MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) discussion

[Fenway]

I'm surprised they didn't put any of the 1200 (Hawker Siddley) trains back in service to replace the new trains with the power cable problems. Are they that far gone that the T would rather have 20 minute headways?

My friends at the T have told me the Feds said enough on the 1200s after the fire.

The ticking timebomb is the Red Line 1500-1600 Pullman-Standard cars that still have 66 cars active and only 10 CRRCs available.

I do not envy the new Governor trying to turn this around.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/...ta-operator-involved-in-green-line-crash.html
"Turner had accelerated the trolley at 31 miles per hour for roughly 500 feet before hitting the other trolley which was traveling at the speed limit, of 10 miles per hour,"

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Really? A brand-new branch bustituted?

Water main work on a Sunday seems outside of the transit agencies responsibility and nothing to do with it being new.

 

[Fenway]

An MBTA operator involved in a Green Line crash that injured several people in 2021 has been found not guilty of negligence.

 

[Fenway]

Sadly it is behind a paywall but the Boston Sunday Globe documents how bad things are at the CRRC factory in Springfield

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01...ringfield-describe-toxic-error-prone-factory/
This response from CRRC speaks volumes

Starting nearly a decade ago, Massachusetts leaders made a promise that now appears to have been too good to be true: In exchange for more than $800 million, a Chinese company would build 404 new Red and Orange Line cars for the MBTA by 2023 in a brand-new Springfield factory, resurrecting the long-dormant railcar manufacturing industry in Western Massachusetts and creating hundreds of stable local jobs.

But nearly five years after the factory got up and running, only 90 of around 340 cars that were supposed to have been delivered by now are in the hands of the MBTA, and even fewer are carrying passengers. A battery explosion, derailment, loose brake bolts, and electrical arcing have forced the T to repeatedly pull the new cars out of service and rely on faulty old cars that were supposed to be retired decades ago.

A former test engineer said that for seven months in 2019 and 2020, he and several other employees did not do any work because the company did not have the parts they were supposed to test. He said they would pretend to work inside the trains or hide in a training room and watch Netflix movies on their phones.

Sometimes, the former test engineer said, he would test cars that didn’t have all the parts they needed.

“They skip steps and they go back,” he said. “Everyone had to be a yes man no matter how ludicrous you thought something was.”

A spokesperson for CRRC did not dispute the Globe’s description of the former workers’ allegations.

CRRC does not seem to have major issues at the factory they built in Chicago for the CTA contract. Meanwhile nobody wants to talk about their contract with LA Metro that was supposed to build cars in Springfield as well.

This debacle makes the now closed Hyundai Rotem factory in Philadelphia look good.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/01/13/2-men-girl-arrested-following-violent-spree-on-green-line/
Two men are behind bars after cops say a crowbar-wielding group of four went on a “violent spree” on the Green Line this week, “beating, robbing and terrorizing” T riders, according to the DA’s office.

 

[Tlcooper44]

https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/01/13/2-men-girl-arrested-following-violent-spree-on-green-line/
Two men are behind bars after cops say a crowbar-wielding group of four went on a “violent spree” on the Green Line this week, “beating, robbing and terrorizing” T riders, according to the DA’s office.

This type of stuff always gets reported by certain newspapers, yet the crazy rediculous stuff that happens with cars, including crimes, (which are in far greater number) never get mentioned.

What happened on the Green line is terrible and I’m glad they were brought to justice, but it further gives the impression that the T is someone this endlessly dangerous place, when compared to the road, it is not.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Sadly it is behind a paywall but the Boston Sunday Globe documents how bad things are at the CRRC factory in Springfield

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01...ringfield-describe-toxic-error-prone-factory/
This response from CRRC speaks volumes





CRRC does not seem to have major issues at the factory they built in Chicago for the CTA contract. Meanwhile nobody wants to talk about their contract with LA Metro that was supposed to build cars in Springfield as well.

This debacle makes the now closed Hyundai Rotem factory in Philadelphia look good.

If the Chicago CRRC facility is not having these problems, sounds like it must be an issue with the local management at the Springfield facility rather than CRRC in general.

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

This type of stuff always gets reported by certain newspapers, yet the crazy rediculous stuff that happens with cars, including crimes, (which are in far greater number) never get mentioned.

What happened on the Green line is terrible and I’m glad they were brought to justice, but it further gives the impression that the T is someone this endlessly dangerous place, when compared to the road, it is not.

This thread is for discussing issues involving the MBTA. I thought it was a relevant news topic. Innocent passengers being robbed and attacked with a person wielding crowbar on a trolley in Kenmore Square seems like a worthy discussion. We shouldn't be pretending it doesn't happen.

 

[Tlcooper44]

This thread is for discussing issues involving the MBTA. I thought it was a relevant news topic. Innocent passengers being robbed and attacked with a person wielding crowbar on a trolley in Kenmore Square seems like a worthy discussion. We shouldn't be pretending it doesn't happen.

My post is not “pretending it doesn’t happen.”

What I am trying to do is highlight the wild scrutiny that transit related crime comes under in the US, and the comparatively little road-related crime scrutiny. It’s hypocritical, and unfortunately needlessly tarnishes transit systems such as the MBTA, which overall is an incredibly safe system, crime wise.

 

[BlackDiamond]

What I am trying to do is highlight the wild scrutiny that transit related crime comes under in the US, and the comparatively little road-related crime scrutiny. It’s hypocritical, and unfortunately needlessly tarnishes transit systems such as the MBTA, which overall is an incredibly safe system, crime wise.

It may just be that crimes like this on transit are still relatively rare so rate coverage while road crashes, road rage incidents, etc. are unfortunately too common to be newsworthy anymore.

 

[Tlcooper44]

It may just be that crimes like this on transit are still relatively rare so rate coverage while road crashes, road rage incidents, etc. are unfortunately too common to be newsworthy anymore.

I think this is very true. Because transit crime is so rare, it gets a lot of coverage. All of the horrific atrocities that happen on our roadways are business as usual.

But of course, this prompts many (including my own family members) to suggest that transit is something that should be avoided, and one should drive or take a taxi/Uber whenever possible.

With all of that said, I think more can be done to improve transit safety. One crime is too many. Systems all over the world have near perfect safety records, and this is something that the MBTA and others should emulate.

 

[Fenway]

Rush hour headway on the Orange Line

 

[Tlcooper44]

Rush hour headway on the Orange Line

View attachment 31135

Pathetic.
There must be a breaking point eventually. It seems this is now business as usual.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Rush hour headway on the Orange Line

View attachment 31135

Right now they are only running with the new CRRC cars. I have heard rumors they want to put some of the Hawker Siddley trains back in service which may help with headways.

 

[Tlcooper44]

Right now they are only running with the new CRRC cars. I have heard rumors they want to put some of the Hawker Siddley trains back in service which may help with headways.

As much as I understand the sentiment, it was a short sighted mistake to run exclusively CRRC cars.
By all means, retire the HS cars that need to be, but some are in perfectly ok condition and could be used.
Its more important that the frequency exists rather than keep the fleet perfectly "shiny."

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/0...cted-on-orange-green-red-and-haverhill-lines/
The Orange Line will be shut down between Ruggles and North Station during the weekends of Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 18-19.

The extended closure outside the garage area will enable the MBTA to “perform additional track work, including the replacement of rail fasteners between Back Bay and Ruggles stations,” Battiston said.

The Orange Line will also be closed between Back Bay and North Station on Saturday, Feb. 11, from start of service until 8 p.m.
Shuttle buses will replace Green Line trolley service between North Station and Government Center station during the weekends of Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 18-19, and on Saturday, Feb. 11, from start of service to 8 p.m.

 

[Fenway]

Unbeliveable

The MBTA will be reevaluating its contract with the Chinese manufacturing company, CRRC, first hired to build the cars in 2014, Gonneville said, and will provide a more accurate delivery schedule next month. The company is supposed to deliver four Orange Line cars and four Red Line cars each month, Gonneville said. The last two cars arrived on June 14, said T spokesperson Joe Pesaturo, before the T suspended deliveries.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01...ven-months-likely-pushing-full-delivery-2027/
https://www.wcvb.com/article/mbta-e...-line-trains-to-be-pushed-back-again/42674031

 

[Fenway]

Thursday night

 

[Bostontoallpoints]

https://www.boston25news.com/news/l...eaks-out-mbta-bus/SQO5PPDU4RCZ3H72GQEFDUHXTU/
Two people were injured and a window was smashed after a brawl broke out on an MBTA bus.

According to Transit Police, on January 25, around 3:30 p.m., a group of juveniles, unprovoked, attacked another group of juveniles at BHA/Columbia Rd.

The group who attacked also used bricks to shatter the bus windows.

 

[joelkfla]

Thursday night

If it weren't the T, it probably wouldn't have made the news. No 3rd rail, so no real danger. They got to walk 30 yards in one of the world's oldest subway tunnels; sounds like a pretty cool adventure. Not crazy about waiting 90 minutes on the cars, though.

https://www.boston25news.com/news/l...eaks-out-mbta-bus/SQO5PPDU4RCZ3H72GQEFDUHXTU/
Two people were injured and a window was smashed after a brawl broke out on an MBTA bus.

According to Transit Police, on January 25, around 3:30 p.m., a group of juveniles, unprovoked, attacked another group of juveniles at BHA/Columbia Rd.

The group who attacked also used bricks to shatter the bus windows.

Can't blame the T for gang violence.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Thursday night

from the WBZ report with the pictures in the tunnel, looks like a trolley stopped over the switch that connects the inbound Huntingdon Ave (E line) track to the inbound Boylston St. track. This presumably caused a backup of inbound cars coming from the B and C lines. I would be curious as to what happened that the car over the switch could not be moved. Perhaps the switch was thrown against the E train?

 

[MARC Rider]

Can't blame the T for gang violence.

That is true, but if the traveling public starts getting the idea that the T is a venue for regular gang violence, ridership on the T is going to start to suffer. They probably need to flood the system with cops for a while so that the gang-bangers will decide to take their fights to some other place.

 

[Fenway]

This article hints that CRRC no longer has any incentive to complete the contract.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/mbta-opens-up-about-new-subway-car-delivery-delays/

CRRC makes the train shells in China and ships them to Springfield for final assembly. Gonneville said all 152 Orange Line shells have been produced, with 78 cars in service and the rest awaiting completion in Springfield. Only 44 of the 252 Red Line shells have been produced.

Brian Kane, the executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, which represents the municipalities in the T service area, said he was pleased to see the transit authority start to come clean about the problems it is facing with the new Red and Orange Line cars. He said he was “also real concerned that we’re never going to get these train cars that we need.”

Kane said Gonneville’s presentation suggested CRRC has little incentive to live up to its contract terms, let alone hang around as a future parts supplier or vehicle repairers.

“They’ve already lost a ton of money and they’re continuing to lose money with every car they ship,” he said.

 

[Fenway]

Even by the T's standards, this is bizarre