Utah order may save Carson rail car plant.

It appeared very likely last week that California Carshell Inc. - the new rail car shell plant opened in Carson last year by Siemens Transportation System - will stay open past 1997, thanks to a car order from the Utah Transit Authority.

Prior to the opening of the car shell plant in Carson, all such shells were manufactured overseas, although rail cars are assembled in the United States. Siemens Transportation System, a New Jersey-based subsidiary of Siemens AG of Germany, hopes to eventually export rail car shells from the Los Angeles area.

However, Siemens announced last year, after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority cut its "L.A. Standard Car" order by 22 cars, that the Carson plant didn't have enough work to warrant keeping it open past the summer of 1997. And because of the lead time needed to design a new car, the company felt it needed to get a new order by the end of 1995.

But the nearly concluded Utah deal will be for 23 cars using a design Siemens has already used to build cars for San Diego and Denver - greatly reducing the lead time necessary to begin producing the shells.

Bill Barnes, spokesman for the UTA, said UTA staff members will go to their transit authority's board of directors within two months seeking approval of a contract with Siemens. Actually, the UTA would be picking up an option left over from a San Diego contract with Siemens.

"The staff recommendation will definitely be to go ahead," Barnes said.

Unique tactic

In preparation for possible questions about the lack of competitive bidding, Utah transit staff last November ran ads asking if any other rail car builder could beat Siemens' price of approximately $1.85 million per car, and no one responded, Barnes said.

Currently, the UTA is negotiating escape clauses in the Siemens contract, allowing for the possibility of federal government funding drying up.

The UTA is in the final design stage on a new 15-mile-long, $300 million light rail system for Salt Lake County.

"It will be one of the least expensive rail lines in the country," said Barnes. "We want basically the off-the-shelf car, and this is the closest thing."

John Ketelson, general manager of the Carson plant, said although the UTA would be picking up an option on San Diego's contract, the cars actually will be more similar to ones Siemens built for Denver because the weather in Denver and Salt Lake City is similar. For example, the Utah cars will have more power and better heaters than the San Diego cars.

The Carson plant expects to employ about 100 people when production is in full swing.

California Carshell has a five-year lease on its 115,400-square-foot plant on eight acres at 3025 E. Dominguez St.