MBTA

New Year, Same Orange Line: Riders Dealing With Delays After 9 Cars Pulled

“They can’t deliver them on time and when they deliver them on time they’re consistently defective in one way or the other,” said Jim Aloisi, the state’s former Secretary of Transportation.

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As people start to head back to work and school this week following the holidays, passengers on the Orange Line will be dealing with longer wait times.

“I feel like it’s somewhat unsurprising,” said Orange Line rider Juliette Miller. “I feel like I show up to the T and what I get is what I get and that’s what I’m expecting.”

The MBTA said on Friday it had pulled nine of its new cars from service, which means it’ll be about 15 minutes between trains.

“It’s like getting a new toy and it’s broken,” said rider Qudsiyah Muhammad. “It’s in a pretty package though."

The T says a broken power component impacting the axles was found during a routine inspection.

All of the cars that have been taken out of service are part of the new fleet being manufactured in Springfield by a Chinese company.

“They can’t deliver them on time and when they deliver them on time they’re consistently defective in one way or the other,” said Jim Aloisi, the state’s former Secretary of Transportation.

An electrical issue on the MBTA Orange Line has taken nine train cars out of service.

Aloisi says the low-bid selection of the company has been a failure.

“Let’s learn lessons from this,” said Aloisi. “Where was the quality control and quality assurance? It doesn’t seem to have been effective.”

Stacy Thompson, executive director of transportation advocacy group TransitMatters, says the T needs to be more forthcoming with problems, and the system will be one of the new governor’s biggest challenges.

“The Healey Administration can’t change the problems with the T overnight,” she said. “But she can change the way that the T talks to the public and I think that will make a huge difference in the short-term.

The MBTA has not said how long it will take to make the repairs to the nine cars.

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