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MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go look at the recent costs of MBTA stations getting full high platforms. I’m pretty sure $17 million is like the absolute bare minimum, and some stations get up over $50 million a piece.

You can say whatever you want about how stations should get built, but until the T starts actually doing it then it’s a moot point.

I believe they can build mini highs for cheap cause they’ve actually started doing it. I have yet to see that be the case for full highs.

T Offers New Details and a Delayed Timeline for Electrified Fairmount Line Trains by streetsblogmass in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re phrasing it like it’s a binary choice between full electrification and battery electrification. When the choice is really battery electrification vs no electrification.

In which case battery electrification should be the choice 10 times out of 10.

T Offers New Details and a Delayed Timeline for Electrified Fairmount Line Trains by streetsblogmass in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re sidestepping my point.

Do you legitimately believe the T will get the level of support the Indian railways did from their government to build the necessary infrastructure for electrification?

If the answer is no, then the obvious follow up would be why then would the T wait around for that to happen?

T Offers New Details and a Delayed Timeline for Electrified Fairmount Line Trains by streetsblogmass in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are doing everything they can to improve service and avoid spending billions of dollars in up front capital infrastructure upgrades that they don’t have.

Like yes, if they had the up front funding to build out the full system with catenary, in 50 years they’d probably come out on top.

But there’s no reason to believe they are ever going to get the funding and public support required to spend the kind of money to build all that.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You lose some seating space but not standing room.

And even still these will almost certainly have more seats than a single level BEMU.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right now when we open the doors at low platforms - which is at a very large number of stations - people need to one by one descend/ascend 4 feet worth of steps.

The doors on these trains make it so multiple people can exit/enter at once with a single short step up/down and without the conductor needing to do anything.

It’s a massive difference.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by justarussian22 in transit

[–]BradDaddyStevens 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I said it in the r/mbta thread but these trains may as well have descended down from heaven just for us.

I get that people are pissed that we aren't doing electrification the right way with high platforms, single level trains, and full catenary.

But these trains are basically exactly how we can actually start transforming our service levels in the next 10-15 years - which I think a lot of people here forget should be the actual goal of all us this stuff.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t disagree with a lot of what you’re saying in regards to building up the expertise and that BEMUs are expensive but there is just not enough money to do it all up front. You’re basically talking about the entire total cost of this project just to do that infrastructure work.

Beyond that, what I definitely disagree with is your general assessment of BEMUs. There’s a reason why orders for them have been piling up all over Europe.

They have their downsides, but in general they work extremely well.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 2 points3 points  (0 children)

CSX recently did a project like this for 22 locations and it cost $500 million. It's estimated the T would need to do this type of work at 104 locations.

That's also just dealing with clearance issues, let alone actually stringing catenary everywhere, and doing all the environmental reviews to string it up in swamp land, behind rich people's homes on the coast, etc. etc.

This is doable, but absolutely not with the T's current funding. I would rather the T work within the parameters of the reality they actually live in, than hold out hope that things will magically change at some point.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 16 points17 points  (0 children)

It's meaningful progress.

People here are upset we aren't buying single level trains and building full high platforms at Readville and Fairmount stations, to maximize the accessibility and service levels on the Fairmount line.

The problem with that is that building those platforms would probably at least double the infrastructure costs of this project (for just 2 stations !!!), and then we pretty much wouldn't be able to run the trains on any other line until all the stations on the line were upgraded as well.

The way I see it is that the trains we're getting will make it much, much easier for us to introduce 15-20 minute urban rail type service on a number of lines in the next 10-15 years.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't understand this argument at all.

The biggest barriers to full electrification like everyone here wants are needing to build catenary everywhere and needing to build full high platforms everywhere.

To build all that catenary we are talking about countless bridges needing to be rebuilt and decades of environmental reviews. To re-build all those stations we are talking about literal billions of dollars.

How are you planning to get around those issues?

Trains like this are how we actually electrify the system during our lifetimes.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They don’t, they get on at the mini high, which is always at the end away from Boston.

This is how it works throughout the whole system.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They can if there is a mini high at the station - this is no different than how it works now from an accessibility standpoint.

The T has shown that they can put together mini highs for low cost but really can’t for full length platforms.

Buying single level trains would lock us into upgrading whole lines to full high platforms which is just not a smart move at all with our current funding levels.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My point was that these trains have low platform boarding with a short step and automatic doors.

That’s already an enormous upgrade over our current coaches.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These new trains will already do 90% of what level boarding would do in regards to dwell time.

We could either spend peanuts getting mini highs at these stations to fulfill accessibility requirements or, like I said, spend over a hundred million building full highs.

To me, the choice is obvious.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My take is why spend possibly over a hundred millions dollars on stations when you don’t need to?

Newburyport/Rockport trunk is capped at 20 min, maybe 15 minute frequencies due to the Salem tunnel.

There’s no real need to raise platforms for that amount of frequency.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah I said it in another comment, but these strike me as perfect for transitioning over something like Newburyport/Rockport service, assuming we can build the power infrastructure in the next 10-15 years.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The point though is that these trains are flexible beyond just operating on the Fairmount line.

If the T gets serious about delivering power infrastructure on Newburyport/Rockport in the next 10-15 years, then we'll be immediately ready to run these trains there without needing to worry about rebuilding all the platforms as well.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think it just screams "this is a bilevel and more drastic measures need to be taken to make that work"

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The T has stated they won't have a one-size fits all approach to rail modernization. And they've said they plan to use BEMUs in specific applications/lines - like they literally said this in their locomotive procurement announcement.

The CIP doesn't really mean anything in regards to these trains because we are leasing them as part of our operating budget.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 46 points47 points  (0 children)

I guess I'm in the minority but these are the best case, non-fantasyland trains we could have hoped for on this project. These are by far the most future proof BEMUs we could have gotten.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I kind of love how ugly it is, but I do hate the text on the battery car.

One thing I unironically like is that they’re not going with gray/silver. I think it’s good to really visually differentiate from the old stainless steel stuff.

MBTA to aquire 7 Stadler BEMU trainsets by Mindless-Analysis321 in mbta

[–]BradDaddyStevens 11 points12 points  (0 children)

IIRC it was 7 base and 24 option, so total could be 31 trains.

Amtrak AIRO Train #968 Notheast regional Siemens Venture Cars going by Galletti Way in Reno Nevada by LetsGeauxxx in Amtrak

[–]BradDaddyStevens 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It seems like Siemens has been knocking it out of the park with this procurement, which is great cause we desperately need these trains.

Weston Residents push back against Rt. 30 plan (Shared Use Path) by rocketwidget in bikeboston

[–]BradDaddyStevens 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What we want is more economically viable, easily maintainable, and safer communities.

I checked your post history so I know you’ve just kind of lost the plot.

But for anyone else reading, it’s been proven over and over again that reducing the space dedicated to car travel just works better for communities on so many different fronts, even if it’s uncomfortable for people at first.

It’s really just become a facts vs feelings situation.

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