First MBTA LRV arrives for re-build

Type-7 #3660
at the Riverside car house.

Last June, Scott Page, a Boston to a T Guest Contributor, reported that the MBTA had approved the overhaul of 86 Green Line Type-7 Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs). The vehicles are set to be overhauled by Alstom Transportation which has a facility in Hornell, New York.

Four months later, the overhaul program is finally starting to move forward.

Two weeks ago, the first of the 86 cars (LRV #3614) left the MBTA's Riverside yard on a flatbed trailer and headed up to Alstom. This first car, the "pilot car" will take a little over a year to overhaul. Pilot cars usually take the longest to overhaul due to fact that it is the first time the contractors are working on the equipment. If the contract continues on its original schedule, the pilot car should be returning to Boston by November 7th of next year. If all goes well with the pilot car, sets of cars will then be sent up to Alstom on a rotating basis.

The 86 Type-7 LRV's that are being overhauled were built by the Kinki-Sharyo company of Japan between 1986-87. They have been the true powerhouse's behind the Green Line for the past 25 years. They have averaged almost 1 Million in-service miles since they began running on the rails in Boston.

The vehicles are now showing significant signs of age however. Although these vehicles are still more reliable than their Type-8 counterparts it is time for them to get some significant upgrades.

Here is a breakdown of what kind of work will be done to the vehicles during their overhaul.

Work Done	Equipment
Full replacement with upgraded design	HVAC system, Low Voltage Power Supply, Aux. Lighting, Cab Equipment, & Door Indicators
Replacement - in-kind	Flooring, Seating, Vehicle Insulation
Overhualed	Vehicle Structure, Roof, Exterior Skin, Door Systems, Braking Equipment, Trucks, Propulsion, Pantograph, and Interior.

Body damage on a Green Line Type-7 LRV

All 86 cars will come back to Boston with a brand new paint job similar to the "Olive Green" color that the T has been painting some of the LRV's in recent years.

The re-build is said to last until 2015 but some cars should be back in active service by early 2014.

This overhaul is part of a $104 Million contract that the T has with Alstom. The project is said to create around 200 new jobs for the company. Alstom will also soon be starting the overhaul of the MBTA's 74 Kawasaki bi-level coaches. No timeline has been set up for that project yet.

MBTA Countdown Pilot Picking Up Steam

Courtesy: MBTA

Have you been wondering why it has been taking the MBTA so long to roll out their countdown clock system on the entire Red, Orange, and Blue lines? 

I too was frustrated that the launch has been taking so long. That was until I got a chance to talk with the MBTA's Director of Innovation, Josh Robin.

Over the past three months, the MBTA has been rolling out countdown clocks at several stations on the Red Line. As of today the MBTA has a total of six stations online: Andrew, Park Street, Downtown Crossing, South Station, Kendall/M.I.T. and Broadway.

So far the MBTA has been unveiling the technology at a new station along the line every two weeks. Josh Robin told me that the MBTA will be putting a new station online once a week for the next three weeks. So far, he says the pilot has been "essentially flawless".

"The MBTA's number one priority for this project has been quality" says Robin, "we would love to flip the switch and launch the clocks at every station in the system today, but we want to make sure it is done right and that there are no issues"

Quality is defiantly something an agency should focus on when it comes to systems like this. New York City's MTA began launching their countdown clock system back in 2007 and they were plagued by software issues. 

San Franciscos MUNI and BART as well as New Orleans RTA, and the WMATA in Washington D.C. are among the list of other transit authorities that are continuing to add updates to their countdown clock systems.

Although the pilot has just started picking up speed, Robin tells me that the T will be moving more aggressively with the project come the end of the year. Hopefully by the new year we will see the pilot start up on the Blue and Orange lines or maybe even sooner.

MBTA riders have been sharing their thoughts about the pilot on Twitter!

Buses replace trains north of Harvard on weekends this fall

This fall the MBTA is set to close Porter, Davis, and Alewife stations on four separate weekends in order to finish necessary track and tunnel maintenance.

The T will close the three stations north of Harvard and replace train service with shuttle buses on the weekends of Nov. 17-18; Nov. 24-25; Dec. 1-2; and December 8-9.

The closures are part of a continuing multi-year project which started in November of last year. The first phase of the project caused the Red Line north of Harvard to be closed on weekends for four months. Although this time around the closures are not as extensive, the same type of work will be taking place.

 The MBTA plans on replacing corroded and damaged sections of trackage, concrete slabs, electrical wiring, and third rail as well as plugging tunnel cracks and sealing water leaks.

The Harvard to Alewife extension, which opened in 1985, has a specialized track that runs along thousands of concrete slabs instead of wooden ties. These slabs float on rubber disks, almost resembling hockey pucks, that help to cushion the trains vibrations. Over the years tunnel leaks have caused these slabs to crack and their rubber disks to corrode, which poses the risk of rail movement.

This necessary maintenance, which is set to cost around $34 Million, will be funded out of the MBTA's Capital Improvement budget. The T also received a little over $4.3 million in stimulus money to help off set the cost of the project. Here is the funding request. 

The reason for the closures is that the project cannot be managed solely within the 3 ½-hour window each morning when the T is closed, without disrupting service. Materials must be hauled in and out each weekend on special trucks outfitted to drive on rails, with the nearest entry point at the mouth of the tunnel near Kendall Station two miles from Harvard and nearly five miles from Alewife.