I have been quick to point out the many ways this state has been neglecting its Gateway Cities, so I am happy to describe a way the state has potentially helped less prosperous Western Massachusetts recently. Since this is probably below the radar screen of most, I thought it might spur some other creative ideas if people knew about it.
In 2013, Governor Patrick announced a transportation infrastructure upgrade; the state, via the MBTA, would spend $1.3 billion to replace and upgrade Red Line and Orange Line train cars. The RFP for the project contained something very important, a condition that the assembly of these cars must be completed in Massachusetts. The state actually declined federal funding to include this clause. This small, subtle clause has the potential for a great impact.
Multiple companies – many from Asia – are touring the state, looking at communities – Gateway Cities – to build an assembly facility somewhere in the state. The Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. has floated a proposal to build a 125,000 square foot plant in Springfield, on the site of a former Westinghouse factory – a site cleared of its buildings for a casino proposal that ultimately fell through. Their proposal is for a $30 million facility which would employ 150 to 300 employees, and could possibly be used as a base to expand Changchun’s reach in the United States, making rail cars here for other cities, and perhaps some research and development.
Just last week, a second company, Hyundai Rotem, announced a proposal for another site in Springfield for the same project – this time on 9.4 acre site that once housed a trucking company. That proposal is for 150 to 200 assembly jobs. There are apparently several other proposals out there for sites in the Berkshires, locations in Pittsfield (former GE plant), Lee (former paper mill), and Dalton (former Crane paper plant). Other bidders mentioned are CAF or of Spain; Kawasaki Rail Car. of Japan; Alstom Transport of France; and Bombardier of Canada.
It is nice to see the state recognizing that it should be spending money locally – even though it means paying a bit more. I hope that this is a sign of things to come – we have a lot of unused capacity in this state, and diverting development to that capacity can help alleviate the skyrocketing costs in Boston. The rail car manufacturers, coming to our state with no preconceptions, have realized that it just makes sense to develop in areas with excess capacity.
On a sobering note, though, the 40-acre site that Changchun would occupy for its 150 to 300 workers once housed over 6,000 workers at Westinghouse. That is a symbol of the challenges that cities like Springfield face – not only are manufacturing jobs scarce, but they are less labor intensive yet more space intensive. 300 workers over 40 acres of land isn’t the kind of job density that supports a city.
On another unfortunate note, there does appear to be a race to the bottom in place within our state; the city of Pittsfield has pledged a $2 million tax incentive plan to try and attract the rail car manufacturer to its city. It is unfortunate that our cities are so desperate for jobs that they are willing to give up some of the benefits to try and attract them. Perhaps next time, the RFP can prevent this kind of throat-cutting.
However, this proposal is very exciting for people out here in the west; the decision is to be made sometime in November. This is a great reason how the party of our governor is so important; I have no doubt that under a Republican governor, the mantra would be to “cut costs, regardless”, and these trains would be built in China.
work!
is that if manufacturing to support the MBTA is in central and western Mass, it means there may be increased political support from those parts to support investing in MBTA capital infrastructure too!