The T's Aging fleet: How they are managing to squeak by

©2011 Boston to a T

A few weeks ago current MBTA General Manager Richard Davey revealed, for the very first time, the true status of the Orange and Red line fleets.

Currently, the only reason the Orange Line is still operational is because of the dedicated and hard work of the T's vehicle maintenance department. Band-aid after band-aid have been put on these cars and no one truly knows how much longer they can keep that up. GM Davey did unveil a plan however that may cost a pretty penny but will actually allow the Orange Line fleet and the older Red Line fleet to function for a little longer, or at least until the T can afford to fund their overall replacements. 

The plan, which will cost a little over $100 Million, will upgrade the entire Orange line fleet and the 01500-01600 series cars on the Red line. The in-house overhauls would install a variety of new components on these trains, including speed sensors, electrical converters, trucks, and cosmetic touchups. All of these repairs would probably add about seven to ten years onto the life of these trains which will hopefully be enough time for the T to plan their overall replacement. 

Over the past few months Davey and his team have been conducting an extensive review of the status of the oldest vehicles in the T's fleets. The news, which is not truly shocking as most commuters have suspected it for years, is however very disheartening. In its current state, the T is lucky, if they have enough Orange Line cars available to run the morning rush hour. The Orange line fleet consists of 120 Hawker-Siddeley married pair cars. The T only requires 102 of those cars to be able to send off a new train every four to five minuets during the morning and evening rush. But cars are breaking down so frequently and are requiring more extensive repairs which in turn is causing cars to stay out of service longer. With more cars out of service wait time has also been a huge issue on the Orange Line and it is only going to get worse.  

As usual neither the total replacement or even the seriously expensive Band-aids were included in the MBTA's 2012 budget. The board of directors is well aware of the problem though. They have been discussing the overall maintenance needs of the entire system for years and have come to the conclusion that a total overhaul of all maintenance issues would probably put the T into bankruptcy, with a total price tag of over $3 Billion. 

The Orange line fleet was manufactured by the Hawker-Siddeley company (now Bombardier) and were put into service between 1979 and 1981. The oldest cars in the Red Lines fleet are the 01500-01600 series cars manufactured by Pullman-Standard. These were put into service during the peak of the Vietnam War. Subway car manufactures build their cars to last for about 25 years. This is provided that they also receive a mid-life overall during this time to replace key components of the car like lighting, brakes, propulsion systems and so on. None of the Orange line cars have ever received any form of an overhaul during their 32 years in service. The oldest of the Red Line's fleet received one full rebuild between 1985 and 1988 but that is still almost 25 years ago. 

The sad truth is the MBTA hardly has enough money to meet the needs of their rapidly expanding ridership and none whatsoever for the expansions and acquirements that are sought by the board and lawmakers. If nothing is done now the T could be on the brink of some pretty bad situations. The thing I find to be the most disgraceful about this whole situation is how years of leadership allowed the two lines with the most ridership in the entire system to fall into such turmoil and overall despair. 

Huuricane Irene: MBTA shutting down entire system

Tomorrow, August 28th, 2011, the MBTA will be suspending all services for the entirety of the day due to hurricane Irene.


These services include all lines of the subway, bus service, ferry service, and all MBCR commuter rail service.

The RIDE will only run trips based on the medical nature of the call.

MBTA buses will also be on standby to help with any necessary evacuations.

The T's number one priority this weekend is safety. MBTA crews will be out all day tomorrow monitoring the system making sure that it is ready to open at the start of Monday mornings commute.

The MBTA is following New York's MTA, New Jersey Transit, and the Metro North Railroad in suspending their entire service this weekend.

NYC transit system to close in anticipation for hurricane Irene

For the first time ever the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which operates the New York City Subway, Bus, and Commuter Railroads, is intentionally shutting down its Bus and Subway operations in anticipation for one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit New England since hurricane Bob in 1991. The MTA's step-by-step hurricane protection plan, which was devised in 2007, calls for a all service to be offline at least 12 hours before the storm makes landfall in the city. There will also be an evacuation period that would last about 10-12 hours, during daylight, before the shutdown. This will allow residents and tourists to use the system if they would like to leave the city.

Safety is the MTA's top priority in the situation. They are making sure their employes and engineers will have adequate time after the shutdown to make it to a safe place to ride out the storm. Employees have also been swiftly stockpiling supplies like sandbags and completing last minute  maintenance projects like clearing drains and moving sensitive equipment to higher ground. After the shutdown each station will be searched to make sure no one is left behind in an elevator or bathroom, and then gates or barricade tape will go up to block stairways at the street level. The MTA is also encouraging their employees to carry bags with them that have extra food, water, and clothes incase they have to stay on duty for longer periods. 


The largest risk for the system is not what everyone may think. It's not the high winds, flying debris, or even heavy raining fall. It is the surging from the ocean that can flow right into, and flood, the subway tunnels. There are handfuls of tunnels that run under rivers or through lower Manhattan that are guaranteed to flood during a category 1 hurricane. The MTA is planning on having service running again by Monday but that may change with how much damage the system sustains. The only other time the MTA had to terminate all subway service was during a Nor'Easter in 1992 that sent surges into a ConEdison station which cut all power to the system.

A flooded Kenmore station in 1996. 

Well enough about New York. Some of you are probably wondering "well if New York's shutting down is the MBTA?" The answer to that is not yet. As of 4:00pm this afternoon, I am currently riding on the commuter rail home to Lowell, the MBTA has no plan to alter any of it's services. In anticipation for the storm the T is beefing up all inspections of their backup generations, tunnel pump rooms, and poor drainage areas. They are also keeping a very close eye on the Fenway portal on the "D" branch of the Green Line. They have been inspecting pumps and surveying dam equipment so they can be prepared if then need to shut off the portal. The portal and Kenmore station was the sight of the last MBTA tunnel flood which occurred in october of 1996.

The dam at Fenway last year!

The dam system that is in place currently at the portal was put into place in the early sixties after a massive rainfall caused the Muddy River to breach its banks and flow water right into the portal. This is also what happened in 1996. The reason the dam did not work in this situation (1996) is because MBTA engineers could not figure out the proper way to build it. Today, however, the MBTA does know how to use the dam system so that Kenmore station will never again have to be submerged in over 20 feet of water. If the dam is needed to overt the course of water, the MBTA will use buses to shuttle commuters from Kenmore station to Reservoir station.

Another large concern for the MBTA during this weekends storm is flooding of tracks. This could eventually lead to sink holes or washouts. In march of last year the MBTA has an incident, once again on the "D" branch of the Green Line, in which heavy rain caused a portion of earth and gravel ballast to wash away, leaving a large portion of trackage suspended in mid air.

The T seems like they are taking this storm very seriously so hopefully no big incidents will occur this weekend. If you are planning on using the MBTA subway, bus, or commuter rail system this weekend (Im not sure who would want to leave their homes) make sure you check MBTA.com before you head out the door. They will be posting down to the second alerts for the entire system all weekend!