Colorado Railcar Closes Doors

The company that tried to sell “Diesel multiple units” to the nation’s transit industry is officially out of business. The company’s bumpy history was noted here a couple of weeks ago.

In retrospect, it is hard to believe that a railcar manufacturer could have failed after a more than a decade in which the transit industry furiously spent well over a hundred billion dollars of the taxpayers’ money on various rail transit schemes. This is especially so considering that RTD, Colorado Railcar’s “hometown agency,” ordered a record-breaking $187 million worth of light-rail cars from Siemens. But Colorado Railcar only managed to sell its product to two different transit agencies, one in Florida and one in Oregon.

As an added twist, it turns out that the company’s last president was Larry Salci, who previously mismanaged St. Louis Metro. I wonder what company or agency he will drive into the ground next.

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The interior of one of Tom Rader’s luxury rail cars in Alaska.
Flickr fotobydave.

Don’t be surprised if Colorado Railcar’s founder, Tom Rader, soon starts a new company under a different name. I hope he goes back to rebuilding old passenger cars into scenic luxury cars for the tourist industry, a task for which he is a proven success — and which requires little or no tax subsidy.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

6 Responses to Colorado Railcar Closes Doors

  1. the highwayman says:

    ROT:In retrospect, it is hard to believe that a railcar manufacturer could have failed after a more than a decade in which the transit industry furiously spent well over a hundred billion dollars of the taxpayers’ money on various rail transit schemes. This is especially so considering that RTD, Colorado Railcar’s “hometown agency,” ordered a record-breaking $187 million worth of light-rail cars from Siemens. But Colorado Railcar only managed to sell its product to two different transit agencies, one in Florida and one in Oregon.

    THWM: Well a good chunk of the waste is from the red tape of both the FTA & the FRA.

  2. prk166 says:

    Colorado Railcar simply wasn’t big enough to grease the wheels of government commerce the way Siemens did.

  3. the highwayman says:

    Colorado Railcar & Siemens are in different markets.

    Just as there is between Kenworth & Jeep.

  4. C. P. Zilliacus says:

    the highwayman claimed:

    > Well a good chunk of the waste is from the red tape of both the FTA & the FRA.

    Why not name some of it?

  5. Royko says:

    Siemens was good at spreading the grease around.

    Still looking for evidence of greased palms in Texas.

  6. the highwayman says:

    Road contracting takes a loty of grease too!

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