might do something and deprive yourself of a high-quality, 51
low-cost rail car, or you can say there’s no evidence and
then look like a dupe.”
J
ohn Scavotto Jr., business manager of Sheet Metal
Workers Local 63, which represents some workers
at CRRC’s Springfield plant, 90 miles west of Boston,
says it’s frustrating that CRRC hasn’t gotten more
credit for paying Americans good union wages. “Before this
plant was here, this was a big, empty lot,” he says. “CRRC is
offering Springfield a lifeline. It’s a place where you know
you’re going to go every day and walk out in 20 years with
a pension. There’s security.”
Scavotto says he gets “wound up” at talk of CRRC build-
ing spy trains, because his members worry it could cost
them their jobs. “Are we really saying to ourselves that the
Chinese are smarter than us?” he says. “If it isn’t CRRC,
who’s it gonna be? There is no American rail car manu-
facturer. We let the Germans come in here, South Korea,
France—they’re all foreigners.”
CRRC’s critics say the Chicago and Springfield factories
employ far fewer workers than would be required to
manufacture entire rail cars—hence the relative quiet in
the two facilities. The company ships prefabricated train
shells to the U.S., where workers fit them out with necessary
equipment. Officials at the Chicago and Springfield plants
say they satisfy Buy American rules, which require 70%
U.S. content. The recent Congressional Research Service
study concurs.
“Do we have an advantage in building shells in China?
Absolutely,” says Springfield facility director Vince Conti,
a 30-year rail car industry veteran who previously worked
for Bombardier in China and India and elsewhere. “It feels
like we’re being targeted because we’re a Chinese company.”
Well, yes. The question is whether the concerns surround-
ing CRRC are legitimate. The Rail Security Alliance has spent
$2 million on lobbying, most of it going to Olson’s firm, Venn
Strategies, according to OpenSecrets.org. The two U.S. CRRC
factories, which have retained lobbyists only in the past year
or so, have spent at least $160,000. The Massachusetts factory
recently launched a website that seeks to counter anti-CRRC
claims, boasting that the plant uses parts sourced from New
Jersey, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and other states. The site
also links to Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe editorials
casting trains as no more of a spying threat than ubiquitous
Chinese-made smartphones.
None of this is likely to stave off the legislation, which
this time is part of a defense spending bill. Assuming that
it becomes law, CRRC would be allowed to fulfill its current
contracts, all of which involve federal funds except the
one with Boston. Any transit authorities that sign a con-
tract with CRRC in the future would have to do without
federal dollars.
That could change the calculations considerably. CRRC’s
spokeswoman in Springfield, Lydia Rivera, says the legisla-
tion would eventually force the factory to close. Smolensky,
the spokesman in Chicago, won’t go that far. He says CRRC
will continue to educate policymakers about the “unintended
consequences” of the legislation: lost jobs and higher prices
for rail cars. <BW> �With Chunying Zhang