CTA 5000 Update

[Tadman]

"Almost all the steel castings in question, manufactured for Canada-based Bombardier by joint venture partner Sifang foundry in Qingdao, China, were substandard and will be replaced, CTA officials said. Sifang is no longer working on the CTA contract, they added."

Looks like they were wise to pull the fleet. It's a shame BBD couldn't get their act together and find this problem at the assembly point, it's going to cost them a quite a bit to repair this once the fleet is in Chicago.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 8442.story

[E Runs]

Apparently BBD tried to correct the problem on the cheap and CTA rightly refused.

officials at Bombardier Transportation tried to cut a deal with the transit agency to replace only the worst parts initially, according to an oversight report...

Chicago Tribune:

[Zanperk]

Any guesses as to why I saw one today on a flatbed heading north on IL83 in Willowbrook?

[Tadman]

Not sure but I rode through Skokie yesterday and there was a large string of them at the shops.

[Chicagopcclcars]

Any guesses as to why I saw one today on a flatbed heading north on IL83 in Willowbrook?

I would guess that it is a car that was already finished and has received replacement bearing parts. According to a news release, 12 cars on property have also been converted. Another news release says the assembly line at Bombardier will start up next week. No word yet if the startup revenue service will again be on the Pink line. I would expect the CTA president would do the announcement with necessary "hoopla"!!!

David Harrison

[Chicagopcclcars]

I did learn a little more on the exchange and installation of corrected wheel parts for the Bombardier cars. Only the trucks are being shipped between Skokie and Bombardier's plant in New York. There are no AC5000 cars sitting anywhere without trucks, but there is a "float" of extra trucks and when corrected trucks are returned, they are swapped out. There are not that many 5000s sitting out in the storage yard at Skokie. On the Snowflake charter Sunday, we even saw some 5000s in the Green line yard in Forest Park. Why oh why didn't I ask about two train's worth of Brown line 3200s in Forest Park. We also spotted some 2200s at Linden Wilmette.

David Harrison

[F40c611fan]

2200's at Linden!? The only time I know of that ever happening was when the 2010 Snowflake Special went up there ( wasn't on it in 2011, so I can't speak for that trip). Would these be candidates for retirement, or just a strange car rotation?

[Tadman]

David, about a year ago I saw two long late-night hospital trains of 2200's headed north on the brown line at Willow. I think they've been sitting up there ever since.

[Chicagopcclcars]

2200's at Linden!? The only time I know of that ever happening was when the 2010 Snowflake Special went up there ( wasn't on it in 2011, so I can't speak for that trip). Would these be candidates for retirement, or just a strange car rotation?

The question was asked and the answer we received was that the 2200s were probably taking advantage of space available. Obviously, space for storage of cars has to be assessed for safety and security for the cars or they will quickly get tagged and vandalized.

David H.

[lstone19]

And I assumed they were up there fit-checking the Purple Line platforms.

[Tadman]

Larry, were you there when we felt that sharp "boomp!" at Davis, maybe, on the 2010 trip? I was standing in the vestibule with a guy in a railroad engineer's cap and we both looked at each other like "that ain't supposed to happen"...

[lstone19]

Larry, were you there when we felt that sharp "boomp!" at Davis, maybe, on the 2010 trip? I was standing in the vestibule with a guy in a railroad engineer's cap and we both looked at each other like "that ain't supposed to happen"...

Yep. Front car close to the cab (no, not wearing an engineer's cap). Definitely a what the heck was that moment. Yes, it was 2010. Funny thing was right after our reported it, they slapped a speed restriction on it. Why? If there was a fit problem, we corrected it.

[lstone19]

Back to the 5000s! I saw a "not in service" six-car train of them heading westbound across the Chicago River on Lake Street around noon today.

[Pacific 2-3-1]

The "fixed" 5000's will return to service on the "Douglas Park" Pink Line this weekend, according to the CHICAGO TRIBUNE and CHICAGO SUN-TIMES -- starting with 2 six-car trainsets Sunday May 6, 2012 and an additional 6-car trainset per week added after that.

[Tadman]

Sounds about right - I saw a not-in-service train circling the loop earlier this week. I had just rode the Pink from lunch at the Metra Market (try it, the place is amazing) back to my office near the Monroe stop. As I walked away from the station, I heard the characteristic inverter hum and thought maybe I had missed a chance at a revenue ride on the new cars, but they were signed not-in-service.