Railroad Forums 

  • #14 Orange Line Cars 1400-1551 (From Red/Orange Procurement discussion)

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1554113  by nomis
 
MBTA warns of 15-month delay for Springfield-built CRRC Orange Line cars
https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/20 ... -cars.html
MBTA Deputy General Manager Jeff Gonneville said the Orange Line delivery is now projected to be 15 months late, arriving in April 2023, while the Red Line set is running a year late and is expected to be done in September 2024.

Gonneville said the T’s contract with CRRC allows the agency to seek damages for delays, and T officials intend to explore using that contract language.

CRRC entered the year 2020, before COVID-19, around 60 cars behind its production schedule for the MBTA. That’s before disruptions both in working at the plant and in the supply chain of parts and materials.

According to CRRC, 24 cars have been delivered to the MBTA’s Wellington car house for testing. The next two cars are expected to be delivered this month.

Three six-car trains have been accepted for passenger service. There would be 14 trains in operation during peak hours.

As for the Red Line, six pilot cars are continuing to undergo testing, and the first six-car train is expected to enter revenue service by end of the year.
 #1554271  by CRail
 
I’d say that’s pretty accurate, so long as the hawkers hold up. They’re 41 years old on their original build and despite this setback the T isn’t going to want to initiate any type of rebuild program. From what I’ve been hearing the old cars are still more reliable than the new ones, so if I were calling the shots I’d do a stop-gap overhaul that would buy the hawkers at least 5-10 more years as insurance in case these unproven, delayed Chinese cars are a complete flop. The 01800s are going through that now and I see no reason the No. 1 and No. 2 cars can’t keep going as they are, despite the No. 1s briefly carrying the torch as the oldest active subway car fleet in the country (until NYCT’s R33s were unretired).
 #1554273  by R36 Combine Coach
 
CRail wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 1:18 am The 1s briefly carrying the torch as the oldest active subway car fleet in the country (until NYCT’s
R33s were unretired).
The PATCO cars are earlier (1968) than the 01500s which began delivery August 1969.

To note, the 01200s will long outlast the Blue Line cars a year or so earlier ('79-80 vs. '80-81).
 #1555667  by BandA
 
typesix wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:14 pm Article on production problems in Springfield:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/25/ ... line-cars/
RRC argued that “the major contributor" to the delays were the effects of the coronavirus.

The “pandemic was outside of CRRC’s reasonable control and prevented the rail car manufacturer from performing its obligations under the existing contract,” spokeswoman Lydia Rivera said
CRRC is a wholly-owned Chinese government corporation. This will get interesting when Mass asks for damages.
 #1555684  by BandA
 
New Flyer's website says they have been around since 1930, so they have a reputation to protect and probably stable manufacturing situation compared to steel wheel manufacturers.

Since they also make/made Trackless Trolleys I guess it is okay to talk about them, although OT for these subway cars. I bet they sell standard products to the MBTA, not customized.
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