Ben S

bensh3.bsky.social

22 October 2026 14:05

If anything negatively affects the MLIII my guess would be the insistence on operating with a motor/trailer ratio of 1:2 instead of 1:1 or 2:3 in the desire to limit FRA inspections

Nixy

nixymouse.bsky.social

22 October 2026 13:59

Every vendor except *maybe* Stadler has had high profile delays and defects in Europe over the past decade. The Avelias and TGV Ms seem especially pertinent in this regard given the weird hybrid export bastard train went into service before the domestic set that is now over 2 years behind schedule.

Nixy

nixymouse.bsky.social

22 October 2026 13:59

I'm sorry but this is just insane given it supposes that there would be a compatible "off-the-shelf" option (even the Caltrain KISS units uses unique wide shells) and supposes the European designs are being delivered in a timely manner domestically which just flatly isn't true.

Nixy

nixymouse.bsky.social

22 October 2026 13:59

Even something relatively "basic" like the Alstom ICNG sets for NS are years behind their initial delivery and commissioning schedule. I hate this weird sort of inverse American Exceptionalism because it masks how truly deeply broken the global railway supply chain is right now.

Nixy

nixymouse.bsky.social

22 October 2026 13:59

Even the Siemens sets have been a mess despite being largely based on existing OBB stock! The locomotives apparently still ingest snow despite Siemens trying to resolve the issue for close to a decade now and the passenger cars have all sorts of weird QA and software issues.