Don’t Trust China to Make Our Subway Cars, Warns Industry
They’re built in two U.S. factories by a company that’s taking over the rail car industry worldwide.
The concrete floors shine in the new $100 million factory on Chicago’s far South Side. Towering shelves painted in blue, yellow, and red are mostly empty. The quiet is eerie, punctuated only by a forklift’s occasional beep.
On a bank of 6-foot-high platforms rest the steel shells of five 48-foot-long passenger rail cars destined for the Chicago Transit Authority. Inside the cars, small clutches of workers trace multicolored bundles of wire. Outside, others in safety helmets and glasses attach HVAC equipment to the undercarriages. All work for the Chicago subsidiary of China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. And what they’re doing scares the hell out of some U.S. manufacturers and Washington politicians.