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The ties that break: Commuter-rail lines falling apart
By adamg on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 8:03am
The MBTA will have to replace thousands of concrete ties on the Old Colony lines out of South Station, leading to two years of mid-day bustitution and no weekend service at all, the Globe reports. The T wants the company that made the ties, which were supposed to last several decades, to pay for the $91-million repairs; the company says, oh, yeah, try and make us pay, we'll just declare bankruptcy.
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Comments
Does the T have some problem
Does the T have some problem with due diligence or are they just unlucky? First the Breda debacle and now this. Not being as "connected" with the T since I don't take it anymore, am I missing something here?
Other rail lines that use concrete ties,
including Amtrak, have had similar problems in the past. Not sure if there's a common thread among contractors/suppliers these agencies have used, or if it may be indicative of a larger issue with the technology.
The other question is: Does the T have a much larger percentage of tie failures than the other agencies have had, or did they just make a blanket decision to totally replace all existing concrete ties regardless of condition?
Not Just the T
The Globe article says that Amtrak and other cities have had the same problem with this particular company. There was already a lawsuit over the exact same problem.
Sounds just a bit like....
... possible fraud -- deliberately cutting corners in manufacturing, resulting in products that were not up to specifications (sort of like adulterated milk or medicine -- where key ingredients are cut way back to save money).
thats what happens
when the state legislature makes you take the lowest bidder
No, that's what happens when you have inadequate
oversight over your suppliers and contractors. Presuming, of course, that you provide a proper specification to begin with.
Well if that's the case here,
Well if that's the case here, then it's the MBTA, Amtrak, and MTA-Long Island Railroad that all have the same issues with contract oversight and specs, since they all bought defective ties from the same batch
that's what we get for buying
that's what we get for buying american
The parent company is actually ....
... Finnish.
American?
[sarcasm]Right, and the Italian Breda green line trains were a success! [/sarcasm]
poor planning!
This just adds to the whole debacle that was the Old Colony line. How much money has the state spent on the three Old Colony lines, that would have much better served the urban core and benefited many more people.
Yes, because we ALL know how much excess capacity
Route 3 and the Southeast Expressway have during rush hour.