That’s it eh? So 12 out of 37?
I believe they ordered 40 and I don’t think they have signed the contract for operating the line yet
46 LRV's have been ordered, 40 was the original plan. Storage plans call for storage of 28 LRV's at Gerry Wright OMF B, and 12 at Lewis Farms, however, Lewis Farms has a flex track that can store 2 LRV's or MOW equipment, although upon further review, the 2 cars on flex track might be part of the 12 total cars. There's also an option for a C yard at Gerry Wright for MOW equipment and outdoor storage of MOW materials, instead of needing to house that on the OMF B site. Of course given that a number of cars will be in for maintenance at any given time, 28 cars at Gerry Wright OMF B should be sufficient, and if they can accommodate more, all the better.
If I remember correctly, the contract states that the main OMF be completed before the end of 2025 so they can store the LRV’s there. I know the southeast line stored the trains there before it was fully complete so I assume MIP does the same. I do think that the Lewis farms OMF will be done before the main OMF though, so time will tell.
This is probably at least a year off, but I wonder if the first trains will be dropped off at the Lewis Estates garage, and train static testing could be done around the Lewis Estates station, followed by testing on the west side, gradually progressing eastward.
The Lewis Farms facility won't be used for initial deliveries for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the contract calls for all commissioning and testing to be done at Gerry Wright OMF B.
The practical reason for this is Lewis Farms won't have the facilities and equipment for commissioning and testing such as pits and elevated platforms. Although it's described as a "light maintenance facility" that seems to largely mean it can support daily cleaning. Without elevated platforms, I don't think Lewis Farms could even do something like replacing pantograph carbons if the need came up.
Lewis Farms I also suspect won't have the space to unload an LRV easily. It might be possible, but, with the length of these LRV's and the required trailer you certainly need a good, straight section of track with road access to maneuver the trailer.
I'm pretty sure for that matter, that when the LRV's are delivered they will use the existing delivery track at Gerry Wright OMF A rather than building a second delivery track at OMF B. I didn't see any indication of requiring a delivery track at OMF B.
Having said that, I'm sure if the need really arose, they could truck LRV's between Lewis Farms and Gerry Wright once LRV's have competed their initial acceptance. Of course, TransEd did this when the elevated section was embargoed and they wanted to swap out the cars that were trapped north of the elevated section for a new set of cars to get some time burning in those cars.
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