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| Re: NJT Selling old train cars (1595233) | |||
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Re: NJT Selling old train cars |
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Posted by Dutchrailnut on Thu Jan 13 20:22:47 2022, in response to Re: NJT Selling old train cars, posted by Joe V on Thu Jan 13 19:47:05 2022. By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.comA fleet of old Comet III rail cars that NJ Transit sidelined for 13 years in a train yard in Bay Head — and were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy — are about to make their last trip to the scrap yard. Before that happens, NJ Transit received a parting gift from the Federal Transit Administration. The state agency won’t be assessed for the FTA financial interest in the railcars that the federal administration helped purchase because of the damage sustained by Sandy while parked at the end of the North Jersey Coast Line. On Jan. 19, NJ Transit is scheduled to take bids on the fleet of 44 Comet III trains that the agency said are “not in operating condition” and must be removed “by truck or dismantled on site,” according to the documentation of the request on the agency’s procurement page. The fleet of Comet III railcars was retired in 2008 after the first multi-level railcars were bought in 2006. But four years after they were parked in Bay Head, they were damaged by flooding during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. A total of 49 Comet III railcars were purchased for $44.3 million in 1990 with $31.9 million in federal assistance. Based on that investment, the FTA had a 72% interest in the Comet III cars, said Stephen Goodman, FTA Region 2 Regional Administrator. However, because the railcars — which were entered into service in 1991 and were retired before the 25 years of useful service life that the FTA has for the equipment— were damaged by the storm, the FTA waived the useful life requirement, Goodman said in a statement. “For the damaged 46 Comet III rail cars for which FTA waived the useful life and for the three undamaged Comet III rail cars that met their useful life, there is no further federal interest beyond the disposition requirements,” he said. This means NJ Transit won’t be assessed for the remaining financial interest the FTA has in the equipment. But if NJ Transit earns more than $5,000 per car, it will have to “reimburse FTA approximately 72% of the proceeds of the sales of each,” according to the March 2013 decision. Typically, transit agencies sell retired equipment by auction soon after it is replaced. That was the case last December when NJ Transit listed 20 retired Neoplan articulated buses that were replaced with newer vehicles in 2020. |
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