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2 hours ago, Union Tpke said:

it is at 6th ave on the l

They should have done this at Union Square. People on coming down the stairs from the Broadway platforms are always piling on top of each other on the Canarsie platform. The stairs are not arranged optimally for passenger flow. The platform screen doors would act as a safety measure for possibly the most crowded (L) station in Manhattan.

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9 hours ago, 78 via Stew Leonards said:

The different fleets gave some lines their own identity

Exactly. For years, the (C) was known as the line with the busted trains. With the A1s now representing about half the line's fleet, it lost a bit of its identity there.

2 hours ago, CenSin said:

They should have done this at Union Square. People on coming down the stairs from the Broadway platforms are always piling on top of each other on the Canarsie platform. The stairs are not arranged optimally for passenger flow. The platform screen doors would act as a safety measure for possibly the most crowded (L) station in Manhattan.

They probably want to test it in a more manageable setting before putting it to the test at a station like Union Square.

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10 hours ago, 78 via Stew Leonards said:

These newbies lack the speed of the classics. The different fleets gave some lines their own identity

Also FWIW the NTTs accelerate faster than the SMEEs. They just feel slower because they have functioning suspension. 

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1 hour ago, RR503 said:

Also FWIW the NTTs accelerate faster than the SMEEs. They just feel slower because they have functioning suspension. 

This is especially true of the R46s, which only feel fast on some stretches because they sway horribly.

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19 hours ago, CTK246 said:

What’s this I’m hearing about a platform screen door pilot at 3 Av?

Fun fact: in a way, the first station with platform screens was the south ferry inner loop. 

See: https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?44170

The curve there was too sharp for all doors to platform safely, so conductors opened just the middle door in every car. 

Edited by RR503
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8 hours ago, VIP said:

Spotted the “Cuomo Scheme” R160 on the (L) 8325-8328 & 8337 and Friends. That wrap isn’t permanent is it? 

It's a test for now, so the wraps will be there indefinitely (or until Emperor Cuomo goes for something else).
 

27 minutes ago, RR503 said:

Fun fact: in a way, the first station with platform screens was the south ferry inner loop. 

See: https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?44170

The curve there was too sharp for all doors to platform safely, so conductors opened just the middle door in every car. 

Interesting that it was actually a wall.  While it hasn't been used in decades, how long exactly did it take for the conductor to open each of the doors?

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I've been sitting around looking at subway delays for most of the year and I have a general question for everyone out there. There are threads about car equipment, present and future. This also applies to what I call the cosmetics which includes FIND and countdown clocks IMO. It's my opinion that the number one priority throughout the system should be tracks and signals, period. It seems to be senseless, at least in my opinion, to worry about the age of R32's, 62's, 68's, NTT's today or in the future when the infrastructure is slowly crumbling. While the MDBF of the older classes and some newer ones leave a lot to be desired if the signals and trackage and switches are in a state of disrepair why would people be advocating for the introduction of newer, more costly equipment to run on the present day system? I'd be an idiot to buy a new 'Vette or Bentley to drive down a potholed, dirt road so why this clamor for the introduction of new fleets of cars? There are threads about fleet swaps, re-activating unused ROWs, bypasses and the like but, IMO, wouldn't it make more sense to bring the existing plant up to a state of good repair first? Maybe my RTO folks would understand my little rant more than the average poster but I'll make my point as simple as I can. That R179, R188, or R211 with the FIND, sitting at the newly renovated station with the countdown clocks, ain't coming because of switch or signal problems with the crumbling infrastructure. Just my opinion though. Carry on.

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7 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I've been sitting around looking at subway delays for most of the year and I have a general question for everyone out there. There are threads about car equipment, present and future. This also applies to what I call the cosmetics which includes FIND and countdown clocks IMO. It's my opinion that the number one priority throughout the system should be tracks and signals, period. It seems to be senseless, at least in my opinion, to worry about the age of R32's, 62's, 68's, NTT's today or in the future when the infrastructure is slowly crumbling. While the MDBF of the older classes and some newer ones leave a lot to be desired if the signals and trackage and switches are in a state of disrepair why would people be advocating for the introduction of newer, more costly equipment to run on the present day system? I'd be an idiot to buy a new 'Vette or Bentley to drive down a potholed, dirt road so why this clamor for the introduction of new fleets of cars? There are threads about fleet swaps, re-activating unused ROWs, bypasses and the like but, IMO, wouldn't it make more sense to bring the existing plant up to a state of good repair first? Maybe my RTO folks would understand my little rant more than the average poster but I'll make my point as simple as I can. That R179, R188, or R211 with the FIND, sitting at the newly renovated station with the countdown clocks, ain't coming because of switch or signal problems with the crumbling infrastructure. Just my opinion though. Carry on.

1

Make's perfect sense what other way is there really to view it all infrastructure is key. Foundation of it all.  I don't really see how the MTA is going to ever really get a handle on anything. There really fighting a war on two fronts 1st being infrastructure as you stated, the second being scaling capacity and expansion. Infrastructure would take priority slightly but with the population swelling the MTA honestly, has to do both at the same time if they want to keep their operation and railroad moving. Just a no win uphill battle when no one understands the correlation of importance to fund transit properly. It's going to get worse before it gets better IMO. Maybe it all needs to crumble for the powers that be to understand. "You never miss the well until it runs dry." That's the saying.     

Edited by RailRunRob
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I hear this one a lot from people here and on other forums. However, these issues are not separate from each other, but rather two sides of the same coin. Just as poor infrastructure prevents trains from moving as they should, so do trains that don't work well due to age or a lack of maintenance. The fact of the matter is, trains like the 32s and 42s are old and their age is showing in their inability to remain in service with their newer counterparts. Also, as the population grows and more riders use the subway, we will need an influx of new cars to meet the increased demand, more so as the older fleets get older. Also, while the bells and whistles like the FINDs and other add-ons seem superfluous when there are so many issues plaguing the system, they serve a purpose for the general riding public. People want information on their trains and they want them in an easy to digest format. This isn't the bad old days where people will accept the bare minimum simply because a train actually showed up.

That actually leads into my next point, which are the various station improvements under the ESI and similar programs. Yes, there are some things that really should not be included in these station redesigns, like the ever popular USB ports that Cuomo obviously just found out exist, but a lot of the other additions and changes do serve a purpose. Those countdown clocks are a vital necessity these days if I do say so myself. For far too long, riders have had to peer down the tunnel and wait an unknown amount of time for their train, especially outside of the normal hours of operation. With those new clocks, not only do riders have up to the minute knowledge of when their train is coming, it also gives the MTA the information it needs to better schedule some of these lines to better serve the riding public. As for the other flashy elements in the upgraded stations, like the ubiquity of the digital displays scattered about, these can be used to convey useful information when the system is FUBARed, as is wont to happen, as well as generate much needed revenue for the MTA through advertisements.

Many people, myself included, bemoan the lack of investment in keeping the infrastructure, the parts of the subway most riders don't see, in good condition. However, we also need to focus on the parts that riders do see, which are the stations and trains. This is not an issue of one or the other. We need both aspects to be brought into the 21st century.

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18 minutes ago, Lance said:

I hear this one a lot from people here and on other forums. However, these issues are not separate from each other, but rather two sides of the same coin. Just as poor infrastructure prevents trains from moving as they should, so do trains that don't work well due to age or a lack of maintenance. The fact of the matter is, trains like the 32s and 42s are old and their age is showing in their inability to remain in service with their newer counterparts. Also, as the population grows and more riders use the subway, we will need an influx of new cars to meet the increased demand, more so as the older fleets get older. Also, while the bells and whistles like the FINDs and other add-ons seem superfluous when there are so many issues plaguing the system, they serve a purpose for the general riding public. People want information on their trains and they want them in an easy to digest format. This isn't the bad old days where people will accept the bare minimum simply because a train actually showed up.

That actually leads into my next point, which are the various station improvements under the ESI and similar programs. Yes, there are some things that really should not be included in these station redesigns, like the ever popular USB ports that Cuomo obviously just found out exist, but a lot of the other additions and changes do serve a purpose. Those countdown clocks are a vital necessity these days if I do say so myself. For far too long, riders have had to peer down the tunnel and wait an unknown amount of time for their train, especially outside of the normal hours of operation. With those new clocks, not only do riders have up to the minute knowledge of when their train is coming, it also gives the MTA the information it needs to better schedule some of these lines to better serve the riding public. As for the other flashy elements in the upgraded stations, like the ubiquity of the digital displays scattered about, these can be used to convey useful information when the system is FUBARed, as is wont to happen, as well as generate much needed revenue for the MTA through advertisements.

Many people, myself included, bemoan the lack of investment in keeping the infrastructure, the parts of the subway most riders don't see, in good condition. However, we also need to focus on the parts that riders do see, which are the stations and trains. This is not an issue of one or the other. We need both aspects to be brought into the 21st century.

Great point! Sometimes you have to start with you do have control over at the moment. The visual communication does enhance the experience quite a bit I agree.

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39 minutes ago, Lance said:

Yes, there are some things that really should not be included in these station redesigns, like the ever popular USB ports that Cuomo obviously just found out exist, but a lot of the other additions and changes do serve a purpose.

If these will be USB-A ports, I’m going to shake my head. USB-C will soon be on the cusp of taking over.

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59 minutes ago, CenSin said:

If these will be USB-A ports, I’m going to shake my head. USB-C will soon be on the cusp of taking over.

That is one of the lowest priorities at the moment.  And AFAIK, all USB ports throughout the system (and on buses) are USB-A.
 

To add on to the other problems of car equipment, the older cars don't have as much capacity as the newer cars (especially the 75' cars).  The R211 cars, in addition to the open gangway test train, will have significantly wider doors.  Poor communication is also a big cause of delays.  I've been on trains (even newer ones with clearer announcements) on the weekends, where trains will remain in the station for two minutes because the conductor is explaining to everyone about alternatives and such.  Each of these problems in aggregate add up to the massive delays with our subway system.

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10 hours ago, Trainmaster5 said:

I've been sitting around looking at subway delays for most of the year and I have a general question for everyone out there. There are threads about car equipment, present and future. This also applies to what I call the cosmetics which includes FIND and countdown clocks IMO. It's my opinion that the number one priority throughout the system should be tracks and signals, period. It seems to be senseless, at least in my opinion, to worry about the age of R32's, 62's, 68's, NTT's today or in the future when the infrastructure is slowly crumbling. While the MDBF of the older classes and some newer ones leave a lot to be desired if the signals and trackage and switches are in a state of disrepair why would people be advocating for the introduction of newer, more costly equipment to run on the present day system? I'd be an idiot to buy a new 'Vette or Bentley to drive down a potholed, dirt road so why this clamor for the introduction of new fleets of cars? There are threads about fleet swaps, re-activating unused ROWs, bypasses and the like but, IMO, wouldn't it make more sense to bring the existing plant up to a state of good repair first? Maybe my RTO folks would understand my little rant more than the average poster but I'll make my point as simple as I can. That R179, R188, or R211 with the FIND, sitting at the newly renovated station with the countdown clocks, ain't coming because of switch or signal problems with the crumbling infrastructure. Just my opinion though. Carry on.

I do agree that wrapping cars and the "cuomofied station initiative" are utter wastes of time - but I would argue that rolling stock is as important as tracks and signals. 

Just as it is senseless to buy a new Bentley to drive down a potholed dirt road, it's senseless to eschew the vehicular upgrades, repave the road to autobahn standards, and expect a 50 year old jalopy to perform admirably. 

The road, the signals, and the rolling stock must all be working in good order. Since car replacement is, seemingly unavoidably, a lengthy proposition, I would argue it is important they continue working on that as they simultaneously work to maintain and update the physical plant. 

I'm not saying the cars are of greater importance at all, but they're of comparable importance. 

To a lesser extent, realtime data - not per-se the platform clocks, but the data feeds, are a somewhat important stop-gap measure. Before I leave home or before I leave work, I can check my phone and see if there's a huge gap, or a conga line, which would indicate a problem with more granularity than a service alert. I agree that probably not everyone uses the realtime data like I do and it might be a leap for plently to make the kind of logical leaps but - well - assuming they are working to simultaneously maintain and update the plant, the real-time data is useful in the interim and will be useful going forward. 

I'm in full agreement that the #1 priority should be tracks and signals though. 

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2 hours ago, Calvin said:

Wasn't there a plan to put wifi on the NYC subway cars?

Was definitely talk about it during the MTA's challenge event this summer. Not just for the cars but also possible signaling infrastructures. I talked to few MTA folks about Mesh Networking, repeaters, and existing RF/wireless frequencies.  We submitted some ideas around it. I'm sure we weren't the only ones. Id bet it's coming at some point. 

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2 hours ago, VIP said:

Why is it that Coney Island keeps getting more of Jamaica’s R160’s...  I’m aware of the swap because of the Cuomo overhaul but 1 set for 2 sets doesn’t seem fair. 

It's not one set for two sets, plus I'm sure there are sets in the shop as we speak.  And some of the Cuomo sets are CI sets, some are Jamaica sets.

FWIW, I spotted 9123-9127+9203-9207 on the E this morning.

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3 hours ago, Bosco said:

It's not one set for two sets, plus I'm sure there are sets in the shop as we speak.  And some of the Cuomo sets are CI sets, some are Jamaica sets.

FWIW, I spotted 9123-9127+9203-9207 on the E this morning.

This makes no sense. Jamaica is getting the Cuomo Sets that were From Coney Island Yard and yet Jamaica is donating R160s to Coney Island to make up for it. Why not just retrofit Jamaica’s R160s?

 

note, 8838-8842 also seen moving via the (G) line towards Jamaica Yard

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7 minutes ago, Ntrainfave said:

About how many trains are there on the (Q) and (N)(W) lines as of now? And about how many of those are R68/68a ?

I would say about 210 R160s on the (Q)

280 R160s on the (N)(W) and 40 R68/68A 

(24 on the (W) and 16 on the (N) )

 

40 of the R160s being from Jamaica (9252-9248-9268-9272, 9463-9467/9482-9478, 9448-9452-9468-9472) if I recall correctly 

Edited by darkstar8983
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