(Maryland television station WBAL posted the following story on its website on May 13. A video download of this report is available at:http://www.thewbalchannel.com/travelgetaways/2197596/detail.html)
ESSEX, Md. — The state of Maryland spent $36 million of taxpayer money on six new locomotives that haven’t gone into service, most for more than a year — and the 11 NEWS I-Team asked state officials if this resembles business as usual or a train-wreck of a deal.
WBAL-TV 11 NEWS I-Team reporter David Collins reported that weeds and rust grow faster than some brand-new locomotives travel. The locomotives are sitting idle instead of pulling passengers up and down the Maryland Rail Commuter’s (MARC) Penn line. The state ordered six brand-new engines and most of them are collecting dust at a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) train yard in Essex, Md., Collins reported.
When the 11 NEWS I-Team asked MTA spokeswoman Suzanne Bond how many locomotives the state purchased and at what price, she replied: “We have an order right now of six locomotives and they cost $6 million each.”
That totals $36 million of taxpayer money — paid in full. The locomotives are state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line engines designed to give customers a faster ride, Collins said. State officials thought they could get the locomotives in service faster if they piggy-backed onto an Amtrak order — but it hasn’t worked out, the 11 NEWS I-Team found out.
At least one of the locomotives has been sitting 11?2 years and four others have been idle for more than a year, Collins reported. The last engine arrived seven months ago — and all had problems.
Bond described what type of modifications need to be made.
“We found out they had some issues with left to right movement on the train, a swaying movement by the locomotive that required a modification,” Bond said.
In other words, the engines aren’t safe, Collins said. According to Amtrak, there are cracks in a bracket that holds the engines’ shock absorber. MTA officials said if it breaks it, it could cause a derailment.
According to MTA officials, manufacturing company Bombardier agreed to fix the problem but worked on Amtrak’s locomotives first, which caused a delay in service.
Bombardier declined to comment, and even though most of the locomotives have been sitting for more than a year, state officials said that’s not unusual.
“This is the type of process that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t often know about, the accepting testing process, the evaluation process, making sure things work well,” Bond said.
While Maryland officials find this delay acceptable, other transit authorities do not. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia claims it takes them a week to get a locomotive in service after delivery. In Dallas, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officials said it takes them only a week or two to get their locomotives in service.
The 11 NEWS I-Team asked Joanne Li, an assistant professor of finance at Loyola College in Baltimore, to calculate the interest the state could have earned if it left the $36 million in its stock portfolio using a formula provided by the state.
“They probably could make $680,000 in terms of rate of return,” Li said.
And that’s only for eight months, Collins said.
“It’s certainly been frustrating. You don’t want to enter into a process and end up with problems and issues,” Bond said.
One of those issues concerns training. The MTA told the 11 NEWS I-Team that they “assumed” Amtrak would take care of it — but the contract the state provided to 11 NEWS does not indicate that assumption. And Amtrak officials said its only obligation was to inspect the engines.
Now the state is faced with yet another expense — paying Bombardier $111,000 to teach 50 people to how to operate and maintain the locomotives.
But attorney Troy Powers, who specializes in contract law, says the state negotiated a bad deal, and he finds it incredible that the state has not already taken legal action.
“The taxpayer is sitting with the burden of reparations,” Powers said. “It certainly appears that there are flaws in the contract and perhaps somebody either didn’t consider those problems may arise, or considered them but was willing to waive them.”
The state vows all six locomotives will be in service in July. Amtrak is suing Bombardier and Maryland state officials said the possibility of a lawsuit is something that needs to be discussed, but only after the locomotives are in service, Collins reported.