CDOT RFI for "Service ready" cars (was: CDOT Rail Fleet)

Guess you forgot that New Haven law firm who does not care if it has to confiscate trains
They impounded a Metro North and Amtrak locomotive at time of departure

http://www.trainlaw.com/Additional-Info ... eist.shtml

The MBB lease is a 3 year lease, signed on Dec. 8, 2017, with options for an additional 3 years - up to 6 years total.

I think we will likely see these MBB cars for another three more years. Something needs to cover the Ctrail Hartford Line trains. Amtrak has very little capacity to expand the 400 serious shuttle trains on the SPG Line. One solution that might be something to think about is if the MBB cars have to go back is that maybe CDOT could look into borrowing the MBTA Bombardier cars after more new bilevels enter revenue service on MBTA.

NH2060 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 3:42 pm Perhaps the RFI could be used as leverage in getting an extension on the MBB lease if there are no spare cars to be found anywhere? (“We looked and there’s nothing available and we can’t replace the trains with buses!”)

That is actually a great point. Given that the Hartford Line actually ends in Massachusetts and serves its largest city on the west, the incentive to actually recall the cars is certainly not as strong.

nomis wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 8:10 pm The MBB lease is a 3 year lease, signed on Dec. 8, 2017, with options for an additional 3 years - up to 6 years total.

That is good to know. Hopefully the option is only conditioned on the will of the lessee, not also on the lessor.

The line may end in Massachusetts, many Bay Staters think the Commonwealth ends at I495 as do many MBTA routes.

Only one more hour left for the submission of proposals.
I wonder whether there have been any submissions yet.

Lee

"State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti is shopping for rail cars for the Hartford Line. The service currently relies on 30-year-old trains leased from Massachusetts. But officials in the Bay State have notified Connecticut that they want the cars back."

https://www.courant.com/politics/capito ... story.html

My favorite part of the article is the last paragraph

What a mess. I'm sure CTDOT is feeling great about all the money spent on those cars only to have the T recall them after the first lease.

Not that I'm a big fan of the MBB cars, Ctrail Hartford Line passengers will probably still need those cars until enough of the newer equipment is good enough to enter revenue service. Constantly randomly having to cancel trains because of equipment shortages won't go well with passengers. That's why the brand new equipment should have been ordered a few years ago, before the brand name changed to Ctrail. I have experienced that too many times here in New Jersey Transit land.

maybe Joe Guiletti can shop here : https://www.db-gebrauchtzug.de/f?p=222: ... 306729::NO:::
cause there is not much available in US