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Disgruntled subway manufacturers lose federal suit against MBTA; pursue action in state court
By adamg on Thu, 05/21/2015 - 11:51am
What the new Orange Line cars will look like (running alongside the Longfellow?).
A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against the MBTA by two companies that objected to the way the T awarded the bid for new Red and Orange Line cars to a Chinese manufacturer.
The dismissal, which actually happened in March, does not necessarily clear the tracks for CNR MA - a joint venture of two Chinese companies - to deliver scores of new cars for the two subway lines between 2018 and 2021, because Hyundai-Rotem and Bombardier then filed a similar suit in state court. A Suffolk Superior Court judge this week took their request for a preliminary injunction under advisement.
However, a T spokesman said CNR MA is continuing work to set up an assembly plant in Springfield to build the subway cars out of parts shipped from China.
At least in federal court, the T benefited from the legislature's 2009 decision to fold it into a new state transportation department - which gave it sovereign immunity against the suit by Hyundai-Rotem and Bombardier that it might not have had when it was an independent authority.
Hyundai-Rotem, which initially filed the suit that Bombardier later joined, says the T is putting riders at risk by selecting a company with no experience building subway cars for the North American market.
The lawsuit does not discuss the irony of that claim from Hyundai-Rotem, which had no experience building trains for the North American market when the T and its Philadelphia equivalent hired it to build commuter-rail cars - and which then delivered its first cars to the T some 2 1/2 years late.
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Comments
I Love It - A New Rapid Transit Line Along Massachusetts Avenue!
Connecting with the Red Line at Kendall Square, Green Line at Auditorium and Symphony Stations, and the Orange Line at its Massachusetts Avenue Station.
After stopping at Dudley Square, it could terminate at the Columbia/JFK Station. This would greatly relieve overcrowding on the Red Line, and give many Red Line riders an alternate, shorter route to their destination.
It's things like this the city and state should pursue, rather than some over-glorified sporting event (it's name I don't need to mention).
Red Line at Central...
... unless you're going to try to tunnel underneath MIT.
Providing direct subway
Providing direct subway service along the entire route of the #1 bus makes too much sense for the state to ever allow it to happen.
Elevating the B line on Commonwealth Avenue and providing a non-revenue track connection between Brookline Village and the E line comes to mind too.
The original plan for the
The original plan for the green line was to convert the entire B line and central subway into heavy rail subway tunnel under Comm Ave. The C and D lines were going to stay light rail and terminate at the Kenmore loop, hence the separate tracks. But the residents of Allston/Brighton didn't want to deal with looking at an elevated structure or the hassle of constructing a subway tunnel.
I say make BU fund a tunnel for the B line. It's the least they could do after gobbling up so much tax free land and taking away what was once affordable housing for their entitled students.
Elevated B line?
Modern construction techniques could make an elevated line much more compact and attractive than the old steel monstrosities that the T has torn down in recent decades. Maybe an elevated B line above the current tracks would be possible?
Elevated line would be much
Elevated line would be much better than a tunnel. I love riding elevated trains in Chicago and NYC, you have views to look at, natural light, and a speedy ride.
Plus with the upcoming redesign of Comm Ave, an elevated line would free up the existing right of way to be used for an additional lane or parking.
And cost benefits!
Elevateds are cheaper than tunnels! So we can let the T die out slower...
"providing a non-revenue
"providing a non-revenue track connection between Brookline Village and the E line"
Really? It's a 7 minute walk from the Riverway stop to Brookline Village. Seems unnecessary. Or am I missing your point?
Trolleys can't walk.
Trolleys can't walk.
Note they said "non-revenue track", meaning it wouldn't be part of any regular service, just used to move trolleys around. Such a connection would allow the servicing of E trains at Riverside, and could prove very helpful as a detour route in the event of construction or an accident.
Free transfer
Perhaps the point was that you should be able to transfer between the D and E lines for free. Right now, there's no free transfer between branches of the Green Line on above-ground stops.
There used to be, if the
There used to be, if the second leg was outbound, since all outbound surface boarding was free.
There should also be a free transfer between the outbound and inbound sides of Copley, and between Copley and the Back Bay Orange Line station. Besides saving time for the people transferring, every person who doesn't add to the crowding at Park Street and Downtown Crossing helps reduce T delays.
That would allow trains to
That would allow trains to get to and from the Reservoir yard without having to reverse and switch over at Copley. Helps with disabled trains and fixing headways on the E line.
Non revenue tracks would
Non revenue tracks would provide a way to move trains without passengers. This would help work around disabled trains on either the E or D branches.
Redundancy
It allows cars to move between the two lines if anything goes wrong. Flood/crash at Kenmore? D trains can detour via the E Line.
What's more, it provides a one seat ride from Newton/Brookline to the east LMA/Northeastern area, if it becomes revenue trackage.
Back in the day (way, way back) there were multiple connections between all parts of the system. If something happened on the Central Subway, cars could be moved elsewhere. Now, if something goes wrong at Hynes, everything on either side is stuck.
Split the Red Line off at JFK junction...
...send it under Southampton street onto Mass Ave, with stops at Albany Street/BMC, Washington St/Shawmut Ave, connect to the Orange and Green with one stop under Symphony and Mass. Ave stations, another station under Hynes (and another connection), then send it under/over the Charles, stop in front of Kresge at MIT, and connect back with the Red Line south of Central.
Engineering would be difficult but the routing makes perfect sense.
Similar vein but easier
split using the JFK junction (Commuter Rail), stops at BMC, Washington/Dudley (Silver Line), Ruggles (Orange Line, Commuter Rail), LMA-east (Green Line E), Longwood/LMA-west (Green Line D), Coolidge Corner (Green Line C), West Sta/Comm Ave (Green Line B, Commuter Rail), Allston/Stadium/HBS, Harvard.
Harvard could be built using exist space and old yard leads to the Bennett Yard; state owns an easement through HBS. Cut/cover tunnel under Charles with cofferdams (much narrower here than the Harvard Bridge which is 364.4 Smoots plus one ear long, or nearly half a mile) and cut/cover through undeveloped land in Allston.
On the other end, elevated or cut/cover over/under 93 by BMC, then cut/cover along Melnea Cass (plenty of room here). You need a TBM for the Longwood/Brookline section (no rights of way) but the expensive part of a TBM are the big holes to stage it, but you have plenty of room to build big holes along Melnea Cass and in Allston.
This connects each subway line except the Blue Line, most of them multiple times, and all south side commuter rail lines to Harvard, LMA and Dudley. That pulls a lot of the demand off of the core subway lines for last-mile trips.
And make the 1 bus a BRT with bus lanes the whole way.
almost
I'd put the subway line a few blocks out (i don't have my map with my or I'd give specifics) from mass ave - it seems silly to me to have two strong lines running basically the exact same route. That way the subway can take a lot of riders from both the one and the sixty-six, but neither is made redundant, and it can spread density and jobs that much better around the cities.
The 1 and 66 buses should be
The 1 and 66 buses should be subway lines.
Or they could just build the
Or they could just build the Urban Ring, which would serve the same purpose and has already had a lot of studies and planning work done. It's indefinitely postponed due to cost though.
That's nothing
You could have taken the Green Line out to Worcester today if you'd managed to board the car I passed being trucked along the Pike. It was an express though.
Love the idea but
Love the idea but unfortunately it's never going to happen. Mabey light rail or a bus. ceases to amaze me that we were able to build so many rail lines and bridges that are very durable till this day and nowadays our government cant afford to build anything. It literally cost 45 millions dollars to just paint the Tobin bridge.
Thank 1930s regulations
Thank 1930s regulations written for government projects in a Great Depression economy with a vast surplus of cheap labor which are insane in our vastly different present.