LIMESTONE, Maine — Workers at the Maine Military Authority and Loring Industries are making swift progress with a bus renovation project for The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, with officials predicting the work will be completed this summer.
Officials with MMA, Loring Industries as well as the Loring Development Authority, which leases the facilities where the two firms are located on the former Loring Air Force Base, all are optimistic about the future of their operations.
MMA initially signed a $19 million contract to overhaul 32 transit buses for the MBTA in 2014, but determined in 2016 that it was more complex and costly to rebuild the dual diesel-electric buses than predicted, due in part to challenges in finding replacement parts.
Gov. Paul LePage and state lawmakers helped salvage the project and save jobs last year for the state-operated MMA by approving a $7 million rescue package as part of the supplemental state budget.
Loring Development Authority President Carl Flora said on Thursday that the LDA also received $750,000 from the state after lawmakers approved another $1.5 million funding bill last June to help the authority with its finances, in part because the MMA owed it $865,000 in back rent. Flora said last Thursday that LDA officials hope to see the second $750,000 installment next year.
The latest funding was intended in part to help the LDA place aviation assets back into service in addition to renovating buildings and upgrading equipment to attract new businesses to the former base. In particular, officials have been preparing for the arrival of an aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul firm that Flora revealed last June had an interest in locating at Loring. Flora is still unable to identify the business by name, citing a regulatory process that prevents additional details from being revealed until the contract is finalized.
“I continue to hear from [the company],” Flora said on Thursday. “I would like if they would plant their stake in the ground here. Hopefully that will happen fairly soon.”
Meanwhile, Flora said that the LDA has written off the back rent owed by MMA, but that he is optimistic moving forward.
He said the MBTA project is coming along nicely and that buses are “coming in and going out on schedule.”
MMA Executive Director Tim Corbett said the progress of his crew is “excellent.”
“Our guys are really working hard,” said Corbett. “We’re averaging two buses a month, which is great. We’re right on schedule and couldn’t ask for more.”
Corbett said that while MMA is focusing on the MBTA project until its completion, he and Flora are working to establish more projects at the former Loring Air Force Base.
He added that he can not reveal any specific details, because agreements are not finalized, and that he does not know when an announcement could be made.
“We have to take it one day at a time,” Corbett said. “I could find something out tomorrow, next week, or a month or two from now.”
Loring Industries LLC, a newly established business on the base, has stepped in to help with the MMA projects in addition to working on some of its own.
Tim McCabe, Loring Industries’ head of development, said earlier this year that his firm’s involvement was part of a mutual agreement between MMA, MBTA, and the governor’s office. The LLC, part of the New England Kenworth Group, helps by providing labor and delivering parts and inventory to the refurbishment operation.
As with Corbett, McCabe said there is a possibility of other projects in the future, but he too could not provide too many details at this point.
These projects, according to McCabe, also will involve overhaul and refurbishment.
“We’re trying to get everything in house so the transition goes smoothly,” he said, “and I can bring in my guys to work on other projects while offering positions to MMA personnel.”
Limestone Economic Development Coordinator Dennis McCartney said that Loring Industries was able to provide assistance by procuring hard to find parts for the MBTA buses.
“The manufacturer of those buses went out of business,” said McCartney, “and there’s nowhere to get parts for them. That’s the challenge Loring Industries has been handling because part of their expertise is part sourcing for heavy equipment. They’ve been able to either find the parts, or get them made.”
McCabe said MMA is responsible for “quite a bit” in terms of rebuilding parts for the busses, and that Loring Industries through New England Kenworth supplies the rest, or roughly 75 percent of necessary parts.
“MMA does phenomenal work,” McCabe said.
McCartney, McCabe, Corbett, and Flora all said the MBTA project should be finished at some point this summer.
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- When the Maine Military Authority receives a bus for renovation from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, it goes through several phases. The first phase, seen here, involves disassembling the bus. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus is suspended in air as it is disassembled before being refurbished at the Maine Military facility on the former Loring Air Force base. Once the axles and larger parts are taken out, according to Tim McCabe of Loring Industries, a company working under MMA on the project, structural welding and upgrades begin. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- After disassembly and structural repair, workers with the Maine Military Authority and Loring Industries prep the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority buses for painting. (Christopher Bouchard)
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- The final stage of work for the Maine Military Authority, with their Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus renovation contract, involves testing out the finished product. Buses are taken on a 350 mile road test, and all electrical systems are tested. Then, according to Tim McCabe of Loring Industries, the MBTA resident inspector takes the bus for several days and needs to approve each component before the crew is finished. (Christopher Bouchard)
