MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

F-Line to Dudley said:
Although I'm not sure what's up with the front car in that render, which looks like an HSR power car and not a passenger carriage.
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My understanding, that render is actually from the MBTAs multimode locomotive RFI, which also explains the Siemens Charger.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The bottom one is a Stadler KISS, same one Caltrain ordered. Note the high-and-low boarding doors, which was the Caltrain customization. Although I'm not sure what's up with the front car in that render, which looks like an HSR power car and not a passenger carriage. The Caltrain KISSes board passengers in all cars of the consist.

Caltrain-electrification.jpg


Their BEMU pilot is a 4-car set. But egad...the price. $80M for 4 cars. It's estimated that they need eventually need 6 sets of them to cover the entirety of Gilroy service, which would cost them nearly a half-billion dollars at the going rate for the BEMU variant.
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F-Line, they've been contemplating that style for some time now. As with the double-floor coaches, I think there are stairs at the end to allow the passengers to reach the second floor. :)
 
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Jahvon09 said:
The MBTA is thinking about THESE again for their commuter rail lines. Electric locos. :)
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I think this exact image was used on the local news last night. My husband, who has absolutely zero interest in public transportation, said "Look, the T is getting electric trains." I said, well not exactly........but then we paused and saw these images. I think the average person has NO IDEA what the difference between battery electric and overhead wire. It's all electric to most people, and they don't understand the details. :)
 
Java King said:
I think this exact image was used on the local news last night. My husband, who has absolutely zero interest in public transportation, said "Look, the T is getting electric trains." I said, well not exactly........but then we paused and saw these images. I think the average person has NO IDEA what the difference between battery electric and overhead wire. It's all electric to most people, and they don't understand the details. :)
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To be fair to the laymen, that image is what the MBTA itself used in announcing the award.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1816579742596018373
 
I imagine that, particularly in the U.S. where overhead wired trains very nearly don't exist, the most familiar electrification paradigm is battery electric cars; it's an understandable kind of confusion, and not technically wrong. Only shame is it obfuscates the dramatic difference in materials intensity that battery-powered vehicles present vs. catenary-connected ones.
 
KCasiglio said:
Take this fwiw but the MBTA has asked our graphics department to no longer include Plymouth on any maps we produce.
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They've been flop-flopping on that lately. The old CR map didn't have it, but the new one does.

But yeah, it wasn't coming back anytime soon. (Although if I could pick one to close personally it would have been Kingston.)
 
themissinglink said:

MBTA Purchases Additional New Commuter Rail Cars to Improve Service as Ridership Grows | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com
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Features for Enhanced Comfort and Accessibility

Our new commuter rail cars come equipped with a range of features designed to improve your commuting experience:

  • Increased spacious seating for up to 179 passengers per car
  • Designated areas for passengers with disabilities
  • Real-time information systems with automated announcements and message displays
  • Improved accessible restrooms with hands-free faucets
  • USB ports at passenger tables
  • Warm-white LED lighting for a more pleasant environment
  • Bicycle racks
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I really cannot stand how uncomfortable the seating on the commuter rail is, and their only improvement for seating being “increased spacious seating” tells me it’s going to be the same awful seats and my lower back will be suffering for decades to come.
 
Currently working on a dive into Commuter Rail Weekday v Weekend ridership data in relation to service provided, such as the percentage ridership drops off compared to the percentage drop in service, as well as other interesting trends in ridership. It'll take some time to sort out but the first thing I've taken a look at is how Fairmount Line ridership has changed since the implementation of 30min service:

In May 2024 prior to the May 20th schedule change the Fairmount averaged 3604 boardings on weekdays and 672 on weekends. Immediately following the schedule change ridership shot up to a peak of 5525 boardings on Tuesday, May 21st. May 24th was the only other day in the remainder of the month to top 5000 boardings but the weekday average for the last couple weeks of May rose to 4364, a +21% increase. The following month of June weekday ridership stabilized averaging 4236 daily boardings and none surpassing the 5000 threshold. Weekend ridership on the other hand was up to 921 daily, a +37% increase, with no trending drop-off from Saturday to Sunday.

What this comes out to is on weekdays, a +36% increase in service resulted in a +21% increase in ridership. On weekends, a +117% increase in service resulted in a +37% increase in ridership.
 
themissinglink said:

MBTA Purchases Additional New Commuter Rail Cars to Improve Service as Ridership Grows | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com
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Didn't they announce this options exercise way back in May?
Badusername said:
I really cannot stand how uncomfortable the seating on the commuter rail is, and their only improvement for seating being “increased spacious seating” tells me it’s going to be the same awful seats and my lower back will be suffering for decades to come.
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The seats aren't great, but to me they aren't appreciably worse than most short haul train seats I've been on. I just hope the T eventually figures out how to not make a brand new train somehow feel like a product of the 1970 and 80s - the flat Cranberry vinyl, Salmon paneling and Cream walls of the current batch of Rotems just doesn't say - "I'm from the 21st century"
 
Stlin said:
So, per a comment added 5 days ago to a 2 year old reddit thread, as well as some RR.net rumors, we should apparently expect to get a heritage liveried commuter rail locomotive in the very near future.

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Personally, I suspect this is Eng being a railroad person, who is willing to step outside the boardroom and find a few low/no cost opportunities, like the googly eyes, to generate goodwill for the T. After all, a rebuilt CR locomotive was always going to need new paint.
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From Michael Rooks LinkedIn a few days ago:

Today, we rolled out our most recent GP40 overhaul, featuring a heritage scheme that the MBTA experimented with in the 1980’s. The “Cranberry Scheme” has always been one of my favorites, making it a fitting choice for our first heritage unit. Stay tuned for more…
#mbta #railroading #heritage

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I remember that scheme on the old FP10s when they were stored by the Alewife MoW facility.
 
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