Company behind overhaul of Baltimore light rail has faced problems before

This frightening video from October, showing flames and smoke filling a train car, was released by the MTA yesteray. One rider was hurt. That fire is one of the reasons why light rail service was suspended indefinitely, beginning Friday.

It happened because some of the high voltage conduits are punctured. Another piece of equipment that connects the cars was having problems too, causing six "smoke events" since 2021.

The MTA says the issues are related to an overhaul project being done by an international company called Alstom.

After last night's announcement about the suspension of service, Maryland Transit Advocate Claire Aguayo posted concerns about Alstom to "X," and it got a lot of eyeballs from concerned Marylanders.

"A lot of the North American products have been facing issues with reliability," Aguayo said.

Most recently,an Amtrak watchdog reportreleased in October detailed the problems plaguing Amtrak's new Acela trains. Alstom is building them, but the report states it's more than three years behind schedule.

The report from the Amtrak Office of Inspector General (OIG) blames the delays on two things:

1. Alstom has not completed the first step in the federal regulatory process that shows the trains are safe to proceed with additional testing. It says Alstom has built more than half of its units without completing this necessary step.

2. The report says all of the trains that have been produced so far have defects. Like windows shattering spontaneously. Hydraulic tilting systems leaking. Water drainage between cars, causing corrosion.

The report also states that "although some defects are expected when producing a new trainset, the vendor’s schedule for addressing them is incomplete."

"The fact that those new Acela trains are sidelined in that huge number and the fact that all these Baltimore light-rail trains are sidelined, the continued amount of incidents and unreliability alone is a testament to the fact that we should really be looking into why this is happening, and we should be scrutinizing Alstom," Aguayo said.

Alstom responded to the OIG's report - vehemently disagreeing with the assessment, calling it "misleading, and damaging to Alstom's reputation."

One example — the company takes issue with the word "shattering" when referring to the broken window, calling it sensational. Alstom says it did observe "fractures" in some windows, but fixed the issue and it hasn't happened since. The OIG notes that Alstom used the word "shattering" first, in its own progress report, but then later changed it after the audit was released.

Alstom also says the "defects" are mischaracterized, stating that the trains in question were authorized for shipping by Amtrak after thorough inspections, which identified "modifications" to be made prior to acceptance. Alstom notes that none of these modifications are "safety critical."

As for the federal regulations, Alstom states it submitted sufficient data to Amtrak, which then submitted it to the Federal Railroad Administration. The OIG says in response, that the "FRA provided draft comments on the latest submission related to the computer model, noting significant gaps and questioning the results provided. Moreover, two and a half years after the original revenue launch date, FRA has not approved the trainsets for high‐speed testing on the NEC. Without a validated model, FRA will not allow Amtrak and Alstom to move forward with the rest of its required testing, let alone revenue service."

You can find Alstom's response, and the OIG's comments on the response in the report beginning on page 35.

"A response saying that these problems were sensationalized doesn't make the problem go away that now, in Baltimore, we're not gonna have light rail trains at all," Aguayo said.

There's also been problems in Canada. According to the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, axle failures on the Alstom-built light rail service there led to a derailment in 2021, and a three-week shutdown of service this past summer. Alstom is quoted in the paper saying Ottawa "deserves better."

"Baltimore has deserved better for transit for so long."

We reached out to Alstom for comment; the company referred us to the MTA. The MTA says it's working to determine the root cause of the safety issues, and it cannot comment on a project managed by Amtrak.

So far there's no word on when light rail service will be restored. The MTA says it's working nonstop with Alstom to conduct inspections and make repairs.