Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos
OK. I'll bite. What's the problem? I have ridden in a bunch of them and they seem fine. From my butt's point of view they are exactly like the old ones. Do wish that they had installed wi-fi at the factory, tho.
The coaches are having normal teething problems. That's not anything to get worried about, because every single coach order in the last 30 years has had similar bugs when they first arrived...and nearly every new-technology coach order any other commuter rail operator has bought has had similar initial issues. You should hear NJTransit riders kvetch about their newfangled bi-levels, or how much their last order of single-levels sucked in the early going...because NJT always buys unproven bleeding-edge. This stuff evens out and are NOT at all predictive that the things will turn out to be lemons. Hyundai-Rotem's problem is that they're new at manufacturing this and seriously underestimated that their plant capacity would be able to juggle the SEPTA EMU order with the T bi-level order with the L.A. Metrolink bi-level order. They choked on it all and ended up so late on the SEPTA and T orders it threatened the 'timeliness' clause in the contract (Metrolink I think went off without a hitch). They're making up for lost time now with about a half-dozen being dropped off at BET every 10 days or so. BET is getting so overstuffed with new deliveries that they're running out of space and have a huge backlog of coaches to test. They're testing them now in 9-car consists (which will never run that long in revenue service because there's no platforms that long) to catch up and get the glut of newbies in service.
Amtrak's also been bitchy about allowing them on the NEC and pulled them a couple times demanding tweaks to the PTC signal boxes. So they've been stymied at getting them in regular rotation on Providence, Stoughton, Franklin, Needham, and Worcester. Nothing big, but...bitchy Amtrak.
The only major flaws they have in the early going is that the brakes are too damn loud and the automatic doors are a little glitchy. The doors will get fixed onsite by Rotem techs, and they'll probably do something to mitigate the brakes. It's not going to be apparent if the overall build quality is solid or if there are little things that are meh-quality for a year or two in revenue service.
As for the non-working ASA, keep in mind that the computer that runs those is driven by the rear cab car. And there's a big mismatch in the numbers of blind (middle) coaches and cab cars in-service right now so half the time you're going to get an old cab coach at the rear and the ASA in the new blind coaches won't say anything except put a static "Welcome to the T" onscreen. The Kawasaki bi-levels that are in rebuild right now are also getting retrofitted to match the Rotem setup, so you're not going to have a full fleet of ASA cab cars for another 1-1/2 years. The T has a separate wi-fi contract with its service provider because that technology gets leased with rolling upgrades every few years (and I think is about to be upgraded to faster bandwidth across the fleet), so Rotem or any car manufacturer has nothing to do with that.
First ugly-ass HSP-46 loco is supposed to arrive onsite next month. Won't run...it's only for static tests at BET where they hook it up to all combos of coaches, test the electronics, putter it around the yard, poke around under the hood in the carhouse, and train the maint staff on them. It won't be seen out and about, although you'll be able to get a good look at on any northside train. Then the factory will make modifications to 2 other units based on these tests, deliver those 2 in Oct./Nov. (depending on how many mods they have to make), and those 2 will start real non-revenue burn-in tests on all lines. The static test unit will either get modded onsite before it starts burn-in, or if the mods are significant will get swapped back to the factory when they deliver the other 2.
Revenue service slated to begin in Dec. with the 2 road-test units. Then it'll go like the coaches are now...like a month or two with just those scarce first units, and then they start arriving
fast. And probably with some similar teething problems and Amtrak bitchiness about NEC running that will get people all in a panic that they're going to be lemons. And that too shall pass. Several per month to arrive through 2014 and 2015, probably more than the T is capable of testing and rushing into service all at once. It'll probably be by Cape Flyer season next summer that they'll be reliably out and about at least a few times per day on most lines. And it'll probably be end of next year before they're in sufficient numbers for them to start pulling the first old F40PH "Screamers" from service and putting them in long-term storage on the dead line at BET...where they will sit until probably early 2016 before they get taken away by MotivePower, Inc. for re-sale. And there'll be some grand finale "Farewell to the Screamers" fantrip revenue runs that winter.
The good news is that we've passed the last winter where there'll be equipment shortages. At least 2 new locos running by snow season this year, and a real-deal outright
glut of coaches. So many that they'll probably be stuffing extras at Readville and maybe even some oddball places like the equipment yard at Alewife. None of the old ones are going to leave the property until the Kawasaki overhauls are 100% done in 2015.
