Kawasaki Losing Money on Passenger Cars

[ApproachMedium]

The Comet 3s would still be trucking along if it wasnt for compatibility issues with other cars with braking, lack of automated destination sign system etc. The cars still have life left to live and could be overhauled and carry on. The premature retirement of the cars was a sin on NJTs part as solid sets of them would continue to serve fine for AC, BH shuttle or dedicated Meadowlands shuttles. You dont need anything too technical for that to work. All of those early bombardier cars based off the pullman designs have been fairly successful. The Superliner cars made by bombardier also are working without much issue.

[hs3730]

I agree the Comet III should still be running today (after all their MNRR siblings are still going). The braking issues in mixed consists were their only legitimate problem, but that's kindof why I put them on the lemon list; Bombardier built both car classes, and this problem doesn't happen when mixing the two center door Shoreliner variants which mirror the Comet III and IV. The irony is in the years since the Comet III, they rarely (never?) use the automated announcements on the Comet II/IV/Vs and they no longer use the destination signs on the Arrow IIIs, so I guess those things aren't that important to NJT anymore... but Bombardier's problem isn't quality, it's being able to deliver anything on time.

This all brings me back to Kawasaki's bilevels which still run today, in mixed consists with cars built by other manufacturers on both MARC and MBTA, and they date from 1990 as well. And they have been delivering on time-ish or even finishing early (R-188 order) as of late. CAF can't even pump out more than two Viewliners a month!

It doesn't surprise me that they're losing money: good, cheap, fast - pick any two. They've been able to produce quality in a reasonable timeframe, while still managing to win bids. Only way to pull that off is by not being profitable.

[ApproachMedium]

The comet III braking issue is an NJT spec issue. They have a specific NYAB system, the PS 90, which was an upgrade from the PS 68 i think it was that was in the Comet 1 cars. It was NJTs first example of a disc brake car. The metro north cars probably had the same system but its probably all been swapped out to different components, probably wabtec. I wouldnt consider bombardier to be too bad with delays. At least now dealing with CAF at Amtrak it makes anything Bombardier does look on time!

Have you ridden in a mixed set with those kawasaki bi levels on MARC? Its a mess. If you get one of them sandwiched in somewhere with a bunch of the single levels or one single level and the rest bi levels its not pretty. At least its usually better balanced than how MBTA does things but its still nothing too smooth in push mode.

[Ian Lennon]

Don't forget the Kawasaki R62 (1983) and R68A (1988) Subway cars for New York City Transit. The MTA is infamous for abusing rolling stock, and they are still going. Believe it, or not, but the Bombardier R62A and R142's have a higher Mean Distance Between Failure (MDBF) than their Kawasaki counterparts. They all had a rough start, but have all become quite reliable. The same goes for the LIRR/MNRR M7/M7A.

[ConstanceR46]

Part of me is curious; do the numbers include Kawasaki's business in Japan? I'm pretty sure they're assembling a few new Shinkansen trains ATM

[davinp]

Even Nippon-Sharyo, who built the gallery cars for VRE, shut down it's plant in Illinois due to a loss of money. The building is for sale.
Rail agencies are not ordering new railcars.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... lcar-plant

https://www.rrstar.com/news/20180817/ni ... n-rochelle

http://www.nipponsharyousa.com/

[chriskay]

Even Nippon-Sharyo, who built the gallery cars for VRE, shut down it's plant in Illinois due to a loss of money. The building is for sale.
Rail agencies are not ordering new railcars.

Is this the same facility that assembled the cars used for the UP Express? I guess this means no more potential DMUs from that option.

[dowlingm]

Even Nippon-Sharyo, who built the gallery cars for VRE, shut down it's plant in Illinois due to a loss of money. The building is for sale.
Rail agencies are not ordering new railcars.

Is this the same facility that assembled the cars used for the UP Express? I guess this means no more potential DMUs from that option.

Unless Nippon builds the entire vehicle in Japan. My projection on the UP Express cars is eventual replacement by new EMUs (which ironically Kawasaki M8s would be potentially a fit for), with the DMUs landing in the US, maybe split between WES and SMART. No traps so high floor only. Of course the EMU purchase may not happen under our new provincial regime, but at the moment there are too few DMUs to handle the ridership since it stopped being a premium service.

[chriskay]

at the moment there are too few DMUs to handle the ridership since it stopped being a premium service.

I don't think that the lack of trains is the problem now - the problem is the length of the platforms preventing longer trains, and the single platform arrangement at union constraining movements - I'm not sure that any greater frequencies would be possible.

[MBTA3247]

Even Nippon-Sharyo, who built the gallery cars for VRE, shut down it's plant in Illinois due to a loss of money. The building is for sale.
Rail agencies are not ordering new railcars.

I suspect that's more a function of Nippon-Sharyo completely botching the order for double-decker Amtrak equipment than anything else.