Critics including a transportation watchdog and pols slammed the MBTA after the transit agency quietly announced an “uncommon noise” issue forced new Orange Line cars out of service — the latest problem with the cars built by a Chinese government-owned company with $800 million in state contracts.
A spokeswoman for the T responded to questions about the Orange Line Tuesday with a statement announcing new train cars were pulled, but did not specify how many or when they were parked.
“Vehicle engineers continue to closely monitor the trains’ performance during each of the new cars’ trips and recently observed an uncommon noise from the underside of the cars,” the statement read. “With safety as a top priority and out of an abundance of caution, the decision was made to temporarily remove the new cars from service to investigate the issue, any potential impacts, and deploy a fix, if needed.”
The cars were built by the Chinese Railway Rolling Stock Corp., which has $800 million in contracts to build more than 400 Orange and Red Line cars at a Springfield factory. Since new Orange Line cars were deployed in August, they’ve experienced door issues and a derailment.
“It just shows you get what you pay for,” said state Rep. Shawn Dooley, R-Norfolk, a critic of the state’s relationship with the Chinese government-owned CRRC.
“The protectionism that the MBTA expresses and the willingness to cover for (CRRC) and make excuses is mind-boggling,” Dooley said. “If it was a Massachusetts company that was doing this and putting out an inferior product, the executives at the T would be the first to throw them under the bus.”
When reached for additional comment, T spokesman Joe Pesaturo issued the same earlier statement which said the T aims to resolve the issue “as soon as possible.”
CRRC did not respond to a Herald inquiry.
Rep. Angelo Puppolo of Springfield, where CRRC’s factory for the T cars is located, was not familiar with the Orange Line’s problems but voiced similar concerns about the T’s latest issue.
“I thought they had made some corrections,” Puppolo said, “but apparently whatever the investment has been hasn’t been far enough to correct the problems.”
Puppolo previously told the Herald he was concerned about CRRC bringing in employees from China rather than hiring local workers in Western Massachusetts.
Transportation watchdog Charlie Chieppo of the Pioneer Institute said the MBTA made the right move to prioritize safety by taking the cars offline, although the setback adds to the public’s growing frustration with the T.
“It’s become an even bigger problem because having the T work becomes an even higher priority when you’ve got the roadway congestion problems that we have that have reached an unparalleled level,” Chieppo said.
A state transportation $75 billion “wish list” includes $1.2 billion for new fleets and signals on the T’s Red and Orange Lines combined, and a $2 billion Green Line extension through Somerville.
“I don’t buy the fact that you can just dump a ton of money into it and fix it,” Chieppo said.
Dooley also voiced frustration over the T’s lack of transparency in announcing the Orange Line move, calling the T’s amount of protectionism for the Chinese government “bizarre.”
“I don’t understand why (the T) unwilling to admit they made a mistake,” Dooley said. “It seems like they’re going above and beyond to cover things up and spin things.”
