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Officials and former employees waiting for news on whether more work is coming to Alstom will have to hold their breath for another month.

Both Mayor Shawn Hogan and Hornell IDA Executive Director Jim Griffin said they’re waiting for word on several contracts the transit giant bid on in 2011, and that they knew only what Alstom officials had told them.

Griffin is expecting to hear whether Alstom will secure a contract with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in March. He initially believed the contract would be awarded in February.

He wasn’t sure what caused the delay in awarding the contract, but said such delays are common.

“We feel confident Alstom will get it. Apparently (the contract) isn’t high on the priority list for the MBTA board,” said Griffin. “They put them off, put them off, put them off, then they get them done. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

In early October, city officials said Alstom was submitting best and final offers with the MBTA, the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City, and the Bay Area Rapid Transit District in San Francisco. The MBTA contract is expected to last four or five years, said Griffin in October.

With the submission of best and final offers, officials expected Alstom to receive word on whether they received a contract early in 2012. So far, they’re still waiting.

Hogan said the New York City contract is expected to be awarded in late winter or early spring in 2012.

“Hopefully we’ll get some good news at the end of February or in early March,” said Hogan.

While Alstom is chasing new contracts, work on 120 Delaware River Port Authority PATCO transit fleet cars started in March 2011 at the Hornell facility. As many as 40 employees were expected to be hired to work on the PATCO cars once the project is in full swing.

That still left most of the 500 workers laid-off in 2010 from the Hornell plant without immediate employment opportunities with the transit company. In 2008, the company employed as many as 1,100 people in the Hornell area.

The last of the PATCO cars is expected to be delivered in three years. Alstom was awarded the contract in December 2010.

The PATCO contract was a bright spot for Alstom at the tail-end of 2010, after losing out on bids with the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority and Amtrak, while another bid with Societe de transport de Montreal was split between Bombardier Transportation and Alstom.

A call to Chuck Wochele, vice president for Industry and Government Relations for Alstom, wasn’t returned by press time.

In previous stories, Tim Brown, director of communications for Alstom’s North American Region, said the company wouldn’t comment until contracts have been finalized.

Continued here:
Word on Alstom bids expected in March