How a Restriction on Chinese-Made Subway Cars Makes Life Harder for Commuters
Isaac Stone Fish
Visiting Fellow, Asia ProgramGritting your teeth in that latest traffic jam? The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has an answer: Take the subway.
In March 2017, the city ordered 64 subway cars from the Chinese state-run company China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC), the world’s largest supplier of rail transit equipment, to reduce traffic in the world’s most congested city. CRRC will also build more than 800 new rail cars for Chicago’s beleaguered “L” and more than 100 subway cars for Boston — which, along with speed changes, will raise the number of trains there per hour from 13 to 20. Why CRRC? Because it is a competent company. Because in all three cities, the cars will be made in the United States and create American jobs. (No U.S. companies bid, because no U.S. companies build subway rail cars.) And because, most importantly, CRRC is cheaper than competitors – in some cases offering savings of hundreds of millions of dollars.
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