New Blue Line Cars Discussion(Now in Service)

They have pushed back the delivery date, yet again. NE Transit http://members.aol.com/rtspcc/roster/MBTAroster.html is now reporting the date to be October 2006. Recall that the dilivery date was supposed to be early this year, about now, and then changed to summer, and now Fall.

Does anybody know what the real story is? Sounds like something is going on here. I think these trains were ordered almost 7 years ago, now?

And then there will be the testing of the trains, and if anything goes wrong, (example, T8's) it could be 10 years from concept to practice with these things.
What's up with that?

Siemens' website says nothing about it.

The real deal is no one is in any kind of a hurry. Siemens doesn't have a whole lotta extra money to push this through, the T doesn't have the money, the stations aren't done for 6 cars, the leasing deal on the current cars requires keeping a certain amount of them and operating them even if we get the new cars.

The only ones who are really in a hurry to see the new trains is..... us!

Ahh *expletive*

2-1 odds that they will be delayed again in October. Yeah your right that still alot isnt ready (GC, State, Maverick, OH) and the rest of the carhouse (going by the bids @ the t's site) But like you said Garrett, if it takes years to accept them (it hopefully shouldnt!) they should get the ball rolling sooner, vs later, but thats not the T.

I just want to see them sooner vs later, and the delays are killing me, last yr it was 'october, april..' and october again.

Well at least we got a picture of them in the fare increase info booklet. That means that at least two cars exist!

Yeah, but that could have been the mockup of em!

CJ wrote:Yeah, but that could have been the mockup of em!

I don't think so. That's a pair. It seems fair to say that at least the first pair has been completely assembled. You can even see a dent on the side. That would indicate an MBTA vehicle, right?

What configuration are the new M5s? Married Pairs, lile the older cars?

If they are Married Pairs (two-car set), they can then run in four-car conists.

There is a (married) pair running around the test track in N.Y. I believe they're going to be rebuilt because of a change in either design or manufacturing so they would be just like the rest of the new fleet. Rumor has it, they operate very nice...... better than the 1800's!

Wow, that's nice, will they make the sound the 01800s do, or stay quiet?

Lets hope that they are going to have basic parts to keep the cars running and they dont take a set out of service because lack of a part or 2. And use it as the sacrifical 'PIG" if others fail and they start to pick pieces and parts off the original train that went out of service. Happens at the Red Line there is 2 train sets awaiting multiple components to return to service.

Am I the only one who smells another Type 8 fiasco?

SbooX wrote:Am I the only one who smells another Type 8 fiasco?

Atleast the T got and "crashed" a few Type 8's first (dont go nuts, you know what I mean!), vs having nothing.

But, if there as nice as your saying, I might be able to wait a few more months! They will really be "top of the line" (no pun intended, though to be honest, it was bad with line-line, but oh well! Really gets bad when you got to explain it.)

Ok let’s give this a shot!!!!

The Blue Line Siemens #5 cars are only about 20 months delayed and this delay has been caused by circumstances beyond Siemens and the MBTA control.

The primary reason for the delay is the fact that Buckeye Steel the company which was originally going to supply the trucks went bankrupt. The reason Buckeye Steel was chosen was because their the same company which made the Hawker Siddeley #4 car truck and it was service proven. Siemens was forced to scramble and locate another truck supplier which took the better part of a year.

There have been 4 or 5 other sub-suppliers which have had to withdraw for similar reasons and each time forcing siemens to find other suppliers.

So I suggest you cut Siemens and the MBTA some slack by being a little more patient before you start passing judgment on a vehicle which has not even been delivered yet.

I would rather the Siemens #5 car be delivered late and configured correctly then have to deal with fixing problems which could have been resolved prior to delivery.

The proto-type is quite an impressive vehicle from what I’ve seen and If Siemens delivers the same quality in the rest of the fleet I can assure you and the MBTA will not be disappointed with the finished product.

Since seeing is believing here’s a little taste.