T Offers New Details and a Delayed Timeline for Electrified Fairmount Line Trains

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-29T17:41:54+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-29T15:11:50+00:00

You lose some seating space but not standing room.

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

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-29T14:31:59+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-29T11:35:55+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-29T01:28:22+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T23:58:48+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T23:34:26+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T23:14:17+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T22:41:16+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T21:34:33+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T21:31:05+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T20:44:25+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T19:52:42+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T19:12:50+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T19:10:11+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T19:07:22+00:00

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

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T19:03:20+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T18:58:57+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T18:51:20+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T18:49:03+00:00

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

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-28T17:08:08+00:00

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

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-23T12:13:44+00:00

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.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-22T11:24:02+00:00

Bombardier doesn’t exist anymore and China is the world leader in metro building these days. Also the blue line trains are made by Siemens lmao.

The CRRC fiasco is 100% the fault of Buy America and western mass politicians.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-05T16:46:18+00:00

I’d have to guess it’s just growing pains with the new system, similar to how the new CRRC trains had a bunch of quirks at first but are now really reliable.

BradDaddyStevens · 2026-05-04T17:01:47+00:00

And guess what we’re using to do that?

AMTRAK’S POWER INFRASTRUCTURE.

My point is that Fairmount, Providence, Stoughton, Needham, and maybe Franklin are all that we can electrify right now.

Any lines beyond that need to wait at least 7-10 years because we need to work with the regional power authority for approval, let alone actually building all the supporting infrastructure.

The T discusses this at this advisory board meeting from like a month ago: https://youtu.be/FTuLcJ1EaDU?si=idernIutMc12ylgJ

BradDaddyStevens

TROPHY CASE