New Red and Orange Line Cars

jass said:
I still dont understand why the line with one destination needs roll signs
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Orange's main yard is Wellington. Stuff gets taken out of service there at shift changes all the time, because it's a better use of resources to have a partial revenue run than always be deadheading. Having the electronic signage reflect it is a big improvement, since the manual rollsigns aren't geared to short-turning and you had to rely on the operator's squawking to know.

Helps a lot on Blue, too, to know way ahead of time that it's a train going out-of-service at Orient Heights.
 
djimpact1 said:
Thank you for the picture HelloBostonHi. Aside from the destination sign shrinking horizontally (which I'm not sure how I feel about), I'm glad they at least got the correct "T" logo on the car you spotted (and didn't keep that obscenely incorrect version the mock-up & test car has been showing.

sphduh.jpg
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I still don't like the color-coded T logos. Blends in too much with the side of the car, and there's simply not enough contrast between the orange and the stainless to make it work. I know you'd already know you're on the T by the time you're through the fare gates, but it simply doesn't look right to me.
 
Might be just me, but
I've observed the fronts of the new Red & Orange line cars, & it seems that the Red Line cars might be wider & the Orange Line cars seem narrower.

Can someone tell me if this is true? What do you think? Well, the top half of the Orange cars are slanted inward. The Red cars are not. That might have something to do with it. The tunnels on the Orange line may be narrower also.
 
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Jahvon09 said:
Might be just me, bur I've observed the fronts of the new Red & Orange line cars, & it seems that the Red Line cars might be wider & the Orange Line cars seem narrower.

Can someone tell me if this is true? What do you think?
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Yes that would be correct, Red Line platforms and tunnels are built for wider trains than Orange Line platforms and tunnels. Red Line cars are 10' 0" wide and Orange Line cars are 9' 3" wide. This is the same as the current Red and Orange line cars. You can peruse the full spec requirements of the new cars http://bc.mbta.com/business_center/bidding_solicitations/pdf/MBTA%20RO%20Technical%20Specification%20October%2022%202013.pdf
 
Spotted one testing on the orange line this morning on the third track just past Sullivan. Hopefully we'll see these trains in revenue service soon. They're badly needed on the orange line.
 
Red Line, also! There's a report out, saying that some of the doors are getting stuck open.

Not on the new cars, but the old ones. These are falling apart at the seems, & the sooner the new trains come online, the sooner we can get rid of those antiquated dinosaurs that have been so problematic for so damn long!! :mad:
 
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Jahvon09 said:
Red Line, also! There's a report out, saying that some of the doors are getting stuck open.
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The other day I was on an orange line train where the left side doors on one part of the train weren't opening.
 
tysmith95 said:
The other day I was on an orange line train where the left side doors on one part of the train weren't opening.
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A winter full of daily freeze-thaw cycle is murder on sliding door mechanisms. Always has been, though the weighting towards older-than-dirt cars makes it stick out more than usual nowadays. This is the time of year when they're at their most glitchy, and usually doesn't start improving until April-May when temps stop dropping below freezing and the fleet's been given a thorough spring cleaning for any trapped dirt/sand/salt sucked deep inside the doors.
 
It doesn't help that people keep running through them as they close, causing shock to the mechanisms. Last week I was on a train where someone ran through and jammed the door as it was closing. One of the door leafs bugged out and refused to stay closed, which forced the single operator to walk down the train into the car, remove the panel above the doors, reset it, and walk the length of the train again. Those things take such a beating, day in and day out; it's a small wonder they work at all at this age.
 
cadetcarl said:
It doesn't help that people keep running through them as they close, causing shock to the mechanisms. Last week I was on a train where someone ran through and jammed the door as it was closing. One of the door leafs bugged out and refused to stay closed, which forced the single operator to walk down the train into the car, remove the panel above the doors, reset it, and walk the length of the train again. Those things take such a beating, day in and day out; it's a small wonder they work at all at this age.
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I also think the operators need to be retrained on how to close doors. Ok the orange line they use the door close button to make the dinging noise to warn people on the platform and they flick them open and closed like crazy to repeat it. This is usually at least 10 seconds before they're actually going to close the doors but you can hear the pneumatics in the door starting and suddenly stopping closing every time they do it. What unnecessary wear, they put those things through like 6 to 7 door close cycles at each stop just so the door noise will play...
 
I always assumed they had to keep re-opening them to avoid striking last-second passengers. Either way the solution is, if you have to sprint to make it you should probably just wait for the next one.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Two main reasons:

1. No harm in preparing for the future. By the time these Orange line cars are retired history says it's entirely possible we will have different terminal stations or branches. The orange line our current cars were designed for looks nothing like the OL of today.
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That would only make sense if the orange line were to branch out. Without branches it would be easy to change the lettering on the train if say the Orange were extended to Roslindale.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Two main reasons:

1. No harm in preparing for the future. By the time these Orange line cars are retired history says it's entirely possible we will have different terminal stations or branches. The orange line our current cars were designed for looks nothing like the OL of today.
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That would only make sense if the orange line were to branch out. Without branches it would be easy to change the lettering on the train if say the Orange were extended to Roslindale.

But if you were to branch out to say a West Roxbury branch and a Hyde Park branch than the electronic signs would be required.
 
I sort of wish that the doors would have a counter: Three cycles and then they stay closed until an attendant pulls the stuck fool, tickets them, and holds them for the next train. The shame of that should cut down the straggling.
 
In most cities, when the doors are closing, they close. You either get out of the way or get crushed like a sad little bug
 
HelloBostonHi said:
I also think the operators need to be retrained on how to close doors. Ok the orange line they use the door close button to make the dinging noise to warn people on the platform and they flick them open and closed like crazy to repeat it. This is usually at least 10 seconds before they're actually going to close the doors but you can hear the pneumatics in the door starting and suddenly stopping closing every time they do it. What unnecessary wear, they put those things through like 6 to 7 door close cycles at each stop just so the door noise will play...
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Always though that is because of assholes trying to get on the train when its leaving, or a bag is blocking the door, or something tripping the doors to reopen.

tysmith95 said:
But if you were to branch out to say a West Roxbury branch and a Hyde Park branch than the electronic signs would be required.
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Never going to happen to Hyde Park - branching would have to be north side (not sure if there are any branching free rows up that way).
 
bakgwailo said:
Never going to happen to Hyde Park - branching would have to be north side (not sure if there are any branching free rows up that way).
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Probably not, but the original plan for the Orange Line did involve branching at Forest Hills, with a Hyde Park branch and a West Roxbury/Dedham branch. I always wonder what that corridor would look like today, had the Hyde Park branch been built in the 80s. I don't think Roslindale and West Roxbury would have changed as much, since the Needham Line already has rapid transit station spacing.
 
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