Just saw on the news that the Baltimore light rail has been shut down until they can fix the LRVs so that they don't blow up. Something about "high voltage conduit." Apparently there was an explosion last October, which makes you wonder why they waited over a month to do something.
Baltimore Light Rail shut down indefinitely
- Thread starter MARC Rider
- Start date
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Here's some more detail about what happened:
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/...me-things-to-know-BLP7G6FNP5DN3LAN5PX7XTKRIU/
These cars are undergoing a "mid-life overhaul" that was supposed to have happened in 2007, but MTA didn't get around to doing the contract work until 2013, and here it is 2023, and the work is finally getting done. It's unclear from the statements from MTA whether the "punctures in the electrical conduits" were the result of the overhaul or found during the overhaul work. At first, the contractor, Alstom, said it was OK to continue using cars, but after a fire on Oct. 21, subsequent inspections found a second problem with the electrical cables, so I suppose with two problems, MTA management decided to shut down the service "over an abundance of caution.
https://www.wmar2news.com/local/com...altimore-light-rail-has-faced-problems-before
Oh, yeah, and the big local news this weekend is that the governor wants some serious cuts in transportation spending, as he has found, after looking at the books, that the state is facing a big budget shortfall. Not sure how this little crisis will impact overall transit spending, but I think they're mostly talking about cutting suburban commuter bus service (fewer office workers are commuting to downtown) and some road projects.
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/...me-things-to-know-BLP7G6FNP5DN3LAN5PX7XTKRIU/
These cars are undergoing a "mid-life overhaul" that was supposed to have happened in 2007, but MTA didn't get around to doing the contract work until 2013, and here it is 2023, and the work is finally getting done. It's unclear from the statements from MTA whether the "punctures in the electrical conduits" were the result of the overhaul or found during the overhaul work. At first, the contractor, Alstom, said it was OK to continue using cars, but after a fire on Oct. 21, subsequent inspections found a second problem with the electrical cables, so I suppose with two problems, MTA management decided to shut down the service "over an abundance of caution.
https://www.wmar2news.com/local/com...altimore-light-rail-has-faced-problems-before
Oh, yeah, and the big local news this weekend is that the governor wants some serious cuts in transportation spending, as he has found, after looking at the books, that the state is facing a big budget shortfall. Not sure how this little crisis will impact overall transit spending, but I think they're mostly talking about cutting suburban commuter bus service (fewer office workers are commuting to downtown) and some road projects.
George Harris
Engineer
Actually relieved to find it is a vehicle issue. However, very surprised to find that they seem to think a total shut down is needed. Thought the ridership was sufficient that this sort of action would not be tolerated. In the initial design phase in the late 1980's I was the track engineer on the design side. We did some things different from AREMA standard turnouts that we felt improved the ride quality. Got some push back from some of the people in the agency because what we did was not "straight out of the box," but got it accepted because the component parts could all be found in AREMA. We just shuffled the combinations somewhat.
Looks like the Baltimore light rail is back in operation. Not sure when they resumed, but I took these pictures on Dec. 29.
