U.S. Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO), Rodney Davis (R-IL), and Rick Crawford (R-AR) are calling for an investigation into a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) railcar contract to determine if it complies with Buy America requirements.
Graves, the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said with his colleagues in a letter to the Department of Transportation Inspector General that the contract with a Chinese state-owned company may now follow Federal Transit Administration (FTA) policy.
“It has come to our attention that the state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation MA (CRRC MA) is fully building passenger railcars in China and plans to ship them to SEPTA—apparently in contrast with FTA’s Buy America requirements for rolling stock procurement…. [W]e are concerned whether CRRC MA has met the Buy America requirements so far over the course of this contract and if CRRC MA will be able to meet these requirements as the contract progresses,” said Graves, Davis, and Crawford said in the letter.
Graves said the review was critical in keeping American companies competitive.
“It is important to the competitiveness and security of American industries that we ensure that companies that do business in our country comply with all U.S. laws and that there’s a level playing field,” Graves said. “We are simply asking the Inspector General to determine whether CRRC is in compliance with Buy America requirements.”
According to law, SEPTA must comply with the FTA’s Buy America requirement to ensure a certain percentage of components and subcomponents for rolling stock, such as railcars and buses, are produced in the United States and that a certain percentage are assembled domestically.
The Congress members said that recent reports by the Philadelphia Inquirer raise questions about whether the contract between SEPTA and CRRC MA meets those Buy America requirements and whether the railcars are being built in China.