Most of my experience with streetcars is with equipment exceeding a century in age and with much the same technology as the New Orleans green cars. Except in cases wherein a wheel or axle is defective, the vehicle is NOT more susceptible to derailments because it's old. Poor track maintenance, yes, extremely poor vehicle maintenance (for example a frozen axle or a seized bolster bearing), sure, but the age of a vehicle in regular service, absolutely not. Vehicle design is the factor here, not age. If the green cars are inferior in design, which I don't believe they are, then that could be a factor, not their service tenure. The Type 8s have a wimpy air suspension system and a center truck with 4 independent wheels incapable of maintaining a perfect distance of 4' 8" flange to flange. LRVs have not been that problematic, save for some teething with the Boeings when articulation was a new concept to us (spliced cars don't count as they were not remotely similar in design) and the top heavy Type 7s with their rocking issue. Type 7s were about as well designed as the PCCs and because of that, neither derail with any regularity regardless of how much farther into the past their build date ventures.
Moderator: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Brightline Trains
Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).