A long-awaited fleet of MBTA commuter rail cars,
delivered 2½ years late by the South Korean manufacturer, is now so plagued by
mechanical, engineering, and software problems that it has to be shipped to a
facility in Rhode Island to be fitted with new parts.
Even as a T spokesman described the problems with the
cars as “standard operating procedure,” rail workers and their union
representatives said the situation is unprecedented, and federal officials
acknowledged they are “monitor[ing] the situation closely.”
“In my 40-some years of railroad experience, we’ve never
seen problems like this,” said Tom Murray, president of the local chapter of
the Transport Workers Union of America.
But Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials
say the problems — including issues with doors, air-conditioning, brakes, and
signal software — are a normal part of introducing new, more technologically
advanced train cars into a transit system.
“Railroad coaches are not like new autos that a buyer
drives off the lot,” MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said. “Modifications are made
as necessary. . . . This is standard operating procedure throughout the transit
industry.”
Harry King — spokesman for Hyundai Rotem, the South
Korea-based contractor that delivered the new cars 2½ years behind schedule —
said the company is working to fix the problems, investing significant
resources and dispatching a full-time contingent of staff to the T’s Somerville maintenance
facility to solve the problems.
“These problems have either been resolved or soon will
be,” he said.
The MBTA’s $190 million purchase of 75 commuter rail cars
from Hyundai Rotem USA was
controversial from the start, as T officials in 2008 insisted that the lowest
bidder would be able to deliver good-quality cars on time, even though the
company had yet to open an assembly plant in the United States.
After T officials’ consternation over what they called
“chronically unsatisfactory performance,” threats to cancel the order, and a
visit to executives in South
Korea, the first cars arrived last spring.
Since then, T officials have insisted publicly that the
cars were delivered in fine working order, pleasing customers with nice
interiors and comfortable seats. At least 56 of the cars have been delivered,
with the rest set to arrive by this summer, and T officials say 32 of the cars
have been put into service.
At a Massachusetts Department of Transportation board
meeting in November, MBTA general manager Beverly A. Scott said she gave the
cars “a 7.5 or an 8” out of 10 but said the problems — a minor toilet issue,
for example — were few and fairly mundane.
“Probably the stuff wouldn’t be noticeable to anybody but
us,” Scott told the MassDOT board of directors.
But employees who work on the commuter rail cars say they
are rife with problems, ranging from faulty heating and air-conditioning units
and door motors to poorly constructed undercarriages and problems with brakes
and the software that controls signal communication in the cab of the train.
Some of the problems have surfaced in tests, and some continued to exist after
the cars were put in service, MBTA officials said.
The problems have required the attention of at least 15
Hyundai Rotem staff members who have been working on the cars full time at a T
maintenance facility in Somerville
— not an unusual part of the process of introducing new cars, transit experts
say. But what is unusual is that the cars, even those that have already begun
carrying passengers, will have to be taken out of service in coming months to
receive new parts at a facility in Rhode
Island.
Some of the mechanical problems have caused enough
concern that the head of the local chapter of the Transport Workers Union sent
a letter in December to state Transportation Secretary Richard A. Davey
requesting a meeting to alert officials of “many operational problems [that]
have been encountered with this equipment.”
Some of the problems center on the control cars, which
are designed to be driven by engineers at the front of the train. The cars
cannot be used on rail lines owned by Amtrak, which run south of Boston, because the car’s
software is incompatible with the signal system. In some instances, signals
inside the train indicate that the engineer has the OK to proceed when outside
signals indicate that the train must wait. In those cases, engineers noticed
that the signals did not match up and reported the problem.
As a result of the signal issues, on much of the commuter
rail system, the new Hyundai Rotem control cars are being used behind the
locomotive to carry passengers, rather than lead the train, the MBTA says.
“We’re of the opinion that these cars are really not to
par,” Joe English, general chairman of the local Association of Railroad and
Airline Supervisors, said in an interview. “These are problems that should have
been straightened out before.”
The problems have caught the attention of the Federal
Railroad Administration, and officials say they are keeping an eye on the T’s
handling of the new cars.
“We are aware that concerns have been raised about the
new Hyundai Rotem cars being introduced to the MTBA’s commuter rail
operations,” Dickson Mercer, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration,
said in a statement. “We are working very closely with the equipment
manufacturer, [the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co.], and the MBTA to
resolve the issue and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
In a phone call from the Hyundai Rotem assembly plant in Philadelphia, where he
visits monthly to check the progress of the remainder of the T’s order, MBTA
chief financial officer Jonathan R. Davis said he is aware of the mechanical problems,
but is confident they will be resolved.
“I’m encouraged that Hyundai has identified the issues
that need to be addressed,” he said Friday. “I don’t think that this is
anything abnormal for any transit authority that is receiving new cars.”
The terms of the T’s contract with Hyundai Rotem say that
the company is responsible for paying for all repairs and maintenance work in
the first two years after the cars officially enter the T’s fleet. Though the T
has the option of sending the cars back if they are deemed unfit for use on the
rails, Davis
said he has no intention of taking that step.
King, of Hyundai Rotem, said assertions that these cars
are more problematic than others introduced to the T’s fleet in the past are
because commuter rail cars, in general, contain more complicated technology.
“These modern commuter rail cars are complex and exacting
machines,” King said.
Commuter rail workers acknowledge that the new cars are
much more technologically advanced, but said that did not explain all of the
problems they have seen.
“When a car is 35 years old, you’re going to have these
kinds of things break down,” said a commuter rail electrical worker who asked
not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly. “You
should not have that kind of issue on something that is 35 days old.”
Not everyone agrees that the issues are as serious as the
rail workers say.
Alan G. Macdonald, a member of the MassDOT board, said
the complaints from workers may be exaggerated.
“My understanding is that there is some work that still
needs to be done, but it might not be unexpected that there will be problems
with the cars,” Macdonald said. “I don’t believe they’re beyond being taken
care of.”
But Jonathan H. Klein, a former chief mechanical officer
at Amtrak and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, said
taking the cars out of service to replace major parts at an out-of-state
facility is a different order of magnitude.
“If cars have to be taken wholesale back to another
factory site for reworking, it is a definite sign that the manufacturer has
lost control of its quality, its configuration and safety management, and its
delivery organization, or all three,” Klein said.
“The T made an obvious mistake in awarding a contract to
Rotem,” Klein said.
In Philadelphia, officials at the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation Authority have experienced similar problems with
the 120 cars they received from Hyundai Rotem between 2009 to 2013. Six issues
were flagged for unacceptable performance, spokeswoman Jerri Williams said:
doors, the heating and air-conditioning system, propulsion, brakes, signals in
control cars, and auxiliary power systems.
Now after extensive work with Hyundai Rotem, Williams
said, almost all the issues have been resolved, except for the doors. On some
trains, doors that malfunction must be locked, and passengers are told to enter
and exit through adjacent cars.
“The only thing that’s left is the doors, and there
continue to be efforts put in to do a design retrofit,” Williams said. “But
we’re still not satisfied with them.”
