The (belated) Weekly Ramble

Hiya again peeps, I'm really quite late with getting this out, but I've been busy. Anyway, since my last description of misadventures, I have accumulated a neat little pile of stuff to talk about. First, let's talk about my most recent trip on the MBTA. The Orange Line, the forgotten line of the (T) was slower than usual, not in speed but in getting a train into Oak Grove, but I guess that's standard off-peak speed. After taking said train, I changed at NoSta to the Green, and got a E-Line T7 with the reset issue. That's when the train doesn't realize the doors are closed, and has to be reset to move again. After the reset we proceeded to Haymarket, where it took THREE resets to make the thing move again. It seems that after having sat in the sun for a while, the electrical stuff had all melted. Just kidding. Maybe. Anyway, a later trip on the 4:49 train to Reading was sorta late, though I saw a backwards Downeaster, which was interesting. And, at South Station a couple of times, I saw an Acela leave, a Northeast Regional come in, and two private cars just sitting there. Pretty cool. Last night I also saw a Northeast Regional come in to a cold, windswept South Station. Not a great entry to Boston for those passengers.

Anyway, moving on now to the subject of the (T)'s ordered MPI HSP-46AC locomotives. I little real information about them, but do have some personal theories. It is relatively obvious that the General Electric GEVO diesel prime mover unit will be one of the few able to survive the implementation of EPA Tier III and further standards, thus making it a necessary and acceptable choice for new locomotives. However, GE Transportation is not making the locos themselves, rather they are supplying the prime movers to MPI to install themselves. GE will probably also provide much of the internals of the engines, such as the electrical systems, the traction motors, the alternators, and so forth. Essentially, GE is likely to be making all of the working innards of the HSP-46 and selling such to MPI as a subcontractor, who will subsequently put them all in a nice cowled package, and give them to the MBTA. There are many advantages in this contract. The MBTA gets much-needed new engines, particularly ones capable of appeasing the EPA, not generally a great friend to the (T). MPI benefits in a very obvious way, they get paid by the MBTA for building the locomotives, and GE gets some money for their components. But, there is more to it, methinks. GE stands to benefit a great deal more from this contract. GE gets to demonstrate an example of an AC-traction, GEVO-based, new generation of passenger locomotives, without spending company money on a prototype demonstrator, and without retooling an Erie production line for a new type of engine. GE probably wants Amtrak to make a new order to supplement and indeed replace some of their aging, though not ancient, GENESIS engines. GE, naturally, would like to build those engines, as a big order like that would bring in a great deal of money. Further, the arrangement of the MBTA order presents GE with great potential benefits at relatively low risk. If they succeed GE shows off their technology and MPI shows off their new HSP locomotives, and the MBTA improves their service. But if, like some new types of railroad tech, these HSP-46s turn out to be lemons, GE will be rather safe. They could easily walk away with the money for their components, having suffered no real loss. MPI would take much of the blame as primary contractor and builder, they would have to fix the engines and take the hit to their reputation, and the MBTA would be faced with running trains with unreliable locomotives-again. There are risks for the (T) and risks for MPI, but very much fewer for GE, who could corner the market, or make some money on a one-off order. Only GE can know their real plans, and only time can tell the fate of the HSP-46s, but it seems possible that while this could be good or bad overall, it could be great for GE, and so much less dangerous. We'll see.

And so it goes, another week(or three) riding forever 'neath the streets of boston.

The Weekly Ramble

Time for this week's ramble and buy is it ever a ramble. Only a few little things of note have happened in the world of rail vehicles in the past week, at least things that interest me. There was a T-Alert (well, more of a banner headline on the MBTA website) to the effect of bustitution on the Blue Line due to a disabled train at Orient Heights. Funny, the real situation is more often called a 'track problem' by the (T). Hint to the MBTA: Disabled Train ≠ Derailed Train. Yes, that's right, there was a derailment on the Blue Line. Not sure why, but it was an out of service train (going through a switch I believe) coming in from the Orient Heights yard. Caused some delays, probably put more strain on the Silver Lie for all the people going to the airport. Like I was, but not by train. On a side note, Terminal A is really nice, but creepy when it's really empty. Anyway, in national news everyone's favorite National Railroad Passenger Corporation has ad-wrapped a train again. With an ad for the TLC show "Cake Boss". Yeah, great, except for one huge problem. It's an Acela, and they wrapped the windows too. So, you now have a 5% chance of getting an Acela at standard price that features obscured windows. Some would argue that most Acela passengers are businesspeople who are not interested in the view, and that Amtrak needs the money. Maybe so, but some people, even businesspeople, appreciate either a nice view, or just a great amount of natural light. Instead, they get the microwave door effect, if they can see out at all. Amtrak has a bunch of Amfleets, or better yet Horizons, which can be wrapped, with windows so small that they wouldn't need covering. Instead, they tarnish their premier train and brand by covering with an ad that I think would be hard to read at 150 mph. Or maybe that's just me. Not very much else to discuss at this point in the week, saw a few trains, saw a few kinda cool planes. Anyway, that's it for now, be seeing you.

And so it goes, another week riding forever 'neath the streets of boston.