Jsunflyguy

I follow signal improvements in many Countries. Places like the UK and Germany are going to ROCs or ESTW to combine their signal boxes (which themselves already control substantial track miles) to do one-roof railroads. We have data from US Class 1 railroads and the Situational Awareness suffers and the ability to react to failures in the field is reduce since the real motivation is always a commiserate reduction in staff. Cut staff by a few dozen because the software has automatic routing, sure...oh no a switch broke, now the Dispatcher is covering an oversized territory in degraded operation and mistakes start happening. Parallel with that a lot of other field functions get sucked into the big office...help is enroute, see you in an hour!

I was specifically referring to walk through MU equipment, all semi-permenant married units could be open gangway with a sturdier rubber hood. I dont think gangway pairs will improve passenger flow as people will walk 1 or 2 cars and then be unable to move. Especially in a 9 or 12 car train I cant see people de/re-embariking over the course of multiple stops (since trains like the Kiss/Flirt dont allow movement inter-unit).

An official, public one no. Ithink LIRR42 made one, some of it is no longer accurate given its age. But nothing really needs to be lengthened in terms of platforms, simply open the cars that are appropriate. If you go with a 3 set the trains actually get shorter, though the number of cars that can be opened decreases because of rules and regs (at least assuming the middle car is a simple trailer with no safety accessories).

The M9s are almost open gangway with the automatic door. Im not really sold on it, but Im not against it either, though just doing a quick google only shows the Japanese really embracing the concept for heavy rail with BR and DSB dabbling in it. Another thing to consider with greater than 2 car units is track capacity. If you use 4 units youre condeming a lot of branches to 8 car service since places like Far Rock cany support 12 car trains and Brooklyn would have a lot of difficulty as well. You can get away with 3 car units, though thats not much better with 6 or 9 cars. 9 cars may not cut it even with extra seats in a trailer car, but who knows. Short platforms would get really interesting, but thats another story.

Did someone delete a post? I don't see that.

The people I see interested in Management fall into a few categories: The ones who want max vacation time right away, the power hungry, the ambitious and those who want to get off the front lines (for one reason or the other). There's no reward or prestige to going to management, generally...

110 a year? Tell me what job he's on so I can out in a vacancy bid...

Comments like this make me sick, the MTA sets a black-and-white policy to stay in the booth after decades of clerks leaving the booth being robbed, raped and hospitalized. When rhe MTA draws a line in the sand, you dont cross it. Thats not the workers decision, thats the consequence of public behavior. ....and its not like people dont risk it anyway, everyone has that big save they had during their career. https://abc7ny.com/mta-hero-train-conductor-subway-of-the-week/10402822/ http://www.twulocal100.org/story/daily-news-lauds-transit-hero But no....we debase ourselves with cherrypicking and ignorance of years of history that preceded what we have now. The fact of the matter is not everyone is a kung-fu crime fighter and calling the police may be the best some people can do...and quiet as its kept having an MTA patch on your clothes may as well be a bullseye people are much more willing to do much more harm to you. ...anyway, some of the good things people do in the uniform cant be bragged about on the internet or the news never gets the story becauase it wasnt a dramatic spectacle. And if it goes bad expect everyone to offer to kick the chair out from under you while you hang. Just a thought, carry on.

Someone? 15 minutes? NYK<->JAM is timed at 20 minutes. I'll let you judge if getting in 15 minutes early makes sense. As Ive written several times in the community NYK is timed so that two tubes can be closed outside of peak without causing a late train. With the exception of the Acela trains are timed for 10 minutes for Penn-Harold. 5 minutes hot is about the most you can hope for coming into Penn excluding flagging stops.

Its not odd at all to see riders congregate in one or two cars with no reverence for nearby space. Trains to Atlantic Terminal are front packed. I've operated many trains this week alone where the last car of a diesel train would be packed but the next three cars would significantly empty, it is my experience that once a passenger decides on a car they will not leave it unless they discover the car won't platform (or if they're looking for a working bathroom). I operated train 126 for several weeks recently at the time it was the busiest train on the railroad with 900-1200 passengers. Even with the astronomical patronage my car would be entirely full, even with standees, all the way to Merrick where a crowd got off and by Bellmore the car was entirely empty. It could very well be a glitch but it is just as possible to be legitimate.

It was clearly addressed in those cities because they were built 70 years later. Here's the line-of sight in an average WMATA station And here's the LOS in New York: Crowded visual areas dont translate well to CCTV (especially since people have a habit of vandalizing the cameras). But you know, union bad, just making things up. This massive employee shortage is what happens when you make political decisions with people's safety, also this 'massive' shortage is occurring in every industry that kept going at a high pace during the pandemic, American Airlines, My old company, ferry boats...so its not endemic to the MTA by any stretch, its a natural consequence to stalling training for months and having a few hundred people die. Rosters aren't generally designed to handle double/triple digit casualty rates. Even had the NYCT been OPTO before the pandemic then the TOs would've been the people dying/sick (since conductors are overrepresented in the people absence column) as people would just interact with the only employee on the train per force. With out the TOs you can't even move the trains to avoid terminal hold outs blowing up the road. P.S I don't think service will improve passenger behavior, this isn't South America where people are damaging trains in protest. New Yorkers had better service during the pandemic than all but about 3 cities in the world, they still set trains on fire, derailed them and spit on the crews every day...

You mean contract violations dont set precedent? Whoda thunk....

I'm surprised no one has done anything wild yet. I'll throw in some read meat...: Broad Channel is eliminated. This will be replaced by full time splitting the . Service reliability will thusly require the to be extended to Lefferts Blvd, and with this simple change will fulfill the ultimate Fantasy Map quest.

You do realize you're talking about the company that altered the braking characteristics of its entire fleet without adjusting the signals to compensate for that right? Just because there's political pressure to round the numbers up doesn't mean going vroom vroom is a good idea in all cases. If you're in a room answering "well if that's the case why didn't you..." you're already losing. Also if you know you're running hot or if your leader is making good speed and no delay is expected, drive for comfort and avoid being early.

To be fair to the MTA, depending on how the runs are lined up it may be a layover problem. If there are only 4 spots near the end that are occupied and the bus comes in flaming hot they will park somewhere that obstructs traffic like that do at the QMT. I'm not saying that's *THE* reason, though that is a concern.

You do realize you're talking about the company that altered the braking characteristics of its entire fleet without adjusting the signals to compensate for that right? Just because there's political pressure to round the numbers up doesn't mean going vroom vroom is a good idea in all cases. If you're in a room answering "well if that's the case why didn't you..." you're already losing.

I suppose I did leave that inference open; I simplified because I was getting ready to hit the rack, here's the scoop: The extra time exists to meet at JS and Wyandanch (it's a hold over from a project last year that was completed during the COVID service reductions AFAIK). The times cannot be changed because Queens to Divide is scheduled for single tracking overnight and the 4:50 train is timed to meet a train at Divide (8006). In summary: the time was stretched for an old meet with 5300 and the time cannot be removed now because of the planned single track in another area without running the train so much earlier that it would be useless (since the EQ trains is holding up the section Queens to Divide in front of 8006).

It isn't stupid just because you don't know the reason. There's overnight track work so 4:50 train has to be timed to meet an eastbound equipment train in a single-track section.

My understanding is all of the plausible builds infringe on an obstacle clearance zone for one of the runways. If that is still the case, then no.

Resumed at 3-4am on the LIRR

As I said, the '8 conductors' isn't really a thing outside of a few narrow circumstances where multiple collectors are riding the one reverse peak train that gets them back somewhere useful.

No, it isn't. Even the Cannonball is only scheduled for 4 Collectors making a total of 6 (including Conductor and Brakeman). There are a handful of trains that exceed that number, but this consists of getting collectors on a Reverse Peak train so they can run back and collect another peak train. Given the MNR/LIRR are set up as peak commuter operation this inherently puts a lot of Collectors in one place. That's not really a symptom of a blunder in scheduling, the route network forces these things if you want the Collectors to have a high amount of productive time. Police are more expensive than Conductors. Also, I'm not sure where you're sourcing that 70% number, without publishing internal docs, the farebox hovers around 50% for all modes. https://www.gothamgazette.com/politics/130-opinion/8182-lirr-s-heavy-subsidies-and-the-coming-debate-over-mta-funding Yes and no, the Collector (Assistant Conductor) position is an unqualified position meaning they are not required to be qualified on the rules of the operating department or physical characteristics, anyone how is qualified on those things gets priority in being assigned to a Conductor position. You do have Collectors and Brakemen who are qualified because there is a mandatory promotion, but for the most part the people you see punching tickets are in a 'journeyman' position, and if you are qualified but 'work down' you take a 20% pay cut. It's pretty common for the Conductor to be the only qualified Trainman in a consist.

Simply arranging a crew deadhead from Rockaway Ave at say, 2am would ensure a high cost threshold.

Is it even possible for that consist to be serviceable?

In a way Budd kind of over-disrupted the market. They sold a reliable, virtually indestructible car that essentially left no market. (aside from post WWII auto-boom)