FRA Car Special
It was a double GEO kind of day because in addition to the CSXT Geometry train that was testing the MBTA/Keolis lines the FRA inspection car was also in the area having spent the prior night in the siding at Clinton. A CSXT crew is on board AC4400CW 479 headed to Portland, Maine with the Departent of Transportation/FRA's High Speed Research and Test Car T-16 as they roll through CPF AY on Main 1 of the Keolis/MBTA Fitchburg Route mainline approaching the Groton-Harvard Road crossing at MP 35.5.
T-16 was built in 1968 as Penn Central no. 803, one of the original self-propelled Metroliner cars, which entered service between Washington and New York in January 1969. During 1987-88, Amtrak removed the propulsion equipment and rebuilt it as cab car coach 9642. It remained in this configuration until withdrawn from service in 1996. FRA obtained the car from Amtrak in June 1999.
In September 1999, the FRA contracted with ENSCO, Inc. to convert 9642 into a high speed research car, subcontracting the structural, mechanical, and electrical work to the Delaware Car Company, with KLD Laboratories, Inc. suppling part of the instrumentation. The car emerged from the shop as T-16 (officially DOTX 216) and began research service in November, 2000.
You can learn more about this one of a kind car here: railroads.dot.gov/program-areas/testing-facilities-equipm...
Ayer, Massachusetts
Friday May 23, 2025
FRA Car Special
It was a double GEO kind of day because in addition to the CSXT Geometry train that was testing the MBTA/Keolis lines the FRA inspection car was also in the area having spent the prior night in the siding at Clinton. A CSXT crew is on board AC4400CW 479 headed to Portland, Maine with the Departent of Transportation/FRA's High Speed Research and Test Car T-16 as they roll through CPF AY on Main 1 of the Keolis/MBTA Fitchburg Route mainline approaching the Groton-Harvard Road crossing at MP 35.5.
T-16 was built in 1968 as Penn Central no. 803, one of the original self-propelled Metroliner cars, which entered service between Washington and New York in January 1969. During 1987-88, Amtrak removed the propulsion equipment and rebuilt it as cab car coach 9642. It remained in this configuration until withdrawn from service in 1996. FRA obtained the car from Amtrak in June 1999.
In September 1999, the FRA contracted with ENSCO, Inc. to convert 9642 into a high speed research car, subcontracting the structural, mechanical, and electrical work to the Delaware Car Company, with KLD Laboratories, Inc. suppling part of the instrumentation. The car emerged from the shop as T-16 (officially DOTX 216) and began research service in November, 2000.
You can learn more about this one of a kind car here: railroads.dot.gov/program-areas/testing-facilities-equipm...
Ayer, Massachusetts
Friday May 23, 2025