We’re still waiting for the check from the Federal Transit Administration (amazing how the bureaucrats can keeping you hanging even after the Secretary says he’s giving you $75M), but City Council today authorized contracts for the two long lead-time items for the Streetcar Loop.
Now on order: 6 shiny new streetcar vehicles from Oregon Iron Works and rail from the one mill in Austria that rolls the form of T-rail that we prefer (yes, we’re trying to figure out how to get an Oregon vendor for it).
6 responses to “Ordering Ahead”
Great news for Oregon Iron Works, but who is in the running for the potential local vendors for the rails?
Is “T-rail” difficult for our local vendors to produce?
I find it hard to believe that there isn’t a company in Oregon that couldn’t make that rail.
Give them the specs, a couple samples, and say “build it.”
This is the kind of thing that really bothers me, especially when we have 12% unemployment.
Do you really mean “T” rail, which has a normal railroad “T” cross-section, or do you mean “girder rail” which has an integrated flangeway, and is the norm for in-street streetcar track?
The last US producer of girder rail was Colorado Fuel and Iron, which still produces standard “T” rail. CF&I was bought out by Oregon Steel Mills, which itself is now owned by Evraz Group SA, a giant Russian outfit.
I expect that you need a pretty large run to justify the setup costs for rolling girder rail. I think we would be lucky to get a single US producer again.
After my last post, I got to thinking: What sort of rail does Portland Streetcar actually use? I seem to recall something about a low-profile “T” rail. Is that the case, Chris?
In any case, if the special rail is close to 90 lbs. per yard, that is about 160 tons per mile of track, and I would think that a minimum order of at least 1000 tons might be needed to make it worthwhile to machine special rolls. So perhaps this would be in the ballpark.
Doug, you clearly know a lot more about rail than I do. It’s the same kind of rail that TriMet used on the mall and I-205.
Doug Allen: In any case, if the special rail is close to 90 lbs. per yard, that is about 160 tons per mile of track, and I would think that a minimum order of at least 1000 tons might be needed to make it worthwhile to machine special rolls. So perhaps this would be in the ballpark.
I suppose the real question would be, is it reasonable to assume that there will be plenty of future orders here in the US for railstock — which is certainly the assumption behind building streetcars in the US.