Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

steveintoronto said:
Can you expand on this? I think I know what you're stating, but just want to be sure, because if correct, this has profound implications.
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The cars have been an issues from day one and at a cost of One million plus to convert them to EMU, not worth it.

These cars can be move to another line once the current line has been converted to EMU that supposed to happen by now, but is it worth it, which line and type of Service?

Metrolinx piggy back onto SMART order in the first place and UPX cars can be use on SMART system if and when Metrolinx wants to get rid of them. There maybe another system or two who may be interested in these cars if the price is right.

We have to wait tell the dictator to tell Metrolinx what they must do and when, while thumbing his nose to the public and living up to agreement to convert the DMU to EMU ASP. The earliest we can see UPX converted to EMU is about 2024 at this time, as well in operation.
 
^ OK, so there's no definitive agreement.The claim of how the Nippon DMUs could be converted to EMUs was Monty Python at best. Any trace of the pages Metrolinx had on that with the diagrams et al have all disappeared. Purged...It was ludicrous, like the adage of "The original axe". But the handle has been replaced twice and the head three times.

The 'Ministry of Funny Talks' was working overtime. And now they've moved up at Queen's Park, working straight out of the Premier's office...
 
steveintoronto said:
Because the company representing Nippon Sharyo in the US is still Sumitomo. And their factory capable of assembling the NS DMUs is in Georgia.
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I suppose my confusion arose from the text of the media article, which stated that "the new cars were built at its factory in Toyokawa, Japan, before boating them to a port in Savannah, Georgia". Without detailed knowledge of the players, to me that implied shipping a finished product.
 
Allandale25 said:
"UP Express ridership continued to grow, and we once again achieved the milestone of more than one million boardings in a quarter, an 11% increase from the same period in 2017." Page 2

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pd...06/20181206_BoardMtg_Operations_Quarterly.pdf
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An average of ~11,000 per day.

About ~$30M farebox revenue per year if all the short-distance and full-Pearson fares are averaged at a lowballed ~$7 per passenger.

Probably $35M-$40M, which if including the cost cuts they did (to, say, ~$60M/year).

This would represent approximately 50%-70% farebox recovery -- pretty much in par with Toronto transit services.
 
lenaitch said:
I suppose my confusion arose from the text of the media article, which stated that "the new cars were built at its factory in Toyokawa, Japan, before boating them to a port in Savannah, Georgia". Without detailed knowledge of the players, to me that implied shipping a finished product.
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They still don't have the story fully correct as best I can tell, but they have updated the story, added a pic of part of the damage, and a 'correction':
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct where the damaged train cars were built, and how they were shipped. The manufacturer’s United States plant closed in August.
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https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9001313-181/four-new-rail-cars-costing?artslide=0&sba=AAS

The author has written some excellent articles in the past, IIRC, he was the one that broke the 'Cummins engines throwing rods' story. But the 'Cummins' aspect adds to the mystery of this story as we're reading it: Suppose for a moment that your impression is correct on the 'units in entirety being shipped as a finished product'...

Then where were the Cummins engines installed? In Japan? So they shipped the specific unit variant to Japan to have it all shipped back to the US?

Something...a lot...doesn't jibe with the latest story, let alone the wildly fluctuating prices being quoted in the stories on this, even with changing FX added into the quoted figures.

I'll sniff around some more on-line, as SMART issues were being covered as far away as the SF press.

Late Edit:
https://www.marinij.com/2018/11/27/four-new-smart-cars-worth-11-million-damaged-in-transport/

Read the comments end of article. Others are asking similar questions to what we are, price being a big one. Also note Wikipedia has updated info on this too, but it's also suspect in detail:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Sharyo_DMU
 
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steveintoronto said:
They still don't have the story fully correct as best I can tell, but they have updated the story, added a pic of part of the damage, and a 'correction':

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9001313-181/four-new-rail-cars-costing?artslide=0&sba=AAS

The author has written some excellent articles in the past, IIRC, he was the one that broke the 'Cummins engines throwing rods' story. But the 'Cummins' aspect adds to the mystery of this story as we're reading it: Suppose for a moment that your impression is correct on the 'units in entirety being shipped as a finished product'...

Then where were the Cummins engines installed? In Japan? So they shipped the specific unit variant to Japan to have it all shipped back to the US?

Something...a lot...doesn't jibe with the latest story, let alone the wildly fluctuating prices being quoted in the stories on this, even with changing FX added into the quoted figures.

I'll sniff around some more on-line, as SMART issues were being covered as far away as the SF press.

Late Edit:
https://www.marinij.com/2018/11/27/four-new-smart-cars-worth-11-million-damaged-in-transport/

Read the comments end of article. Others are asking similar questions to what we are, price being a big one. Also note Wikipedia has updated info on this too, but it's also suspect in detail:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Sharyo_DMU
Click to expand...

Gee, I don't know. I read the article and took it at face value. I didn't, and still don't, care enough to dissect the issue and conduct further research. Perhaps the Cummins engines were made overseas. Manufacturing off shore is all the rage these days apparently.
 
Transportfan said:
Why did Metrolinx go for US assembled stuff? I can't believe what I read these last few pages.
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They had a deadline of the Pan America games in 2015. It was a requirement to host. No Canadian manufacturer had an "off the shelf" FRA compliant DMU ready to go in time. Nor was there enough time for a fair-trade company from another country to setup a manufacturing facility in Canada. The UPX order was a tack-on of the SMART order in California. They were already being built and we asked for them to make some more for us.
 
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