M9 and M9A Procurement & Acceptance

[Backshophoss]

Rotems "freebie" was the rehab of the Comets for service,but that was before the truck casting cracking started.

[Nasadowsk]

Trainspot (TD): ALP44 2308 was a "gift" from Alstom back in 1995 for the long delay of the Norristown High
Speed Line N5 cars - and was just retired by SEPTA in the past year.

Actually, it was Adtranz, not Alstom. IIRC the N5s were late, overweight, and a few other issues. The M4s on the MFL had issues too. I remember hearing from someone that the aggressive duty cycle was an issue for the early AC inverter technology used, and that pushed the weight of the cars up a bit. Supposedly. As an aside - they changed the BSL cars out from GE camshaft control (like the LIRR M3s) to an IGBT chopper system. Between maintenance, motor, power, and regen, the payback was estimated to be about 10 years...

[PlaneLoverA380]

Saw the M9s eastbound flying through Mineola around 9:30 this morning. Video coming soon!

[geico]

Newsday reporting we will see M9s in revenue Service in August.
I'll believe it when I see it.

Article states that it was ASC and ASI problems

[LINYARailfan]

Where will the first M9 revenue run take place? Probably Babylon or Ronkonkoma is my guess but who knows if it will actually happen in August. Only time will tell

[MattAmity90]

Well, I would highly doubt it would be on the Ronkonkoma Branch now that it is back to single-track service for Central Islip, Brentwood, and Deer Park. It wouldn't be from Huntington because of the Third Track Project (this also affects Ronkonkoma Branch service). The last time we had a maiden voyage in which the lead car's number started with a 9 was on December 30th, 1968 with the M1 from Babylon to Penn Station, and the maiden M7 was from Long Beach to Penn Station on October 30th, 2002. I wish I was hoping it would be the Ronkonkoma, and who knows it probably could still be, but the branch is having rail-tie replacement of Track 1 currently from just east of Central Islip (where the new track connects to Track 1) to JS, then as soon as that's done the work moves to JS to where BRENT was located (where the new track is connected to Track 2). The Babylon Branch was undergoing elevation, but had two continuous servicable tracks.

[geico]

Actually its West of CI to Deer Park that is single track. They redid CI over the weekend of the bridge replacement. Both tracks are OPEN at CI.

[gregorygrice]

Track work has nothing to do with what type of equipment they put on revenue trains so all of that is irrelevant. The cars have successfully tested on every piece of territory that contains third rail so they can debut on any set of trains that utilize electric equipment.

[nyandw]

When will the testing be completed?

[PlaneLoverA380]

My friend has been seeing the M9s testing daily at Mineola. I heard they might be entering service on Labor Day.

[AlKaLI]

Last night coming home on the LIRR at 5:26 PM, caught CSX SD40-2 8857 + 1 more SD and a C40? towing M-9 cars to Fresh Pond (Oak Point link). Train was through the trees so I couldn't get any numbers or a count. Lucky to catch a movement like that in the afternoon.

[gregorygrice]

Last night coming home on the LIRR at 5:26 PM, caught CSX SD40-2 8857 + 1 more SD and a C40? towing M-9 cars to Fresh Pond (Oak Point link). Train was through the trees so I couldn't get any numbers or a count. Lucky to catch a movement like that in the afternoon.

9021/9022. Coming back from receiving mods at Yonkers. CSX picked it up from Highbridge and took it straight to Pond.

Here's a photo link: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/708050/

[trainspot]

Was up on LI yesterday, heading west I saw a 6 ? car test train at Belmont Park that followed us to Jamaica, then passed a 4 car train where Win tower was. Only got some numbers on the Belmont train, 9001, 9011, 9014.

[Train2009]

I saw an 12 car test train yesterday at the following trains at New Hyde Park, (Westbound 11:23 AM, 2:15 PM) (Eastbound, 12:30 PM and 3:32 PM)

[Head-end View]

See Page A7 of today's Newsday for a feature on how Sept. 1st has come and gone and still no M9's are in revenue service. Nice photo of them sitting at Kawasaki's Yonkers plant. I'm all for thorough testing and correcting of initial glitches before they start carrying passengers, but even I'm getting impatient. The article says it's now been two years of delays.

Ya' have to wonder if with all the computerization and electronics in today's trains, whether they've created a monster that even the electronics technicians can't stay on top of as far as tweaking and fine-tuning them to work as intended.

I shouldn't be in such a hurry to see them in-service. After all, there will be no more head-end viewing on LIRR once the M3's are gone........