MACTRAXX wrote:The M4s are reaching their minimum retirement age of 30 in 2015 but I would like to see some use for the M6 cars as a extra backup fleet to the M8s or maybe used as a dedicated SLE or perhaps sold to the MBTA for service between Wickford Junction Providence and Boston converted to 11/25KV AC service and having their 700 VDC capability removed...The M6s are not yet 20 years old and I do agree that they are being retired way before their time and they do still have 10-15 solid years left...
Unless I'm mistaken aren't the M6s the worst performers in the fleet? I remember reading in the paper once that they have the lowest mileage rate between failures/breakdowns. I don't recall within the past 10 years of ever having seen a solid consist of 6-9 cars which can only mean that MNR doesn't trust them out on their own without a set of *ironically* older cars. And they may not be even 20 years old yet, but as Amtrak has seen with the *not even 15 year old* HHP-8s, unreliability knows no age boundaries.
Sending them to the MBTA for the Providence/Wickford Junction trains, and Kingston/Westerly when either the T or RIDOT extends westward, would be a lost cause. RIDOT intends on having its own intra-state commuter rail separate from the MBTA service in RI (Westerly-Providence-Woonsocket) which would certainly be diesel powered so no use there. If the T keeps the Wickford Jct./Kingston, etc. trains after RIDOT trains start running they'll definitely stick with what they have for the ease of having a streamlined fleet. Now South Coast Rail will supposedly require electrification IF it is ever built so maybe then these would be a good fit, but having a 48 car EMU fleet amongst an otherwise purely locomotive and (an eventually all bilevel) coach fleet I don't see the T accomodating a small separate EMU fleet for a 50(?) mile, two branch (Fall River and New Bedford) commuter rail. An electric loco purchase is more likely for that line.
Now on the other hand there is somewhere in the MBTA system where the M6s would be very much ideal: the Fairmount Line which has been gradually upgraded over the past several years with a few new stations and several frequencies added as of this month. And there are a number of reasons why they work work well there:
1) the eventual goal of rapid transit like frequencies as the Indigo Line (still unattainable with the current 5-7 car diesel trains)
2) the current inability to tie the line in with the existing Red Line tracks in South Boston (i'm not sure if that was ever on the table to begin with, but still)
3) aside from a handful of Franklin Line trains, most of the service is strictly Readville-South Station (the latter of which is electrified), a distance of 9.2 miles, so they would be able to be specially dedicated to just that one line (in a way like extended New Canaan Branch shuttles) freeing up the diesel equipment used for other services (i.e. increased Worcester or Beverly frequencies)
4) yes the 2 tracks would have to be electrified (presumably with catenary to tie in with the South Station infrastructure) which isn't cheap, but that would have to be done anyway if the Indigo Line plan were to go through (either with catenary or a 3rd rail) unless the T puts the DMU option on the table again.
5) Since the M-6s are both catenary and 3rd rail equipped (like the Blue Line cars) they can remove the components for one and reorganize/leave the other intact when they'd be converted.
6) With expanded South Station capacity in the future there will be room for additional frequencies (and perhaps even a dedicated track for Readville-South Station shuttles?) which could possibly triple from where they are now if EMUs are brought in.
7) The fact that the M6s are EMUs would improve acceleration and speeds between the very closely spaced stations.
And for the record I'd be surprised if any of this remotely happened, but it is something to think about.
