The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) voted to order 120 additional Red Line cars from the CRRC MA Corporation. Currently on order from the CRRC MA Corporation, 132 Red Line cars will already replace the oldest cars in the Red Line fleet by 2022. Instead of overhauling and upgrading the remaining eighty-four cars, the FMCB approved the MBTA’s proposed recommendation to replace them with new cars, increasing the current order by 120 with an option to purchase an additional fourteen.
The MBTA estimates this replacement along with minor speed code changes will boost capacity by fifty percent, raising the current number of trains per hour from thirteen to twenty. The new cars also have the latest propulsion and braking systems, allowing the achievement of a three-minute headway target, reducing customer wait times. With a larger standardized fleet comprised entirely of new cars, the MBTA will also be able to implement a life-cycle maintenance program, resulting in better maintained vehicles, fewer disabled trains and breakdowns causing service interruptions, and an extended service life of at least thirty years.
Share on:
