Commuter rail line sidetracked by financial woes

TriMet steps in to keep project going as Colorado Railcar stumbles

By Jennifer Clampet

The Times, Oct 1, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (26 Reader comments)

RUNNING LATE — TriMet crews continue to test the Westside Express Service commuter rail cars even though the schedule to begin operations has been pushed back until February 2009.

Jaime Valdez / The Times

TriMet announced on Wednesday that the WES commuter rail will not begin operations until Feb. 2, 2009.

The Westside Express Service has been brought to a screeching delay because of a financially stressed railcar company and the need for safety testing to avoid an occurrence like the commuter rail crash in Los Angeles.

TriMet has admitted that Colorado Railcar Manufacturing LLC, the company providing the three self-propelled Diesel Multiple Units for WES, has been in financial distress since January.

Since then TriMet has stepped in and spent about $3 million over the budgeted amount for the railcars in order to ensure that the cars would be completed.

According to TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch, TriMet was going through CRM’s financial records in January when officials realized the railcar company was not paying its suppliers.

TriMet stepped in and began paying suppliers directly and then sent TriMet staff to the manufacturing plant in Fort Lupton, Colo., to ensure that the DMUs were being constructed.

The last of the three DMUs for WES were delivered in Wilsonville in September. But the DMU still needs parts – both software and hardware – before it can start undergoing safety testing, Fetsch said.

TriMet is paying for five engineers from CRM and an engineering consultant to oversee the final manufacturing of the DMU.

TriMet had budgeted $17.8 million for the DMUs – $4 million for each DMU, $3 million for a trailer to be pulled by one DMU and the cost to the cars operation with safety testing.

But according to Fetsch, estimates show that by stepping in to ensure that the cars would be completed, TriMet has spent about $3 million over budget for the DMUs.

The purchase of the railcars from CRM was based on two things: first CRM is the only U.S. firm that builds the DMUs that meet federal safety standards and second the purchase complied with the Buy America requirement. CRM is reportedly six months behind schedule and, according to Fetsch, another transportation agency – Alaska Railroad Corporation – has plans to follow TriMet’s lead in taking on supervision of the railcars to ensure a timely completion.

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