By Noah Bierman
Globe Staff / October 25, 2009
Commuter rail service is not great for quick trips in the city because it takes too long to catch a train. The more convenient alternatives, new trolleys and subway lines, take years to build and can cost billions of dollars, a problem for neighborhoods like Dorchester and Allston that have been clamoring for better public transportation. But what if there were some middle ground that could deliver some of the advantages of rapid transit on existing commuter rail tracks?
diburning wrote:I don't see it ever happening in the future. For a couple reasons... They are antiquated. If the MBTA wanted used crap, the RDCs would not be their first choice. Another reason is that they are pretty much beyond repair. Also, unless the original drivetrain was saved, they'd need to buy a new one (which would be very costly). (the RDCs in storage sit on shop trucks)
Leo Sullivan wrote:I just got back from visiting a few European countries. All of them use new DMUs to some extent.
It must be remembered that they use them on nonelectrified lines where capacity requirements
were too low to require electrification. For this reason, the DMU trains are short and therefore,
the power requirements and emissions are proportional to the loads and so, lower than
locomotive hauled trains doing the same work. They are also state of the art (50+ years
after the RDC). Not that RDCs couldn't be retrofitted. MBTA lines are all lines that in
Europe, would be electrified so, have higher loadings and longer trains than the European
DMU lines so, it is comparing unlikes and, locomotive haulage is probably the best answer here.
However, if separate rules for DMU (and EMUs) made them more financially viable, there
might be the possibility of using lines that currently don't meet the traffic requirements
for locomotive hauled train service.
LS
caduceus wrote:It does still seem as if something at the federal level needs to be done to make DMUs a viable option.
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