F-Line to Dudley
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Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos
Leaser unit from RailWorks. Former Amtrak F40PH "Screamer" units that most recently ran on AMT in Montreal (see faded logo). Old beaters that RailWorks bought up, fixed up, and has available ready-to-run on a moment's notice for anyone who needs locomotives and needs them now. No great shakes, but slightly less walking-dead than those ex-MARC GP40 units they had a few years ago.
Keolis (not MBTA) brought them in as a fleet-padding insurance policy because it's sick of racking up maximum monthly performance penalty fines. They figure that the rental cost of these cheap beaters is far less than the savings they get from not getting fined every month, so having them around as a 'surge' fleet when they're pinched helps OTP enough to end up making them money in the end.
HSP-46's are up to 27 active units with uptime at an all-time high so they're not really in any sort of power crunch at the moment. The T's own "Screamers" had simply hit the point where half the active units were in the shop on any given day with various ailments and spot breakdowns or last-minute no-go's from the yard had become the biggest threat to northside OTP. So this clears that junk out of active service and lets the shop spend more time catching up on maint on the equipment that's going to be around a few more years.
The leasers have to be kept in running shape so they will make occasional revenue appearances on the northside whether they're truly needed or not. But the goal is to use them as little as necessary. And if they're never truly needed at all, Keolis still makes money by lowering the fines it's paying out.
It pushed you home from Lowell, right?
But seriously, that's cool! What locomotive is that? I've never seen it before.
Leaser unit from RailWorks. Former Amtrak F40PH "Screamer" units that most recently ran on AMT in Montreal (see faded logo). Old beaters that RailWorks bought up, fixed up, and has available ready-to-run on a moment's notice for anyone who needs locomotives and needs them now. No great shakes, but slightly less walking-dead than those ex-MARC GP40 units they had a few years ago.
Keolis (not MBTA) brought them in as a fleet-padding insurance policy because it's sick of racking up maximum monthly performance penalty fines. They figure that the rental cost of these cheap beaters is far less than the savings they get from not getting fined every month, so having them around as a 'surge' fleet when they're pinched helps OTP enough to end up making them money in the end.
HSP-46's are up to 27 active units with uptime at an all-time high so they're not really in any sort of power crunch at the moment. The T's own "Screamers" had simply hit the point where half the active units were in the shop on any given day with various ailments and spot breakdowns or last-minute no-go's from the yard had become the biggest threat to northside OTP. So this clears that junk out of active service and lets the shop spend more time catching up on maint on the equipment that's going to be around a few more years.
The leasers have to be kept in running shape so they will make occasional revenue appearances on the northside whether they're truly needed or not. But the goal is to use them as little as necessary. And if they're never truly needed at all, Keolis still makes money by lowering the fines it's paying out.
