This article has been updated with new information.

nuts

A potentially serious problem has arisen with the expansion project to Brunswick. In particular, Executive Director Patricia Quinn detailed an unanticipated construction issue at the August NNEPRA board meeting.

The welded rail, now being layed along the Pan Am tracks, requires temporary joint bars held in place by nuts and bolts. The FRA grant states that all materials must be manufactured in America.

It turns out that the required square nuts, distributed by an American company, are actually made overseas (China or India). These foreign-manufactured nuts are readily available, but in order to comply with the grant, NNEPRA made an attempt to locate American manufacturers that could, in a timely manner, provide the required hardware. They found two American companies that could manufacture the nuts, but they would require from 10-16 weeks to deliver the product since the nuts would be considered custom work. There would likely be an additonal 2-3 weeks for competitive bidding (due to the cost) and processing the award, thus taking (worse case scenario) 19 weeks for the nuts to arrive - in the dead of winter. Pan Am is using up its existing stock and needs new nuts immediately.

Add to that the cost factor. The foreign-manufactered nuts cost 63 cents each. The custom American-manufactured nuts would cost from between $5.00 and $18.00 each depending on the vendor. Pan Am needs 3,360 of them now. The immediate delivery of foreign-manufactured nuts would cost $2,117 (any purchase above $3,000 requires competitive bidding), while the custom ones could cost up to $60,480!

NNEPRA has requested a waiver from the FRA so that the construction work will not grind to a halt because the rails can't be joined. The United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen have sent a letter to the FRA opposing the waiver request (their letter can be read on the UTU's website).

Reminds this writer of the famous anonymous poem that begins, "For the want of a nail, a shoe was lost..." Stay tuned.