Amtrak New Haven to Boston trolley wire / Amtrak catenary wire procurement fraud case

Tom's forensic case. British supplier's caster couldn't deliver enough cross-sectional-area reduction; large grains → rough surface → arcing at 100 mph. Tom rejects $6M of wire on two days' notice; British firm sues; counter-investigation by US federal authorities reveals sole-source procurement fraud (Phelps Dodge had been kept out of the bid). Wire is replaced with Phelps Dodge material via the Conform redundant-deformation process. The Providence test-track 6-mile arcing demonstration is the dispositive forensic evidence.

This particular ingot, which has a very small amount of silver — like a tenth of a percent — I was brought in because this was going to be the trolley wire for the Amtrak New Haven to Boston extension. The overhead line. The company making this wire — the largest-diameter wire they had ever made was 5/16 of an inch, and they were going to make it from this inch and 3/8 stock. It starts out as very large grain. This isn't segregation, it's the grain size.