itmaybeokay

Yeah that's exactly my point, it's the opposite of how it normally is. When I say express tracks I meant "tracks that are usually express in 4 track segments elsewhere in the NYC subway"

All these complicated service patterns. The answer is so easy! E 6 av express via 63 st terminating at 2nd ave. F 6 av local via 53 st B via 8th ave local 59 to W4 D via 8th ave express 59 to W4. Every other service runs regular, these lines run regular frequencies. We swap the tubes for the E and the F because there's no access to 6av express tracks from 53 street. The F and the M don't conflict, they have to merge anyway. The E isn't going to bother anything on 6th ave express because those two services are on 8th ave, sharing the tracks they were sharing north of 59 st anyway. The only conceivable bottleneck is between W4 and 2nd ave where the E F and M are all sharing the local track, but, these lines all share trackage anyway. If it don't work, turn the M at chambers, but I'm pretty sure as long as you relayed trains with speed and gusto at 2nd ave, this would work just fine.

At 168 the C terminates on the middle (express) tracks, I suppose Euclid is the same as Continental in that regard, but Euclid only has 1 service terminating there, and also there are multiple diamond crossovers north and south so even if you had the A/C both on the local, the A wouldn't get stuck behind the C. Fairly common. Most likely something involving bodily fluids.

I feel your pain on the terminal delays, but - if we're talking about an UNPLANNED reroute, E/F local, R express-on-the-local is about the worst possible solution. All the riders expecting the R to stop locally will have to move to the E and the F and the E and F riders will foolishly mob the R with the promise of express service. I haven't seen anything that bad in a while. When they do full-local-queens-blvd weekends, which are pretty rare, recently they've been sending the R to 179. That's a viable solution for a PLANNED reroute because you'll have the 2 extra trains required by the longer route ready to go. There were a lot of complaints of the conga-line weekends where the delays stacked from 71st all the way to northern blvd, and I haven't seen anything quite like that in a while. The manhattan bound situation you describe might not be trains SITTING at forest hills. When all services are local, I've never seen that. But, if the E or F train is at 71 ave as an R train is coming out of the yard, by the time it traverses the yard leads, gets into the station, boards, and clears the blocks - you're sitting at 75 for 2 minutes. The bottom line is, 71st is a terrible terminal, always has been. I think thats the only place in the system where you have a service terminating on the local tracks and then through service on the express tracks. it would be nice to build a new terminal for local services on a spur of the line but that's not gonna happen anytime soon or ever. I wish they'd change that "Train Traffic" announcement. People hear Traffic and they think of the context "Traffic Jam" and not the intended context of "A train is in the block in front of us, or crossing ahead of us". I think "we've stopped momentarily for a red signal" would be psychologically better but, eh.

I mean, I think sending the R past 71st is expensive as a regularly scheduled service - the issue with doing it in response to an unplanned change is different: Even on an express run, it's a 20-25 Minute round trip to 179 from 71. So, what about southbound service? This train is already delayed, mind you, by the express on the local scenario described - so unless you have trains and crews waiting at Jamaica Yard ready to pinch-hit (spoiler alert: you don't) What will easily happen is there will be a 45 minute gap in Southbound R service, and all hell breaks loose. And I'm not just talking about queens. Crowding on platforms will impact the N/Q/D/ trains which will ripple to the B the F - the M is probably already suspended under this scenario, so the J is overtaxed as it is. So, extending the R to 179 is not quite a viable "quick fix" option for delays on QBL. But, you could just turn the thing on the express tracks at union turnpike assuming the trouble zone isn't that far back and there aren't any trains laid up there.

Also on the subject of QBL: Dafuq is this, during rush hour? Delays Posted: 01/06/2016 3:59PM Due to track maintenance from Roosevelt Av-Jackson Heights to 36 St (Queens), southbound , , and trains are running with delays. Allow additional travel time.

As was said before, cold that drastic (and that sudden) can have a hard effect on the rails. BMT broadway line had 2, both in 2-track territory. Meanwhile, it was brief, but the IRT broadway line was sent screwy during the evening commute by a heavily intoxicated person "rolling around on the platform" at 96 st. As he went from express side to local side of the platform the delays rippled across both lines. Funny to listen to though. Ripple effects from the BMT broadway line incident. Remember, Roosevelt Ave is a seperate tower from 71st ave, and Union Turnpike has it's own tower too - but I don't know how often it's staffed. In any case, I think what you have here is a case where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. When there's an incident that has a tower scrambling to divert service, sometimes it's just not feasible to explain the minutia behind the rationale of their decisions to the next tower. Tower A tells the train they're gonna do X then Y, but when the train does X and gets into Tower B's territory, tower B tells them to skip straight to Z. It happens. One of the benefits of CBTC will be at least we don't have that issue, (although we'll just have to deal with everything coming to a screeching halt every time the computer burps) In terms of everyone hauling-ass from the local track to the express track, it's a psychological thing. Everyone wants to be in the "fast lane" At queens plaza people even run over from the R to the M if they come in at the same time thinking the M will leave first, even know they know it's also a Local. (I'm the only jackass who looks at the lineup on the signals and knows which one's really the leader. Unless QBMT takes it away at the last second as they're want to do)

Sometimes they do that, but one has to be careful with this approach. Remember, express-on-the-local trains still have to slow down rather dramatically at each station, so the additional throughput isn't quite that much. Furthermore, by holding that train, the local platforms along the way are now filling up - Now when you're trying to send the next E/F pair Exp-on-the-Lcl, they're behind an already delayed R train that is dwelling longer than normal at each station and they'll quickly be right on it's tail. What's the sense in running express on the local if you're holding outside every station for 30 seconds waiting for the mid-platform-signal to clear. In my experience they'll usually start with express-on-the-local service adjustments, but once the conga line forms, better to have everyone stop everywhere.

Or if locals are diverted to the express - or if there's simply a problem with the express tracks in that location and it's actually the expresses diverted to the local. Bottom line, problem on a trunk, local or express, all the services on that trunk are likely to be effected even if only marginally.

I'll go out on a limb and assume that the orange paint has something to do with installation of rumble strips on the platform edge. The ADA requires them. Orange paint is commonly used to mark positions of measurements taken by surveyors and engineers. The Orange triangle is likely the origin of their survey or measurements. It might also be replacement of the platform slabs if they're in bad shape. There's a capital program project to that effect:

It's still better than the 80's. Though I think there ought to be increased enforcement of the no performers on trains rule.

Theoretically the R train that leaves 14th st at 9:18 gets to forest hills at 9:57, so your train was subject to some sort of 20 minute delay. Was this over the weekend? Service was slow over the weekend because all services were local. If it was a weekday, might I suggest walking 1600 feet west of union square and getting on the F at 14th? The savings of the express run more than offset the walk.

Those are called "Guard Rails". In the event of a derailment, they help mitigate the effects by keeping the derailed wheels fairly close to the running rails. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_rails_(railroad) As you might imagine these are important on the elevated lines, to attempt and prevent the train from skipping right off the elevated structure and into nearby buildings if it derails. They're also used heavily in sharp curves. I once found a document illustrating the different manners of construction required for different radii of turns, but I cant seem to find it again.

Well that seems silly. A visual walkthrough of exactly how to make some of the system's more byzantine transfers would be a boon to those who aren't as familiar with the system as some of us are here.

Do you know where the 360's will end up? is it google maps or something else

Didn't think this was worth making a new topic: Caught this happening at 59st/Columbus Circle last week. You might not recognize that black box on the tripod, but I did. That's an nctech iStar 360 degree camera. Not sure who's doing the capturing, but SOMEONE is going to have google-street-view style imagery of the interior of subway stations soon, it would seem.

I agree they can still fit in the holiday train - It's very popular and I doubt they'd scrap it. I'm not sure it will "just serve as one of the additional sets" though. The train usually spends a fair amount of time at 2nd ave between runs. I'm not sure they could or would want to turn it around as fast as they'd turn your average F train around. Still - if we're assuming they're running the extra F trains to supplement the missing D trains on 6th ave - we can safely assume they won't be adding more than 6tph. A solo track at 2nd ave can easily turn 6tph. The holiday train is only one run in each direction every 90 minutes. I highly doubt they'd run two holiday trains. Theoretically it could run on broadway I suppose - Only 12tph running through the 60 st tube that that would be the only bottleneck. I wonder if they'd fumigate and turn at canal or run it all the way down to whitehall.

For what it's worth, I know the R44's were speed-tested along the LIRR mainline and got up to 77mph. This was before the LIRR third rail was converted to 750vdc though. I wonder if, when the rollsigns were ordered, there was thought of consolidating the fleets to one car class. Lord knows the commuter rail riders would have gone bonkers over this though.

Yeah, they usually report that the issue is at the closest station. No sense wasting characters on something more precise. According to Twitter, "an electrical connector" fell off the train.

They'll radio it to RCC who notifies NYPD transit. RCC might have them hold, unknown if the crew can or would hold on their own volition. While the benefit of weekend M service to 71/Continental is pretty huge, I don't know if there's much to be gained by sending it up to 96. It would seem to me that if track work prevents it from going all the way to queens you're better off just sending it to essex or chambers like they do now. The 3 stops along 6th ave that would get extra service probably don't need the help, whereas the R is consistently well above loading guidelines during daytime weekend hours in queens. Maybe the 2nd avenue stops could use the help, but until they're open we won't know that.

The alert first went up Closer to 7am For what it's worth, I didn't have a single problem on the M this morning at about 7:50. In fact, one of the most trouble-free trips on the line. Still on time at the rock at 8:20 Nor did I hear any problems on the scanner.

Signal problems at Lex on the BMT Bway line still ongoing as of 5:10pm That's 2 straight days of rush hour woes for the line. Not fun getting to Astoria - especially when the EFMR are all gummed up during rush hour as well until september.

What I don't understand is why they didn't just order them all as 5 car sets. There's nothing preventing the C from running 10 car trains. I know it doesn't need to, and I know the 5 car sets would be more expensive - but this would afford them far greater versatility going forward. Sure, keep a couple 4 car sets on the order to replace the 42's on the J/Z. But the rest of them...

Same thing they were pulling this morning during the rush. Took me 2 hours to get to work, It'll probably take me 2 hours to get home. Whatever went wrong with the track maintenance from this weekend must be a doozy.

Nightmare getting to work. 9:45 there was almost a 30 minute gap in uptown 1 service. They were running some express local, but that doesn't help me getting to 116 st. And naturally, the first train that actually comes through goes on an express run after 96. 50 minutes late to work. Gotta be kidding me with this stuff.