Hey, there! Log in / Register
Attention, passengers! The next Orange Line train to the future is now approaching
By adamg on Fri, 04/06/2018 - 10:53am
Biker Rider watched shiny new Orange Line cars gliding through Sullivan Square this morning on the express track rebuilt just for testing out the new cars. No passengers were allowed on, of course, not while they undergo several months of testing.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
This train spotter is jealous
I made one of my rare trips up north on the Orange Line a few weeks ago, and I was hoping just to get a glimpse of this in the Wellington Yard. Seeing it being tested would have made my head explode. Someday I'll see it.
Meanwhile, I saw in the Globe a few weeks back that the new Green Line cars have begun arriving for testing. Those have really flown under the radar. Of course, that's the difference between replacing cars built in the 90s and replacing cars built in the 70s.
Both yesterday and today I've
Both yesterday and today I've spotted the new orange line cars near Sullivan, though neither time good enough for a photo.
If you really want to see them, camp out somewhere between Sullivan and Wellington around 8 am. That seems to be when they're out and about.
Testing
Once the passengers put their rear ends on the seats they trains will need to be tested for STDs.
So stay off the train - more room for the rest of us
Besides, Boston subways are no worse than anywhere else for you.
No replacement
The new Type 9 cars for the Green Line are to add capacity for GLX.
A lot of the T's Type 7 trolley cars date to the 1980s, but they're built like tanks and may well operate for another 10 years (that was a good order). Then there are the Type 8s which are in some cases two decades newer but crap.
The idea is to do a full fleet replacement with Type 10s in about 10 years.
Still- new trains!
And indeed, the type 7s were built well.
I remember when they were new
I lived near Kenmore and I would wait for one to come in so I could get the sweet ride.
I still remember the first time I rode one - it was a hot summer day and ... it was cool inside! Like, almost too cold! I don't think I had been on an MBTA vehicle with working AC up to that point.
I remember when the Orange Line trains were new
Let's hope my son doesn't say the same thing to his son (or daughter) 40 years from now.
I also got a primer on the type 7s as a young train geek over at the State Transportation Library before they started service. Sanborn schooled me on how these were the exact opposite of the Boeing Vertols. The doors. I remember him going on about how the doors would work better. And you know, the doors seem to rarely be troublesome.
Why not type 9.1s rather than
Why not type 9.1s rather than Type 10s? If they Type 9's work well, don't throw out the design and start over -- just fix the things that need to change.
If the type 9s work as well as the type 7s
Look to MassDOT to structure the RFP so that CAF will have the inside track to win the bid.
Heck, we already gave CRRC basically the rights to 2 of the 4 rail lines with this contract. Giving CAF the Green Line won't be a stretch.
As I understand it it's
As I understand it it's because the type 9s are basically just type 8s updated with modern electronics. The T wants to design an entirely new vehicle for the type 10s, incorporating all the advances in technology since then (e.g. it could be entirely low-floor). They just didn't have time to go through that process before the GLX's expected opening date (and when GLX got cancelled then revived the contract for cars had already been awarded), and they need a few more cars to have enough to run GLX service.
You know how sometimes little
You know how sometimes little kids are super excited to get on a train and are jumping for joy and what not? That'll be me the first time I get to board a new orange line train except it'll be less adorable.
Elmer can help
I'm sure he'll be happy to hang an "Adorable" tag on you - even if you're not.
You just may have to dress up as a pet or some woodland creature though.
Several months of testing the
Several months of testing the cars or the drivers? The passengers have already been tested (to the max).
Well ...
As an Orange Line rider myself, I sympathize, but the T has good reason to want to run these things through the paces for a long, long time: These first two cars were built entirely in China, by a company that's never before built cars for a North American subway system. And the T has plenty of experience with buying things that look really snazzy, then just don't work - like the time they bought these new Green Line trolleys from Italy that turned out to have a predilection for coming off the tracks - and being unable to get up the long hill on Comm. Ave. towards BC.
thanks Adam
I'll think of this when I'm riding one of these over the Mystic.
Yeah, I have to think of it at the other end of the line
Where pipes just fall on trains, trash routinely erupts into flames on the tracks, and trains going around a curve burst into shrieks loud enough to wake the dead.
It's just so sad when a train pulls into Forest Hills and it emits the world's loudest sigh, like it can't believe it just finished another trip and those cruel taskmasters are going to make it go right back out again in a few minutes.
The loud Woosh is standard
The loud woosh of air you hear after the train comes to a stop at Forest Hills is the operator putting the brake on full, then locking the control stand.
You have to fully apply the service brake then depress a safety and lock the stand. This applies the park brake (for want of a better non-tech name) and locks up the train. That has to happen before any operator can activate the train from the other end.
So this is not the dying quivers. That is a normal operational sound for that type of train.
Sure. And describing that
Sure. And describing that sound metaphorically as "world's loudest sigh" - considering the state of the T - is still very apt. I'm never going to hear that sound again and not think of it the way Adam just described it.
Plus,
Plus, only the first few cars are getting this super extensive testing. The other cars will be getting tested too, of course, but not as.
To be fair to the T (and the manufacturers)
Months of testing before revenue service is SOP for most passenger rail purchases.
Let's cross our fingers and hope they pass their tests.
At least China is building subway lines (and cars)!
China has built about 1000 miles of new subway lines within a 5 year period. Which means a lot of new subway cars. More than anywhere else in the world at the moment. So they have the experience and capability. Time will tell how that transfers to Orange Line tracks and signals...
https://qz.com/1010911/a-beautiful-data-animation-shows-the-unprecedente...
You forgot
The bum commuter rail cars and the bum commuter rail engines. (Also note that the t is not alone with this problem)
Orange Line
Every ride is a test.
Stay Clear of the Doors!
There is service directly behind this train!
Orange Line Meme
I'm ready!
I am SO ready. I'd ride it today, testing be damned! (This is where, if I knew how, I would insert the Wonkavision scene from Willy Wonka, and Mike TV being sent across the airwaves in millions of tiny pieces.)
several months
2020 !!!
Looks straight out of 1985
Apologize for the snark. It doesn't look like an antique, but doesn't exactly look futuristic, either.
Just an observation after a 10 second glance at the pics in this story. I'm sure they're better than what we have...
Now back to my snowy weekend.
Yeah, nothing futuristic looking about them
Which is fine by me, as long as they actually work.
Revenue idea
Get some of the local purveyors of finer spirits along the Orange Line and have a beer tasting aboard the new cars along the express track between Wellington and Community College. I'd pay good money for that!
It Could Also Facilitate Testing The Cars' Resistance To Vomit
So NOT adorable!
So NOT adorable!