Rolling Stock: Locomotives and Rail Cars Industry & Trade Summary Office of Industries Publication ITS-08 March 2011 Control No. 2011001 UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION Karen Laney Acting Director of Operations Michael Anderson Acting Director, Office of Industries This report was principally prepared by: Peder Andersen, Office of Industries [email protected] With supporting assistance from: Monica Reed, Office of Industries Wanda Tolson, Office of Industries Under the direction of: Deborah McNay, Acting Chief Advanced Technology and Machinery Division Cover photo: Courtesy of BNSF Railway Co. Address all communication to Secretary to the Commission United States International Trade Commission Washington, DC 20436 www.usitc.gov Preface The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has initiated its current Industry and Trade Summary series of reports to provide information on the rapidly evolving trade and competitive situation of the thousands of products imported into and exported from the United States. Over the past 20 years, U.S. international trade in goods and services has risen by almost 350 percent, compared to an increase of 180 percent in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), before falling sharply in late 2008 and 2009 due to the economic downturn. During the same two decades, international supply chains have become more global and competition has increased. Each Industry and Trade Summary addresses a different commodity or industry and contains information on trends in consumption, production, and trade, as well as an analysis of factors affecting industry trends and competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets. This report on the railway rolling stock industry primarily covers the period from 2004 to 2009, and includes data for 2010 where available. Papers in this series reflect ongoing research by USITC international trade analysts. The work does not represent the views of the USITC or any of its individual Commissioners. This paper should be cited as the work of the author only, not as an official Commission document. i CONTENTS Page Preface ...................................................................................................................................... i Acronyms ............................................................................................................................... vii Key points .............................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3 U.S. industry ......................................................................................................................... 4 Trends ................................................................................................................................... 4 Industry structure .................................................................................................................. 5 Locomotives ..................................................................................................................... 6 Freight rail cars ................................................................................................................ 7 Passenger rail cars ............................................................................................................ 18 Production process ................................................................................................................ 19 Industry innovations ............................................................................................................. 20 OEM supply chain ................................................................................................................ 21 Employment .......................................................................................................................... 23 Geographic distribution of employers .................................................................................. 23 U.S. market ........................................................................................................................... 24 Locomotives ......................................................................................................................... 25 Freight rail cars ..................................................................................................................... 27 Passenger rail cars ................................................................................................................ 29 Factors influencing demand for railway rolling stock .......................................................... 30 Marketing methods ............................................................................................................... 31 Consumers characteristics .................................................................................................... 31 Growth in demand for freight transportation ........................................................................ 32 U.S. government regulatory issues ....................................................................................... 34 Competition between foreign and U.S. producers ................................................................ 35 U.S. trade ............................................................................................................................... 35 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 35 U.S. imports .......................................................................................................................... 37 U.S. exports .......................................................................................................................... 38 U.S. and foreign trade measures ......................................................................... 40 U.S. tariff and nontariff measures ......................................................................................... 40 U.S. government trade-related investigations ....................................................................... 40 Foreign tariff and nontariff measures ................................................................................... 41 Foreign industry profiles ........................................................................................... 42 Canada .................................................................................................................................. 45 Mexico .................................................................................................................................. 46 China ..................................................................................................................................... 47 Russia ................................................................................................................................... 47 iii CONTENTS —Continued Page Foreign market profiles.............................................................................................. 48 Canada .................................................................................................................................. 49 Mexico .................................................................................................................................. 52 China .................................................................................................................................... 55 Russia ................................................................................................................................... 59 Tariffs, nontariff measures and government programs .................. 62 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 63 Appendices A Railway rolling stock ............................................................................................................ 75 B Harmonized Tariff Schedules numbers ................................................................................ 87 C Locomotives and freight car data ......................................................................................... 93 Box 1 Amtrak ................................................................................................................................. 24 Figures 1 A typically configured diesel-electric locomotive ............................................................... 5 2 Common freight rail car varieties......................................................................................... 9 3 Railway rolling stock production process ............................................................................ 20 4 U.S. railway rolling stock industry: Total employment, average number of production workers, average yearly wages, 2002–09 ....................................................................... 23 5 Locomotive purchases (new and rebuilt) by Class 1 railroads, total fleet as of January 1, 2001–10 ......................................................................................................... 25 6 U.S. Class I railroads locomotive fleet: Locomotive build dates, percentage of fleet as of December 2009 .........................................................................................................