The Orange Line Thread

[winstonoboogie]

When you look at it, 5 years isn't really that far off. They are also planning & hoping for a 2019 delivery of the first of about 24 Type 9 trolleys for the Green Line.

I realize also, that they are supposed to be working with whatever bidder they choose, to build a manufacturing plant somewhere out in or near Springfield. They still have yet to do that as well.

They received six proposals and have a committee scoring the responses. It is a very complex procurement, it takes awhile to go through all the proposals and compare all the items. They will probably announce the winner by the end of the year.

 

[Jahvon09]

They received six proposals and have a committee scoring the responses. It is a very complex procurement, it takes awhile to go through all the proposals and compare all the items. They will probably announce the winner by the end of the year.

If it doesn't get pushed to next year sometime. You never know with them.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I have a question about the third track on the OL Haymarket North. Since there are three tracks/two platforms at Wellington, Sullivan and CC does the T just keep one of the platforms out of service? The new Assembly is built so the eastern most track bypasses it. There is no real need for the third track other than non-revenue service so what's up with it?

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

I have a question about the third track on the OL Haymarket North. Since there are three tracks/two platforms at Wellington, Sullivan and CC does the T just keep one of the platforms out of service? The new Assembly is built so the eastern most track bypasses it. There is no real need for the third track other than non-revenue service so what's up with it?

Nope. Twin island platforms, so all platforms face at least one revenue track and are always open to the public. With how crowded Wellington in particular gets during morning rush it would definitely be a bad idea to try to consolidate to 1 platform. Assembly can have it added later if there's reason for revenue service on the 3rd track. It just didn't make sense to spend the $$$ for it up-front on an all-new construction station.

CC:

Sullivan:

Wellington:

 

[HenryAlan]

So they use both platforms at Sullivan and Wellington, similar to Park Street Under?

 

[winstonoboogie]

So they use both platforms at Sullivan and Wellington, similar to Park Street Under?

Yes at Wellington and Sullivan, no at Community College. The extra platform at Community College is out of service, they did not install tactile edges along it, and more importantly, did not install an elevator to service it when the elevator was installed on the main platform (although they did build a future provision to install an elevator should there ever be a need). Wellington carhouse has used the third track to test cars after they have been shopped. It was also used back in 2007 to test the first pair of the present Blue Line fleet. Delivering the first two cars to Wellington instead of Orient Heights provided an opportunity for extensive daytime testing at speed.

 

[Jahvon09]

I'll be so bloody glad to see those old dilapidated rusted-out eaten-up rail cars get called home!!!

 

[JeffDowntown]

I'll be so bloody glad to see those old dilapidated rusted-out eaten-up rail cars get called home!!!

It is too bad that the orange line cars bear the brunt of the criticism. They were perfectly fine subway cars during their proper service live. It is not their fault that they have overstayed their welcome.

The T management that forced them to be used for years past their service life really should be called home though.

 

[Jahvon09]

It is too bad that the orange line cars bear the brunt of the criticism. They were perfectly fine subway cars during their proper service live. It is not their fault that they have overstayed their welcome.

The T management that forced them to be used for years past their service life really should be called home though.

This is the thing;

You hit the nail right on the head!

But the Red & Orange Line rail cars are presently the oldest in the system - the Red Line ones having the edge, because some of their rail cars have been in use since 1969 (formerly called the Silver Birds until they were painted white & red) , as back then, they were planned for use on the then-new Braintree route.

The MBTA is so quick to raise fares every 2 to 3 years, but it is awfully slow about upgrading their equipment for better service. I would not mind the fare increases as long as service and more reliable equipment were in place.

And note that the older Red Line rail cars don't show much rust, mainly because they have aluminum bodies. I would guess that the newer rail cars on both lines will be made from stainless steel to minimize or eliminate rusting altogether.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

This is the thing;

You hit the nail right on the head!

But the Red & Orange Line rail cars are the oldest in the system - the Red Line ones having the edge, because some of their rail cars have been in use since 1969 (formerly called the Silver Birds until they were painted white & red) , as back then, they were planned for use on the then-new Braintree route.

The MBTA is so quick to raise fares every 3 to 3 years, but it is awfully slow about upgrading their equipment for better service. I would not mind the fare increases as long as service and more reliable equipment were in place.

And note that the older Red Line cars don't show much rust, mainly because they have aluminum bodies. I would guess that the newer cars on both lines will be made from stainless steel to minimize or eliminate rusting altogether.

The Red cars get painted pretty often too. There's some rust spots showing on the cars that have gone the longest between trips to the paint shop, but generally speaking they do an outstanding job keeping the carbodies protected from corrosion. The rust on the old Blue 0600's was just because of the salt blast off the water corroding them much faster than any anti-corrosion efforts could've halted the decay.

There's just nothing they can do any longer with such old, worn-out components. The 01500's and 01600's were rebuilt from 1985-88, meaning some of them are going to hit 30 years on their second life next year. They're almost done with the rebuild of the 26-year-old 01700's...40 done, 16 to go. But they've taken to isolating the rebuilds more often than not from their much older lookalikes. It's just not worth the extra lifespan-shortening wear and tear of trainlining the fresher ones with the rolling ruins from the Nixon Administration.

History will record that both these Red and Orange cars were some of the best purchases the T ever made. Every single one of the original Orange cars is still in service, all of the original Red 01500's are still in service, and all but 4 wrecked 01600's are still in service. That's pretty incredible longevity. They've been more trouble-free throughout their lifespan than the 01800's, which are good cars but had terrible air conditioning problems for their first 10 years, and still don't have ASA that works right. Everything still running on any other North American subway system that's older than these Red or Orange cars has been much, much more recently and much more frequently rehabbed or is slated to be retired sooner. It's a miracle that the breakdown rate isn't twice as bad as it's been given just how shot these things are. At this stage we should be seeing 20% or more of the fleet out-of-service for aches and pains at any given time and acute wintertime car shortages, but they're all either out there or only a few at a time are sidelined in the shop for only a few days at a time. Nobody goes 30 years, much less 35, between rebuilds on lines that long or with that frequent headways. It's unprecedentedly insane, and they're lucky to have escaped shortages the likes of which you can tangibly count in escalating disapproval ratings for elected pols.

 

[Finn]

History will record that both these Red and Orange cars were some of the best purchases the T ever made. Every single one of the original Orange cars is still in service, all of the original Red 01500's are still in service, and all but 4 wrecked 01600's are still in service. That's pretty incredible longevity.

This is indeed indisputably remarkable.

 

[Jahvon09]

The APA or GPS automated announcement system also gets screwed up on the new Blue Line cars.

At times, it announces the PREVIOUS stop after it has left the station, rather that the stops that is approaching.

The latest rail cars on the Red Line are beginning to show their age. A rust-like brown film seems to have developed on some of them. And some of the Orange Line cars have been spruced up inside & out, but not all of them though.

 

[winstonoboogie]

The MBTA has awarded a contract to TTA Inc to overhaul the truck frames on the #1 Red Line cars, the work is required to make sure the cars make it to the arrival of the new cars in 2019-2020, so they are going to make 50 for sure.

 

[Jahvon09]

You mean the much older rail cars from '69 & '88?!! That is way too long!! The intense amount of effort spent by them doing that, that the dough used for it, could be used to expedite getting the new cars a little bit sooner, I think!!!

That is just nuts!!

But then again, don't want broken cars either that would snarl service and cause astronomical delays!!

 

[winstonoboogie]

You mean the much older rail cars from '69 & '88?!! That is way too long!! The intense amount of effort spent by them doing that, that dough could be used to expedite getting the new cars a little bit sooner, I think!!!

That is just nuts!!

But then again, don't want broken cars either that would snarl service and cause astronomical delays!!

The bids for the new cars are in and being reviewed, they expect to place the order by the end of the year, the deliveries will start by 2019. Nothing is going to get them in sooner. The trucks on the 1969 cars have to be overhauled or else breakdowns will continue and get worse. The work should improve the performance of the old cars, and make sure they make it to 2019.

 

[Arlington]

Word is they're targeting Tues Sept 2 for the opening of Assembly. I'm repeating a claim from Railroad.net (so its now third hand!)

 

[Finn]

The APA or GPS automated announcement system also gets screwed up on the new Blue Line cars.

At times, it announces the PREVIOUS stop after it has left the station, rather that the stops that is approaching.

My Fitchburg train is constantly screwed up as well. Specialties include express trains announcing the names of all the stops and the destination of the train being flip-flopped (outbound trains have North Station as the destination, trains pulling into North Station will say "Now arriving at... Littleton, Route 495").

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

My Fitchburg train is constantly screwed up as well. Specialties include express trains announcing the names of all the stops and the destination of the train being flip-flopped (outbound trains have North Station as the destination, trains pulling into North Station will say "Now arriving at... Littleton, Route 495").

ASA on the new coaches is still all borked up to hell. The computer lives in the cab car at the rear and drives the ASA on all the other coaches on the train, so they have to troubleshoot that before it works right everywhere. And that may be awhile because they've got a backlog of the last new coaches out of the plant to test and wave into service, another half-dozen locos about to arrive for burn-in testing, and almost no storage space left at BET to get anything into the shop until they can get some more old stuff retired and shipped offsite into mothballed storage. So be prepared for inaccurate ASA to last through winter until they have bandwidth to get otherwise working cars inside for a look.


Then again, Red's still borked 20 years later ("$$$$$$" destination signs, anyone?) so maybe that just gets written off as more uniquely Boston local color.

 

[ivyhedge]

MBTA website says 2 Sep for Assembly opening ... I first saw that posted on Friday, but the announcement might have been made prior to that...

Have a great weekend!

 

[elemenoh]

Will there ever be automated stop announcements on the Orange Line? It seems way overdue for this.