M9 and M9A Procurement & Acceptance

9187-9188 has entered service. This is our first pair of 9180s. It is the west leading motor on 4359 which will turn for Train #140 to Babylon. Probably about 36-38 more cars left to take. 

Seen at Kawasaki 1/2/23: 9157,58, 9163, 64, 9169, 70 and another pair hidden.

Now that LIRR is going into GCT, will they be taking over the Arch Street shops from Bombardier/ Kawasaki?

First train into GCM this morning was led by #9161.

Haven’t been here in a minute. Few more pairs have entered service since I last posted here. 9165-9166 entered service about a month ago. 9179-9180 entered service during Grand Central opening week, took a ride on it myself. 9181-9182 also entered service earlier this month. Most recently out on the test track was 9119-9120 on its own, taking spins on the Queens segment between Woodside and Jamaica. 9163-9164 was also delivered by freight last month.

9119-9120 was added to the roster in early March. 9121-9122 in service as of tonight. Currently trailing motor west/leading east of an 8 car set. 9173-9174 was the most recently spotted on test trains. 

9125-9126 and 9127-9128 delivered last month. 9147-9148 and 9177-9178 were most recent to enter service.

Article behind paywall: https://www.newsday.com/amp/long-island ... s-p89mwbbx

I've seen this term before, from this same writer.

LIRR's new M9 'unicorn' trains delayed again, MTA consultant warns

The remaining cars in the Long Island Rail Road’s new train fleet — already delayed by three years — won’t roll out until December, three months later than the LIRR’s most recent projection, according to an independent consultant working with the railroad on the more than $730 million project.

But LIRR officials, whose existing fleet has been stretched thin with the recent opening of Grand Central Madison, believe they will have their last 38 “M9” cars by September, as they have been predicting for a year.
...

Do we know what the latest information is on the procurement of the M9A's?

Missed quite a bit but here’s an update. 9121-9122 entered service in April. 9157-9148 and 9169-9170, entered service in early May. For June, so far we have, 9125-9126 added on Wednesday and 9185-9186 this morning. Nothing on the M9A procurement yet. Will add current status of non accepted cars under this post

The current status of non accepted cars is as follows:
9013-9014: Never entered service, five years on property, May be a shop training pair.
9015-9016: Has not seen service since 2020. Status unknown.
9093-9094-9095-9096: Status unknown, might have been seen on test trains
9127-9128: On property, should enter service soon
9145-9146 and 9149-9150: Testing
9163-9164: Testing
9173-9174 and 9175-9176: Testing, should enter service within a few weeks
9183-9184: At Arch Street Shops
9189-9190-9191-9192: Arch Street
9193 through 9202: Not delivered.


Number of Cars yet to be delivered: 10

Number of cars remaining to enter service including those not delivered: 34 (36 if you include 9015-9016)

First post here in a very very long time. Anyways was at Pinelawn earlier today, and a test train ran to Ronkonkoma and back with 9146-5, 9052-1, and 9150-49.

I've long been puzzled about the cars being delivered in such random numerical order. Does anyone know why they are not delivered in consecutive numerical sequence? Years ago the M7's were not delivered consecutively either but there was a more orderly progression thru the numbers than with the M9's.

Head-end View wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 7:45 pm I've long been puzzled about the cars being delivered in such random numerical order. Does anyone know why they are not delivered in consecutive numerical sequence? Years ago the M7's were not delivered consecutively either but there was a more orderly progression thru the numbers than with the M9's.

Any host of issues or hiccups can kick them out of numerical order. Once the first piece of steel is placed, it has a car number, and they typically get worked in order, but not necessary that they do. If there's a QC issue or something else, it will hold a car in place while others get built around it. Take into account other issues (like derailments in transit) it holds things up further.

With the M7s the order was 836 cars, a larger order has less kinks as it goes on, the early M7s arrived randomly too.

The complete M1 and M7 rosters are here.

Note that the M1s and M7s were largely delivered in order, with some exceptions. 9001-9002 was first pair
delivered (October 1968), but not first in service. The first 16 rolled out of Red Lion in October 1968.

7001-7002 were not the first M7s, as 7008 was actually the first car completed (from ERA bulletins).