HORNELL, N.Y. — Rail equipment company Alstom has opened a new facility for producing railcar bodies, expanding its existing manufacturing capacity in Hornell.
The 135,000-square-foot Plant 4 will produce stainless steel carbody shells, work previously performed in Brazil. Its first project will be 200 new multilevel commuter cars for Chicago-area operator Metra ordered in 2021 [see “Metra board approves order …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 14, 2021].
The plant’s opening was marked Monday (June 2) with ceremonies attended by national, state, and local officials. Its completion was hailed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in a press release.
“Plant 4 upholds our long-standing commitment to making trains in America, and it expands our ability to deliver cutting-edge rail solutions for our customers,” Michael Keroullé, President of Alstom Americas, said in a press release. “We thank Gov. Hochul and all our state, local and federal partners for their support.”
The $75 million plant project will receive up to $7 million under a state job creation tax credit program. Alstom has pledged to create 258 jobs on the site and retain another 390 positions.
The plant will be capable of manufacturing car assemblies up to 80 feet in length, using robot welders to make welds precise to within one millimeter, the company said. Forty different contractors were involved in construction of the facility.
“Hornell has been a rail town for 170 years and we are very proud of that history,” Alstom Hornell Site Manager Victor Ionescu said in comments reported by the Hornell Evening Tribune. “That history has been built with the cooperation and the partnership of everybody here today.”
It seems that the justified interest and investment of astute Alstom in Hornell will never end…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Now we know why we haven’t seen any of the Coradia based bilevels for Metra yet. They are just now being built four years after the ink dried.