Schumer wary of China-made trains
Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday called on the Commerce Department to investigate whether a Chinese state-owned company’s proposal to design new subway cars for the MTA poses a threat to national security.
The Senate minority leader raised the concerns as Washington and Beijing were locked in a tariff war over billions of dollars in goods and after the Trump administration filed criminal charges last week against Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company, for stealing US technology.
“Given what we know about how cyberwarfare works, and recent attacks that have hit transportation and infrastructure hubs across the country, the Department of Commerce must give the green light and thoroughly check any proposals or work China’s CRRC does on behalf of the New York subway system,” Schumer said in a statement.
China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC), the largest train car producer in the world, won an MTA Genius Transit Challenge in March 2018 and proposed investing $50 million of its own money to develop a new subway car using lighter materials and “modern train control technology.”
Schumer wants the feds to determine whether any technology installed would present a national security threat to the subway system and straphangers.
The MTA said on Sunday that there are no CRRC cars in the system and that it hasn’t bought any products from the company.
“The MTA has robust, multilayered and vigorously enforced safety and security standards, but we support efforts of government agencies to bolster that work,” MTA Chief External Affairs Officer Max Young said in a statement.
A CRRC spokesman said most of the parts for the train cars come from American manufacturers and must meet specific requirements set by transit agencies.
“There is no evidence of a passenger railcar manufacturer, including CRRC, installing any type of new technology that could intentionally open passenger railcars to cyberthreats or pose a threat to commuters and national security,” the spokesman, Dave Smolensky, told The Associated Press, adding that the company would welcome an investigation.
CRRC also does business with transportation systems in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, and underbids other competitors because it receives heavy subsidies from the Chinese government, Schumer said.
It is also pursuing a $500 million contract for train cars with the Metro system in Washington, DC, and eyeing a $4 billion contract with the MTA.
“This kind of national security responsibility is just so big, and so complex, that the MTA and other big-city transit systems should not have to foot the burden of going it alone to assess whether or not CRRC’s low bids for work, and current contracts across the country, are part of some larger strategy,” Schumer said.
“We just cannot be too careful here, especially now, amidst these tensions and general cyberthreats.”