Nippon Sharyo to close US plant

I can't say this surprises me. Metra has no money for cars and they are the key customer. Amtrak is a disaster to do business with, I would run away from them. Read the recent story on CAF in Trains Mag. CAF admitted they were going to try to build cars Euro-style and suffered heavy losses on each car. It's also accepted wisdom that CAF bought the order, knowing it wasn't a winner.

If I were on the Nippon Sharyo board, I would pull that plant as well. It just doesn't make sense if Metra is out of the game and Amtrak is a guaranteed loser.

Exactly. The market in North America isn't like the rest of the world, which N-S learned the hard way.

CRRC won't need the Rochelle facility. They're building a new plant in Hegeswitch just south of the Ford plant. Looks like it replaces one of the two auto-loading ramps used by Ford (13535 South Torrence Avenue).

Tadman,

Could you elaborate on "Euro-style"? I haven't seen the article.

Moved from Amtrak forum:

Arlington wrote:That's the problem with pop-up manufacturing: the pop-down.

Wasn't supposed to be a pop-down though, Nippon Sharyo looked to be serious about the American market by building its own new facility, not rented space like Talgo America or reused space like CAF. At around the time of the crust test fiasco, a drastic rift between N-S and Sumitomo (which, notably, has not stated it will leave the American market) broke that longtime symbiotic relationship in North America. Unknown whether the crush test was the reason or just a convenient excuse. N-S apparently wasn't willing or able to find another partner or grow to fill the marketing void, or to invest the engineering time to fix the issues.

Is N-S leaving the market altogether or just closing their manufacturing plant? They have rugged & innovative cars and the Can-Am market would be poorer for their total departure; I'd be especially sad if they don't continue marketing their DMU here, since the Budd RDCs can't actually last forever and I'm not sold on the Stadler units' suitability on the mainline just yet.

Also, I'd be surprised if this facility remained a railcar plant. Every major worldwide rolling stock manufacturer already has a plant in America, or has decided to exit the market recently. I guess Skoda Transtech or one of the Indian companies could take a swing? Or, given the occupant of the White House, perhaps United Wagon Company will pick up the facility for a song? It's already exporting North American-spec railcars and has agreements with Wabtec.

What happened between NS and Sumitomo? Are you drawing an inference or was did word get out of a fight?

More likely "loss of Honor" ,Sumitomo walked away from a failed partnership,NS excs didn't "fall on their sword" due to the crush test failure.

gokeefe wrote:What happened between NS and Sumitomo? Are you drawing an inference or was did word get out of a fight?

Strictly inference, I don’t have inside information. Hoss’ theory of honor doesn’t smell right to me since no other corporate partnership seems to rely on honor to that extent - money is usually the operative concept.

To put it mildly,there should have been a mass resignation of execs at NS at the US Plant and the HQ in Japan("fall on sword") due to the failed test.
Sumitomo now treats the "partnership"with NS as failed("loss of honor") and walks away looking for a way to "save face" on their end,
Siemens" takeover" of the contract was Sumitomo's way to retain their Corporate "face" to the world

Wouldn't it have been better for them financially to fix the problem & fulfill the contract, vs. shutting down? How are they doing in other countries?

This should be interesting.