A snow-covered third rail caused an MBTA train in Quincy, Mass. to get stuck between the Quincy Adams and Quincy Center stations. Passengers had to be rescued by the Quincy Fire Department. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Earlier this week, 48 people were stranded for hours before being rescued from a subway train that suffered a power failure in the midst of a blizzard. Firefighters were forced to clear a path through the snow so passengers could make their way to shuttle buses and continue their journey. Part of the problem? A significant portion of Boston’s subway cars aren’t made for running in heavy snow.
The train failure was reportedly related to older direct current-powered (DC) traction motors, which can suck snow into the air intake, where it melts and causes electrical problems. Newer induction motors powered by AC current are simpler and more reliable thanks to better electrical controls, fewer moving parts, and a design that is better at keeping out the elements. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which runs the region’s public transit system, is slowly transitioning to the newer technology, but still runs more than a hundred subway cars with motors that date back to the Nixon administration. The first one.
Most of the time, the older DC-powered trains aren’t a nuisance. The rate of failure is low enough that the MBTA’s maintenance staff can keep up. But in extreme weather—Boston has been hammered in the past few weeks with back-to-back-to-back snowstorms—broken trains begin to stack up and the system collapses from of a lack of working cars. The result is a closed subway system. The MBTA was largely shut down on Tuesday, with limited service resuming Wednesday. More snow is expected later in the week, and the Authority’s general manager, Beverly Scott, lost her job this week.
Despite major budget problems, the MBTA is slowly upgrading, dropping $550 million for 342 new cars from CNR-MA, a Chinese subway car manufacturer. Unfortunately for Boston commuters, those trains won’t arrive for at least three years. In the meantime, expect snow to continue to cause problems for those aging motors.
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