Clearfield loses train factory to Salt Lake's Northwest Quadrant

By John Rogers

A new major manufacturing facility for a Switzerland-based train manufacturer — one that Clearfield officials thought they had a good shot at having in their city — instead will be built in Salt Lake City, the company has announced. Stadler Rail recently launched its project — anticipated to eventually include a million-square-foot campus and 1,000 direct jobs — at a site near Salt Lake City International Airport with a low-key groundbreaking ceremony.

State officials have known since December 2015 that the global company would be coming to Utah. At that time, Stadler opened a temporary facility in space it leased from the Utah Transit Authority at its Warm Springs facility north of downtown Salt Lake City. The company currently employs 115 people, mostly involved in train car assembly.

According to a release from Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski’s office, Stadler’s expansion project will take place at 150 S. 5600 W., south of the I-80 freeway from the airport and southeast of the site being developed for the new Utah state pPrison. The initial phase of construction for the manufacturing plant will begin in early 2018 with the construction of roads, utilities, a test track and a manufacturing plant with an office building. More construction will be added in a modular fashion to match the company’s needs, depending on future orders.

{mprestriction ids="1,3"}In December 2015, Stadler announced it would open a temporary manufacturing and assembly facility in Utah as part of the first phase of a plan to expand its North American manufacturing. The announcement came after the company was approved for incentives from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board.

At that time, the company said it was still in the process of selecting a permanent location and that Utah was among the possible sites with a Clearfield location prominently mentioned.

The GOED incentives were tied to Utah becoming the permanent location. The incentives were in the form of a tax credit of more than $10 million over 15 years and an Industrial Assistance Fund (IAF) grant of $500,000.

Clearfield officials were seemingly blindside by Stadler’s announcement that it would be building in Salt Lake City. “It is a disappointment,” Clearfield Assistant City Manager J.J. Allen told the (Ogden) Standard-Examiner. “We had high hopes for that project.” Allen said his city was informed of Stadler’s decision about 10 days before its announcement that Salt Lake City had been chosen for its new plant. Allen said the primary factor in its decision was the availability of additional land for future expansion.

Stadlers’ decision to establish a manufacturing facility in the United states was tied to $551 million contract to build equipment for Caltran, the northern California commuter rail system between San Jose and San Francisco. In August, Stadler announced that it had completed its first Fast Light Innovative Regional Train (FLIRT) diesel-multiple-unit train cars at its plant at North Salt Lake for the TEXRail project that will link downtown Fort Worth to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Those train cars were set to be unveiled at the American Public Transit Association Expo in Atlanta earlier this month. 

Based on the forecast growth, Stadler said it expects to employ up to 1,000 direct employees within the next 10 years and create more indirect employees as it builds its local supplier base. Stadler’s investment in the Salt Lake City will be more than $50 million for the initial project. The company has not projected expenditures for future expansion.

“Stadler is very excited to construct the very finest in train manufacturing plants right here in Salt Lake City,” the company said in a statement released by Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development. “The selected location is minutes away from the international airport and has land ready for Stadler to construct a 0.6-mile North American test track to be used for testing and commissioning of our trains before they ship to clients across the USA and North America.”

“The skilled, educated and dedicated workforce along the Wasatch Front combined with high quality of life convinced us to stay and establish our permanent headquarters in Utah,” Stadler CEO Martin Ritter said. “We commend Utah and all the cities and organizations that worked so hard over the last two years to assist Stadler in completing this transition. We are very excited to be a part of the community along the Wasatch Front and look forward to decades of great partnerships.” 

“We are more than thrilled to welcome — permanently — Stadler to Salt Lake City,” Biskupski said. “To have a company with a global footprint call the Northwest Quadrant home solidifies the city has a premier, strategic location for any company focused in logistics, manufacturing and distribution.”

Economic Development Director Lara Fritts added, “There were several locations in Utah that Stadler executives considered when determining where to grow their U.S. operations. Ultimately, Salt Lake City’s proximity to two major highway interstates, international airport and intersection with the Union Pacific Railroad ntermodal hub, expanding in the capital city was a sound business decision.”

The release from the mayor’s office said that for the past year, Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development (DED) hds been engaged with Stadler to ensure the needs for its project were met. The DED team, with partners at EDCUtah, GOED and the Downtown Alliance, have provided tours of the capital city to Stadler executives, solved storm drain issues to help Stadler activate its current site, provided permitting assistance and coordinated with other city departments to ensure development timelines are met, the city’s statement said.

“We believe excellent customer service is major benefit to companies like Stadler, in addition to the clear economic advantage Salt Lake City offers compared to other cities and states,” said Fritts.

Stadler has been building trains for 75 years. The system provider of rail vehicle construction solutions is headquartered in Bussnang in eastern Switzerland and has a workforce of over 7,000 based in various locations across Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Belarus, Algeria, the U.K. and the United States. Stadler provides a range of products in the heavy and urban transport segments, including high-speed trains, intercity trains, regional and commuter rail trains, underground trains, tram trains and trams. Stadler also manufactures main-line locomotives, shunting locomotives and passenger carriages, including the most powerful diesel-electric locomotives in Europe. {/mprestriction}