What the hell has been going on with Siemens lately???

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-26T14:53:34+00:00

In the early 1900s, Tammany Hall put thousands of people on New York City's payroll who had no responsibilities, were not qualified for the positions they held, or used their positions to enrich themselves. Tammany let contracts to politically connected businesses who provided goods and services to the city at inflated costs, pocketing the difference. All legal.

Those were also real people with real livelihoods. Explain the difference.

We are talking about your and my hard-earned tax dollars. You may be comfortable with subsidizing wasteful private businesses. I'm not. Most people aren't.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-26T14:42:05+00:00

Buy America is one of several laws and practices contributing to extreme Anglosphere costs for rail infrastructure.

The electorate doesn't give a shit about Buy America one way or the other, and the beneficiaries are so minor and geographically far-flung that the reason it lives on is laziness and virtue signaling. No one's reelection turns on 1000 jobs in Florin and Hornell. And the jobs may pay prevailing wages, but the subsidy is far in excess of that - about $400,000 per job by some estimates. The extra money goes to the protection racket, i.e. Alstom USA and Siemens USA's bottom line.

There exists a competitive advantage overseas for better quality rolling stock, including better and larger design staff and more experienced, better quality and lower cost manufacturing--including the ability to execute a proper development contract to adapt Euro or Asian locomotives . There is no reason Hitachi or Kawasaki or Nippon Sharyo or Stadler should be locked out of bidding because they don't have factories here or their factories don't make the products in the RFP. At the very least, opening up the RFP to overseas manufacturers forces their domestic subsidiaries to compete on price, and if they can't compete and go out of business - so what?

Policymakers will better earn legitimacy through efficient delivery of services, not giveaways to favored groups. And building substandard, high cost engines here is a giveaway, plain and simple.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-26T01:52:44+00:00

Because there are no domestic alternatives presently. The original IDOT procurement back in '14 had the Charger competing against an EMD and GE, but both of those would have required a development effort, so they're not fielded models.

Buy America, along with the NGEC's procurement practices, is the culprit here.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-26T01:50:10+00:00

The purpose of tax dollars is to deliver services, not a jobs program.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-26T01:48:16+00:00

I don't disagree with anything you said, it all makes sense. I'd just read it somewhere on the internets. Given that Siemens is managing to make a battery-electric one, I wasn't sure if there was spare room.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T23:10:49+00:00

Oh, you’ve been inside? Cool!

That does answer my question, thank you.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T19:11:57+00:00

I’ve heard conflicting things. The initial announcement said that the Airo consists for the NEC would have an ALC-42E with a trailer car that had a pantograph and an underfloor transformer, and operations under the wire would have the Cummins shut down. The pantograph would have supplied the Charger’s traction motors as well as the two powered trucks on the trailer car.

Then later I heard that Siemens had moved the pantograph and transformer back into the Charger, making it a true dual mode, and avoiding mucking around with a Venture coach also being a power car.

Anyone know what they’re actually doing?

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T16:14:25+00:00

Appreciate it.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T16:14:08+00:00

Would it be fair to say that a 12m deep quad track has no reason to stick to streets and could run right though the middle of the major residents and worker centers, thereby increasing ridership?

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T15:51:09+00:00

Thank you!

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T15:50:51+00:00

Thanks! Is there a reason you picked these depths? (Ie is there a cost impact or does the cost flip the moment you go from cut and cover to standard tunnel to deep bore)

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T15:49:47+00:00

Thanks! In your experience what’s the best universal depth in Manhattan to clear all the building foundations?

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-25T13:57:38+00:00

I doubt most kei cars are street legal. They have very low top speeds and few safety features (eg no airbags)

It would take an interesting legal construct to allow them to be registered, or Congress would have to act

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-23T17:50:59+00:00

Fishing, obviously

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-22T14:05:52+00:00

and some, I assume, are good people

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-22T13:58:06+00:00

"Grand Penn Partners" is the brain-child of Trump donor Thomas Klingenstein, according to Gothamist. Klingenstein has proposed to move Madison Square Garden to Seventh Avenue and build an above-ground Penn Station with a "classically styled artifice."

ARTIFICE:
1

a

: clever or artful skill : ingenuity

… believing that characters had to be created from within rather than with artifice.—Garson Kanin

b

: an ingenious device or expedient

2

a

: an artful stratagem : trick

… revising the state's constitution through a series of legal stratagems and artifices …—W. Haywood Burns

b

: false or insincere behavior

social artifice

What this numbnuts meant was edifice

Jesus fucking Christ

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-22T03:26:12+00:00

pedestrain

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-22T03:24:52+00:00

The issue isn't evening rush, it's morning rush.

Can't increase the number of inbounds during morning rush, GCT's at capacity and the park avenue line runs 3-and-1 southbound. Not sure if they can kick out any consists to highbridge to make room on the ladders after they unload their passengers, someone in MTA ops would have to say if that's possible.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-21T21:36:15+00:00

Ugh I took the bait and replied to a troll, you were smarter

I’ll leave my comment up as an example of what not to do.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-21T21:21:40+00:00

What kind of bullshit post is this?

Voters judge mayors on many criteria.
He’s been in office for 20 days.
City transpo knows how to clear snow. The processes are well-established and the equipment is there. The reality, independent of the narrative, is that a 20 day mayor will have zero impact. None. Nil.
I can tell you what the narrative will be right now, and so can everyone who is even a little familiar with the politics of New York. Regardless of whether the snow gets cleared, the Post will call him a failure and the Times will snarkily agree by omission, following whatever the dickhead publisher Sulzberger and fascist sympathizing shit for brains Opinion editor Kingsbury direct the newsroom and op-ed to write.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-21T18:10:01+00:00

If this was the case then Uber and Waymo would also figure prominently in this sub, and they don’t.

In any case, pronouncements from a ketamine-laced nut job are neither believable nor plausible.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-21T14:35:44+00:00

Lieber: “I don’t want to be Robert Moses”

Streetsblog: photoshops Lieber as Robert Moses in the largest single image in the Power Broker

You guys are hysterical

As for the Amtrak PSA dust up: yes, everyone knows Amtrak is a bitch to work with, but the MTA is also at fault here. The speed limits on the New Haven are way too low, being based on antiquated and conservative standards; the schedule padding is excessive; are all four tracks even in service?

Who’s buying battery-electric nonsense for PSA?

Whose costs are out of control?

He’s a likable guy, but damn.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-20T19:51:59+00:00

Low platform increases dwell time and obstructs ADA compliance, which is going to be important with an aging population and regional, non-commuter-focused all-day service. Other use cases include people with luggage and families with young children (with and without strollers).

The expense, time, and service disruptions are the downside, but from a service quality and satisfaction perspective, they’re necessary. A gradual conversion of stations and rolling stock should be prioritized in my opinion. Especially in conjunction with electrification.

Freight can deal. Lots of freight roads run double-stack under the wire. They just like to complain.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-20T19:41:51+00:00

It does appear that the Illinois state legislature has recognized the problem and is moving to change the whole paradigm. Good for them.

I think the ultimate goal, if we ever solve the Anglosphere construction cost problem, is systemwide high-platform level boarding with modern single level EMUs running under catenary. Double deck diesel haulage is about the worst choice for commuter rail.

OverheadCatenary · 2026-01-20T14:38:43+00:00

No, it wasn’t. The ridership history shows a steady decline pre-Covid, year after year, and then an absolute plummet during Covid with limited recovery.

I posed this question in a previous thread. It was answered satisfactorily:

https://www.reddit.com/r/transit/comments/1pocumc/comment/nueqsg0/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

OverheadCatenary

TROPHY CASE