New Red and Orange Line Cars

Equilibria said:
Given that the rollsign is the one of the only parts of this that might be based on actual specs...

I don't think it matters too much on the Orange Line. There's no branches. You know where the train is going by the platform signage. It matters a little for the Red Line, but only at Alewife, since that's the only place that passengers see Ashmont and Braintree trains at the same time. Why, oh why, do they not show only that platform's train on the departure time sign...
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If the T had real operations management, then the roll signs would matter. You should be able to on the fly adjust train flows to match capacity needs -- run some trains short of full line, etc. We never see that on the Orange Line.
 
For the record, my post was (mostly) sarcastic. I thought the "comes with floating ROW" would give that away.

Rollsigns are a big deal - because if the driver sets the destination in the cab (as is currently done on buses and the Green and Blue lines), the rollsigns can be correct even if countdown signs are not. That's fairly common during service disruptions - during track work the data feed is often dysfunctional, or assumes that trains are going to the end of the line when they are not.

Under even the most conservative estimate, these cars will probably get a midlife rebuild and see service for 30 years. That means they'll be running in 2050. There are entirely reasonable scenarios where by midcentury there's a second Red line spine through the Back Bay, or Orange Line branches, or even the Orange Line connected to a heavy rail Urban Ring.
 
If the final design ends up looking like that I would be very pleased.
 
150806_boston%20red_Ext_station_01.jpg
 
Of course it would be nice if the platforms looked like that too...
 
Since the Orange order represents a net fleet expansion, is there already over-built yard space somewhere to hold them? And is there an options tail and yard space that would let them keep the factory running while it waits for a second USA order?
 
Arlington said:
Since the Orange order represents a net fleet expansion, is there already over-built yard space somewhere to hold them? And is there an options tail and yard space that would let them keep the factory running while it waits for a second USA order?
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Wellington has disused storage tracks that can be reactivated to expand the yard capacity. When the present fleet arrived in 1979-81, most of the 1957 fleet it replaced remained in storage for a few years at Wellington before they were scrapped.

The full contract includes the option of 58 cars to replace the #2 Red Line cars. The completion of that option pushes out the targeted contract completion to 2023. I had heard that the MBTA was kicking around the idea of buying another 86 cars (not included in any option) to replace the 1994 #3 Red Line cars instead of overhauling those cars. The #3 cars have stainless-steel bodies that can probably last 40-years plus, but the General Electric control system they are equipped with is difficult to get parts for (GE left the rapid transit car propulsion business in the late 1990s) and the cost of replacing the control system in an overhaul might be competitive with the cost of additional new CRRC cars. However, if every spare penny of capital money ultimately goes toward completing GLX, it might not leave enough to pay for new cars vs. overhauled.
 
WOW!

Is this the final rendering design of the cars? I hope so! They look so real.

They look so slick, sleek, futuristic, gorgeous & sexy!!

I like the color and aerodynamic shape of the cars, even though the Orange Line cars have almost the same shape as the existing rail cars, while the new Red Line cars have almost the same shape as the old existing 1500 & 1600 series cars!

Has anyone noticed that at all? :cool:
 
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Hutchison said:
Of course it would be nice if the platforms looked like that too...
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Was just going to say the same thing.....if only all of the stations in the system looked that nice.......
 
I don't think it would take much for stations to look like that. All it takes is one word, which the MBTA apparently doesn't know: L-I-G-H-T-I-N-G
 
Its a shame there still using separate cars instead of one train.
 
Yeah, I would've loved to see that! That way, we could've walked from one end of the train to the other!

But it probably would've cost more money, and you know that the T is out to spend as less dough as possible when buying new rolling stock.
 
Nexis4jersey said:
Its a shame there still using separate cars instead of one train.
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As I said on Reddit:

The T uses married pairs because they are far more flexible for taking cars in and out of service when you have a severe lack of proper maintenance funding like we do in the US. Fully articulated trains, like Berlin's U & S-Bahn, work because Germany actually believes in and funds transit, so they have a preventative maintenance plan unlike the US where we only fix things to the minimal degree when they break down instead of being proactive. With articulated trainsets you have to be proactive with maintenance because if it breaks, the whole thing ends up out of service.
 
I wonder how the interior of these new rail cars will look. :cool:
 
Can we talk about skeeviest stations for a sec? My vote would go to Tufts/NEMC. And it's not even that old!
 
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