Amtrak catenary wire procurement fraud case

A British contractor on the Amtrak Northeast Corridor electrification project tried to install a sub-spec copper wire (Rome, NY) to capture margin on a fixed-cost contract, told the federal government no other supplier existed, and was caught when the FBI walked passports off the executive team after a mediation Tom helped resolve. The Providence test track shows the inferior wire arcing on the train pass.

By the same token, I was involved in the northeast extension of Amtrak a few years ago. They had a British firm doing a $300 million Amtrak contract — remember Amtrak is basically covered by the federal government. This British firm, which had all kinds of electrified commuter train tracks elsewhere, was in charge. It was a fixed-cost contract, and they needed a bunch of copper wire for the overhead conductor that these electric trains run on — a very special type of copper wire.