Companies to build high-speed rail cars in the US

With a high-speed passenger rail network proposed for the US, companies are gearing up to build the equipment on American soil.

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"It's the perfect marriage of smart, 21st-century transportation investment and job creation right here at home," said Bruce Speight, director, Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group.

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Meanwhile, French energy and transport company Alstom SA, whose factory in Hornell, N.Y., is one of the largest passenger rail facilities in the country, is reportedly pursuing high-speed rail contracts.

High-speed rail is arriving at a critical "tipping point" that could radically spur growth of passenger rail manufacturing, says Art Guzzetti, vice president of policy for the American Public Transportation Association, a Washington-based association of public transportation providers nationwide.

Today the market for commuter-rail systems has nearly doubled since 1992 to a roughly $2.4 billion market. Commuter-rail systems have grown from nine in 1980 to 25 today. Light-rail systems have grown from seven in 1980 to 36 today.

Beyond the need for new equipment for high-speed rail, many of the light rail and commuter systems in the US are aging, and Amtrak recently announced that it would finally begin replacing its aging rail cars and locomotives.

"There is a tipping point that we're very close to," Mr. Guzzetti said. "We're at a point where we have a big market now where there wasn't one before. Now add to that high-speed rail.... All these things point to huge growth in public transportation."

For long-time observers, these moves are more than welcome news, they represent what could become the beginning of an industry rebirth.

"We have underinvested in intercity passenger rail since the 1950s," said Thomas Simpson,of Railway Supply Institute, a Washington trade group for railway equipment manufacturers. "At long last, some recognition has come, and companies are seeing there are real opportunities here."

There's hope that the shift will create badly needed US manufacturing jobs. The Department of Transportation in December unveiled a list of 30 rail manufacturers and suppliers it described as committed to "establish or expand their base of operations in the United States and American manufacturing jobs" if chosen to supply high-speed rail or intercity passenger equipment.

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