NJRail4129 wrote:[...] it would have made so much more sense to make a order together.
It makes TOO much sense! I agree that it would be a great idea to repeat the PCC design process applied to commuter locomotives, but at the risk of being too cynical, I doubt that it will happen.
I think most agencies would be rather reluctant to share their decision-making powers with another agency. They probably fear that they will end up having to compromise some of their desired specifications to those of the other agency (even though what would be a good locomotive for one agency would almost certainly be a good locomotive for the other, and the cost savings would probably more than make up for a few compromises on the precise specifications). Even if the differences were more significant (such as CalTrain wanting MP36s with separate HEP generators and Metra wanting HEP driven by the prime mover), those variations could probably be included within a larger bid and the cost per locomotive would still be much less than with completely separate orders.
The whole funding process (federal, state, and local) also tends to make it difficult for different agencies to cooperate on the bidding and procurement process. Doing so would require them to coordinate their legislative requests, applications to the FTA, etc., not to mention the timelines of their respective state legislatures, local funding agencies (the RTA in Metra's case), and boards. Transit agencies tend to be at the mercy of the lethargic and unpredictable pace of these bureaucracies, making it nearly impossible for even two agencies (e.g. Metra and NJT) to work together efficiently on a locomotive order, not to mention involving even more agencies or <gasp> another country (e.g. GO Transit's MP36 order).