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Bosco

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Everything posted by Bosco

  1. It's not directly their fault, per se, but they are still responsible for making sure all parts coming from the vendor are functional. That's how system integration is for Bombardier or Kawasaki. The builder serves as the liaison between the customer () and the vendor. When I worked at Kawasaki, any issue that came about, even a vendor part, always went to our desk first. Bombardier may not have made the faulty part, but they still are in charge for signing off on everything, and something like that should've been caught a while ago considering the first trains are almost two years old now. Just putting that out there for those who are curious how these things work.
  2. Well, didn’t something similar happen with the R142s back in 2007? I don’t remember exactly what was fixed, just that the R142s were taken OOS for repairs and there were some R142As on the and .
  3. This. This is also the answer to the question, "What's the difference between ATS and CBTC?" Unfortunately, the IRT still relies on the same fixed-block signaling technology as the rest of the system (minus the punch boxes).
  4. Except even if Bombardier finished the order on time, we'd still have those extra cars because the contract did not factor in the growth of ridership (and was signed before Hurricane Sandy, so there was no way of knowing at the time we'd be in the situation we're in). If anything, it worked out that Bombardier dropped the ball because we got more 5-car sets out of the deal. So half of your complaints are automatically invalid. Also, people on here were speculating over the car assignments ad nauseam long before the shit hit the fan. Agreed, but another issue with the issues of these cars is that even if all of them are placed in service before Canarsie shuts down, what happens if another issue comes up during the shutdown that renders the cars useless for awhile? Then we're back where we started. There's no winning here.
  5. Absolutely spot on. Unfortunately, we are cornered, and either Bombardier delivers the 316 cars or they don't. The whole thing of "cancel the order" has come up numerous times with the delays of the R179. The MTA's too far in, and they can only sue Bombardier so much because they're financially in the shitter right now. Those extra 16 cars announced in January were agreed upon in lieu of physical money for damages. And also shame on the MTA for letting it get to this point, and still rushing things (as we saw with the 30-day test)...
  6. The R42s are there so that they can run 6-car trains. The only other fleet that could do that at this point is the R32s, but of course those are needed to help make the full length. As has been discussed, the MTA is looking to increase their spare factor, even after full service is restored. Not considering that, I still don’t think the MTA ordered nearly enough R179s and it was a mistake to scale down the project—even with the emergency retirement of the R44s. At the very least, they should have kept at least one option order of 5-car sets. If anything, the only good thing about Bombardier dropping the ball is that had they finished the contract on time, we would never have gotten those extra cars and there would be a shortage anyway. On a side note, I’d be surprised if service levels come 2020 are the same as it is now—the areas served by the continue to grow. This is why for the R211s, there are more than enough option cars to replace everything before the R68s, and why the total contract at the moment calls for 1612 cars. While not confirmed, it is possible that some R211s will be in 4-car sets. Just because CBTC is nowheres near to be done doesn't mean they won't swap the fleets sooner. The last R188 was converted almost two years ago, and yet here we are with still no start date. Plus, almost all R160s are only CBTC-ready. This means equipment has to be installed, tested, etc. It's not as intensive as the R188 project (the R142As were not CBTC-ready), but it will still require time to test and upgrade them. And while the R211s are expected to start delivery in 2021, it won't be until at least the first option order is complete in 2024 that Jamaica can be 100% NTT without taking in more R160s. As for the ones that went there recently, a few 9200 sets have been there since last year to accommodate the , and with the "Cuomo" trains on the , there have been some swaps. Some Coney Island R160s got the Cuomo treatment, which is why there have been some 9400 sets on the .
  7. Keeping the R42s for a little longer is not a matter of pleasing foamers. (If MTA decision makers listened to foamers, the R142As would never have left the , but I digress). Even under current conditions, the spare factor for most lines is very low. Why do you think that one R68 set runs on the in the afternoon? Because it’s not so people can get pictures. Every extra set counts, and the MTA learned this after they scrapped many R32s that could’ve been put in the reserve fleet for situations like this. Plus, with this newest issue with the R179—even if it is fake news—it’s still not likely all R179s will be in service a year from now.
  8. So I’m guessing the rumors are true... damn. There’s just no end.
  9. Within the next few weeks, I believe. Hopefully that construction on the express track was the last hiccup before CBTC goes online.
  10. Those clocks are horrible. Jumping from 5 minutes to 3 minutes, being stuck at 2 minutes for a period of 3 minutes, etc. Hopefully ATS will improve reliability (although there are some spots in Midtown that aren't too great--looking at you, Penn Station ). Something that should be noted (if it hasn't been already) is that the B division will be significantly harder than the A division. More tracks, more permutations of reroutes, and more major interlockings. Given how long it took for the A division, I'm not too optimistic about it being installed on the B division when they say it will be.
  11. Per some people here, they have been doing additional testing on that set, but the fact of the matter is 3010-3019 and 3050-3057 were noticeably different from the rest of the cars when they first arrived. One of the ways Bombardier agreed to do damage control was to start building the production sets even before 3010-3019 entered service (which as of this posting, is not happening in the foreseeable future). As issues came up with that set, they were taken into account while the production sets were built, and some modifications were made even after they were delivered to 207 St. The only 'test' train that was good enough for revenue testing was 3058-3065, and even that set had noticeable issues while testing. This should explain why 3010-3019 and 3050-3057 are still testing, why 3058-3065 was the first set to enter service, and why the production sets entered service so shortly after the 30-day test concluded.
  12. There aren't enough R68/As to go around for that. Remember, it's full-length trains plus a bump in service. The only way they can do that along with accommodating everything else is to use 480' trains. To bring the discussion back to the R179s specifically, is there any reason there haven't been any additional 5-car deliveries? If we established that the R42s likely aren't going anywhere until after the shutdown--and considering that even then, there are a good amount of 4-car R179s that have been delivered already--how come we haven't seen any 5-car deliveries?
  13. At the time the R188 was awarded, CBTC on Lexington Avenue was considered way out in the future (and even now, probably won't be done before the R62/A replacements start coming). More short-sightedness on the MTA's part, but at least they're planning on rectifying it. The R142 conversion will be interesting because I can't imagine the MTA trusting Bombardier to do the conversions in the same manner Kawasaki did (although the R188 was a special case).
  14. Better spare factor, no increase in service for now. Hopefully the MTA will restore some service on the for a future pick, but doing so would reduce that spare factor further. As it is/was, the never had a great spare factor. Only the and (and soon the ) have a decent amount of spares as far as the IRT is concerned. In retrospect, it might've been better to have more factory sets of R188s...
  15. They're testing out a new master controller and other new components for braking/propulsion, designed to buy the R46s a little more time. This last part is spot on. Part of the reason I feel people spread news around (even if it's true but still purely internal) is to garner attention, under the guise that "bad attention is better than no attention." Being an attention whore is not only misleading, but it jeopardizes people's reputations in the community and in the industry. And as for people that do work/have worked in industry (I'm one of them), our priority is to get our job done--just like any other job, except we're passionate about what we do. Signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is not a formality. It's done with the understanding that releasing publicly any information that hasn't been made publicly available and/or could provide information to competitors can cost you your job (and that is not the way you want to go out). Our job is not to be WikiLeaks, leaking out sensitive information, damaging people's reputations, and costing us our own jobs and security for the sake of getting attention from a few foamers who wouldn't last a day in industry (you know who you are).
  16. The R179 project is such a mess that 3010-3019 and 3050-3057, the first sets delivered, had issues that were resolved when the production sets were delivered. In particular, 3010-3019 has been a problem child from the get-go. Half of the set lost power (I forget which half) and was MIA for quite a bit. This was part of the accelerated delivery schedule: build the first production cars while the pilot cars were testing here, and work out the issues on the fly. Of course, even that didn't go smoothly knowing Bombardier's recent performance.
  17. Then I suppose 3112-3113 will be coming tomorrow? That would be weird considering it's usually been the highest numbers first. I wouldn't be surprised if ultimately they decide to run R160A1s on the for uniformity. Less work for Coney Island to do. It's long overdue, but if that's the case, what will happen with the getting R32s? Is the CI/Jamaica swap still happening? Having mostly 60 foot cars on the implies that the remaining R32s will go there.
  18. I trust that it will. There's also the potential of seeing these on other existing Kawasaki fleets as well as the R211 if this goes well. For anyone who is interested in reading about it: http://global.kawasaki.com/en/mobility/rail/bogie/efwing.html
  19. There also aren't enough R32s around to cover the entirely. Something else that should be mentioned is that the only way this is possible (since technically the number of cars needed is increased) is to decrease the spare factor of the R32s. Before the swap, about 160 cars were out during rush hour out of 222 (a spare factor of 28%, which is pretty high for the MTA right now).
  20. Any word as to where? Perhaps to the to displace another R46 train to the ?
  21. With 3086-3089+3094-3097 in service, we now have the following trains in service: 3058-3061+3062-3065 3066-3069+3090-3093 3086-3089+3094-3097 So three trains are in service. The following sets have been delivered but are still waiting to enter service: 3078-3081, 3082-3085, 3098-3101
  22. This summer will be a good time to fan around Yonkers, when the production M9s are tentatively planned to come through there. It's real easy to get photos from the north end of the Metro-North station.
  23. That is thanks to SAS; the requirement on the is slightly lower now. Also, there is still one R142A floating around IINM. I don't see how capacity is greatly affected. Instead of merging before/after 33 St, they do so around 74 St. Also, hopefully after this construction will CBTC be any closer to happening?
  24. 3098-3101 was seen testing today in the Rockaways.
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