Dive Brief:
- Alstom, a global supplier of rail vehicles, locomotives and related infrastructure, opened a $75 million manufacturing facility Monday in Hornell, New York, adding to its existing production site.
- The 135,000 square foot plant will begin producing 200 multilevel commuter rail cars for Metra, Chicago’s commuter rail system.
- The fourth plant on the site will manufacture stainless steel car body shells for passenger rail vehicles, bringing production back from Brazil.
Dive Insight:
Buoyed by growth in its Americas region, Alstom’s plant expansion enables it to reshore production of car body shells to the U.S. That could be essential for the company to win contracts that must comply with the Buy America Act, which requires that at least 70% of each rail car be made in the U.S. and that final assembly must take place in the U.S.
Some of Alstom’s current projects include multilevel rail cars for New Jersey Transit, an automated people mover system at Los Angeles International Airport and Amtrak’s new Acela train sets for the Northeast Corridor.
The new facility will create 258 jobs and retain 390 existing jobs, Alstom said in a news release. “These are generational, family-sustaining union careers that benefit the entire community,” International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers President Brian Bryant said in a statement.
Alstom benefitted from federal, state and local grants, job and tax credit programs toward the new plant. “I was proud to secure $3.4 million in federal funding to put Alstom on the fast track to expand and house this new manufacturing facility,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.
The high-tech facility includes automated welding robots to make precision welds for assemblies up to 80 feet long. Alstom says that will improve quality and lower costs for transit authority customers.
“When we invest in American manufacturing, we create good jobs that have a ripple effect across the entire region,” Michael Keroullé, president of Alstom Americas, said in a statement. “Plant 4 upholds our long-standing commitment to making trains in America.”
