Additional New Haven Line commuter cars

[daveklepper]

(CBS Connecticut) — State officials today announced they are buying more railroad cars for Metro-North.

Governor Dannel Malloy says sixty rail cars are being purchased, including new bar cars.

The M-8 cars are the same type the state has been purchasing from Kawasaki in recent years.

They will incorporate minor upgrades made in the existing cars, like the addition of electrical outlets and bike racks.

The purchase will cost about $300-million.  The state will contribute about $200-million of that amount.

The governor says ridership has grown faster than expected since 2010, and there is a need for more cars.

 

[blue streak 1]

MNRR certainly has not been able to keep up with the demand. 

Upgrades to new M-8s ?  Maybe will even have 25 Hz transformers ?  Also will they have center tap transformers for operating to Hartford / Springfield 25Kv 60 Hz ?

Bar cars especially on Friday evenings will bring in more riders.  Once Ct gets them will the NY riders scream discrimination ? 

This new capacity might even put it ahead for good over LIRR's number of passengers ?

Thought question.  $300M, 60 cars  = $5.0M per car.  Much more than the present order for Amtrak V-2 cars. 

 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Of course they're going to cost appreciably more than the Amtrak cars.  The last time I looked, the Amtrak cars were NOT equipped with traction motors, control stands, pantographs, third-rail shoes, etc.

[daveklepper]

Price?   Each powered  mu car is a small electric locomotive, and is priced accordingly.

[081552]

Ten of the cars will be bar cars!

 

http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-bar-cars-return-metro-northrecovered-tue-sep-13-110553-2016--20160913-story.html

[blue streak 1]

081552

Ten of the cars will be bar cars!

http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-bar-cars-return-metro-northrecovered-tue-sep-13-110553-2016--20160913-story.html

 

so this article says $200M for 60 cars.  Then that makes each car approximately $3.33 per car.  Probably bar cars slightly more so maybe $3.25M for regular cars.  That compares closely to the original order of M-8s ?

 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

081552

Ten of the cars will be bar cars!

 

http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-bar-cars-return-metro-northrecovered-tue-sep-13-110553-2016--20160913-story.html

 

A waste of the taxpayers' money.  I hope that Metro North can get a good rate on its dram shop insurance.

[daveklepper]

Not a waste.  The capacity is even more than a regular car

-- because of the number standing.

[Firelock76]

daveklepper

Not a waste.  The capacity is even more than a regular car

-- because of the number standing.

 

To say nothing of the fact there's going to be a LOT of happy riders in that car!

 

[D.Carleton]

081552

Ten of the cars will be bar cars!

http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-bar-cars-return-metro-northrecovered-tue-sep-13-110553-2016--20160913-story.html

Finally, Yankee tradition triumphs over Puritan pragmatism; proof positive there is hope for the republic yet.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I'd like to know how the wasted space in the coach-bars is utilized during the morning rush hour and off-peak.  I observed some years ago that the galley service on NJ Transit which utilized the bar space in morning rush had been discontinued, leaving the space unavailable for extra seating (revenue).

[daveklepper]

My ow.n experience with the New Haven bar cars, which was over 20 years ago when twice each year I gave a lecture on theatre acoustics at the Yale Drama School was that coffee, tea, soft drinks, bagels and danish were served AM