BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has removed one of its new Orange Line trains from service after a passenger was momentarily able to open a car door while the train was in motion, the Boston Globe reports.
It’s the latest incident involving the new rapid-transit cars built by Chinese manufacturer CRRC at the plant of an affiliate in Springfield, Mass.
Witnesses said the passenger tried to reopen the doors as the train left the State Street station, but within seconds, the train’s emergency brakes activated and the doors closed, the Globe reports. An MBTA spokesman said the doors “operated as intended,” but the train was removed from service “out of an abundance of caution while a full investigation takes place.”
The agency did not say when the incident took place, but the Globe reports a video of the incident was posted on Sunday.
Delivery of the equipment for the MBTA’s Orange and Red lines is years behind schedule, with new Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey assembling a team of experts for an independent review of the manufacturing process and the state’s contract with CRRC [see “Massachusetts governor calls for independent review …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 3, 2023]. The equipment that has been delivered has been pulled from service a number of times for issues ranging from wheelset issues to a battery explosion [see “MBTA sidelines some Orange Line equipment …,” News Wire, Dec. 31, 2022].
This reminds me of the problems and issues that the MTA in New York City had when they put the R44 series subway cars into service and of course the MTA didn’t learn from their mistakes but a few years later when out and ordered a more complex subway car with the R46 series. A lot of issues with these cars also that resulted in half the fleet being pulled out of service and temporarly replaced with older subway cars. The R 46 cars are still running today and due for replacement in 2025 by the new R211 series. However after much adjustments and pverhauls the R 46 series could never perform as they were orginally intended. Sometimes the more hi tech you get and make railcars more advanced, they fail to perform as intended. By the way when the MTA finally learned their lesson, they ordered a more simplier, sturdy model for the IRT in the R62 and R62A. Of course that model had its issues too but not as serious as the R44vand R46 fiasco
Joseph C. Markfelder
Further proof the MBTA as an organization is broken. From trains to people, the MBTA has become the “Florida-man” of rapid/city transit. But, you get what you pay/vote for Boston.
This sounds like a passenger incident, not an equipment malfunction….
How far open did the rider get the door before the brakes came on and the door closed?
But Charles, the question is was CRRC’s the lowest bid? If so, and the bid was awarded to the lowest bidder for that reason only then I rest my case.
There is no doubt in my mind that CRRC can learn from these failures and make a product that can survive the North American market. But this market is cyclical and we are currently in the middle of fleet renewals across the board. If they don’t clean up their act soon they will miss the boat.
Even NY MTA is not stupid enough to buy Chinese junk.
Ya git watcha’ pay fer.
Well, Ronald, my guess is that the Commonwealth paid twice over, as that’s the way things are done now. First pay to build the factory, then pay for the product the factory produces.
The old saw goes, “We can’t give you quality, but we can give you a good price.”