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Update on New Orange Line and Red Line Trains

Posted on July 4, 2022

The MBTA today announced that new Orange Line and Red Line trains returned to passenger service this afternoon.  
 
On June 20 at the Wellington Yard, a new out-of-service Orange Line car experienced a failure within its battery compartment. The battery provides low-voltage DC power, controlling the electrical equipment on the vehicle and powering lighting, signage, and communications equipment. With safety as its top priority, the MBTA removed all new Orange Line and Red Line cars from service while vehicle engineers and technicians worked to identify the cause of the failure.
 
CRRC, the cars' maker, and the MBTA have worked collaboratively with both the battery and battery-charging system manufacturers to determine the root cause and appropriate corrective actions. The cause of the problem has been identified as an out-of-range battery temperature reading, which caused the battery to overcharge for an extended duration and fail. 
 
To safely return the cars to service, a design change was made to increase airflow in the battery compartment and a modification to the temperature sensing circuitry was developed, implemented, and successfully tested over the weekend. 
 
New cars were returned to passenger service this afternoon with the appropriate corrective actions in place. The MBTA is grateful to its customers for their patience while the vehicle engineering team worked to ensure that the new cars are performing in a safe and reliable manner. 

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