Kawasaki Rebuild Program at Alstom

There’s a photo posted today on the NS D&H South and Southern Tier lines acebook page of a 22K hauling at least 4 Kawasaki cars crossing the Hudson River at Mechanicville.

So much better looking than the Hyundai

Don't know whether it's headed to or from Hornell but MBTX 715 is currently at the NS Binghamton yard where yard crew is trying to determine where to put it in an outbound train consist.

Pace of acceptances back into service has been excruciatingly slow. Since this post on 8/23. . .

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:What's with the extremely slowed pace of cars returning to service of late? NETransit's been stuck at 48 in-service rebuilds for nearly a month with 4 cars back on the property languishing in testing. Problems uncovered, or manpower shortage at BET for clearing out the test line?

. . .they've only gone +4 on the in-service rebuild ranks to 52, all of them returnees that had been kicking around the testing line since earlier in summer. NETransit shows only 1 returned unit, 1713, in-testing right now. Where (and with whom) did this program start grinding to a near-halt in the last few months?

715 is headed to Alstom/Hornell.

D

I'm not that inquisitive to go through this entire thread to figure out how many cars have left, how many cars have returned, how many cars are back in service, and how many cars are yet to go. Is anyone keeping such a list?

By my records:

50 back from rehab
10 now in rehab at Alstom.

1 maybe on the way back...I think the 704.

D

704 should be in East Deerfield today...coming back.

This is one I missed being shipped out, so 51 total rehabbed.

Also the 10 at Alstom also includes one enroute to there - the 715...

D

GP40MC1118 wrote:By my records:

50 back from rehab
10 now in rehab at Alstom.

1 maybe on the way back...I think the 704.

D

Thanks!
Per Wiki, here’s the numbers of various Kawasaki models;
BTC-4 = 50 Built 1991
CTC-4 = 25 Built 1991
BTC-4A = 17 Built 1997
BTC-4B = 15 Built 2001
BTC-4C = 33 Built 2005, not funded to be refurbished yet.
That makes a sum of 107 funded to be refurbished, so they’re about half way done with the program so far.
Eventually they will have to fund the last 33....

The 900's aren't nearly old enough to refurb, and they already have some of the updated components the rebuilt 700's are getting so there's no need to put them into the program. They'll update them in-house some time later for the new ASA screens, but that's really all they'll need for the next 12 years.

Any chance they might replace some of the windows on the 900s in house.

I don't know if it's just me, but the windows that are really pitted / cloudy that distorted you view really bother me. I have to avoid looking out of them because they make my eyes bug out.

Not sure why some are much worse than others.

Exterior windows are "consumables", and are regulated by the FRA during car inspections for replacement after a specified target of duty cycles. So coach windows get replaced several times before they hit overhaul age. I don't know exactly what the FRA's duty cycle threshold translates to in average MBTA coach service hours, but that is a federally-regulated part replacement spelled out point-blank in the rules.

Superficial scuff marks don't necessarily indicate a replacement-age window. The reasons for the cloudy appearance are too numerous and incidental, and don't necessarily indicate a microfracture problem in the glass (curbing microfractures to prevent high-speed blowouts being the primary reason for the strictness of the FRA replacement regs).

The glass is actually Plexiglas, right? And there is clearly photodegradation involved.

BandA wrote:The glass is actually Plexiglas, right? And there is clearly photodegradation involved.

They're Lexan or other brand polycarbonate rather than Plexiglas.