Report slams Siemens rail-car plant: inexperienced workers, delays in startup cited.

The company overseeing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $200 million contract for light rail cars has discovered several problems with the deal so far - including that contractor Siemens Duewag Corp. has assigned inexperienced people to work on the contract and is several months behind on renovating its Carson rail-car shell manufacturing plant.

In a report to the MTA, the downtown Los Angeles office of LTK Engineering Services noted that Siemens Duewag's "efforts at systems' integration have been disappointing." LTK criticized the lack of drawings produced so far, the "poor quality" of drawings submitted, and Siemens' general lack of design progress, writing that "the root cause for most of the above problems is Siemens-Duewag Corp.'s inexperienced (rail car contract) staff."

On the good news front, however, LTK also reported that Siemens-Duewag has decided to subcontract for tool fabrication with several Los Angeles-area firms, rather than doing that work in Baltimore. It could not be determined last week how much the subcontracts would be worth or how many L.A. people would be employed on the job.

Laurence Weldon, MTA manager of the vehicle acquisition project, said that since LTK issued its report in late November or early December, Siemens-Duewag has hired seven or eight more experienced engineers to work on the contract.

Weldon also said that under a slower timetable for vehicle production approved last year by the MTA, Siemens-Duewag is actually only about two months behind schedule in Carson, and that much of that delay is due to problems getting permits from the City of Carson. Siemens Duewag spokesman Bill Mutschler added that remediation of some "very, very minor" toxic contamination also slowed down the opening of the factory.

A new LTK report on the Siemens contract is due out this week. However, the Business Journal could not confirm with LTK any information about actions Siemens-Duewag may have taken to correct the problems because LTK employees were ordered by MTA employees not to discuss the Siemens contract with the Business Journal.

Who talks to media?

The MTA's contract with LTK states that LTK can speak with the media about Siemens only if the MTA authorizes it. "All they have to do at the MTA is say, 'It's OK to talk to her,' but they told us not to," said LTK Vice President Rick Landell.

According to LTK's report to the MTA, Siemens-Duewag's first submittal of its "Integrated Schemative and Narrative" plan was unsatisfactory and did not meet bid specifications.

Regarding the refurbishing of the Carson industrial facility at 3025 E. Dominguez St., which is to be used for car shell manufacturing, LTK wrote that the factory still needs "extensive rework in order to become usable."

Mutschler said that the use of the local subcontractors for tool fabrication will help get the project back on schedule because the subcontractors' work can be done "parallel to doing the rehab" of the Carson facility. He said Siemens Duewag expects to catch up and deliver the cars on time.

LTK also noted that Siemens wants a reduction on noise emission limits from the train so its propulsion supplier can use a particular type of "reactor" device to smooth out the electrical current. The device Siemens wants to use filters out less noise than is called for in the contract. According to the report, Siemens has been unwilling to commit to a specific car weight reduction in exchange for permission to increase emissions.

"That (sort of thing) happens all the time. That's typical of the interface that goes on," commented Weldon.

He said LTK's comment about Siemens' inexperienced staff was "a valid observation" and the problem is being corrected.

"I'd say these were warnings," said Weldon. "You always have to watch (contractors). We'd be very naive if we put our faith in the contractors. ... And with the Carson plant being all brand new, there is an element of risk with that."

Germans beat 3 rivals

Siemens Duewag - together with partners TRW Inc. and AAI Corp. - beat out three other aerospace/rail car company partnerships to win the contract to build a fleet of 74 to 87 state-of-the-art light rail cars for the MTA. The project has been dubbed the L.A. Standard Car contract.

Siemens Duewag was not the low bidder but won the contract based on a point system. At the time the contract was awarded, a competing bidder complained that the points awarded for technical competency were not explained by MTA staff and made no sense, since the company with the most experience manufacturing light rail vehicles received the lowest score.

Out of 100 possible points, the Siemens partnership received 88, and its closest competitors received 87 and 86. Siemens received 30.5 points for technical competency, while its competitors received 28.6 and 27.6.

Siemens Duewag is an American subsidiary of Duewag AG and Siemens AG of Germany.

LTK is based in Philadelphia and represents transit authorities across the country, providing technical supervision of the design and procurement of rail cars.