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| Re: WMATA Trains to Operate Slow Due to Slippery Track Conditions During Friday's AM Rush (534049) | |||
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Re: WMATA Trains to Operate Slow Due to Slippery Track Conditions During Friday's AM Rush |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sat Dec 15 17:51:00 2007, in response to Re: WMATA Trains to Operate Slow Due to Slippery Track Conditions During Friday's AM Rush, posted by RonInBayside on Sat Dec 15 16:09:43 2007. One possibility (and I'm only speculating here): Recall how light-eight trucks and other aerospace-originated designs did not work well in the NYC subway.Is it possible that Washington Metrorail's railcar design went the "light weight" route inherently, and that WMATA underestimated the punishment the railcars would have to take over their lifetimes? Well, I don't know enough to evaluate your claim, but it's missing one premise that would mirror it to the case in NYCT, especially on that era of deferred maintenance and slow orders: how smooth is WMATA's trackage? In terms of whether or not the Alstom OH of the Breda 2000/3000 series railcars is working, the last three months of last year saw MDBF numbers increasing toward 100k miles. That said, the OH project fell behind schedule about 24 months; apparently this month is supposed to mark completion of the project. WMATA also reports "several design and engineering issues with the 2000/3000 series Rail Car Rehabilitation including the remanufacture of trucks, Air Compressors, Doors, Automatic Train Control, Propulsion and Traction Motors." Apparently, there have also "been significant issues regarding parts availability for Warranty and repair work at WMATA." The rebuild had been purchased for a cost of over $361 million, and was designed to extend the railcars' useful lives by at least 20 years. A budget overrun of about $20 million occurred. The most serious of the design and engineering issues is the remanufacturing of the trucks. As a result, cars are being delivered out of tolerance. Issues arising from the remanufactured trucks include the chevrons, lateral bumper clearance, uneven wheel wear, the traction motor resilient mount and the brake caliper studs. Premature settling of the chevrons is one of the major issues with the rehabilitated 2000/3000 Series railcars. There are also lingering ATC problems, which are reflected in station overruns, as well as complaints of sub-standard parts supplied by Alstom's suppliers. The CAF 5000 series railcar MDBFs were for the end of last year about 20k miles less than the rehabbed 2000/3000 series. |
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