Veristek wrote:Oh geez....way to get me worried. SEPTA has 120 EMU's from Rotem on the way...the mockup is here in Philly, and the first three production cars are due in April of 2009, with our order completed basically right ahead of the propose delivery dates for the MBTA cars. And they have cars for Metrolink in LA due out right ahead of the SEPTA order...Arborway wrote:I'm still a bit concerned about Rotem, as they don't have such a great track record in Taiwan. Their passenger cars and locos have vibration problems, and Rotem was actually barred from doing more CR bids in Taiwan.
Imagine the problems if the 70+ new bi-levels come in, then get broken or face mechanical problems... then we'll be out 70+ bi-levels and also out of like 200 million bucks that could have been spent on new K cars by Kawaski. Why try a questionable company when we already know that the K cars have worked for us in the past?
The MBTA needed to do more research than "Okay, we only have to spend $10 million less for questionable cars never mind the fact that we may end up paying more than we would for the K cars in the future to repair or replace defective Rotem cars."
Sorry.... had to rant for a bit in there.
And yes, SEPTA specified the quarter-point door design. Basically, they went after something similar to Metro-North, but with steps and traps for our low-level platforms. The door positioning had to be adjusted towards the center of the car because of the trucks, but think of it as a cousin to the M-7. More like an M-8.
And the other reason for the quarter-point doors comes from FRA standards for collisions...using the standard end-door design wouldn't have worked on the cab ends due to collision post positioning (which is why the new NJT cabs since the Comet V's have no doors at the engineers position and no trap and steps on the conductor's side at the door.
"CSX Detector. Milepost Six Point Four. No Defects. Repeat: No Defects. Total Axles Seven Four Seven. Detector Out"