It's wood, I'm sure the MBTA has a workshop that can build replacement parts.
Odds are the replacement is going to be some custom metal machined overseas and will be basically irreplaceable due to cost and skill issues.
Odds are the replacement is going to be some custom metal machined overseas and will be basically irreplaceable due to cost and skill issues.
Then they will have to replace the metal with some fancy plastic one, because you can’t just admit the wood was better after all, but the plastic will also be unsuitable and degrade quickly which will ultimately end up with going back to wood in another 10 years. But that wood will then only last a fraction of the original wood, because we do not have old growth wood anymore and all the pine plantation wood won’t last a similar 130+ years.
So after about $3 billion dollars in costs and another $5 billion in economic and lifestyle impact after 20 years, they’ll declare it all a wonderful success, even though the wooden catenaries will live on as art or interior decor for another 200 years.
If we’re lucky, the death toll will even be low.
And as bad as the MBTA is... Keolis is worse (arguably).