Train embarrassment: MTA pays too much for old overweight cars LIRR, Metro-North

As The Post has learned, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is preparing to spend nearly $3 billion to buy hundreds of heavy-weight and expensive railcars that will give passengers longer commutes, and the cash-strapped agency will have higher spending for decades to come.

The MTA still wants to continue buying steel dinosaurs, despite federal approval in 2018 of a massive regulatory overhaul that now allows the agency to buy high-tech trains common in Europe that are significantly faster, lighter and cheaper.

“The MTA’s rolling stock procurement is too conservative and requires trains that are less advanced than what international suppliers are making—too heavy, for example,” said Alon Levy, who is part of a team at NYU’s Marron Institute for Urban Management studying why Transit US agencies struggle to build and operate as efficiently as their big international counterparts.

“Therefore, simply building to these specifications costs more than building to the specifications of standard European regional trains.”

The M9 train pulls into Huntington station.  The Post's analysis found that switching to the lighter trains common in Europe would save money and speed up travel.
The M9 train pulls into Huntington station. The Post’s analysis found that switching to the lighter trains common in Europe would save money and speed up travel.
New York Post

So far, the MTA has spent $723 million to buy 202 M9 cars for the Long Island Railroad, a program that was first approved in 2013.

That’s enough to add about 10 new 10-car trains to his schedule when they all finally arrive after the many delays described in last year’s State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s report.

Despite the problems, the transport agency is looking to double down and buy at least 432 more vehicles – lightly updated and known as the M9-A – for both the LIRR and MetroNorth, officials confirmed to The Post.

The cost of the new order is at least $1.4 billion, and the likely cost rises to $2.8 billion with funding costs, Post’s analysis showed.

Officials are still moving forward despite federal officials having approved a regulatory overhaul, known as alternate compliance, that allows railroads like the LIRR and Metro-North to operate railcars commonly used in Europe with minor modifications.

European trains make extensive use of aluminum and other advanced materials, making them significantly lighter, which reduces wear and tear on turnouts and tracks, greatly improves acceleration, and improves energy efficiency.

The 10-car steel-bodied M9 train weighs over 660 tons, with each car weighing over 131,000 pounds. A comparison of Post with three relatively long European models – built by Siemens, Alstom and Stadler – with the same passenger capacity showed that the heaviest of them weighed 450 tons, which made the trains at least a third lighter.

The Stadler FLIRT is a train commonly used on commuter rail lines in Europe, including London.  Post's analysis showed it to be lighter, faster and cheaper than the M9 LIRR.
The Stadler FLIRT is a train commonly used on commuter rail lines in Europe, including London. Post’s analysis showed it to be lighter, faster and cheaper than the M9 LIRR.

Estimates and real-life observations by Levy and Patrick O’Hare, a transportation activist who has long run the LIRR Today website, show that faster acceleration will save at least 30 seconds per stop, which adds up quickly:

  • This will cut the 46-minute local service between Port Washington and Pennsylvania Station to 40 minutes, making it nearly as fast as the Express;
  • This will cut nine minutes off the 75-minute, 18-stop trip between Babylon and Penn, making it almost as fast as a 62-minute, limited-stop trip;
  • This will cut eight minutes off the 59-minute trip between North White Plains and Grand Central Station, making it nearly as fast as the Express.

European trains are also being built for many railroads and in much greater numbers than MTA’s custom-built trainsets, so costs are lower.

Opting for European trains could save $800 million in procurement and financial costs alone, according to an investigation by The Post. That’s $27 million a year.

That figure could easily rise to $109 million or more when you factor in the energy and maintenance savings that can be realized by using lighter trains as part of the MTA’s overall fleet replacement and expansion program, analysis by The Post found.

That’s about a quarter of the nearly $400 million in potential savings unearthed by the Post’s seven-month investigation into MTA operations and commuter rail management as the agency seeks a bailout from Albany.

This Siemens train is another model that was included in Post's analysis.  It runs on the Thameslink, one of the busiest suburban lines in London.  The British authorities recently completed a major program involving the purchase of these new trains to expand service and reduce congestion on the line.
This Siemens train is another model that was included in Post’s analysis. It runs on the Thameslink, one of the busiest suburban lines in London. The British authorities recently completed a major program involving the purchase of these new trains to expand service and reduce congestion on the line.
PA images via Getty Images

Internally, commuter railroads have been slow to adopt new European models because they operate as unified trains rather than as individual cars linked together, according to the MTA.

MTA officials say they see this as a potential liability: first, they argued that it could reduce reliability by putting the entire train out of service if something went wrong with one car; and they say their maintenance facilities and yards will likely need to be upgraded.

European Railways sees this as an advantage as it allows for more seating and makes it easier for passengers to move around on trains.

The same thing happened to commuter rail connecting San Francisco to San Jose, CalTrain, which chose European-design trains for its fleet overhaul.

“LIRR appreciates the benefits of lighter vehicles,” said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan. “We are open to cooperation with [federal regulators]manufacturers and other railroads to find ways to get safer and less expensive railcars as quickly as possible.”

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Back to top button