Talgo bids to sell WI trainsets to MI

[CHamilton]

State transport chief delays Amtrak cars purchase

 

[MikefromCrete]

It's too bad the Talgos have been caught up in the WALLY fiasco. They should have been in service months ago. And it looks like Capital Corridor is still trying to sell its old hi-level cars to somebody.

 

[PRR 60]

It's too bad the Talgos have been caught up in the WALLY fiasco. They should have been in service months ago. And it looks like Capital Corridor is still trying to sell its old hi-level cars to somebody.

That's Corridor Capital, not to be confused with the Capitol Corridor service in California.

 

[jis]

The continuing saga of the Wisconsin Talgos (from Railway Gazette):

USA: The state of Wisconsin has reached a settlement regarding its cancellation of a 2009 order for Talgo to supply and maintain two trainsets. Talgo will receive $9·7m and retain ownership of the trains. If it can find a new customer, Talgo will share 30% of the net purchase price or 10% of annual net lease proceeds with the state.

 

[NW cannonball]

OK, got the basics. Don't deal with the State of Wisconsin anytime soon. They bust the contract, they hold your assets hostage, you get 70% of your investment back after a few years. UhUh, no way.

Don't deal with Wisconsin. Clear enough.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

The continuing saga of the Wisconsin Talgos (from Railway Gazette):

USA: The state of Wisconsin has reached a settlement regarding its cancellation of a 2009 order for Talgo to supply and maintain two trainsets. Talgo will receive $9·7m and retain ownership of the trains. If it can find a new customer, Talgo will share 30% of the net purchase price or 10% of annual net lease proceeds with the state.

But now what? LOL. Is Michigan still a prospective buyer? Last I was reading, the Talgos would need their own maintenance facility; that seemed to make the otherwise appealing notion far too costly for the Wolverine route.

The only existing Talgo maintenance facility in the U.S. would be serving the Cascades trains. However, Washington and Oregon can't use these unloved-by-Scott-Walker trains as is, because they lack certain cars that are standard in the other Cascades train sets. They'd need a few more cars (food service, business class, and/or what? I'm forgetting the details) to fill them out to Cascades format.

Cars could be imported off the Talgo assembly line in Spain -- except that no federal funds could be used due to the Made-in-USA rules. But any added Made-in-USA cars would be extremely expensive two-offs or four-offs, virtually custom-built. Or Talgo could sell the ex-Scott Walker cars to its friends in the Pacific Northwest for pennies and eat the loss; maybe a bargain price could offset the states' high costs of the additional cars needed to fill out Cascades train sets. Or, the article hints, a lease deal, which could let Washington and Oregon avoid a heavy up-front purchase of the spare trains; perhaps that approach would leave them room to fund on their own the needed cars to fill out the sets. Or just maybe British Columbia could decide that Cascades service is worth it, buy and own the added cars imported direct from the manufacturer in Spain since the Made-in-USA wouldn't apply to the Canadians, and have them used to expand service Vancouver-Seattle. Or something. LOL.

I expect that the continuing saga of the Wisconsin Talgos is gonna continue!

 

[PRR 60]

The continuing saga of the Wisconsin Talgos (from Railway Gazette):

USA: The state of Wisconsin has reached a settlement regarding its cancellation of a 2009 order for Talgo to supply and maintain two trainsets. Talgo will receive $9·7m and retain ownership of the trains. If it can find a new customer, Talgo will share 30% of the net purchase price or 10% of annual net lease proceeds with the state.

I believe that settlement occurred in August.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

[PerRock]

The continuing saga of the Wisconsin Talgos (from Railway Gazette):

USA: The state of Wisconsin has reached a settlement regarding its cancellation of a 2009 order for Talgo to supply and maintain two trainsets. Talgo will receive $9·7m and retain ownership of the trains. If it can find a new customer, Talgo will share 30% of the net purchase price or 10% of annual net lease proceeds with the state.

But now what? LOL. Is Michigan still a prospective buyer? Last I was reading, the Talgos would need their own maintenance facility; that seemed to make the otherwise appealing notion far too costly for the Wolverine route.

The only existing Talgo maintenance facility in the U.S. would be serving the Cascades trains. However, Washington and Oregon can't use these unloved-by-Scott-Walker trains as is, because they lack certain cars that are standard in the other Cascades train sets. They'd need a few more cars (food service, business class, and/or what? I'm forgetting the details) to fill them out to Cascades format.

Cars could be imported off the Talgo assembly line in Spain -- except that no federal funds could be used due to the Made-in-USA rules. But any added Made-in-USA cars would be extremely expensive two-offs or four-offs, virtually custom-built. Or Talgo could sell the ex-Scott Walker cars to its friends in the Pacific Northwest for pennies and eat the loss; maybe a bargain price could offset the states' high costs of the additional cars needed to fill out Cascades train sets. Or, the article hints, a lease deal, which could let Washington and Oregon avoid a heavy up-front purchase of the spare trains; perhaps that approach would leave them room to fund on their own the needed cars to fill out the sets. Or just maybe British Columbia could decide that Cascades service is worth it, buy and own the added cars imported direct from the manufacturer in Spain since the Made-in-USA wouldn't apply to the Canadians, and have them used to expand service Vancouver-Seattle. Or something. LOL.

I expect that the continuing saga of the Wisconsin Talgos is gonna continue!

OR/WA might be able to get a waiver to the Made-in-USA rule due to the rest of the fact the rest of the trainset is already made; here in America. MDOT gave me a pretty noncommittal answer when I asked them recently; although they are still looking into it.

https://twitter.com/PFreeman008/status/654781012430360578

peter

peter