I was riding the train today, and I noticed something in one of the coaches that I was curious about. I was in #386, one of the Bombardier single level coaches, and saw a placard that said "This coach leased from the Connecticut National Bank..." It continued on with something about a "Wilmington Trust Company", and other stuff I can't remember. I have no idea what any of that meant, and can't seem to find anything about it online. Why would a bank own coaches? As far as I know, the Connecticut National Bank has been gone for quite a while, so what's the deal with a sign of this sort?
Railroad Forums
Leased from the Connecticut National Bank?
- Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
It has been common for some time in a variety of industries, including railroads and transit, to "sell" equipment to a financial entity, and then "lease" it back. The financial entity gets tax advantages, and the original owner gets a cash infusion.
That's interesting. I'd never seen one of these placards before, and I've been in plenty of MBTA coaches. My question would be, who owns the coach now? There is no Connecticut National Bank. It merged with Shawmut, which merged with Fleet, which was gobbled up by Bank of America. I presume that the MBTA probably owns them now...
I've seen a similar plaque in at least one coach, though I can't remember the exact name of the bank - it might have been this same one.
NETransit doesn't list anything about these coaches ever having been subject to any sort of arrangement like this.
NETransit doesn't list anything about these coaches ever having been subject to any sort of arrangement like this.
Call me Connor or DTP
Railfan & Roadgeek from the North Shore of Mass.
Railfan & Roadgeek from the North Shore of Mass.
eubnesby wrote:That's interesting. I'd never seen one of these placards before, and I've been in plenty of MBTA coaches. My question would be, who owns the coach now? There is no Connecticut National Bank. It merged with Shawmut, which merged with Fleet, which was gobbled up by Bank of America. I presume that the MBTA probably owns them now...The Type 7 3600's used to have many of those metal placards on the operator's door ID'ing which units were leasebacks. Was (is?) a regulatory thing to publicly display those, at least at the time those leaseback contracts were inked 3 decades ago. Most have since been removed for the exact reason you saw: the leasing bank being swallowed by 37 different mergers over the years and some different entity now holding the title. I'm guessing if there's any requirement today for plates in the cars that they now don't have to be inside the passenger area, because they've become much rarer sights on rapid transit cars than they were 10, 15 years ago.
NETransit has never listed the leaseback cars. Mainly because it's a standard-issue paper move that has zero bearing on fleet management. You'd probably have to get a listing from somebody in the T's financial arm because it's a moving target of cars coming on and off terms-of-lease all the time. All those outdated or removed plates strongly suggest that the shops have never been a party-or-record tasked with maintaining a current leaseback listing. Who paper-insures car xxxX vs. who paper-insures car xxxY is completely transparent to their job function.