Pittsburg might be winner in L.A. spat (Source: San Francisco Business Times)

Link: San Francisco Business Times: Pittsburg might be winner in L.A. spat

Pittsburg might be winner in L.A. spat

Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 12:33pm PDT


Photo: AnsaldoBreda Inc.

A spat in Los Angeles over light rail cars might ultimately result in a boost to the economy for Pittsburg, the tiny East Bay suburb.

L.A. County transportation officials are expected to vote tomorrow on whether to extend its deal with AnsaldoBreda Inc. to build more light rail cars. If AnsaldoBreda wins that $300 million contract, it has pledged to build a manufacturing plant in Los Angeles.

But winning that contract is no sure thing for AnsaldoBreda, which has its corporate headquarters in Italy. The head of the L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority is recommending against extending the contract. Staff reports said light rail cars that AnsaldoBreda has already delivered to L.A. were 6,000 pounds too heavy and incompatible with others in the fleet.

Should L.A. shut out AnsaldoBreda, the company still wants to build a manufacturing plant in the United States and it will consider Pittsburg, where it already has an assembly plant for contracts with BART and San Francisco’s MUNI and where it builds L.A.s light rail cars. The Pittsburg assembly plant employs about 60 people.

“We’ll give the Bay Area a pretty close look if things don’t work out like we hope on Thursday,” said Chris Lehane, a spokesman for AnsaldoBreda.