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Here are photos from our visit to the plant in Ostrava where the next three Portland Streetcars, of the new Trio design, are under construction.
We saw two end sections and a center section at the framing stage. We also saw several cars of a very similar design being built for Washington D.C. at later stages of construction.
A particular treat was the opportunity to ride one of the new Trio cars (of the flavor used on the Ostrava transit system). After riding the car on the streets of Ostrava, we came back to the test track and a number of the members of the delegation had the opportunity to drive the car, including this blogger.
Bonus photo sets:
One response to “Three More Streetcars”
Today’s Oregonian Business section reports that another rising shoe company is moving its HQ to Portland…due in large part to the region’s affordability (yes…compared to the Bay Area) and skilled workforce due to the presence of other companies like Nike, adidas, etc. The cluster effect.
We also have a cluster here in metal fab and transportation equipement to which streetcar manufacturing would be a natural fit.
Rail cars, barges, heavy duty trucks are all built in N/NW Portland; Boeing and Precision Castparts bring an aviation piece; Columbia Wire & Iron on Swan Island do custom metal fabrication, not to mention two regional steel mills and still a few aluminium smelters.
Best of luck to you guys in making a deal to add streetcar manufacture to this cluster.
Value added manufacturing only succeeds where you have a skilled workforce…operators and engineers. Attracting and developing this talent is much more critical to our economic future than addresssing the modest congestion that some of our roadways experience.