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Officials In Plattsburgh Celebrate And Tour Expansion Of Rail Systems Manufacturer

Local and company officials surround New York state Senator Betty Little as she cuts the ribbon at the new Wabtec facility in Plattsburgh
Pat Bradley/WAMC
Local and company officials surround New York state Senator Betty Little as she cuts the ribbon at the new Wabtec facility in Plattsburgh

The Plattsburgh North Country Chamber and local officials this morning celebrated the grand opening of an expanded manufacturing facility on the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base.
Wabtec/Vapor Stone Rail Systems makes windows, doors and air conditioning systems for rail cars in a 70,000-square foot manufacturing facility on the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base.  The company held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of a second facility Thursday.  North Country Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Garry Douglas says Wabtec was one of the original investors in the region following the closure of the air force base.  “One of the businesses we wanted to be in going forward was transportation equipment. Two companies got that started. Bombardier and Wabtec came to Plattsburgh. They were foundational to the beginnings of our role of transportation equipment manufacturing. Wabtec was the first major industrial entity that said yes we’re going to lease one of the buildings 21 years ago and they helped get the ball rolling for the redevelopment of the air force base. And now they’re doing it again with this facility. Not only growing and investing but being part of the next phase of redevelopment which is the use of Plattsburgh International Airport and being part of the industrialization and redevelopment of this site.”

The new building, located across the street from the existing plant, allows the company to double production and triple the number of employees in Plattsburgh.  Wabtec Transit President Lilian Leroux says they manufacture new and support older rail fleets.  “We are one of the 400 biggest companies in the states. We are a leader in the railway equipment industry. We are not only providing doors for not only all of North America but we also do manufacture air conditioning. We are also here going to manufacture the state-of-the-art converters that are going to be used in the latest fleet of New York the R-211. We are investing here because we do believe there is a growth here and we do believe that we are in the right industry, a green industry, that has the right impact on the planet.”

Company officials and employees led local, government and development officials through the new 60,000-square foot building. “We are currently in operation.”
“We’ll go station by station.”
“This is where we build all the lock switches, the lights. If we come right down through this way.”
“What we do here is we obviously make the windows for the transit cars as well as the windshields.  Upon being completed the windows will then go to this water test booth that’s running next to me.”
“Hi. This is the new door panel manufacturing line. This here is the bonding room. Please step to the blue x on the floor please.”

The 40-minute tour exposed visitors to each segment of the manufacturing process.  The expansion has increased the number of employees to 186 and Wabtec is seeking more.