New Mass Rail Car Builder! (or not) - Vertex Rail Mfg

[Safetee]

according to a variety of news sources, vertex rail technologies has announced its' intent to set up a major new freight car manufacturing operation in wilmington, north carolina.

[GP40MC1118]

Large article in the Wilmington Star North Carolina newspaper...

D

[piker]

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/r ... ion--42603" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"Vertex Rail Technologies L.L.C. officials yesterday joined North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and local leaders to announce plans for a tank car manufacturing facility in Wilmington, N.C.

The company will establish the plant at the former Terex Crane facility in Wilmington, said McCrory in a press release. A rail-car manufacturer focused on the energy transportation sector, Vertex Rail plans to spend $60 million to retrofit and equip the facility, which will employ about 1,300 people."

[Fritz]

Hello,
Interesting ... and, of course, disappointing for Massachusetts and other locations where they previously got people's hopes up. The article states:

"A rail-car manufacturer focused on the energy transportation sector"

They make it sound like they are seasoned rail car builders, but have these guys ever actually built a rail car? Isn't this the same group that was associated with the North Brookfield Railroad, an important link in our national rail system (sarcasm intended).
Just curious...
Fritz

[Cowford]

Odd website, no evidence of hiring of (or trying to hire) experienced tank car folks on the engineering side, etc... something just doesn't wash with this.

[Sir Ray]

From the very beginning, we knew Vertex would be opening a manufacturing facility in North Carolina:
From the thread New Mass Rail Car Builder

West Brookfield, Mass. based freight car lessor Boxcar Services LLC has merged with Vertex Rail Technologies LLC to form Vertex Rail Manufacturing. Beginning in second-quarter 2014, Vertex Rail will manufacture tank cars, boxcars, and covered hoppers at facilities located in Worcester, Mass., and Wilmington, N.C.

The question is what were they planning to do in Massachusetts?



[Ken W2KB]

Odd website, no evidence of hiring of (or trying to hire) experienced tank car folks on the engineering side, etc... something just doesn't wash with this.

Perhaps they have contracted with a consulting/engineering firm to provide such services, rather than hire employees.

[CN9634]

Bigda didn't get the $$ up here and is falling back on his biz partners.

[MaineCoonCat]

Odd website, no evidence of hiring of (or trying to hire) experienced tank car folks on the engineering side, etc... something just doesn't wash with this.

One (possibly relevant?) thing I found:

[quote="At 12:19 p.m. on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 In an article entitled "Head to job fair for information about manufacturer coming to Wilmington", Wayne Faulkner of the StarNewsOnline staff"]

Head to job fair for information about manufacturer coming to Wilmington

If you want to work for the railcar manufacturer that's coming to Wilmington, you can show up at a job fair Friday at Cape Fear Community College.

An unnamed company is hiring about 1,100 people in the next seven months for work in New Hanover County, according to a job posting on a state employment website. And hires could come as early as this month, according to the posting.

The posting on the NCWorks.gov website comes as Vertex Rail Manufacturing is reported to be taking over the former Terex Crane facility in Wilmington to build rail cars, bringing 1,300 jobs along with it.

But Lois Smith, manager at the New Hanover Workforce Center on Market Street, said she could not confirm until Thursday that the anonymous posting is for Vertex jobs.

A "major manufacturing announcement" is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at the Terex site, 202 Raleigh St.[/quote]

Read more at StarNewsOnline' web site

UPDATE 19 Nov 2014 1709 EST. Whoa!

From NCWorks Online:

Vertex will be hiring approximately 1300 people within the next 7 months. Some hires will occur as soon as November. 2 shifts will be available.

Positions available:
Forming of Metals: $20 - $23 per hour
Welders: $15 - $20 per hour
Fitters: $24 - $27 per hour
Assemblers / Helpers: $13 - $16 per hour
Blaster: $13 - $16 per hour
Painters: $17 - $19 per hour
Movers: $15 - $17 per hour

Quality Inspectors: $22 - $25 per hour

Some positions will not require prior experience. Employer willing to train the right people.

Details at:North Carolina Works dot gov

[rottentie]

Even this thread is beig move out o New England

[Safetee]

well technically the vertex rail technologies sister company vertex fd is located in middleboro and the worcester location which i am unclear where it is exactly was supposed to be the actual launch site for their initial tank car construction. so you could truthfully say that vertex rail technologies is in fact regardless of the most recent developments a native of new england.

[MEC407]

Moderator - should this be moved to Rolling Stock and Equipment forum? I'll post in the thread there.

Yes, I moved it there but left a link visible in the New England forum.

[MaineCoonCat]

[quote="On Wednesday, January 21, 2015 at 5:08 p.m. In an article entitled "Vertex Rail on track to begin hiring blitz", Wayne Faulkner of the StarNewsOnline.com staff"]

Vertex Rail on track to begin hiring blitz



Don Croteau (left), CEO of Vertex Rail, and Ben David, District Attorney for New Hanover and Pender County, sit in the WHQR studio prior to the 'Coastline' talk show in Wilmington on Wednesday.
Photo by Matt Born

Vertex Rail Technologies is within a week or two of being on schedule to hire workers and begin its first production of rail tank cars in Wilmington, the company's CEO said Wednesday.

Donald Croteau's comments came following a radio interview on WHQR's Coast Line program that also included District Attorney Ben David.

Vertex will invest some $60 million and hire 1,300 people to build 4,500 to 5,000 rail cars a year at the 559,000-square-foot former Terex plant on Raleigh Street.

Potential revenues could total $600 million to $800 million, Croteau said.

"We will be building our first sample rail cars in March or early April of this year," he said. The samples are required to be certified by the government to build cars.

"Once that is done, we will be ramping up and hiring very aggressively and will be building cars for production in May or June of this year," Croteau said.

Vertex has already hired a few managers, but the company will be hiring for the production floor by the second week of February at the latest, he said.[/quote]

Read more at StarNewsOnline.com's web site

[Cowford]

From the Star News in Wilmington on Mar 25:

"The... construction of two sample cars will be completed by the end of April... 'While the certification is happening (in May) we will begin the rest of the upfit of the building, getting some of the other equipment and the machinery,' he said... Vertex has hired only eight or 10 people so far, Croteau said, but what he called a facility team 1 group will be hired in the next two to three weeks."

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/2 ... ?p=1&tc=pg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Given their progress thus far, that's a pretty aggressive schedule. Tank heads alone require pretty big muscle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPlTY-Er-eo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's what a completed shop entails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXiplrWvn-U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Cowford]

This has smelled funny from the start, and disturbing news regarding Vertex Rail seems now to come out weekly. The latest is that the one company that has provided a letter of intent to purchase has reneged, leading to lawsuits and counter-lawsuits.