Re: T construction news
When are the first ones due back? The Kinki's are my favorite to ride out of the whole system.
Should be in a couple months. The first unit was sent out last year as a pilot to establish scope of work and costs, and the vendor had 1 year to complete the pilot. 3 more cars went out this spring, 4 more repairable accident victims this summer, and rumors are a couple more could be heading west on flatbed cars in a couple weeks. That means the pilot has to be more or less finished and the itinerary for the main wave of rehabs pretty much set. The out-of-service cars, the ones ailing the most, the ones needing heaviest body work go first. Which means when the worst-of-the-worst comes back and healthier cars start heading out the pace of the program should pick up dramatically in late-'14 and 2015.
Propulsion systems, doors, and the between-car electronics are pretty much standard-issue for these sorts of things since they're the stuff that wears out fastest. The cars should operate a lot smoother and have fewer "reboots" needed when there's a wonky connection between cars in the train. Body work's also standard...they'll fix the carbody rust and dents. And repaint any of the ones that did get body work...meaning more of the cars will go on the current paint scheme, far fewer will come back in the original green-and-white, and the most numerous gray-and-teals will get reduced.
But beyond that...it's a mystery what they're doing. No idea what they're doing to the interior. Whether they're getting retrofitted with interior LED lights or door chimes or upgraded A/C, or LED destination signs. Have to wait for the first car to come back to find out. Most likely the interior is not going to change at all except for maybe LED lights, since the seats and whatnot are still in pretty pristine condition.
Contract is for 86 of the 1986-87 era 3600 series cars. Option on the contract is for +20 cars, including the circa-1997 3700 series. 2 cars wrecked beyond repair expected to be returned to service by re-mating salvageable ends and cannibalizing other parts from the rest of the wrecks (which will be scrapped for parts). 1-2 cars are expected to be converted into work cars during the program, since one of the old Boeings (the all-green Maintenance of Way car that lives at Reservoir) is kaput and the other 2 (the orange-and-creme Track Inspection car and the re-railer car stored at Arlington) are ailing and might not be worth keeping much longer.
These things ought to last 40-45 years easy with how much work is being put into them. They've held up pretty well after 27 years with nearly zero substantial maintenance, and there's no reason with 1 car in each consist being fully ADA-equipped that the 7's can't hit near-PCC level longevity. They Just Work™, and nearly every Kinki Sharyo car or competing derivative made in the last 25 years has guts based on the Type 7 design. They'll almost certainly outlast the Bredas, which will probably get outright replaced rather than rehabbed in another dozen years.
