Stay updated on news, articles and information for the rail industry
March 2014
Rail News: Amtrak
Amtrak and CHSRA seek job-creation strategy from high-speed train manufacturers
By Angela Cotey, Senior Associate Editor
On Jan. 24, Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) issued a request for proposals to manufacture high-speed trainsets that would run on the Northeast Corridor and California’s future high-speed rail system.
The RFP was unusual, and not just because it involves two different operators from opposite coasts seeking to purchase the first trains in the United States that would be capable of operating at a minimum of 200 mph. Amtrak and CHSRA included a provision requiring the bidders to provide an “employment plan” that details how the manufacturer would create U.S. jobs if they were awarded the contract.
In the RFP, bidders are asked to submit information identifying U.S. production sites; a description of jobs that could be created for both skilled and unskilled workers; total compensation and benefit types that would be provided; workforce training plans; outreach and recruitment plans for new hires; the manufacturers’ experience in successfully implementing employment strategies; and information on how the employment plan would cascade to subcontractors and component suppliers.
The Amtrak/CHSRA requirement marks the third occasion that a transit property has included an employment provision in its RFP, and is the most thorough version of such a stipulation to date, says Madeline Janis, co-founder and national policy director of the
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). The organization oversees the national Jobs to Move America campaign, aimed at creating American manufacturing jobs through transit system improvements.
For the past couple years, LAANE staff members have been working with the U.S. Department of Transportation and a legal team to develop language that would comply with federal rules, but go “above and beyond” Buy America, which focuses on the production of component parts in the United States rather than job creation, Janis says.
“We felt there needed to be a set of voluntary incentives to really get people thinking about job creation more broadly and comprehensively, particularly because we’re investing billions of public dollars on this equipment,” she says.
LAANE sent the final language to Amtrak officials for their consideration in advance of the RFP. Amtrak adapted the language to better suit its specific needs and goals, such as the hiring of veterans, before adding the provision to the RFP document.
“The last thing Amtrak wants is to let the fact that we don’t make high-speed trainsets in the United States mean that they’ll forever be made overseas,” says Janis. “And how do you change that? You use your buying power, and Amtrak sees the importance of that.”
Although Amtrak and CHSRA almost certainly will contract a non-U.S.-based company to manufacture the trains, they can help ensure U.S. workers will help build them. Amtrak will incorporate the employment plan into the winning bidders’ contract, as well as an ability to enforce the plan, Janis says.
In turn, train manufacturers will have an opportunity to learn more about the workforce development resources available to them, such as community colleges and U.S. Department of Labor workforce training investments. They also will be asked to develop outreach and recruitment plans for new hires that include ways to reach out to disadvantaged workers, says Janis.
“We believe this will cause a pretty big change in the way that the big rail-car companies think as far as creating jobs in the U.S. — and not just the quantity of jobs, but the quality and opportunity related to those jobs,” she says.
The Chicago Transit Authority and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority previously included similar — though voluntary — provisions in RFPs for rail-car contracts, but the Amtrak/CHSRA contract is “the big kahuna,” says Janis.
“This is the most robust version of it that we’ve seen, and it’s a very high-profile contract,” she says. “We’re very hopeful that it will set the stage for rail [suppliers] to take U.S. job creation seriously.”