New Red and Orange Line Cars

[HelloBostonHi]

I too rode the Orange Line for the first time in maybe two years last weekend. Old trains both coming and going. Is there a rough count of what fraction (quarter, third, half?) of the operating trains are old vs new right now?

New trains don't operate on weekends yet. For some unknown reason. It's frequently discussed and complained about on Twitter. They sometimes will test new trainsets non-revenue on weekends but from the data they are still yet to do revenue runs of the trains on weekends.

 

[Balerion]

Frequent Orange Line rider here: this is anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt, but I'd estimate about 20-30% of Orange Line trains I ride are new trains, nowadays.

This is my experience as a fellow frequent rider, too.

I can't find it to dig it up right now, but I've seen data on Twitter that suggests that around 22-24% of the OL service is provided by new trains. Lately there are usually three new trains in service at any time, so I guess the implication is that there are usually 13 total trains in service on weekdays. While that feels low, the 7-minute headways that currently exist feel high, so perhaps that's the deal.

 

[Brattle Loop]

I can't find it to dig it up right now, but I've seen data on Twitter that suggests that around 22-24% of the OL service is provided by new trains. Lately there are usually three new trains in service at any time, so I guess the implication is that there are usually 13 total trains in service on weekdays. While that feels low, the 7-minute headways that currently exist feel high, so perhaps that's the deal.

Interesting. Per the NETransit roster the peak requirement for the Orange Line is 15 trains, though I don't know if that means all active in service at once.

 

[BeyondRevenue]

Interesting. Per the NETransit roster the peak requirement for the Orange Line is 15 trains, though I don't know if that means all active in service at once.

Northbound on OL this morning, old train, 3 new ones passed me SB between State and Assembly. One of them was a test train. They’re there and it makes me very happy — especially since one of the doors on my return train had rusting plate metal riveted over breaking Bondo slapped on a rusted door panel - and that was next to a side panel you could see through. It was like a Denny’s Grand Slam of neglect. Purely Amazing! I should have whipped my phone out!
Now that I’m thinking about it, that would make an awesome pic collection here. Mods…. It’s up to you.

 

[Jahvon09]

Northbound on OL this morning, old train, 3 new ones passed me SB between State and Assembly. One of them was a test train. They’re there and it makes me very happy — especially since one of the doors on my return train had rusting plate metal riveted over breaking Bondo slapped on a rusted door panel - and that was next to a side panel you could see through. It was like a Denny’s Grand Slam of neglect. Purely Amazing! I should have whipped my phone out!
Now that I’m thinking about it, that would make an awesome pic collection here. Mods…. It’s up to you.

Those old rust buckets are falling apart, & the sooner they get rid of them, the better it'll be! It's such a sad state of affairs that they've kept them around this long. Actually, I'm terribly afraid to ride them now. The RL trains are no better. There are riveted "bandaids" up over some of the doors! Guess those areas have rotted out. I just wonder what kind of glue is holding these Relics of the Dinosaur Age together. They should be embarrassed that we are still living in that age! Hah!!

 

[BeyondRevenue]

As long as the moving parts still do what they have to I’m okay with some rust. Hell, the T can’t find drivers —- how are they going to find someone to do body work?

 

[Jahvon09]

As long as the moving parts still do what they have to I’m okay with some rust. Hell, the T can’t find drivers —- how are they going to find someone to do body work?

They probably won't have to worry about that if they can get the new trains in service in a timely fashion. Hopefully soon, the oldest trains will be put out to pasture. I just can't wait until that day comes!!

 

[HelloBostonHi]

“The MBTA expects to return new Red Line cars to service by the end of this month, following the completion of some infrastructure improvements along the Red Line right-of-way,” MBTA spokesperson Joe Pessaturo said in an email.

Pessaturo also said that the new Red Line cars were tested on the main tracks Thursday for the first time since March.

New MBTA Red Line cars to return to tracks by the end of the month

After at least six derailments of the new MBTA Orange Line cars in late 2020 and early 2021, and several iterations of testing, the Orange Line cars returned to service earlier this year. The Red L…

www.bostonherald.com

 

[Jahvon09]

“The MBTA expects to return new Red Line cars to service by the end of this month, following the completion of some infrastructure improvements along the Red Line right-of-way,” MBTA spokesperson Joe Pessaturo said in an email.

Pessaturo also said that the new Red Line cars were tested on the main tracks Thursday for the first time since March.

New MBTA Red Line cars to return to tracks by the end of the month

After at least six derailments of the new MBTA Orange Line cars in late 2020 and early 2021, and several iterations of testing, the Orange Line cars returned to service earlier this year. The Red L…

www.bostonherald.com

Yeah, I got that earlier on the smart phone. Nice!!

 

[Jahvon09]

I thought that I'd hear something more on the new Red Line trains. It's the end of the month, but nothing else yet.

 

[JWH]

I thought that I'd hear something more on the new Red Line trains. It's the end of the month, but nothing else yet.

Per newtrains.today, the new Red Line train is back in service right now.

 

[HelloBostonHi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1476572989311401990

 

[guitarguynboston]

Anyone know what the dates are for when all new trains will be in service. Obviously it will change again before they are done but just wondering where we are at.

 

[Jahvon09]

Supposedly by 2024, or somewhere around that. The damn covid pandemic had pushed things back, causing stuff to be screwed up, but the T had promised that the deliveries would now be on a new schedule. Let's all see if that holds any water. But for now, let's all enjoy seeing this one new train back in service & hope that there are no more problems that would cause them to be taken out of service again. Nice to be back!!

 

[HelloBostonHi]

Anyone know what the dates are for when all new trains will be in service. Obviously it will change again before they are done but just wondering where we are at.

For the Orange Line we're at car 1461 which is car 62 out of 152. We've been doing 4 cars a month lately, at that pace October 2023 would be the completion for the Orange Line. However at one of the recent board meetings they discussed how they plan on bumping up that monthly number soon. Miracles aside I would say the full new fleet on Orange Line should be in service late-2023. (That said, the old fleet is only 120 cars so we could retire all the old cars before deliveries of the new ones are finished without impacting service. So the date of "only new cars running" will probably be different than date for "deliveries finished")

For the Red Line we're at car 1905, which is car 6 of 252. Deliveries need to seriously pick up to get the red line back on track. Last estimate from the T was 2024, but there hasn't been a single car delivered since 2019. Lets hope there's a big pile of cars waiting in Springfield.

 

[Jahvon09]

For the Orange Line we're at car 1461 which is car 62 out of 152. We've been doing 4 cars a month lately, at that pace October 2023 would be the completion for the Orange Line. However at one of the recent board meetings they discussed how they plan on bumping up that monthly number soon. Miracles aside I would say the full new fleet on Orange Line should be in service late-2023. (That said, the old fleet is only 120 cars so we could retire all the old cars before deliveries of the new ones are finished without impacting service. So the date of "only new cars running" will probably be different than date for "deliveries finished")

For the Red Line we're at car 1905, which is car 6 of 252. Deliveries need to seriously pick up to get the red line back on track. Last estimate from the T was 2024, but there hasn't been a single car delivered since 2019. Lets hope there's a big pile of cars waiting in Springfield.

I think that there still might be some new cars there! Even while the covid-19 pandemic has slowed things down, it's quite possible that the empty shells kept on coming from China. They may have enough stored in the plant to comfortably assemble the cars for both lines until more start coming in. I don't think that there were any furloughs there. At least, I didn't hear that there were any.

 

[beck4537]

New train sighting

 

[Jahvon09]

View attachment 20355
New train sighting

A promising sign that the decades-old trains' days are numbered!!! I really do hope that those yankings of the new trains are all behind us now. Like everyone else, I want to see the old trains be retired & scrapped. And hopefully this has taught the MBTA a lesson: Not to wait for so many decades to replace failing equipment!!

 

[Jahvon09]

This is the only Red Line train that's already in use. Below are some of the facilities for the Red Line.

 

[Stlin]

This week's RLT update included this photo, dated January 2022, of Red Car 1907 (not previously reported as delivered) being delivered to the newly completed test track. In short, it looks like deliveries have resumed!