quote:Governor Cuomo Announces Plan to Rid New York of Trains to Nowhere That Wasted Tens of Millions in Taxpayer Dollars
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced plans to dispose of outdated, obsolete and non-functioning trains that have been sitting idle in a weed filled industrial park in Glenville. In addition, millions of dollars of unused and unneeded replacement train parts that have been stored in a warehouse in Rotterdam will also be sold. Taxpayers will save more than $150,000 in yearly lease costs as well as benefit from the proceeds from the sale and disposition of the equipment.
"I have repeatedly said that state government must be more efficient and must stop wasting taxpayer money," said Governor Cuomo. "In this case, millions of dollars of taxpayer money were used to buy obsolete equipment, and hundreds of thousands more spent to store it. This is exactly why we are scouring through the operations of every agency — to make sure cases like this are found and stopped."
The trains were part of a high speed rail program that was launched in 1998 and was supposed to provide faster service between Albany and New York City. Originally built in 1976, seven train cars were supposed to be rehabilitated and upgraded for $70 million as part of the $185 million project. Two trains were upgraded and put into service for a short period in 2003. But poor planning and engineering problems made the trains unusable and the program was stopped. Since then four of the trains — each consisting of two locomotives, a café car, and two passenger cars — have been decaying in an industrial rail yard. Today, these types of trains are considered obsolete, with none in service in the United States, and are used in only a handful of countries around the world. …
This was a true example of government waste indeed, and this disposition won't make Cuomo's administration look less wasteful notwithstanding.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
What remains is the disposition of the three (edit errata: two) sets that did see revenue service after rebuilding and have been stored at the Amtrak Bear, DE facility.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
We could put 'em in a museum where people could pay to see 'em.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
I'm wondering the same thing as GBN. On the outside, those train cars still look pretty decent.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Regarding the three completed Turboliners now stored at Bear, their only chance of seeing revenue service is with a tourist line (I don't think even Ed Ellis is about to touch them).
The design for the rebuild was flawed and the workmanship shoddy. As a result, Amtrak during the Gunn administration refused to operate them. The contractor's best qualification to perform appears to have been their "connections" in Albany. There is a former legislator, Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno, who owing to various assorted "misdemeanors" has resulted in him facing a criminal indictment, was reportedly involved with the award of the contract.
Somehow, I foresee a similar fate for the Wisconsin Talgos seeing revenue service over their intended route - especially if Gov. Walker wins, as apparently expected, the Special Election next Tuesday.
Posted by PullmanCo (Member # 1138) on :
And so the last of the Turboliners depart SuperSteel, heading for the scrap yard...
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Somehow, I foresee a similar fate for the Wisconsin Talgos seeing revenue service over their intended route - especially if Gov. Walker wins, as apparently expected, the Special Election next Tuesday.
Which it appears that it is.
Frome the NYT on line election results, with 98% reporting:
Scott Walker: 1,283,128; 53.4% Tom Barrett: 1,104,881; 46.0% Haru Trivedi: . .13,754; 0.9%
Posted by irishchieftain (Member # 1473) on :
Even though this thread isn't about Wisconsin's theoretical Talgos, I'm going to say that there would have been the same chance of their appearing no matter who was governor and no matter the party. It also amounts to the same chance of CAHSR appearing no matter who governs that state—Jerry Brown seems to be dismantling the project via vocal "support" and machinations that will continue to drive up the costs.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Here's a parallel post I made at the topic more related to the Wisconsin Talgos, but since reference to such has been mede here, here's the post:
quote:Presumably by now, anyone here who will have occasion to do so, has reviewed July TRAINS.
In the lead News article, Bob Johnston has essentially declared that the Wisconsin Talgos are not going to see revenue service as Chil-Milw Hiawathas.
Lest they become monuments to waste, snd one can be sure the Walker administration would love to make them just that, I can only hope they will see revenue service somewhere - and hopefully where their Pendulum technology will result in a noticeable schedule improvement such as was realized on the Seattle-Portland Cascades.
Posted by pporro (Member # 31539) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: What remains is the disposition of the three (edit errata: two) sets that did see revenue service after rebuilding and have been stored at the Amtrak Bear, DE facility.
I hear Wisconsin is collecting train sets that will never run, maybe we can get some of the tax and spend crowd to buy these too?
Posted by chrisg (Member # 2488) on :
There is one Cab unit and two coaches from a French turbo train in a scarp yard in Linton. Indiana.