We don't manufacture most things/just a few big ones anymore

[Tero]

Not made in America? California bullet train officials seek exemption to buy foreign parts

The California bullet train agency has begun a legal effort to import a significant amount of foreign equipment for its future Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, a move that could prove politically controversial.

The Federal Railroad Administration disclosed last week that the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority was seeking exemptions from the Buy American Act on more than a dozen critical train parts including motors, gearboxes, axles, wheels, brakes, derailment mitigation devices, undercarriages and even the entire aluminum car body shells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

[Forty Two]

Not made in America? California bullet train officials seek exemption to buy foreign parts

The California bullet train agency has begun a legal effort to import a significant amount of foreign equipment for its future Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, a move that could prove politically controversial.

The Federal Railroad Administration disclosed last week that the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority was seeking exemptions from the Buy American Act on more than a dozen critical train parts including motors, gearboxes, axles, wheels, brakes, derailment mitigation devices, undercarriages and even the entire aluminum car body shells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

And, that, my friend, is the problem.

[Scot Dutchy]

Not made in America? California bullet train officials seek exemption to buy foreign parts

The California bullet train agency has begun a legal effort to import a significant amount of foreign equipment for its future Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, a move that could prove politically controversial.

The Federal Railroad Administration disclosed last week that the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority was seeking exemptions from the Buy American Act on more than a dozen critical train parts including motors, gearboxes, axles, wheels, brakes, derailment mitigation devices, undercarriages and even the entire aluminum car body shells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

Simple America cant make them anymore. Expertise lies in Europe and Japan.

[JimC]

Not made in America? California bullet train officials seek exemption to buy foreign parts

The California bullet train agency has begun a legal effort to import a significant amount of foreign equipment for its future Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, a move that could prove politically controversial.

The Federal Railroad Administration disclosed last week that the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority was seeking exemptions from the Buy American Act on more than a dozen critical train parts including motors, gearboxes, axles, wheels, brakes, derailment mitigation devices, undercarriages and even the entire aluminum car body shells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

Simple America cant make them anymore. Expertise lies in Europe and Japan.

Well they could, but it would probably mean setting up whole new production lines, and would be very, very expensive, particularly if such items were only for a limited domestic market. In a nutshell, this is the seduction of global markets; simply, particular classes of goods can be produced vastly cheaper than first world countries can manage. If huge tariffs are applied to foreign goods, then:
a) there will be retaliation against one's own exports, and
b) the domestically produced goods, even if wages are pushed down hard, will be much more expensive.

[laklak]

We'll go back to steam locomotives, once The Donald opens the coal fields again.

[cronus]

Advances in 3d printing technology should be able to overcome the price hurdles - might be part of the reason for the confidence in changing things around a bit in favour of the USA?

[JimC]

Advances in 3d printing technology should be able to overcome the price hurdles - might be part of the reason for the confidence in changing things around a bit in favour of the USA?

Even if this were true, such types of manufacturing require very few workers. It may save a country some imports, but it would do little in the way of creating blue collar jobs.

Infrastructure construction, primed by government money, both creates employment, and, if done sensibly, can boost efficiency in transport, for example.

[cronus]

Advances in 3d printing technology should be able to overcome the price hurdles - might be part of the reason for the confidence in changing things around a bit in favour of the USA?

Even if this were true, such types of manufacturing require very few workers. It may save a country some imports, but it would do little in the way of creating blue collar jobs.

Infrastructure construction, primed by government money, both creates employment, and, if done sensibly, can boost efficiency in transport, for example.

That's where marching comes in.

[Tyrannical]

Tell them No.
Necessity is the mother of invention.

[Woodbutcher]

Not made in America? California bullet train officials seek exemption to buy foreign parts

The California bullet train agency has begun a legal effort to import a significant amount of foreign equipment for its future Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, a move that could prove politically controversial.

The Federal Railroad Administration disclosed last week that the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority was seeking exemptions from the Buy American Act on more than a dozen critical train parts including motors, gearboxes, axles, wheels, brakes, derailment mitigation devices, undercarriages and even the entire aluminum car body shells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

Bombardier will be glad to help. We have a factory in Thunder Bay.

[Svartalf]

And Alstom will deliver French parts as soon as they are allowed.

[Scot Dutchy]

Bombardier and Alstom make the TGV.

It is really time to think about a national basic wage. There is not going to be enough work to go around.

[Forty Two]

Not made in America? California bullet train officials seek exemption to buy foreign parts

The California bullet train agency has begun a legal effort to import a significant amount of foreign equipment for its future Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, a move that could prove politically controversial.

The Federal Railroad Administration disclosed last week that the state’s High-Speed Rail Authority was seeking exemptions from the Buy American Act on more than a dozen critical train parts including motors, gearboxes, axles, wheels, brakes, derailment mitigation devices, undercarriages and even the entire aluminum car body shells.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html

Bombardier will be glad to help. We have a factory in Thunder Bay.

For the US, trains are not the future, IMO.

The robotic car is coming. Soon, there won't even be a steering wheel in the car (just, perhaps, a spare that can be attached in emergencies, but stowed away under the trunk/boot.

When automobiles are self-driving, and they come to your door, and you sit in your mini "train car" reading, sleeping, working, or watching something, then there is no need to drive to a train station and wait for/board a train.

[Sean Hayden]

I see an an amendment to the constitution protecting our right to steering wheels...

[Forty Two]

I see an an amendment to the constitution protecting our right to steering wheels...

I, for one, welcome our new "pod" transportation system.

for the US, robot cars are the future - it will end traffic jams, due the ability to coordinate traffic. It will vastly reduce traffic injuries. We already have the roadway systems.

for the US, I think trains are only really viable as competition for airplanes - so, if you can get really high speed rail, like 200 + mph, and you can get people on and off the trains faster than dealing with the airports -- trains may be useful for getting us from major city to major city. I.e., take your robot pod to the train station (pod drops you off, and then drives itself home), and then you board the high speed train from Detroit and head to Minneapolis and get there in three hours or less, then you have a reasonable travel alternative.

To go by plane, you have to get to the airport two hours ahead of time, go through security, wait, get on the plane, risk delays, and then the flight is almost two hours, then you have to land and get to a rental pod/car or commuter rail to get where you're going. So, it's like a 6 hour travel commitment. If total travel time by rail is about the same, then it's a real choice.

The problem with rail in the US now is that it takes much longer to get anywhere by train than plane (long distance), and it's just about as expensive, if not more.

Subways and local rail in major cities are not the same thing. Where, like in New York City area, the population density is really high, it makes sense to have light rail around to get people to and fro. But, it will be interesting to see what happens to traffic in New York City when people are no longer driving the cars and traffic can be organized by computer. I can see a system of pods all over the city, where people hop in, authorize a payment, and the driverless vehicle takes them where they need to go.