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Re: California gets 300 Million for high speed rail.
Author: SP5103
Date: 05-10-2011 - 08:22
Here is how the game is played:
When public rail transportation was privately owned, they had their own engineering departments and specified what was of the most value to the company, and bought "off the shelf" equipment whenever that fulfilled the requirements.
Now - the government owns our public rail transportation system. For the most part, the managers are administrators, and may not have the engineering departments to back them up. So - they hire consultants. Have you noticed that very few consultants specify "off the shelf" components? Why are we building "light rail" systems with heavy rail? But yet a new car design that comes in overweight requires new bridges to be strengthened?
If a consulting engineer specifies something different, then they get their contract extended so they can oversee the project. The bidding process is so complex that many companies don't even bother. And can you really expect to stay in business if you get a huge order, but only every few years?
When public rail transportation was privately owned, they had their own engineering departments and specified what was of the most value to the company, and bought "off the shelf" equipment whenever that fulfilled the requirements.
Now - the government owns our public rail transportation system. For the most part, the managers are administrators, and may not have the engineering departments to back them up. So - they hire consultants. Have you noticed that very few consultants specify "off the shelf" components? Why are we building "light rail" systems with heavy rail? But yet a new car design that comes in overweight requires new bridges to be strengthened?
If a consulting engineer specifies something different, then they get their contract extended so they can oversee the project. The bidding process is so complex that many companies don't even bother. And can you really expect to stay in business if you get a huge order, but only every few years?
