail Car Company chosen, but also in the management and development of the entire rail system. I applaud the discussion in this blog (and your contribution) by concerned citizens taking responsible actions to ensure the best long-term outcome for the well being of the community. In that same spirit, I appreciate learning more about your view of the MTA staff: performance, efficiency, customer care, ability to manage the budget and to make wise choices. The tone of your letter makes it clear that you have the utmost respect for their record and their decisions. The reason I’m asking is that we, as a company, are generally very pleased by their professionalism and courtesy based, of course, on our daily interaction with them. I would like to hear from you and learn about your experience on this specific subject.

Yours faithfully,

Fabio Ficano

I am greatly concerned in AnsaldoBreda's ability to deliver the product regardless of where it is built. Of the 8 cars on property at LA Metro, 2 had to be flown, yes FLOWN, in from Italy in order to meet a delivery deadline. And those are part of a 50-car contract that AnsaldoBreda has proven time and time again that they cannot deliver upon to the satisfaction of the operations staff at LA Metro.

Shall we put ourselves in the hands of a firm that has thus far:

-Completely failed to deliver any trainsets that can couple to one another in Denmark, NINE years after a $5 billion contract was signed? This has completely SCREWED OVER the ability of the National Railways agency there to deliver service in the short- to mid-term future as they scramble to implement a plan B using their existing fleet from the past 30 years(which luckily they have; what spare fleet does LA Metro have?)

-Took OVER TEN years to deliver an acceptable light-rail car to Boston, and has now been effectively precluded from ever winning a contract from that city's transit agency.

-Required over SIX YEARS to completely elimintate noise and other operations issues from light-rail cars delivered to Oslo, and the cars that were delivered cannot run on all lines due to clearance issues created by the AnsadloBreda design.

-Delayed by TWO YEARS the start-up of High Speed services from Brussels to Amsterdam thanks to the delay in delivery of trains to the private operator who may have to go into foreclosure because of this.

There are other stories to tell. In Gothenburg (Trams), Sweden; in Seattle (Dual-Mode Buses), Washington; in Copenhagen (Automated Metro), Denmark...I wish I could find you a success story for AnsaldoBreda, but there just aren't any.

Who's better?

Siemens with a permanent facility in Sacramento.

Alstom with a permanent facility in Hornell, NY.

Kawasaki with a permanent facility in Lincoln, Nebraska.

CAF with a permanent facility in Elmira, NY.

Bombardier, based in North America, (in the USA's largest trading partner Canada) has permanent facilities in both La Pocatière, Quebec and Thunder Bay, Ontario

In "permanent facility" I mean real purpose-built buildings employing a decent number of skilled workers in fairly-permanent positions.

Not some fly-by-night assembly operation set up in an old hanger or other unused office-park warehouse where wages are just above minimum-wage (i.e. how Breda "locally-assembled" the Dual-mode buses for Seattle.)

ANYONE but AnsaldoBreda! Anyone.

That said, if we take at face value the critical comments Metro staff now offer in re Breda order (also known as the P-2550 cars) it begs the question what went wrong and what is being done so the mistakes won't be repeated in future procurements. After the P-2000 fiasco Metro pledged it would do a better job of oversight with this new order. Obviously that hasn't worked out all that well, and I almost think a thorough review is needed because it is wrong that we are spending millions and not getting the quality that we should. Some of the fault for that rests with Metro and by god they better get their act together and soon.

Ok, now that I have ranted I'll conclude on a lighter note. The delivery of the P-2000 cars dragged out for years. The whole situation was clouded by Yvonne Burke's meddling and poor oversight, and I often was stymied in trying to get information on what was happening. Getting information from Metro often resembles old style Kremlin analysis based on hints and tea leaves. At a Metro Citizens' Advisory Council meeting they had a speaker from Metro's rail dept. and I asked had Metro yet officially taken delivery of the P-2000s. By then we were in year 6 or 7 of this procurement. And after a long pause he basically said "No". I think it was at least another year before I heard that Metro finally officially accepted the vehicles.

Fabulous. Provide contact information via our webform and we'll work on a date for a presentation.

http://www.socata.net/feedback.htm

Dear Marcotico,
I get your point and I understand your concerns. I have to admit that until I started working in this industrial sector, it was very hard for me to accept that it takes years of huge investments to make any "traditional" vehicle operational: cars, airplanes, trucks and, why not, trains. Once those are built, it takes even more time to check, test, balance the system and so on. A new bid will not shorten those procedures and cannot, in any possible way, allow the city of Los Angeles, or any other city, to get trains "off the shelf", like two or three members of the bureaucratic apparatus want us to believe.
We are biased of course, but we PROUDLY are. Until last December we have been praised by the Authority to be on time, on budget - not once, but several times. There are things we can control, others we cannot: every time the Authority asks us to either implement a new device or change an existing one, we have to project it, install it, test it and balance the system. After all of that the ball goes back to the Authority that has to run its own tests before put the trains in "revenue service".
I could letteraly write tens of pages to describe all the procedures that are due before that event. Let me just say that, as we speak, there are 5 trains sitting in the MTA yard waiting to be accepted by the Authority and put in revenue service. The remaining ones are still in Pittsburg, CA wating to be commisioned by the MTA. Here follows a video of the trains:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7bhoRdZkcw

Internet is an extremely powerful tool that allows people in good and in bed faith to post or find ANYTHING. Because of that, I am actually surprised that you only found out about three delays....there are many more. It's typical of the transportation industry. Check, if you like, Boeing, Mercedes, Toyota, Airbus, Siemens, BMW, Mitstubishi and so on....you will find delays everywhere...
You should ask yourself how come, suddendly, all the newspapers are writing agains us. If we have been late for years, why now?....One answer: Proposition "R". Because of Prop R we decided it was time to bet on the future and give back to the Community that has been very generous to us. Unfortunately, for us, the proposition triggered also the interest of very powerful groups that using their access to the press and to some members of the staff, are very well determined to "recall" and void the contract we rightfully won in 2003.

So far, only one voice has been heard and it is the one that pushes our competitor's agenda. I really hope you will give us and give yourselves the opportunity to hear ours.

Thank you for your attention.

I commend you for taking the time to address your company's image in this forum. However the retraction only addressed the issues regarding the promises to build other plants, and the exact number of jobs created. Can you comment on the negative experiences regarding late deliveries reported by bloggers and newspapers here and in other jurisdictions (Boston, Atlanta, Copenhagen, etc.)?

That is really the heart of the matter.

Would Breda be interested in maiking a presentation at an upcoming Transit Advoactes meeting?

http://www.socata.net/meetings.html

April and May already have speakers reserved but June is open so far.

Below is the link to the form on our website by which to contact us. And of course as always our meetings are open to the public and well publicized. An excellent opportunity to meet as you put it "those who ride the trains".

http://www.socata.net/feedback.htm

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-cx25-2009mar26,0,7470123.story

Glad I could help.
Thanks for your attention.
.F.F.

I am confused. I read your rebuttal to Mr. Rutten's column but saw no official retraction from the Los Angeles Times. Please provide a link to the retraction from the editorial staff, I am curious to read it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oew-ficano25-2009mar25,0,3078055.story

Those who have followed issues surrounding the MTA in the past are understandably sensitive about the deals or decisions they make. It would surprise me, based on everything I have just read, if the MTA continues its relationship with Breda.

Front page News National DSB ‘no longer believes in’ IC4
DSB ‘no longer believes in’ IC4
WEDNESDAY, 25 MARCH 2009 09:42 RC NEWS

Fourteen IC4 trains (above) are supposed to arrive by May but national rail service DSB is not holding its breath (File Photo)

Executives at the state rail service have a backup plan ready in case its next generation of passenger trains are not delivered by the May deadline

National rail service DSB has indicated that it doubts whether Italian company Ansaldobreda can meet its deadline to deliver 14 IC4 passenger trains by May.

After repeated delays delivering the latest generation of passenger trains, DSB gave Ansaldobreda a final ultimatum last year that the first of a total of 83 IC4s would be in service by May 2009.

Ansaldobreda was originally supposed to have delivered the first the IC4s by 2003, with all being fully operational by 2006.

Eight trains have been delivered, but only three are operational, and all still have problems, according to DSB.

‘I’d like to be able to say that I hope the deadline is met, but I’ve stopped believing in the IC4,’ said Søren Eriksen, DSB’s managing director, told TV2 news.

Eriksen said DSB was initiating a back-up plan should the IC4s not arrive in May. He said up to 45 double-decker trains, along with three IC3s and an additional three InterCityExpress trains loaned from Germany’s state rail service Deutsche Bahn will be ready to be put into service.

He added that the failed delivery of the IC4s would result in DSB having to annul its 5 billion kroner contract with Ansaldobreda. DSB has already paid Ansaldobreda 3.5 billion kroner.

A spokesperson from Ansaldobreda told The Copenhagen Post that the company was not a liberty to comment on the situation.

Currently, one IC4 train operates Monday through Thursday between Aalborg, Aarhus and Copenhagen.

Actually Fabian, they were thuggish and meant to intimidate.

So are these cars gonna take as long as the IC4 in Denmark or the Type 8's in Boston? And how long did it take to get the SL95's in Oslo to run satisfactorily? And what's this I read about Gothenburg's M32's all being suddenly removed from service in February?

How many years behind schedule are the Albatros trains in Holland now? 2 years already?

The Red Line subway was initially supposed to go down Wilshire Blvd, but Henry Waxman had it it halted and rerouted in an unadvantageous way for what is now known to be clearly political reasons. More concerning were the cost overruns and late completion of the project that to many at the time spelled the end of new light rail/subway construction. The early completion of the Gold line extension marks a new era in the Metro. It may be easy or convienent to forget a general feeling of mistrust of the MTA and the accountability of its leadership that existed in the darker days of the 80's and 90's.

If the MTA commissioners bend to the pressure of unions to accept a contract extension for a mediocre product, it would be an embarassment to the authority. I mean, if someone agrees to provide you with 50 cars and delivers them 3 years late and 3 tons heavier than expected, why the hell would you make another order that would triple the original one? We could do so much better with making our bidding system competitive. Creating a few hundred green union jobs is not worth hundreds of millions of dollars on inferior equipment. The people of Los Angeles deserve better than that.