Yeah but they need to leave a few rotems up north to meet the spare requirements, so why not use them?
Railroad Forums
Rotem Cars Discussion (new bi-level cars)
- Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
The difference between the flats and doubles is that the flats and 900’s k cars don’t have traction interlock vs all of the rebuilt k cars and rotems do. That’s not my point here. Going back to Crail’s point, when I was saying that the rotems were displacing the k cars up north, I meant to say just the control coach k cars. I know that the blinds are still flats. They aren’t going to have k cars replacing the blinds until the rest of the rotem extension fleet enters service. Even then, they will need older rotems to head up north before the flats can be retired.
Traction interlocking on the 900s would not be a "hard" thing to install. The 900s already have part of the traction interlocking system, so take that out and hook the new electrics up, and done.
900s are not equipped with traction interlock, it is why they are all north. South side is now typically 100% compliant. The 900 order severed the T's relationship with Kawasaki, which is why we'll never see a homogeneous fleet, rather unfortunate in my opinion. The new Rotems are an extension of the original order. The big anticipated order that the pandemic killed would have to go out to competitive bid as another already pointed out. There's probably a 0% chance Kawasaki bids as long as the T is the buyer.
Moderator: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Brightline Trains
Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).
Avatar:3679A (since wrecked)/3623B (now in service as 3636B).
But seriously, installing traction on the 900s would not be as much of a pain in the ass as fixing the newer 800s
It blocks throttle power from being applied unless certain conditions are met, usually all doors closed and brakes in a release state.
"That sapling that once grew just south of Wassaic may be long gone, and the Harlem Line’s appearance may have changed over the years, but for decades to come, I can count on it continuing to provide me with funny recollections"
BandA wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 4:25 pm What is traction interlock?Traction Interlock deals with the door circuit system, connected to applicable coaches that are equipped. TI has nothing to do with the brake system. If an exterior door is not completely closed, tractive effort is severed and engineer can not take power. It has been brought up before elsewhere, this is the situation where a lot of random PCS hits can occur to bring a train to a stop in random locations. Traction Interlock also only works if both ends are equipped with a TI capable Locomotive/CC
OCRF, installing TI capabilities on the non equipped 9**'s is indeed "a pain in the ass" or else it would have been done already...manual doors need to be converted to air equipped, electrical sync operations, which our Keolis forces have 0 to no abilities to preform a "surgery" like that. This major job will be done when they get sent out for their midlife rebuild like the 7**'s and 17**'s before them
Cars 900-915 fall under manual doors and do not have the Traction Interlock system
Are cars 900-15 getting ready to go to manual? Before the rebuild 700s and the at the time new 800s, they were the most advanced type of cars, so seeing them go to manual would be not very good.
Speaking of the 900’s there are a few that are down south actually. But they are mostly on the 2 doubles 3 flats sets which are consisted of manual-operated doors anyways. The rest are up north. That’s why when the rotems have door issues, the train cannot move because of traction interlock as explained before. It’s from the engineer not being able to move the train. Lack of air means brakes can’t be released.
The reason the Rotems have door issues is that they are made by Rotem. Cheap, crappy electronics just placed in there. No reason why this stuff couldn't work right if they put some care into making it and didn't use cheap parts.
Saw in a discord server that cars 876, 877, 1857 & 1858 were delivered. 12 cabs left to be delivered now.
9 blinds to be delivered. Hard to imagine that there will still be cars coming into service after the first are a year old. (In service)
1842 and 1846 are now both in service.
Now we just need 1845 and 1847 to enter to bridge the gap.
Not sure what the deal with 1832,33 is, it should've been resolved by now.
same with 851 and 852. Not sure what the deal is.
1846's horn sounds lovely
Now we just need 1845 and 1847 to enter to bridge the gap.
Not sure what the deal with 1832,33 is, it should've been resolved by now.
same with 851 and 852. Not sure what the deal is.
1846's horn sounds lovely
Just noticed on the tracker today that 1855 is in service. Most likely on a 6 doubles set since it’s on that rotation atm.