Recent content by alewife

Yes, the 11/2029 date for the Red Line derives from the current rate of overall deliveries — assuming 4 cars/month split across Orange and Red until the OL order is done and then all for Red.

NETransit was updated last week, so here's a status update on the Orange and Red fleets: CRRC has been keeping up its current delivery rate of 4 cars per month (2 per line) that they've been doing for a while, but that's still half the production rate set under the original contract of 8 cars...

I think it mostly depends on how well the legacy fleet holds up. It seems that the T wants the oldest cars (01500/01600 series from 1969) gone ASAP which has spurred the introduction of four-car trains. The 01700 series (from the late 1980s) was refurbished between 2011 and 2016 so those cars...

The graphs are showing production figures for married pairs, not individual cars, so that translates to 92 Red Line cars delivered in 2026. That's nearly double the current production rate that CRRC has managed to achieve, though the original contract specified a rate of 8 cars per month.

Does anyone know of a good channel to report customer service or other operational/service issues to the T? (For example, there was vomit on the floor of the Red Line train I was riding on Saturday.) I used to use Twitter for this, but I'm no longer there, and while the MBTA has an official...

The press release for this service change notes that the specific work being performed is "special track work near Ashmont," which would be the switches and crossovers used to reverse trains south of the station. The inability to switch trains between the southbound and northbound tracks at...

It's worth noting both that the MBTA and CTA contracts were originally awarded to CRRC's predecessor companies, CNR and CSR, respectively. (CSR also bid on the MBTA order, but was disqualified after the technical evaluation phase.) The MBTA order was also originally smaller—284 cars—before...

The TransitHistory roster was recently updated with a note that 4202 (the bus pictured above) has been delivered to Cabot for testing. I don't know how long that process takes, but there's some slow progress.

I believe it’s unrelated, because there are several hand-throw crossovers posted at 25 or 30 mph. But as F-Line noted, they’re unlikely to change it any time soon given the recent derailment.

Green Line rules only allow a maximum speed of 10 mph within interlocking limits (i.e. over automatic switches), so 10 mph is the “normal” maximum speed there. (My hope is that the T eventually changes this rule, because that section in particular is brutal.)

Single Type 10s are shorter than a 2-car train of current vehicles, so there are no platform length issues for those. As noted above, Lake Street will need to be rebuilt and some modifications made at Reservoir before Type 10s can run on the B or C because the Type 10s have a larger minimum...

Shuttle buses were a mess this morning…they're serving Union Square as a deviation off the main route to Medford/Tufts. That added at least 20 minutes to my trip from Gilman to North Station. Hopefully they figure out how to streamline things a bit.

The extremely useful "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA District" notes that the 66 previously operated in this way from 1998 to 2004, but reverted to the surface routing to accommodate the operation of CNG buses (which are banned from the Harvard bus tunnel due to safety concerns) on the...

It's likely associated with the (supposedly temporary) cutback of the 85 from Spring Hill to Union Square due to street construction on Summer St. and Central St.

I rode on 1512 this morning, so at least 2 more cars have now entered service since the NETransit roster was updated a few weeks ago. It's good to see some movement on acceptances. And…one of the doors was already broken 🫠. The more things change, the more they stay the same… Also a curiosity...