west point wrote: ↑Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:36 pm
Is it possible that the rail Boston to Wocester that CSX never stressed properly and sold to MBTA has too many failures? Could be new CWR less costly.
Unfortunately the CSX rails already in place there are from 2008 and 136Lb rail. There is nothing wrong with it except for minor wear on the gauge side of the head on curves. The track foreman is happy since his team will not need to replace the tie plates since the new rail is also 136lbs. However he too agrees that this rail job not completely unnecessary and there are much better uses for the rail that came in on that Welded Rail Train last month.
When the rails were ordered a while back, the plan was for them to be laid on the B&M jointed rail section of the Gloucester Branch. However week of and MBTA realized that they don't have a siding big enough to store the Welded rail train on the GB so they used track 2 on the Worcester Main Line as a "throw away spot" to drop the rails.