R10 2952

Shame about it being cut down to 8 cars from 10, though.  All because of a pair of stupid vandals, sheesh.

Say what you all will, but I still think sending the Second Avenue Line into the Bronx is a higher priority.  Compared to SAS, or the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel for that matter, this Triboro RX proposal is lower down on the priority list as far as I'm concerned.  I take it about as seriously as deBozo's half-baked plan to put a Brooklyn-Queens streetcar in from a few years ago.

God forbid anyone should have a contrary opinion around here...

I can see how having the QM24 going from the LIE via Flushing Avenue to Fresh Pond Road could cause problems for the Eliot Avenue riders, but if anything, sending it off the LIE via 69th Street to Eliot Ave would be a reasonable compromise, in my opinion.  Having it go out to Woodhaven Boulevard and then backtracking is too big of a detour.

27 minutes ago, Lex said:

I'm not getting this jealousy of the Bronx not getting priority for Second Avenue, especially since Queens has far worse rail-based coverage.

You're not getting it, as you say, because you apparently see Triboro RX as a viable plan that the MTA can offload yet-to-be fully determined cash into, whereas I see Triboro RX as unrealistic pie-in-the-sky.

Although there are exceptions, most people in Hunt's Point, West Farms and Parkchester are trying to get to Midtown and below; not Glendale or Flatlands.  I grew up across the street from the Bay Ridge Branch in Middle Village- much of nobody was clamoring for light rail along a north/south freight secondary that would either get them to derelict factories in Mott Haven on one end or abandoned warehouses in Sunset Park on the other.

With this whole TriboroRX thing, there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between the transit planners and enthusiasts, versus the everyday people who live along the Bay Ridge Branch.  Go to communities along the line like Ridgewood or Midwood, and ask them if this thing is a priority on their list compared to say, restoring LIRR commuter rail service on the Rockaway or Lower Montauk branches.

Better yet, ask the folks up in Crotona Park or Claremont whether they'd rather have a subway to Manhattan, or a dinky rail shuttle to West Elmhurst.  A misplaced priority is a misplaced priority, that's how I see it.

8 hours ago, Mtatransit said:

I would argue that the Triboro Express will help more people per mile spent than the Bronx SAS. Not saying that the Bronx SAS is not feasible or anything, its just that this will have a quicker impact to commuters than waiting 100 years for the MTA to break ground into the Bronx.

Plus it gives Brooklyn and Queens something they don't have currently, a east-west train line in Brooklyn and a north-south train in Queens

Not really, it would just be giving the proverbial finger to Bronx riders who lost out when the Third Avenue El came down in 1973.  First things first.  Central Bronx residents don't deserve to see the can kicked down the road (yet again) in favor of some glorified light-rail, de facto streetcar to Nowheresvilles in Brooklyn and Queens.

I grew up in Queens near the Bay Ridge Branch before I lived in the Bronx.  I could see them improving freight service, by building the long-proposed Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel from Bay Ridge to Greenville Yard in New Jersey, or the North Shore Branch on Staten Island.  And maybe throw in a rush-hour LIRR passenger trip or two like used to be done on the Lower Montauk Branch. 

But Tribroro RX as-is, is an enthusiast's pipe dream compared to getting SAS done.  Especially when funds are as scarce as they currently are; money will get even harder to come by if and when the GOP retakes Congress 10 months from now. 

11 minutes ago, Mtatransit said:

Don't underestimate the MTA though, it will still cost 10 billion dollars

That's exactly my point.  The financial revenue projections are currently very scarce, and they will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.  They're not going to be able to simultaneously have their cake and eat it at the same time.  Decisions will have to be made, things will have to be prioritized, and frankly SAS to the Bronx will always be a higher priority.

@BM5 via Woodhaven@QM1to6Ave Yeah, between the Santa-Con trustfund kids, the hipster doofuses on the Holiday Train, and the yuppies doing the No-Pants Ride, I never had any patience for any of the tomfoolery.

It was almost always the typical story of 'rich kids from the suburbs move to NY, price everybody else out of Manhattan, then do dumb college-type shenanigans treating the city like their personal playground'.  

I'd rather see them finish SAS to the Bronx and Brooklyn first.  We all know this agency can't multitask for jack shit.

1 hour ago, MHV9218 said:

It's funny, I've heard a lot of tell about high, high-up projects with a number of agencies involved all going to shit because.... everybody hates the people at the AMTRAK and finds them impossible to deal with.  Seems like that managerial/executive apple is rotten to the core.

Oh yes.  The  may be rife with corruption, cronyism, nepotism, favoritism, siloing, and arbitrary decisionmaking at the expense of front-line workers (feel free to fill in any blanks I missed), but the entity that is  takes it to an exponential level.  The MTA on serious steroids, basically.  Reading various accounts, I was blown away by how off the charts Amtrak is in that regard- the real salt on the wound is that apparently, they've been that way since the inception in 1971.

Makes me wonder what a managerial maelstrom Conrail must have been...

Here's a random thought:

Lot of talk is brought up every now and then about how bad the MTA is in terms of toxic management and organizational practices, both by employees/retirees and outsiders alike.  Generally, I agree with much of what has been said in this regard, but with one caveat.

Been reading various materials last few weeks about the inner workings of Amtrak, and let me just say- the nasty folks who run the executive and white-collar side of things at AMTRAK, make the MTA seem sweeter than a children's carnival.  You all would be impressed how messed up the supervisory culture is at Amtrak, oh boy...

"A 28-year-old man died when he jumped a subway turnstile in Queens on Sunday and broke his neck landing on the cement floor, cops said."

https://nypost.com/2022/01/02/man-fatally-hits-head-jumping-nyc-subway-turnstile/

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

4 hours ago, Transit Enthusiast said:

That's why I predict that in the midterms, a lot of people are gonna be voting red this time around.

2 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I’ve said the same thing since day one. A lot of people especially the ones running stuff simply don’t understand human nature. You will never get 100% cooperation because we are people with unique life experiences and thoughts so there is always room for some type of disagreement. That’s why I personally don’t get upset or even care when I see people not following the mask rules on the trains/buses because I understand that people will still do what they want to do at the end of the day. Shoot I still see the NYPD and plenty of people who work for the MTA violating mask rules so that should be a clear indication that people are ready to move on.

Pretty much.  I don't like the current Republicans, but I also don't like the current Democrats.  One thing the Dems have completely failed to grasp in the last few months is that at the end of the day, red or blue, conservative or liberal, nobody likes being endlessly micromanaged.  Not on the job, not at home, not anywhere.

That said, I don't think the GOP's constant culture-war-mongering is the answer, either.  

On 12/29/2021 at 7:43 PM, trainfan22 said:

Their Cummins engines made them unique compared to NYC Orion Vs which were powered by Series 50.

Facts.  I would even go further and say I actually preferred the Cummins O5s by a long shot- much smoother and quieter. 

Is the train going back to 10 cars, or are they keeping it at 8?

2 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

Somewhere somebody at 2 Broadway is yelling "preventable!" Damn though. Reminds me of the risk the TA runs these days with the hybrids through the Transverse. Yeah, you can clear 11' or so by sticking to the yellow lines, but still wonder, if a bus ever had to swerve to the edge and nicked into the tighter clearance? Risky business. That ship has sailed obviously but I never quite got why they decided to throw caution to the window once the RTSes were out.

Between the clearance issues on the newer buses, and the seating issues on the express buses, somebody at MTA HQ really needs to take a second look at the specs.  Seems like their last few orders have been a tad counterproductive, to say the least.

Next thing they'll be ordering Gilligs.  Or even Blue Birds lmao...

They weren't able to find another pair to make a full 10-car set? Or was this simply their way of being punitive with the foamers? 

@553 Bridgeton Shame the higher-ups at NJT chose to permanently disable such a useful feature, instead of just reworking training procedures.  They'll do anything to penalize the front-line, instead of admitting their own mistakes.

On 12/12/2021 at 3:01 PM, Jsunflyguy said:

Didn't MN spend generations bypassing city stops, Harlem 125 in particular to avoid servicing 'city people'?

At first I thought you meant Fordham, but now I'm thinking that might've been the old railroad stop at 138th-GC on the Bronx side.  Closed sometime in the '70s.

Only other stop around there I know of that currently sees very little service is Melrose. 

7 hours ago, 553 Bridgeton said:

I believe it should be a ticket event, this is how you weed out nonsense. I remember back in the day you had to pay to ride those trips.

Bingo, this is what the dudes who are actually involved with transit preservation have been saying for years.  They were right 10 years ago, and they're right now.

Only way to weed out the freeloading, troublemaking, man-child losers who f**k shit up for all the rest.

Sell them the R32s LMAO...

2 hours ago, MHV9218 said:

Really a shame to see all of the cars go out like this. At least leave one of them, especially seeing some of the interiors are in tact. Those interiors were designed by Massimo Vignelli and have major design significance. Agree that they should be at the NYTM. They could have easily used a 62A or R134 for the extra pump car in the set, given that these cars are getting a full reconstruction. 

Yeah, if they at least decided to convert the R130 A-units to some sort of work motors, I could understand.  But gutting them and turning them into pump trailers? Seems like somebody at 2 Broadway or 130 Livingston just didn't give a crap.

Watch them screw with the R131s next, for all we know.

7 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

It was there, Mangano kept taking part of their funding away every year, to a point where they were proposing that some routes would run hourly/bi-hourly. Him largely being anti-transit didn't make things any better.

When he was in court, it was said that he used funding from NICE to fund his own personal pet projects, even took away funding for fixing the roads. He clearly was not for the people(except those that were in his circle).

Sadly, Mangano was probably the tip of the iceberg when it comes to suburban politicians who are simultaneously anti-transit and corrupt.

If flies on the wall could talk, they'd probably have much to say not just about Nassau County, but also Suffolk, Westchester, NJ, CT, Massachusetts and beyond...

Either it's a simple-minded HOV scam, or he's getting rocks off with that thing during work hours.

At this point, who knows.

7 hours ago, BM5 via Woodhaven said:

I'm absolutely sure most of the other Queens folks (and those who also rely on buses in Queens) here have major gripes about the proposed network too. 

Former Middle Village native here- can confirm the proposed redesign for the neighborhood sucked balls.

Nobody saw this coming, eh?

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.