From Left to Right: FTA Administrator Dick Doyle, State RepresentativeCarlo Basile, City Councilor Sal LaMattina, Secretary and MBTA Chairman Bernard Cohen, MBTA GM Dan Grabauskas, and State Senator Anthony Petruccelli aboard car 0711. Photo by the MBTA.


Yesterday I had the high privilege and distinct honor of attending the official unveiling of the new blue line cars at the Aquarium station along with fellow TH members John and Jack. The usual T brass was on hand and each had their turn at the podium. Unfortunately neither Governor Patrick or Mayor Menino showed up.

At the end of the speeches we were instructed to go down to the inbound platform where the new cars would shortly arrive. The first set through was an old set of 0600s. I suggested to John that we start applauding to see how many of the politicos who never take the T would go along with it thinking these were the new cars but that idea was vetoed. After that the new cars came rolling in and after a quick ribbon cutting we were told we could board. We headed for the third car (0709) so as not to be crowded in with all the politicians jockeying for photo ops up front (0711).  At Government Center we switched to the fourth car (0708) in hopes of sneaking around the Bowdoin loop. In that car there were at least 8 Seimen's technicians who I guess were the T's insurance to make sure that everything ran smoothly. When we arrived at Bowdoin the first inspector gave us a wink and said "you're Seimen's guys right?" however the second inspector was much less forgiving and kicked us and eventually the actual Seimen's guys out, so that dashed our hopes of going around the loop. I then reboarded 0709 and rode all the way out to Wonderland and then back to State before calling it a day.

My overall opinion of the cars is very positive with a few sticking points.

Pros:

• Great smooth ride
• Very quite
• Smooth and fast acceleration
• Clearest LCD exterior signs the T has gotten yet
  
• Great looking interior and exterior. The stainless steel will look good for a long time. I especially love how the interior color scheme matches the original 0500s from the blue line. compare these two pictures:

The original 0500 interior: (photo from nycsubway.org)


The new 0700 interior: (photo by Derek MBTA3247 Carter)


Cons:

• The seats are a little too hard for my taste. They also are very slick and you can easily go sliding around.
• The ASA system is way too wordy. At every stop it either tells you to stop smoking, relinquish priority seats or watch your step and take your belongings along with the nebulous bus connections announcement. There also is a noticeable delay between when the doors open and the ASA is triggered to announce the current stop.
• Way too many chimes. You have a "ding dong" before every ASA announcement as well as a "ding ding" for when the doors close. The ding ding for the closing doors is also often delayed because the ASA is still speaking.
• The doors take way too long to open and close. There is a noticeable pause between when the train stops and the doors open as well as between when the doors close and the train takes off again.
• Red LEDs for the interior ASA sign. They should have sprung for blue!

Conclusion:

Overall I would have to say these are some of the finest cars the T has purchased. They have some drawbacks but some of those can be tweaked. The rest we'll learn to live with.