Re: Driven By.... Uhh... Hello? Anybody?
Yeah, they float that idea about once a decade. And then their ears start bleeding from the screams of unified Milton opposition. And then somebody actually pulls out a calculator and ballparks the cost of paving that thing into a busway vs. keeping it as-is and snorts "Yeah, no...we can't sell that turkey."
And then nobody hears another peep until it's whispered again the next decade.
The PCC's do need to be replaced sooner than later, not so much because of their condition (far better than most lines) but because there's too little in-house knowledge left on how to service them thanks to early retirements.
They're not without options once they exhale and realize "oh, that busway idea is just as idiotic as it was 10 years ago."
- Every Mattapan station except for Valley Rd. (ADA-exempt because of the steep staircases) has front door mini-high platforms with bridge plates for making high-floor cars 100% accessible.
- The Ashmont Branch electrical feed, which Mattapan siphons off of, has to get upgraded for the new Red cars. So it will be able to handle the draw from an LRV by the time a fleet decision has to be made.
- The Ashmont station reconstruction fixed the weakest bridge on the line preventing any future LRV usage. Most of the other small ones have gotten SGR renewal in the last 10 years. If *any* still have posted weight limits, it's down to the last/smallest 1 or 2 remainders.
You can absolutely truck some Type 7's down there, swap their pantographs for trolley poles, re-equip the maint shed at Mattapan, retire the Mattapan-end loop for a stub-end, and run a fully ADA-compliant line. Probably on fewer cars because of the much greater seating capacity.
Is that an everlasting solution? No. Eventually the 7's are going to go by the boards and you've got another set of yard, etc. upgrades to do to get the next-most recent not-Breda thing down there. And flatbedding to Riverside for any moderate-or-better maintenance is a pain. The permanent fix is eventually going to have to be real Red one of these decades.
But is that good enough to net another stable dozen years of SGR on the line while they've got
many, many more pressing issues to tend to elsewhere? Yeah, probably.
Is that cheaper than trotting out this transparently disingenuous busway turkey yet again? By a mile.
Is this a bunch of posturing to confuse separate SGR issues in a lump? You bet.
The truly terrifying unfunded vehicle procurement is the next commuter rail purchase: all 200 single-level coaches and all 45 remaining legacy locomotives converge on one 2020-22 projected retirement singularity.
- CR employees are apoplectic today about the fast-deteriorating condition of the ancient GP40MC's, 12-15 of which have to remain because the new locomotives are only enough to retire half of them. You're looking at fleet uptimes becoming just as awful as the mercifully-retired Screamers.
- Every other user of similar Pullman/Bombardier single-level coaches (Metro North + NJ Transit + ConnDOT + AMT) has committed to aggressively retiring their full fleets to go 100% bi-level. Meaning the cost-effectiveness of attempting a rebuild is going to crater. Vendors won't put in good bids for the overhaul work because nobody will be using those car types and all the competitive bidding now is for rebuilds of earlier-gen bi-levels. And parts supply is going to be a problem near the end of that rebuild lifespan with no one else using it. Rebuild instead of new is something they do out of desperation, knowing they'll be sacked for a loss on total cost of ownership.
- The F40PH-2C locomotives are still the most widely-used passenger loco in North America and actively being rebuilt. Somewhat more flexible options for those 35 units. But at a performance price...the T has outgrown the 3000 HP standard that's hauled them for the last 38 years. They just aren't enough anymore for pulling a six-pack of overstuffed bi-levels at rush hour without wheezing. They had/have to transition to brawnier power just like Metro North did 15 years ago when diesel territory got too demanding, and like NJT has been actively transitioning over the past 5 years. The -2C's are nearly half the fleet. Forget about being able to hide them from the busiest slots, and forget about being able to have a Providence Line schedule predicated on 90 MPH speeds when the wimpier engines could draw the assignment at any time. Great locomotives...they'll be running with somebody else for 15 more years as fresh rebuilds when the T is done with them. But that's another sack for a loss if they have to get backed into rebuilding obsolete old because they can't fund their own fleet management plan.
^There's^ yer panic time. But hey...name-drop a bunch of other nonsense to divide attention spans and maybe it'll stay out of the papers that last winter is going to repeat itself again...and again, and again...for commuter rail riders if they don't come up with almost a couple $B for 250 pieces of new equipment--ink dried on the contracts by FY18--so the new stuff is in-service by '23 when the old junk is 80% dead.