(The following appeared on the Boston Herald website on May 11, 2011.)
BOSTON — Riders on four MBTA commuter rail lines will soon face more crowded trains and reduced schedules as Amtrak begins a three-month project in Boston to replace what it says are “defective” concrete ties, the same product that has caused headaches for the T on its Old Colony Line.
“They were supposed to last 50 years. Ours didn’t last but 10 years,” Amtrak spokesman Clifford Cole said of the ties manufactured by Rocla Concrete Ties and installed in the Hub’s southwest tracks in the early 1990s. “The problem of broken concrete ties is part of an overall problem Amtrak has with Rocla ties failing from generations made in the 1990 to 2000 era.”
All told, Amtrak has identified and begun replacing an estimated 1.28 million Rocla ties that it has deemed “defective” in its Northeast Corridor, which spans from Washington, D.C., to Boston and is the nation’s busiest passenger rail network.
Beginning June 11, Amtrak will begin replacing deteriorated Rocla ties with new concrete ties on a four-mile stretch of three sets of tracks between Back Bay and Forest Hills. Since those tracks are shared by commuter trains serving the Fairmount, Franklin, Needham and Providence/Stoughton lines, MBTA service will be affected as one set of tracks will be continuously out of service throughout the project, which is expected to wrap up in mid-September.
Full story: Boston Herald