(rshsdepot) Erie Shops in Hornell, NY

["jdent1_@_optonline.net" <jdent1@optonline.net>]

From the Buffalo News=2E=2E=2E

HORNELL - This has been a railroad town since 1851, when President Millard=

Fillmore and Daniel Webster, his secretary of state, came through here on =
a
smoke-belching steam locomotive for the inaugural run of the Erie Railroad=

from New York City to Dunkirk=2E=20
Webster sat on a rocking chair in the open rail car=2E=20

As the railroads thrived, so did Hornell=2E This is where the Erie built a=
ll
its repair shops on the New York-to-Chicago line=2E They were giant,
cavernous buildings where skilled workmen could fix up to 20 steam
locomotives at a time=2E More than 5,000 workers made good wages at the
shops=2E=20

And when the railroads suffered, so did Hornell=2E As the rails lost
passengers to the automobile and airplane, its freight business to
over-the-road truckers, Hornell's rail shops dropped to about three dozen
workers=2E=20

But like the little engine that could, Hornell stayed true to its roots,
suffering through Conrail's abandonment of the city in the mid 1970s,
fly-by-night hucksters, temporary flings and Wall Street machinations that=

shut down a thriving transit car business just five years ago=2E=20

That persistence paid off=2E Hornell is now the North American home for a
giant French transportation company that brought the world's largest subwa=
y
contract - as much as $2=2E3 billion to build New York City's rail cars - =
to
the Hornell rail shops=2E=20

Alstom Transportation will build as many as 1,700 New York transit cars in=

Hornell, a Canisteo Valley city in western Steuben County, 60 miles south
of Rochester and 90 miles southeast of Buffalo=2E=20

How did an old industrial city, a former rail town, land an industrial
giant like Alstom?=20

Because the city never gave up on rail, because the skilled work force
never left, because the rail shops stayed under local control=2E=20

As a result, tiny Hornell, population 9,000, today is America's biggest
rail success story=2E=20

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is not alone in sending work
here=2E Rail cars bearing the logos of the nation's biggest transit system=
s
are parked in the Hornell yards=2E=20

Washington will spend as much as $315 million on 182 new cars; Atlanta jus=
t
awarded a $266 million contract to rebuild 238 transit cars; and the
Chicago Transit Authority, which received the last of 600 rebuilt cars fro=
m
the Hornell shops six months ahead of schedule, is about to award a
contract for 700 new rail cars=2E=20

"It looks like Alstom is the odds-on favorite to get the job," said Hornel=
l
Mayor Shawn Hogan=2E "Hornell has been the workplace of choice for Chicago=
=2E"=20

It's all been extremely gratifying to Hogan, a big, gregarious man who was=

first elected in 1985 and has been mayor longer than anyone else in New
York State=2E=20

A native who returned to Hornell after school at St=2E Bonaventure
University, he watched as the city's once-proud Erie Train Depot slowly
started falling apart, taking down the surrounding neighborhood with it=2E=
=20

Now it's being restored under a $2=2E4 million project and will become
Alstom's North American headquarters=2E A restaurant has just announced it=

will open across the street=2E=20

Hogan said there is now virtually no unemployment in Hornell - the city ha=
s
no separate unemployment rate, but Hogan said anyone looking for work can
find a job - and he has the pleasant task of seeking developers to build
houses for the additional workers=2E Alstom's subcontractors are setting u=
p
shop, and the boom is attracting other, unrelated industry=2E=20

Alstom came to Hornell in 1997 with 50 workers, some from headquarters in
France, showing Hogan plans to hire as many as 1,000 workers within five
years=2E=20

"I've dealt with a lot of companies," Hogan said=2E "This is the first
company that said "this is what we're going to do' and they did it=2E"=20

This year, right on schedule, Alstom hit the 1,000-employee mark=2E=20

Gregory C=2E Moscato, who came from Buffalo to become Alstom's vice presid=
ent
for human resources, has a personnel director's dream job=2E He has hired =
332
new workers this year alone, many of them for production jobs that pay
between $10 and $20 an hour=2E=20

"We are hiring right now=2E We're looking for engineers," Moscato said=2E=20=


Alstom has brought manufacturing to a state that has lost thousands of
manufacturing jobs=2E It's thriving in a transit market that some say is
neglected by anti-rail policies set in Washington=2E And it willingly chos=
e
New York State despite its reputation for high taxes=2E=20

"I would say with the success story we have, no, we don't have to
complain," Alain Percet, Alstom's vice president for rolling stock in the
United States, said in a heavy French accent, a new sound heard around
town=2E=20

The company, city officials and the union president who represents Alstom'=
s
blue-collar workers all point to a major reason for Alstom's success: A
skilled work force that gives a day's work for a day's pay=2E=20

"I really think it's because this is a rural area," said Robert Mosko,
president of Local 2741 of the International Association of Machinists=2E
"Most of us worked on dairy farms; we grew up on them=2E One of the hardes=
t
jobs out there is farming=2E That type of work ethic is here=2E"=20

"In Europe, there is a tremendous amount of downtime, long vacations,"
Hogan said=2E "When they came over here and saw the American work ethic, t=
hey
were blown away=2E"=20

The only setback Alstom had is getting enough supplies=2E One of the
company's major steel suppliers, Buckeye Steel in Ohio, shut down in
October, forcing Alstom to temporarily furlough 30 workers and lay off
another 80 until a new supplier is found=2E=20


Paying for shops pays off

Hornell had the rail shops to offer Alstom because of a risky decision -
some called it foolhardy - made 30 years ago by the director of Hornell's
industrial development agency=2E=20

It was 1976, and Conrail, the new freight rail company formed from six
bankrupt railroads, had announced it was closing the Hornell shops=2E=20

"We went to Philadelphia the next day and talked to them about buying the
shops," said James W=2E Griffin, who is still the industrial development
director=2E=20

The deal was struck=2E Hornell would pay Conrail $400,000 and keep the sho=
ps
in local control=2E=20

Griffin had only one problem: His agency had no money=2E He had a year to
raise the $400,000 and the millions more needed to make the shops ready fo=
r
a new tenant=2E=20

"At one of the public hearings, we were severely chastised by some
community leaders for not trusting Conrail," Griffin said=2E "History has
shown that Conrail could not care less about Hornell=2E"=20

Griffin hustled together a patchwork of government grants to raise $4=2E4
million, bought the rail shops, refurbished them and put in new roads so
workers could get to them=2E=20

After a few false starts - a failed transit rehab venture by an obscure
veterans group, a two-year stay by General Electric - Griffin landed the
construction giant Morrison-Knudsen, which had a small rail division=2E=20=


MK, as it's known here, brought the shops back to life in 1983 and kept th=
e
skilled work force rebuilding rail cars for transit systems around the
country=2E At one point, it had 80 percent of the nation's contracts=2E=20=


But a new chief executive officer at Morrison-Knudsen, William Agee, fresh=

off his controversial tenure at Bendix, a commercial vehicle manufacturer,=

nearly drove the company into the ground=2E A bonding company had to take
over the existing Hornell contracts in 1995=2E=20

Rather than ship the work elsewhere, the bonding company formed Amerail,
rehired the Hornell workers and finished the work, most of it for Chicago=2E=
=20

That left Griffin with empty plants, and he began pitching again=2E The
workers, he said, were always his ace in the hole=2E=20

"You can find a lot of empty buildings," he said=2E "You can't find a labo=
r
force=2E Hornell has always been a railroad town, so we had a core of peop=
le=2E
They could take a locomotive apart in their sleep=2E"=20

Griffin discovered that Alstom, one of the world's largest transit
companies, had no North American factories, and started pitching them hard=
=2E
Alstom, it turns out, was looking to expand into the United States=2E=20




Workers applaud Alstom

Alstom wasted no time courting its workers=2E=20

Told that Morrison-Knudsen officials were stunned when the first employees=

they interviewed all had the same request for one benefit, Alstom quickly
agreed to it: Alstom workers get the first day of deer season off as a pai=
d
holiday=2E=20

"It's far improved," union president Mosko said of Alstom's operations=2E =
"We
have a lot of the same managers we had as well as many new ones=2E The
philosophies are different; the technology is improved=2E"=20

Alstom is trying to introduce the team concept to production, but it hasn'=
t
happened=2E=20

"Different people have different versions," Mosko said=2E "We're headed
there, but we're not where we should be=2E"=20

Alstom, unlike other transit car companies that make this part or that,
makes virtually the whole car in Hornell=2E=20

"One thing we have pride in as a community," Hogan said, "these cars are
designed, engineered and built here=2E"=20

The New York City contract called for 25 percent of the work - the truck
bodies or undercarriages - to be done by Kawasaki, thus keeping its Yonker=
s
plant open=2E=20

The only thing Alstom hasn't been able to find in the United States is the=

outside car body=2E They're made in Brazil and sent by freighter to
Baltimore=2E=20

From there, a Hornell trucking company, Silk Road Transport, hauls them to=

Hornell=2E=20

"We have, to date, moved about 5,800 rail cars throughout the United
States," said Silk Road's chief executive officer, Jane Picknelly Karlsten=
=2E
"We specialize in that=2E"=20

Karlsten moved her company to Hornell 20 years ago from Springfield, Mass=2E=
,
and while she hauls for other rail manufacturers as well, she said Alstom'=
s
arrival in Hornell was a big relief=2E=20

"Alstom appears to be a quality company," she said=2E "It helps make us fe=
el
good about the future=2E"=20

Alstom refitted the old Erie shop for rebuilding subway cars, which is fiv=
e
stories high and three football fields long with some of the world's
largest indoor cranes=2E The company also built a slightly smaller shop fo=
r
new cars, and uses a third building erected by the industrial development
agency for Morrison Knudsen for the undercarriages of rail cars and other
parts=2E=20

Once the finished cars go through the shop, Silk Road delivers them, a
process that requires permits through every state and every municipality
off the interstates, and two escort vehicles=2E=20

Alstom also has contracts to build locomotives for New Jersey Transit, is
redoing rail cars for New Jersey and Baltimore, and has built the
electronic equipment for the high-speed Amtrak line Acela among Boston, Ne=
w
York and Washington=2E=20

Other Alstom suppliers and subcontractors are also moving to Hornell,
including a Spanish company, Talgo=2E=20

Percet, the company vice president, said Alstom has enough work right now
to keep full production going for three to five years=2E Hogan said that
extends to the next decade if New York and Washington pick up all the
options and the Chicago bid is won=2E=20

Percet said he doesn't see any problem if Washington is not the biggest
proponent of mass transit or rail=2E=20

"You have a railroad," he said, "you have to take care of your cars=2E"=20=



- --------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web=2Ecom/ =2E


=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------