Green Line Type 10 Procurement

1000043337.jpg
1000043334.jpg

Per last Thursday's board meeting, the first pilot car is largely complete for delivery this spring, revenue service next year 🙌

(I realize its not likely to be the default state, but I happen to prefer the look without the wheel spats. I've seen the occasional type 9 with them missing, and I think its a more natural look to have the exposed wheelset. On the Type 10 it has major cartoon catepillar energy, but its incidentally what we're more familiar with on the Type 7s & 8s - and actually maybe not a huge problem from a safety perspective?)
 
Last edited:
I hope that they come off the production line with ATC (Automatic Train Control) so that there will be no crashes with them.
The green color looks too dark!! :)
 
The color green randomly changes with each generation (my least favorite is the Type 8, favorite the Type 7). I found the official color listed in the MBTA website style guide (in hex #00843D), which links to the MBTA Signage Guidelines (a broken link, so I don't know what the Pantone is supposed to be). In any event, I am perpetually annoyed at the inconsistency of color use across the system. There's supposedly a defined color in the Guide, just use that!
 
prediction-error said:
The color green randomly changes with each generation (my least favorite is the Type 8, favorite the Type 7). I found the official color listed in the MBTA website style guide (in hex #00843D), which links to the MBTA Signage Guidelines (a broken link, so I don't know what the Pantone is supposed to be). In any event, I am perpetually annoyed at the inconsistency of color use across the system. There's supposedly a defined color in the Guide, just use that!
Click to expand...
Ehhhh the official colors that define digital and print media often doesn’t translate well to paint that has to exist on variable surfaces in the tangible world. UV fading, varying reflectivity, materials (paint behaves differently on plastic vs metals), lighting conditions... theres a reason the MBTA design guide (link here) is targeted at marketing and "brand expression", and doesn't encompass hownits supposed to look in the real world. Amtraks does, but that is meant to exist in physical form with color swatches for matching. Besides, the Type 8 teal we have pininfarina to blame.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20260125_114901_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20260125_114901_Chrome.jpg
    367.4 KB · Views: 33
I also feel like those aren't great pictures (the color looks different pretty different between two of the pictures on that slide!).

For whatever it's worth, here's my photo of the mockup that was displayed a couple of years ago. It's possible that they've tweaked the color, but in person it looked a lot more like the "traditional" Green Line green, though not an exact match of the Type 7s (which I agree are the best looking of the current fleet).
IMG_7159 Large.jpeg
 
I wonder how many of these they'll have to make before sending out the one for testing on the Green Line. :unsure:
 
First look inside a real train since viewing the inside of the mockup!!!!!!! :)
 
When Older Kid and I went to see the mockup, there were a few people complaining about the narrow aisles. I assumed they had to be that narrow because that's where the wheels are, but apparently they were able to shave a few inches.
 
While I understand that the Type 10's will increase the capacity of each Green Line car to 400 passengers per car versus the current 212 passengers per car for the Type 9's, the 102-car Type 10 order represents just less than half of the current Green Line rolling stock, based upon the 221 +/- cars that are currently in the system. Does the MBTA plan to eventually purchase more Type 10 cars, so two-car Type 10 trains can eventually be run on each branch, or are there electrical or storage yard requirements that make this goal difficult to achieve? If two-car Type 10's are possible, then what is the timeline for making this change? The recent improvements to the D-Line platforms seem to allow for two-car Type-10's throughout, and this would effectively double the capacity of the D-Branch. However, the B, C, and E lines seem as though more platform changes would be required before two-car trains are feasible throughout the system.
 
a_tortoise said:
While I understand that the Type 10's will increase the capacity of each Green Line car to 400 passengers per car versus the current 212 passengers per car for the Type 9's, the 102-car Type 10 order represents just less than half of the current Green Line rolling stock, based upon the 221 +/- cars that are currently in the system. Does the MBTA plan to eventually purchase more Type 10 cars, so two-car Type 10 trains can eventually be run on each branch, or are there electrical or storage yard requirements that make this goal difficult to achieve? If two-car Type 10's are possible, then what is the timeline for making this change? The recent improvements to the D-Line platforms seem to allow for two-car Type-10's throughout, and this would effectively double the capacity of the D-Branch. However, the B, C, and E lines seem as though more platform changes would be required before two-car trains are feasible throughout the system.
Click to expand...
The RFP was for up to 226 cars, so they have plenty of options on the 102-car base order. The goal is to eventually make all peak trains 2 cars, but obviously most of the system is not going to be ready for that at the start so the base order is only for the essentials. Plus the old cars have to be off the property before you even have room to store that many extra Type 10's, so 1:1 replacement has to take precedent. It's fairly S.O.P. to start exercising those options in smallish chunks once the pilot cars are in service, so probably within the next year we'll see an announcement of the first options pickup to expand the roster off that 102-car base and start backfilling the capacity expansion. The D and E (plus all of GLX) will be the first 2 branches capable of taking 2-car supertrains, as the now scheduled-and-funded E street-running reconstruction will knock off all substandard stops on that route. The necessary B and C improvements are chugging along as well, but somewhat behind the E improvements. There are definitely yard changes that need to be made at Riverside, Reservoir, and Lake Street that are in various stages of funding and design, and I believe Innerbelt is going to get some modest capacity expansion as well. Electrical upgrades are harder to pin on budgeting/design because the 1-car initial order won't change the loading very much from current ops, but there are definitely several places on the system that will need substation upgrades for the 2-car supertrains.

It's a long process, but the good news is that most of the pieces of that process are in active motion and the state has been aggressive about allotting funding for anything GLT-related.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The RFP was for up to 226 cars, so they have plenty of options on the 102-car base order. The goal is to eventually make all peak trains 2 cars, but obviously most of the system is not going to be ready for that at the start so the base order is only for the essentials. Plus the old cars have to be off the property before you even have room to store that many extra Type 10's, so 1:1 replacement has to take precedent. It's fairly S.O.P. to start exercising those options in smallish chunks once the pilot cars are in service, so probably within the next year we'll see an announcement of the first options pickup to expand the roster off that 102-car base and start backfilling the capacity expansion. The D and E (plus all of GLX) will be the first 2 branches capable of taking 2-car supertrains, as the now scheduled-and-funded E street-running reconstruction will knock off all substandard stops on that route. The necessary B and C improvements are chugging along as well, but somewhat behind the E improvements. There are definitely yard changes that need to be made at Riverside, Reservoir, and Lake Street that are in various stages of funding and design, and I believe Innerbelt is going to get some modest capacity expansion as well. Electrical upgrades are harder to pin on budgeting/design because the 1-car initial order won't change the loading very much from current ops, but there are definitely several places on the system that will need substation upgrades for the 2-car supertrains.

It's a long process, but the good news is that most of the pieces of that process are in active motion and the state has been aggressive about allotting funding for anything GLT-related.
Click to expand...

Is Brattle Loop the only section of revenue trackage that doesn't have a plan for update, or would it just become non-revenue?
Or perhaps Type 9 headway boosters to Medford/Tufts??
 
737900er said:
Is Brattle Loop the only section of revenue trackage that doesn't have a plan for update, or would it just become non-revenue?
Or perhaps Type 9 headway boosters to Medford/Tufts??
Click to expand...
Brattle Loop doesn't have any plans. The curve is within the vehicle tolerances of the Type 10's (it's 1 ft. greater than Park loop, which also isn't being modified), and the platform segment inside the main station is already accessible. I also *think* the accessible platform is already long enough for 2-car supertrains; it wasn't listed on any of the agency documents that comprehensively tallied up all sub-225 ft. platforms that wouldn't berth a supertrain. The rail on the loop is also up-to-spec; they wouldn't be using it in revenue service at all if a Type 8 were fair game to fly off the tracks on it.

1776110042430.png
 
Last edited:
Some kids I know would've loved to have seen the mockup!!!!! Is it still on display anywhere? :unsure:
 
Jahvon09 said:
Some kids I know would've loved to have seen the mockup!!!!! Is it still on display anywhere? :unsure:
Click to expand...
No, sorry. It was on display just a short time, over a year ago now. I think some people on this forum have mentioned that mockups like this sometimes end up in rail/trolley museums, but the real trains will probably be in service before that happens.
 
ceo said:
When Older Kid and I went to see the mockup, there were a few people complaining about the narrow aisles. I assumed they had to be that narrow because that's where the wheels are, but apparently they were able to shave a few inches.
Click to expand...
I complained about the seats. they felt like they barely had enough room to sit your butt on!!!! :mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top