M-8 Cars - Delivery and Acceptance

MTA MNRR just posted this video about the arrival of the new M-8's on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbKPFKD_za0

the video seems to confirm 300 cars on order - not 200. I think the source is reliable.

A wish for 300 plus cars means nothing in a video.
there are different stages:
Authorised = politicians agree we need them
Funded politicians have plan to pay for them
Capitalized = politicians actually got the money
Ordered = Manufacturer can start manufacturing after technical ok
Payed for = Money goes to manufacturer
Delivered = cars getting on property
Acceptance = testing completed cars conditionaly accepted.
Warranty, cars acceped in specified condition and working as intended, with no outstanding issues.

all these have no guarantees as to actual cars coming

Dutch - when the MTA says they have ordered 300 cars - that's different from a wish, wouldn't you agree?

Just a thought. If the railroad ends up with less than 300 M-8's, let me know where I can buy you your favorite beer.

First of all only 100 or so cars would be MTA, not 300.

in long run there may be way over 300.

And no my favorite beer is NOT Heineken
but the Dutch beer with the poptop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfBtZOuq_vI

Looks good Dutch, do they have that on tap for you at Patrick Conway's by GCT?

No I don't go drinking in New York, its far enough for work. socialy I stay local.

Two pairs of M8s are in GCT as we speak undergoing track, switch, 3rd rail and platform clearence checks. They were hauled down Friday (3/26) night and were stored in GCT overnight. After testing, they will be returned to NH.

DutchRailnut wrote:No I don't go drinking in New York, its far enough for work. socialy I stay local.

Wie sind die Gasthoefe am Stalag fuer Kriegsgefangene?

For those not of German/European descent: "How are the taverns at the camp for war prisoners?"

Back on topic: I'll recheck my link on the 300, but the initial order as I recall was 210, and the first option 90. So I believe CDOT and MTA are contractually obligated to purchase that many. They may be able to back out of the option for specified reasons, but that drives the average cost per car up (the fixed costs will be the fixed costs regardless of how many cars are ordered; the more ordered, the less you apply to the cost of each car for fixed costs). It really would make sense to go the full 380 allowed per the contract (and retire the M4's and M6's, too, and not have to pay for CSR for them), but again, that depends on money.

How long does CTDOT have to make a decision on the options? The initial 210 are expected to take around two years to complete and deliver so that production should be completed by late 2012 early 2013. So would it be by then that CTDOT has to tell Kawasaki or can they reopen the production line should they want to exercise the options a few years following?

The last pair of test M-8's was scheduled to arrive in Baltimore on 4/2, for scheduled delivery to New Haven on 4/20. Does anyone know if they've arrived in Baltimore yet? Once these arrive and undergo checks and probably some additional modifications, all 4 pairs will begin full testing, sometime early this summer, correct?

ever notice , how people don't read, and repeat same questions over and over, despite the answer having been given ??

DutchRailnut wrote:ever notice , how people don't read, and repeat same questions over and over, despite the answer having been given ??

Dutch,
Please don't be so quick to judge.
I did read back through the thread several pages, that's where I got the dates.
From previous postings in this thread, I knew that the last set was supposed to arrive on 4/2 in Baltimore.
As today is 4/5, I wanted to see if anyone knew if that deadline had been achieved.
The intent was to see if anything had changed, like delays or such, since the info had been posted weeks ago.

If it hadn't arrived on time, or there was some other problem (like when the new ALP-46a got dropped during transfer), I wanted to know if the time line, previously posted, was still the goal. Even if the pair has arrived safe and sound, in the intervening weeks since shipment, some issue could have arisen that could have called for modifications to be made at New Haven to all 4 pairs that would have delayed summer testing. I decided to ask my primary question and a follow up in one post, to save one-line back and forth posting. I could have probably phrased it better, but I still think my previous post got the same idea through clearly enough.

I'm not annoyed, as I too understand everyone's frustration with the same questions being asked repeatedly, when people don't just go and look. It's just that sometimes, legitimate questions seem very close in content to the annoying ones, so don't jump on someone so quickly, okay?

Thanks.

P.S. Dutch, I do really value your input on this forum, so please keep the awesome posts coming.

From http://www.kawasakirailcar.com/newsroom.asp?nid=4 dated August 21, 2006:
Kawasaki Rail Car, Inc. (KRC) has been selected as the preferred carbuilder to supply 210 M-8 passenger rail cars with an option for 170 additional rail cars jointly procured by the State of Connecticut and MTA Metro-North Railroad. The contract will be $713 million for the 210 base and 90 option order. It will extend to $883 million when all the options are executed.

As I read the press release, the first 210 railcars have been ordered, but at a price set at ordering 300 railcars.That price being $2.38 Million per car. If all 380 railcars are ordered, the total overall price falls to $2.32 Million per car.

do only these initial caars have to go thru the mega mile burn in type acceptance, or will every car have to do non revenue miles before
acceptance.