BOSTON — New railcars pulled from service on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Orange Line are beginning to be returned to operation as of this morning (Monday, May 23) after a braking problem on one car led to sidelining of the equipment.
The Boston Globe reports that preliminary findings determined one bolt in a braking unit had not been properly installed during manufacturing on that car, leading to fleet-wide inspection to verify each bolt — a total of 24 per car and 144 per six-car train — had been installed properly. To date, no other improperly installed bolt has been found.
An announcement by the MBTA did not indicate how many cars had been returned to service so far.
A total of 64 cars on the Orange Line and six on the Red Line were taken out of service last Thursday out of what the MBTA called “an abundance of caution” [see “MBTA pulls cars from service …,” Trains News Wire, May 20, 2022]. They are part of an order of 402 cars being built in Springfield, Mass., by an affiliate of Chinese manufacturer CRRC.
I thought all new equipment on passenger lines was inspected before it was placed into service. Isn’t that one reason the equipment isn’t placed into service for months after it arrives?
I do not want to see the term “an abundance of caution” ever again.
“An abundance of fear” may be more correct.
“One bolt in a braking unit had not been properly installed during manufacturing on that car”. Given the disruption to service and the expense of the investigation, is the T/MassDOT going to demand some kind of repayment from CRRC? It’s not like this procurement of new cars has gone smoothly before this latest.