Urgent Fixes Will Disrupt Rail Lines T to Spend $91.5M to Repair Crumbling Old Colony Ties

Urgent fixes will disrupt rail lines T to spend $91.5m to repair crumbling Old Colony ties

By Eric Moskowitz Globe Staff / April 28, 2010 Text size – +

Thousands of concrete ties that hold the rails together on Old Colony commuter rail lines are unexpectedly crumbling, forcing the MBTA to invest $91.5 million in emergency replacements. That work will cause delays and disruptions for thousands of riders between Boston and its southern suburbs.

The weakening of the ties, which were supposed to last for decades more, has already forced the T to impose speed restrictions that have slowed travel time for travelers on two Old Colony branches, to Plymouth/Kingston and Middleborough/Lakeville.

The repair project, which is expected to last nearly two years, will require the T to cancel all weekend service on those branches and to replace midday rail service with buses. The T says the repairs will not affect rush-hour service.

“The governor’s not happy about this, the [transportation] secretary’s not happy, and neither am I,’’ said Richard A. Davey Jr., general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. “But we need to deal with this problem.’’

Commuters are also unhappy, citing delays on the Old Colony lines, where only 15 percent of the trains on the Middleborough branch ran on time in December, prompting the T to rewrite its schedules to acknowledge longer travel times.

“It’s usually between 15 and 30 minutes behind schedule,’’ said Michael Whitcher, 29, who was waiting for his wife last night at Braintree Station. “It would be nice if they could get their act together and get the trains running on time.’’

The Old Colony Plymouth and Middlebourgh lines currently serve 56,000 riders a week, according to the T.

Kelly Cobb-Lemire, a legal specialist who commutes from Braintree to South Station, said the trains have been the source of daily frustration. “It’s awful,’’ she said. “You can’t rely on it.’’

The T is blaming the concrete tie problem on the manufacturer, Rocla Concrete Tie Inc., which fashioned the ties for the reopening of the Old Colony lines in 1997.

“This was clearly a manufacturer’s defect,’’ Davey said.

Rocla’s corporate spokesman did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment yesterday.

The concrete ties replaced wooden ties that had supported the rails. Concrete and other materials have gained popularity around the world in recent decades because, in theory, they last longer and do not compress the way wood does, improving the fuel economy and speed performance of trains.

But track inspectors noticed some of the ties crumbling along the Old Colony lines in the spring of 2007, and last year laboratory tests confirmed a systemic problem attributed to insufficient steel reinforcement within the ties. Starting in August, T officials say, they plan to tear up 150,000 concrete ties along 57 miles of track and to replace them with wooden ties.

The T has been attempting to negotiate a resolution with Rocla, saying that the ties are covered by a warranty; but state officials decided they could not wait to replace the concrete ties, which are cracking and crumbling beneath the rails, delaying trains and posing a potential safety hazard.Continued...

The $91.5 million estimated cost of the project includes $35 million for materials and $38 million for construction.

“Tragically, it’s a bill that the T didn’t need,’’ said Paul Regan, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, which represents the 175 cities and towns served by the T. “It’s just bad luck for an agency that has had more than its share.’’

Concerns about the ties were first reported last year by CommonWealth, a magazine published by a Boston-based think tank, MassInc.

The Rocla ties were advertised with a lifespan of 50 years and in some cases sold with a warranty for 25. The T’s contract included a 15-year warranty, said Joe Pesaturo, a T spokesman. The MBTA declined to provide the contract yesterday or discuss other details, citing the possibility of litigation.

The T is not alone in its problems with Rocla, a Colorado-based company that manufactures ties at plants in that state and in Delaware and Texas. Amtrak and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have each waged legal battles in recent years over faulty concrete ties manufactured in the late 1990s.

New York’s MTA, which operates the Metro-North and Long Island commuter railroads, sued Rocla in 2006, nearly two years after first raising warranty issues. The two sides eventually reached a settlement in which Rocla agreed to provide improved replacements for more than 260,000 ties and to pay $1 million a year for 10 years toward installation, a fraction of the labor cost, said Marjorie Anders, an MTA spokesman.

The Old Colony repair project will not interrupt rush-hour service because the work will be conducted during off-peak hours and on weekends.

During the construction, buses will replace trains along affected stretches of the lines from Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. On weekends, the T will cancel the Old Colony service along those parts of the lines that are under construction.

For several months, the T will also have to interrupt service during weekends and off-peak hours on the Greenbush line, which shares a section of track with the Old Colony lines.

Davey said stopping rail service temporarily will allow the agency to replace the rails more quickly.

“Do you take the Band-Aid off slowly or do you just rip it off?’’ he asked. “We need to rip it off. . . . We’ve got to own up to it, and we’ve got to fix it as soon as we possibly can.’’

The $91.5 million estimated cost of the project includes $35 million for materials and $38 million for construction. “Tragically, it’s a bill that the T didn’t need,’’ said Paul Regan, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, which represents the 175 cities and towns served by the T. “It’s just bad luck for an agency that has had more than its share.’’

Concerns about the ties were first reported last year by CommonWealth, a magazine published by a Boston-based think tank, MassInc.

The Old Colony repair project will not interrupt rush-hour service because the work will be conducted during off-peak hours and on weekends.

For several months, the T will also have to interrupt service during weekends and off-peak hours on the Greenbush line, which shares a section of track with the Old Colony lines.

Davey said stopping rail service temporarily will allow the agency to replace the rails more quickly. “Do you take the Band-Aid off slowly or do you just rip it off?’’ he asked. “We need to rip it off. . . . We’ve got to own up to it, and we’ve got to fix it as soon as we possibly can.’’

John M. Guilfoil of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Eric Moskowitz can be reached at [email protected].