38 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

International Railway Journal, 1/7/21:

 

    CRRC metro train debuts on Boston’s Red Line  

 

 

MASSACHUSETTS Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began operation with the first six-car metro train built by CRRC on the Boston metro Red Line on December 30.

 

Story

[KevinKorell]

Dorchester Reporter, 5/13/21:

 

 

   T’s new subway cars put on shelf – again     

 

 

The MBTA’s newest Red and Orange Line trains will remain shelved after an investigation into a March 16 derailment identified “something acting abnormally” within their truck frames, officials said.

 

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

Boston, MA Globe, 5/16/21:

 

 

   The latest problem on the new Orange Line cars? A thin piece of synthetic material about a foot long   

 

 

When one of the few new trains to have graced the Orange Line derailed in March and disrupted subway service for weeks, transit officials at first suggested it was unlikely the problem was caused by the vehicles themselves.

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

Metro magazine, 1/5/22:

 

 

   Test Track and Vehicle Testing Facility to Be Used for New Red Line Cars    

 

 

New Red Line cars shipped from Springfield to Boston will be commissioned using the recently completed $22 million Red Line Test Track and Vehicle Testing Facility, built as part of the Red Line Transformation Program, according to the Massachusetts BayTransportation Authority's (MBTA) press release.

 

Here is that story.

[KevinKorell]

Dorchester Reporter,  10/12/22:

 

 

     Red Line riders could be waiting a good while for brand new cars  

 

 

The outlook for the already-delayed transition to entirely new Orange and Red Line fleets continues to grow worse. After previously delaying the project’s targeted end date by at least a year, the Chinese firm CRRC now expects it will need several more months to finish manufacturing subway cars for the MBTA’s Red and Orange Lines as a result of nagging pandemic-related supply and labor issues.

 

Details

[CNJRoss]

Boston.com, 6/15/23

 

Report: The MBTA’s subway manufacturer turned in unfinished cars

 

The unfinished cars mark the latest hiccup in a yearslong project plagued by delays and quality concerns.

 

The manufacturer charged with building hundreds of new Red and Orange Line trains reportedly submitted unfinished cars to the MBTA for final inspection, the latest hiccup in a yearslong project plagued with delays and quality concerns. 

 

Emails between MBTA officials and manufacturer CRRC MA document incomplete paint repairs, connectors seen hanging on underframes, and “parts sanded down to bare metal,” according to the Boston Herald, which first reported this story.

 

“It’s been 4.5 years and over 90 cars since CRRC started producing MBTA vehicles out of Springfield,” MBTA technical project manager Rick Staples said in one letter to CRRC MA production manager Michael Wilson, the Herald reported. 

 

“It is clear that the condition of these cars is unacceptable for inspection request, yet CRRC requested the inspection,” the letter reportedly read. “Why does this type of process failure continue to happen?”

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

WCVB-TV (5 ABC), Boston, MA 3/28/24

 

MBTA to pay up to $148 million more to speed delivery of new subway cars from Chinese company

 

BOSTON — Members of the MBTA Board of Directors voted Thursday to amend a contract with a Chinese company producing new trains for the Orange and Red Lines, potentially pushing the total cost of the long-delayed project to more than $1 billion.

 

CRRC originally won the contract to produce a total of 284 new rail cars in 2014. While the company is the world's largest rail manufacturer, it was the company's first U.S. contract and required it to establish a facility in Springfield.

 

An update in 2017 increased the order to 404 total cars, of which 130 have been delivered so far. The Orange Line cars were scheduled to be delivered by January 2022, and the Red Line cars were due to be finished by September 2023.

 

 

Continue here with video report. 

[CNJRoss]

Commonwealth Beacon, 3/28/24

MBTA hits ‘reset’ on deal with subway car manufacturer

 

Waives penalties, agrees to pay $148m more to speed up delivery

 

AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR of review and negotiations, the MBTA and the Chinese company building new Red and Orange line cars for the transit authority have revised their contract in a bid to get all of the vehicles delivered by the end of 2027, four years later than the original deadline.

 

The MBTA board voted on Thursday to waive $90.6 million in penalties and possibly nearly $40 million more if the cars are delivered on the new timetable. The T also agreed to pay CRRC, the world’s largest rail car manufacturer, $148 million to cover unexpected cost increases brought about by the pandemic and hefty tariffs on the cars imposed by the US government.

 

MBTA officials said the deal represented a better outcome than dropping CRRC and launching a new procurement,  . . .

 

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[CNJRoss]

WBUR-FM (NPR), Boston, MA 3/28/24

 

New MBTA contract sets 2027 deadline for new T car delivery, forgives some penalties

 

Lamenting a lack of easy alternatives, MBTA overseers voted Thursday to once again change a contract for new Red and Orange Line trains, agreeing to pay more money and waive penalties against the manufacturer that is already years behind its original schedule.

 

The T negotiated a contract "reset" with Chinese firm CRRC that now calls for the final new vehicles to be delivered by the end of 2027, simultaneously representing another delay to the beleaguered project and an earlier deadline than the current pace of work would forecast.

 

 

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