Mar
12
Piedmont, SC, February 22, 2013: Peter Rogoff, Administrator of the United States Federal Transit Administration, visited TransTech of South Carolina on Friday, February 22nd. As a member of the Fandstan Electric Group, TransTech engineers and manufactures solutions to power moving machines – including electric trains – by bringing fresh ideas to old technologies like pantographs and third rail.
During his visit, Mr. Rogoff noted that the components made at TransTech’s facility – located in the upstate of South Carolina – serve “easily half the transit ridership in the United States . . .when you add together Long Island Railroad, Metro North, and LA Metro, and subway systems in New York, and METRA in Chicago . . . they easily cover maybe even close to 60%, maybe more.”
As his visit began, TransTech’s President, Ian Paradis, introduced Mr. Rogoff to TransTech’s unique ability to provide holistic solutions for both the trainborne (i.e. electricity collectors like pantographs, shoegear, and ground return units) and wayside (i.e. electrification components like third rail and overhead catenary) applications within the transit industry. Mr. Rogoff seemed especially interested in TransTech’s development of Stainless-Steel Capped Aluminum Rail, which allows for greater electrical conductivity, lower voltage drop, lower installation costs, and more distance between charging stations. Mr. Rogoff applauded TransTech for being “innovators in our industry” and further noted that TransTech is “a company on the grow . . . coming up with new innovations to make those products perform better and be more affordable.”
After his brief meeting with TransTech’s president and management team, Mr. Rogoff toured the facility where he shook hands and spoke with several of the workers. He seemed thrilled to look at, handle, and learn about many of the electrification components that were in production (see picture of Mr. Rogoff, center, studying a pantograph with TransTech President, Ian Paradis, left, and Engineering Manager, Stacy Smith, right).
Following his tour, Mr. Rogoff spoke briefly to the full staff of TransTech. In his speech, he explained that, due to the swiftly rising gas prices, “there is a certain inevitability about transit in the United States,” and he said that the Federal Transit Authority is “very grateful” for the “creativity and innovation that folks in our company [are] exhibiting” in order to have our components “do some very important things for millions of people.”
