W4ST

This is a game in which you can redesign a line of your choosing. You can redesign any line in the system today, like CPW, 7th Avenue, 6th Avenue, or Queens Blvd. You can move express stations, add tracks, or remove tracks. The only rule in the redesign is that you have to keep the geographic route of the line the same. You can add extensions but the existing part has to remain. As an example this is how I would redesign the 7th Avenue Line in Manhattan / NW Bronx: I would move the express station from 72 street to 59 street I would make the Lenox Avenue line a 4 track line, with trains going express and trains going local. An express stop would be at 135th Street. The other stops would be local. I would make the line from 96 Street to 242 Street have 3 tracks along its entire route. The and would run. The would run local, and terminate at Dyckman Street, while the would run peak direction express, and terminate at 242 Street. It would run express south of Dyckman Street, with express stops at Dyckman Street, 168 Street, and 137 Street. The would have provisions to be extended eastward along Fordham Road. In Manhattan south of 96 Street, the would be local and the would be express. This couldn't actually happen but it is fun to make plans. How would you redesign a line?

I saw a very strange R68 or R68A train today. I think it was a train because it was running local on CPW but all the rollsigns were messed up. There was a rollsign for the , the , the , and the Orange on one side, and half of them were upside down as well! I missed the car #s though.

I think it would be best to connect it with Queens Bypass, or maybe create a new line. The is quite a bit slower than the LIRR, and already has very high ridership as it is. Connecting the PW branch to the Queens Bypass could bring riders quickly into Manhattan while increasing service on the branch.

This is what I think happens: 1. We think that this project will cost 3 billion dollars, but just in case let's say 4 billion dollars. 2. Things are going well so far and we have all this extra budget! Let's add larger mezzanines and something new for 4 billion dollars! 3. Oh no, we are having problems and the new idea is not working. It will cost more than expected, 5 billion dollars. 4. But just in case, let's say 6 billion dollars. 5. Repeat

I like your plans for total interlining, which would be good for reliability. However, I didn't suggest total interlining, because I wanted to give people more options, while removing some interlining. That was my reasoning for CPW. If the goes to 207, the goes to 168, the goes to Bedford Park Blvd, and the goes to Norwood/205 with the express and the local, both lines get express service, and both lines get 8 Avenue and 6 Avenue service, while having interlining on only the off-peak Concourse Line track. That is partially behind my reasoning as well. Yeah, those merges could be troublesome. If service would really suffer under this plan, deinterlining them might be better. Then the wouldn't have a yard though, so it might be complicated.

It was partially due to the yard problem, but I also wanted to give 4 Avenue riders direct access to 6 Avenue. On weekends, the likely wouldn't run and there would be no merges. That was my reasoning behind it.

My full plan for the B division would be this, after Phase 2 SAS is built. I would wait until then because this plan involves more subway cars, and those will need to be added in. Some lines could have less service though if cars are not available. - unchanged - 15 tph - unchanged - 7.5 tph - Norwood/205-Euclid Ave - 15 tph - 168 st - Bay Ridge 95 St - 15 tph - forest hills - WTC - 15 tph (possibly 20) - unchanged - 15 tph - unchanged - 7.5 tph - unchanged- 6 tph - unchanged - 20 tph - Jamaica Center - Metropolitan Ave - 15 tph (3 tph goes from Jamaica/179 to 2 Ave) - 125/Lex - Coney Island via Sea Beach - 7.5 tph - 125/Lex - Coney Island via West End - 15 tph - Ditmars Blvd - Coney Island via Brighton - 15 tph - Not used currently, maybe will change - unchanged - 6 tph More lines would be broken up under this system, so the whole system wouldn't crash down every time a train got stuck, but trains could use alternate routes if necessary.

I thought of an idea for modifying service through Dekalb Avenue. This would make it so that only one case of interlining happens. from CPW to Brighton Beach (express) from CPW to Bay Ridge / 95 Street from Second Avenue Subway to Coney Island via the Sea Beach Line from Second Avenue Subway to Coney Island via the West End Line from Astoria to Coney Island via the Brighton Line (Local in Brooklyn) service would be increased. The could be used if necessary. An idea like this may have been posted before, if so I support it. What do you think?

I rode on one of the sets with shortened announcements on the recently. I don't remember the car number though.

I think the bypass + subway would be preferable. I agree with some discussion earlier that the bypass subway should recapture the Port Washington Branch, but I think it could serve other parts of Queens as well through branching. One branch could go to Port Washington (with few trains going past Great Neck) and one branch could go to Pomonok / Fresh Meadows. You could increase LIRR service for more capacity but the subway would have way more capacity (possibly up to 15 tph to Pomonok and 15 tph to Great Neck / Port Washington).

One question about SAS: This may have been asked before, but why is phase 2 of SAS forecast to cost more than phase 1, despite the fact that it appears that less work will be needed? (Less track miles, slightly less stations, some track already built) Does the MTA just not want to underestimate the cost?

18th Street's ridership is 190th, in the top half of stations citywide. That's a fair amount of people. They could overcrowd 14th and 23rd streets even if these stations were upgraded. It also wouldn't really be worth it for local trains to bypass this station, since express trains already skip it. It would only save maybe 30 seconds for local trains, and you can already get around it easily. It would be best to keep this station and stations like it open. Unless the station is seriously obstructing train flow in some way and has low ridership, I would keep it open.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the would end at WTC as a local. Then the would run local and express on Fulton Street, or a connection would be made from the SAS and they could both run express.

Another idea I thought of for this connection is this: A new tunnel connecting the SAS to the QBL local is built at around 50th Street, run by the turquoise . The 53rd Street tunnel would be used to run all QBL express trains, using the , which would then run express in Manhattan and go onto Fulton Street in Brooklyn. The would run local for this, and the would run express on CPW. 63rd Street would be connected to the bypass using the . With this the QBL local would be run at 15 tph but the QBL express and QBL bypass could both near 30 tph.

It is true that with just using the SAS, the tunnels we have now would be enough. However, I think that connecting the bypass to another trunk (or both) via new tracks would be preferable, because it would allow us to maximize the TPH on the bypass.

I have been reading into some bellmouths, and have a question about the stub tracks that curve off of the local tracks on the Broadway Line north of 57th Street/7th Avenue. Could these possibly be connected to the CPW express tracks? Thanks

Just to clarify, the tracks connecting 2nd avenue and 63rd street would go between the existing tracks and the planned new tracks going to the bypass.

I think that to create the bypass, we will probably need a new set of tracks under the East River. One idea that I had is: Two new tracks continue eastward from Lexington/63rd streets. Along the SAS two tracks diverge (the far track goes above) and then slope downwards to meet the new tracks (and possibly have a connection to the current 63rd street tracks. The new tracks then go parallel to, then under the current 63rd street tracks and have a stop either at 21st Street Queensbridge (under the current tracks), at Northern Blvd with a connection to Queens Plaza, or at both. Then they would do the bypass. Then the could take the new tracks, and the could go to 125 street. Then 53 Street could be QBL local, and 63rd street could have 4 tracks for QBL express and bypass. There are some problems though. I don't know if the tracks could go steep enough to go up and then down between the 2nd Avenue and 63rd Street tunnels. It also introduces a bit more interlining, but I don't know how to get rid of it, because I don't think sending all Broadway lines to 125 street or the bypass would work. Just an idea though.

I have been through there but I have not looked out for the actual bellmouth itself, just the tunnel. Looking back it would probably be too much work. I didn't think my plans through well enough.

Also, I was thinking about going to Grand Street, then to Chambers. I probably should have said that more clearly. I wouldn't want it to be bad for Chinatown though. If going to Nassau be done without causing damage there, I would go with their current plans to Hanover Sq.

Yeah, I see what you mean. I don't think I thought it through enough. On vanshnookenraggen's map though I saw a bellmouth south of Whitehall street for a possible alternative tunnel to Atlantic Avenue. Could those be used?

I personally think that the / should go down Nassau Street. I think that the could terminate at Chambers Street, the could end at Broad Street, the could run under a new tunnel from Whitehall to Court Street, and the could go to Bay Ridge. Just an idea though.

cars 2201-2205 have the new lights and doormats as well.

They could use a current terminal in the area for some service, or create a new one. For example, if the A train was used (as an example) the A trains could curve off north of Dyckman and take Fordham Road, but some trains on Fordham would also turn north to terminate at 207th Street. If the 1 train was used they could do something similar.