Collin

6th Avenue is the only Manhattan trunk line that doesn't run 3 services on weekends, so it definitely makes sense to have the go further into Manhattan on weekends. The question is does 2nd Ave need the extra service? While I don't think 2nd Ave desperately needs more weekend service, it could be beneficial since the has to serve the line alone. On weekdays there are select and trains. It would be better if the could just terminate at 57th Street or 47th-50th, so 2nd Avenue is the only logical place to send it. 145th and 8th would mean there's 4 services on CPW which I don't think they want. If CPW needs more service, then weekend service can be increased.

I think when considering adding an alternate train peak direction express, several factors need to be looked at. Is there high enough frequency or can more service be added? Local stations will lose half their service compared to having all trains run local. It's one thing to go from a 2 to a 4 minute interval. Going from 6 to 12 minutes is a different story. Sometimes, short turns can be used to offset this. How well are the stations configured? Some lines have well placed express stations while other have poorly placed ones, too few, or none at all. A lack of well placed express stations makes express service less valuable, since it benefits fewer riders. What is the ridership balance between local and express stations? On some lines, the express configured stations have much higher ridership, but it's not the case everywhere. How much faster is express service compared to local service? The more time that's saved, the more it makes sense to have express service. That being said, I think that given the current service pattern and schedule, the areas where peak direction express service makes sense already have it. In some areas, like Jerome Ave, it would make sense if the stations were configured better. If Yankee Stadium and Fordham Road were both express stations, then I'm sure the line would have express service. Locals would terminate at Fordham Road while express trains would run as locals north of there. In other areas, express service makes sense given the station configuration and time saved, but there isn't enough service. Culver should have much more express service than 2 trains per day, but doesn't have enough service to make that possible.

I'm referring to tracks that are functional and available for use, but are rarely used in practice. I've ridden the current express track on Sea Beach. I took advantage of the station renovation project to get a much faster ride from Coney Island. During that project, they put temporary platforms over the old southbound express track at select stations.

Ok so I'm wrong about Astoria, but which express tracks are in fact rarely used?

I was thinking about the express tracks in the system that are not used in regular service. I wonder how often are some of them actually used, both in revenue service for G.O.'s or singular train reroutes, or for out of service trains to/from the yard, or for work trains. Which are the most and least used? Below is my complete list. I left out some small portions like on the past Grant where the configuration of the crossovers mean the express track isn't useable for revenue service. between 96th Street and 137th Street, and between Dyckman Street and 242nd Street between Gun Hill Road and 241st Street (East 180th to Gun Hill is used by some 5 trains on the regular schedule now) between 149th Street and 170th Street, and between Burnside Avenue and Woodlawn. between East 180th Street and Dyre Avenue between Parkchester and Pelham Bay Park between 36th Street and Coney Island between Church Avenue and Avenue X between Myrtle Avenue and Broadway Junction between Astoria Ditmars Boulevard and Queensboro Plaza, and between 59th Street and Coney Island I'd say the Astoria Express and Dyre Express are used the least since they can't be used to take out of service trains to the yard. Meanwhile, the West End and Sea Beach express tracks I think are used every day for put ins. I also don't see how the express track between Myrtle Avenue and Broadway Junction is used often.

I think one reason the Jamaica/Coney Island swap happened so much faster than the swap is the fact that it is a much simpler route and can be done while trains are in service. An R46 could just run down to CI in the morning rush, go out of service, and come back into service as an . The same was true for R160's going to Jamaica. They could put Coney Island based R160's into service as trains, which would go to Jamaica Yard after completing their runs. As was also mentioned, they swapped some cars by running them on extra trains. With the swap, R62A's had to do a very complex set of moves to get from the Flushing Line to Westchester Yard. Corona Yard-Hunterspoint Ave Hunterspoint Ave-39th Ave 39th Ave-Atlantic Barclays Atlantic Barclays-Concourse Yard Concourse Yard to 86th Street 86th Street-Westchester Yard For moves between divisions, how does it work with the train crews? My understanding is that normal train crews aren't qualified to work on the other division, so they would either have to change crews, or use work train crews who I believe are qualified on both divisions.

The stations can be cleaned while trains are still running. Adequately cleaning stations is different than an attempt to completely disinfect every square inch of the system every 24 hours. It's political theater. The trains will probably be running 24/7, but empty because it takes multiple hours to actually shut down all operations. At least that's what was said when it was shut down for Sandy.

Just to clarify: When the was moved to Coney Island, cars 9143-9192 went with it. I'm guessing that's when the R68's stopped running on the since those cars were used on the while the used the extra R160's For the Second Avenue related service increases, 3 10 car R160 trains were sent from Jamaica to Coney Island and 2 8 car R46 trains were sent from Pitkin to Jamaica plus an additional 4 car set. The Cuomo wrap cars came from Coney Island, but were swapped to Jamaica after the refurbishment. Jamaica also received additional R46 cars from Pitkin, but gave some R160's to Coney Island. So this was an increase in the number of trains at Jamaica Yard, while Coney Island saw a decrease. Am I correct on all of this?

I've seen pushback on this plan from transit advocates and elected officials. I think they have a valid point that there needs to be set guidelines or an end date when 24 hour service is restored so that no one has the bright idea of making this service cut permanent.

I'd also be opposed to extending the overnight closure for 12-24. The longer it goes on, the less likely 24 hour service is ever coming back. However, the additional cleaning should definitely become permanent, even though it probably doesn't make sense to do it every 24 hours. As for FASTRACK, why was it discontinued in the first place?

My fear is the overnight shutdown will be made permanent. The problem with all these emergency measures is thought is never given to how they end.

The most recent time an R32 went through DeKalb was 2014 for a one-time vibration test on the . That was when Montague was closed and they did it on a weekend, so it ran the full route via the Manhattan Bridge. I guess in that case, there was no chance of a service change requiring it to go through the tunnel.

I wonder if there's any benefit having a rush hour peak direction express on the by running Rockaway trains nonstop from Aqueduct Racetrack to Euclid Avenue. Trains would use the express track between Rockaway Boulevard and Grant Avenue (with extra crossovers added after 80th Street) and bypass Grant Avenue on the local tracks. Trains to/from Lefferts would continue to make all stops. I guess it would depend on how much time is saved, whether Lefferts trains alone can handle the load at Rockaway Boulevard, 88th Street, 80th Street, and Grant Avenue, and if there's a significant number of people who ride the train from the Rockaways, then transfer to the train to Lefferts who wouldn't be able to do that under this service pattern. It would be better if Rockaway Boulevard were converted to 3 track express, but I don't think the cost of doing so would be worth it.

Sending any QB local train past Forest Hills is a non-starter and has been discussed ad nauseum before. The can easily switch between 63rd and 53rd when the isn't running, just like how the runs via Montague when the isn't running. Another thing I think might make the more reliable is if it were cut back to Whitehall while the took over Bay Ridge. With a shorter route, there's less that can go wrong. I could see this happening as part of a Broadway de-interlining plan that would send the to 96th Street at all times. The problem with that idea is I don't know how many trains Whitehall can reasonably turn, though some trains could just be extended to Bay Ridge or somewhere else in Brooklyn.

They stopped doing that with the 2010 budget cuts. I think it should be brought back because getting to the from a local station when the isn't running, and the is running express requires taking the to Roosevelt or Queens Plaza, transferring to the and taking it to Court Square, and then transferring to the . With the going to 63rd, that double transfer scenario will still be in place. That's why I initially suggested that the should run on QB again.

I've always thought married pairs were better. We keep getting these mismatched fleets with unitized equipment because it's so hard to actually predict how many trains will be needed 10-20 years in the future. For the , the 212 R143's were supposed to be enough to serve the line for many years. But come 2005, they were no longer enough, so some R160's had to be placed on the line. Then we were getting too many 4 car R179's and not enough 5 car R179's, but now that's flip flopped, so some R211's will need to come in the 4 car variant. The problem with married pairs is all the extra cabs that are needed and take space away from passengers. I think a solution would be to have a cab design that's easily convertible between full and corner. When in use, it's a full cab, but it can be changed to a corner cab when not in use to allow more space for passengers.

Those would be good locations, though I'm not sure what the benefit is other than removing bus traffic from street level. It adds stairs that passengers have to go up and down to get to the subway. I'm not sure if this is planned, but it could allow for more service, or a restored that would go to Church Avenue and allow for more Culver express service.

I said extra trains would operate with full length trains from the . The normal 480 foot trains from the could be used to extend the to 168th. I wanted the to extend as far south as possible to maintain train service at as many station as possible. For Phase 2, I forgot to include that trains would be extended to New Lots and run local between Franklin Avenue and Crown Heights Utica Avenue.

Other cities don't have the local/express divide to worry about. All trains stop at every station. For the bus routes, they need to be evaluated case by case. I'm sure some routes get a lot of riders who are just transferring to the subway and that's it. Other routes might get more of a mix of riders in terms of their final destination. Not everyone is going to Manhattan. One thing I'd like to see is more locations where buses can stop within subway fare control. I think the only place it currently happens in NYC is Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway. At Harvard Square stop in Boston, the buses actually go underground to stop within the station. I'm not sure the cost or feasibility of doing something like that in Jamaica, Flushing, or any other large bus-subway hubs.

Originally the R211's were supposed to come in only 5 car sets, but now the Wikipedia article says that Option 2 will include some 4 car sets for use on the BMT Eastern Division. However, it does not include the exact breakdown. Does anyone know what it is, or why they decided they needed more 4 car sets? My guess is that they're planning to run the with 8 car, 480 foot trains after the goes full length. From my calculation, with the R143's, R160's, and R179's that are in 4 car sets, there isn't quite enough to do all that and have the appropriate spare ratio. With the current number of cars, the ratio would be 17% in that service pattern, but in a different thread, it was said that 27% is typically the goal. Alternatively, if the ran 600 foot trains, that would mean not as many 480 foot trains would be needed, so the R211's would only need to come in 5 car sets to maintain uniformity. I also wonder whether there's political pressure to get the newest cars on certain lines, and if the R211's were only in 5 car sets, they would not be able to go In the BMT Eastern Division at all. It also remains to be seen where the R211's enter service. With the R179's, they were given to routes that were still running R32's and R42's. If that continues, then the R211's would go to Coney Island and Pitkin which currently run R46's. That would be different than when the R160's came in and a lot of fleet swapping was done, so the lines with the cars being replaced didn't necessarily get the new cars.

The uses Coney Island Yard and the uses Concourse Yard, so not the same fleet. When the returns it's going to be a combination of 480 foot R179's and 600 foot R46's, but it was suggested that they might swap the remaining Siemens R160's in Coney Island Yard to 207th Street Yard. The Siemens R160's are 10 car 600 foot trains, so they could be used on either the or like the R46's do now. There's going to be trains of different lengths until the R211's come in, but as for whether the R211's run on the , it remains unknown. I do question why it would make sense to make the swap, since I don't see it making any yard completely uniform without creating non-uniformity elsewhere. And you're right, both lines already have NTT's with the R179's.

Signal Modernization NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS JULY 1ST 2020 TO JULY 1ST 2021 trains will be rerouted and or terminate in alternate locations to support the installation of Communications Based Train Control signaling on the line. Phase 1: 149th Street Grand Concourse to Times Square 42nd Street trains will operate in two sections between Van Cortlandt Park 242nd Street and 96th Street and between South Ferry and Times Square 42nd Street. trains will operate via the between 149th Street Grand Concourse and Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center. trains will operate every 20 minutes between New Lots Avenue and Times Square 42nd Street. trains will be extended to New Lots Avenue to provide additional service. 42nd Street will operate at all times. Extra service will operate using longer trains. Free shuttle buses will operate in two routes: Between 149th Street Grand Concourse and 96th Street , stopping at 145th Street, 135th Street, 125th Street, 116th Street, Central Park North 110th Street, 110th Street Cathedral Parkway , 96th Street , and 96th Street . Between 96th Street , and 59th Street Columbus Circle Phase 2: Times Square 42nd Street to Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center trains will operate between Van Cortlandt Park 242nd Street and Times Square 42nd Street only. trains will operate via the between 149th Street Grand Concourse and Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center. trains will operate between Harlem 148th Street and Times Square 42nd Street only. 42nd Street will operate at all times. Extra service will operate using longer trains. A free out of system transfer will be available between Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center and Lafayette Avenue . Free shuttle buses will operate between 149th Street Grand Concourse and 145th Street.

I like that idea. It would need to be clearly signed or people would forget to tap out and then get angry when they have to pay an extra fare. There are other places where such a transfer could be useful like 207th Street on the and , Queens Plaza and Queensboro Plaza, and 21st Street and Hunterspoint Avenue. These are areas where I don't think the cost of building an in-system transfer is justified, but it would expand the usefulness of the system to have the out of system transfer. There are still 2 areas where I think there should be an in-system transfer, like Hewes/Lorimer and Broadway, and Junius Street and Livonia Avenue.

I can't find any footage of an R46 train. I don't think the swap would be done to spare customers from the R46's since they'd just be running on other services instead. However, it is possible that Coney Island is better equipped to maintain them in their old age. I think it used to be (and maybe still is) that anything in 207th Street Yard ran on the while anything in Pitkin Yard ran on the , but when both lines are all full length, I could see it being a shared fleet between the two lines. It would be interesting to see Siemens R160's on the because they've never regularly run there before.

It happened as the R62's from the were transferred over, displaced by last R142's and R142A's that were delivered. Originally, the was supposed to get that last order, and I'm not sure why plans changed. I think it was somewhat sped up by 9/11 when the had to go to Brooklyn and the local, leaving a shortened as the only express service on 7th Ave.