The Orange Line Mockup Has Arrived in Boston
Photo via MBTA
Update Monday, March 27, 2:00 p.m.: Soon, you can see it for yourself! The Orange Line mockup will be available for the public to peruse at City Hall Plaza for three days beginning Monday, April 3, the MBTA has announced.
A week from today, the mock-up of new #MBTA #OrangeLine car will b on display on #Boston CityHall Plaza.Public can check it out thru April 5 pic.twitter.com/RtHQKUhxLs
— Joe Pesaturo (@JoePesaturo) March 27, 2017
Earlier: The Orange Line mockup has officially arrived in Boston.
The two-thirds model of the design for the new MBTA trains arrived by cargo ship from China on Sunday and is now at an Orange Line maintenance yard, according to T spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
The agency is still working out plans to let members of the public take a look for themselves, Pesaturo says. But for now MBTA officials and engineers will be inspecting the model and noting any changes needed before the real ones start making their way to Boston in 2019. The model has two sets of doors, while the finished train cars will have three.
“Over the course of the coming weeks, there will be a constant dialogue” with CRRC, the Chinese state-run train manufacturer that has set up shop in Springfield, about any tweaks to the design that are needed, Pesaturo says.
The Chinese Railroad Rolling Stock Corp. has a contract to produce as many as 418 Orange Line and Red Line cars for the T, for as much as $843 million. They will be rolled out in batches through either 2022 or 2023.
The T shared photos of the mockup in November.
Mock-up of a new #MBTA subway car is @ #orangeline maint. facility where vehicle engineers will examine it & give feedback to the car maker pic.twitter.com/AwaMdJs5be
— Joe Pesaturo (@JoePesaturo) January 31, 2017
