news F train had most delay-causing incidents, according to Straphangers Campaign report

[Harry]

 

There's trouble on the tracks and the line — where a train derailed Friday — has the most problems, according to a report released Tuesday. There were nearly 4,000 equipment problems last year that prompted the to warn riders of delays via email or text message, according to the Straphangers Campaign report. That's a 35% increase from the 2,967 service alerts the Metropolitan Transportation Authority issued in 2011, according to the Straphangers Campaign report, which skipped 2012 because of all the problems caused by Superstorm Sandy. On the line, there were 326 delay-causing incidents last year involving equipment including trains, signals and tracks, the report said.

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[itmaybeokay]

35% increase in delays the year the line switched to mostly R46's. 

 

As a scientist - we can't assume the correlation implies causation. But if there was a corresponding decrease in delays on the that inherited much of the equipment normally on the that would be pretty telling. 

 

Edit: There sure isn't. The R's number of incidents went up even more. 

http://www.straphangers.org/alerts/14/Table_Three.pdf

 

But - this methodology is skewed. This analysis is of MTA-issued alerts, not actual incidents. One could infer that overall incidents have become more common, or one could infer they are being more diligent about posting alerts. 

[Orion V 9441]

Couldn't these numbers be inflated due to the fact that the train has a lot more train sets assigned to it than many of the other lines? I be that that may be the reason why the has the highest number of delays.

[YankeesPwnMets]

The is always a disaster. I prefer to just use the nowadays

[Around the Horn]

35% increase in delays the year the line switched to mostly R46's. 

 

As a scientist - we can't assume the correlation implies causation. But if there was a corresponding decrease in delays on the that inherited much of the equipment normally on the that would be pretty telling. 

 

Edit: There sure isn't. The R's number of incidents went up even more. 

http://www.straphangers.org/alerts/14/Table_Three.pdf

 

But - this methodology is skewed. This analysis is of MTA-issued alerts, not actual incidents. One could infer that overall incidents have become more common, or one could infer they are being more diligent about posting alerts. 

If it is counting alerts then the could be going up in alerts only because of Fix and Fortify alerts on the MTA website everyday.

[Priincenene]

The is always a disaster. I prefer to just use the nowadays

 

The or

[QM1to6Ave]

I don't trust those email alerts. Half the time when I've sat on a train in a 20 minute stall or delay, when I check my email there will never have been an alert sent out. And a lot of the alerts they send out have follow up emails saying everything was repaired 3 minutes later. This is a pretty lazy methodology for the straphangers campaign to use. 

[itmaybeokay]

I don't trust those email alerts. Half the time when I've sat on a train in a 20 minute stall or delay, when I check my email there will never have been an alert sent out. And a lot of the alerts they send out have follow up emails saying everything was repaired 3 minutes later. This is a pretty lazy methodology for the straphangers campaign to use.

 

In fairness, they do release an excel file with all the alerts they counted in it. I'm looking at that now and the follow up emails are counted under the original alert.

 

If it is counting alerts then the could be going up in alerts only because of Fix and Fortify alerts on the MTA website everyday.

 

I'm looking through the data and I don't think the Fix and Foritfy alerts are being counted. It is only unplanned changes. I certainly don't see them in there.

If any of you are also data nerds and would like an excel file containing every alert sent out in 2013 and 2011 - Here you go.

http://www.straphangers.org/alerts/14/11_13_delay_alerts.xlsx

 

[realizm]

I'm looking through the data and I don't think the Fix and Foritfy alerts are being counted. It is only unplanned changes. I certainly don't see them in there.

 

If any of you are also data nerds and would like an excel file containing every alert sent out in 2013 and 2011 - Here you go.

http://www.straphangers.org/alerts/14/11_13_delay_alerts.xlsx

 

 

Thoughts from a data nerd:

 

1) Looking through the spreadsheet what I am seeing is that the organization are factoring into their tally unplanned changes due to sick passengers or police activity. This has nothing to do with factors that causes delays such as smoke conditions, mechanical failures, switch problems, signal problems or rail conditions. I have no idea why the straphangers campaign is even tallying this in, it has nothing to do with route performance.

 

2) There is a degree of mechanical failures, higher than the norm, that I think is actually legitimate from what I saw on the spreadsheet attributed to the reassignment of R46's on the . For 2013, the overall MDBF of the R46's is 95,487. In comparision the MDBF for the R160's is at 463,015, pretty much the best performance out of all the rolling stock we have, not counting the R188's. So that makes sense. On that one this is starting to become as much a problem as with the R32's on the . The problem over this one being poor performance of rolling stock.

 

3) As for switch/signal problems up until Monday, the last time I looked at the mta.info site there were delays due to the interlocking @ Church Ave. We also have our share of misery on the because of the blasted Bergen Street interlocking mess. I'm also reading that there is a higher incidence of switch and signal problems throughout the entire 6th Ave Lcl/Queens Bvld Express route, especially in Queens it seems.

 

4) Of course tons of rail conditions between Queens Plaza and Jackson Heights. No need to go further there.

 

The only thing I question is why are they counting in insignificant data such as alerts due to police investigations or sick passengers?

 

Thats what I got out of the spreadsheet.

[Lance]

Data nerds unite. Thanks for the link to the raw data itmaybeokay. As realizm pointed out, this is just a list of alerts posted by the MTA, most of which contains delays and disruptions from outside forces like police investigations and sick customers, most of which cannot be caused or controlled by the MTA. If Straphangers wants to make a point of showing the number of service disruptions rising over the course of the past few years, they could've easily gone about this a bit more judiciously. If they wanted to prove that F trains break down more often than other lines, they could've just searched through their (very badly formatted) list of service disruptions for ones containing F and situations like mechanical problems, signal problems, etc. But this is exactly par for the course considering the source.

[Union Tpke]

My email is spammed with thousands of MTA alerts.

[Bill from Maspeth]

The F runs 44 trainsets in the rush, far more than any other line.  Not all delays are the fault of the equipment.  In the past year there have been an inordinate number of signal problems between Bergen and 18th Ave. as well equally affecting the G but it doesn't show because the G runs far less trains in a 24 hour period than the F.

[RollOver]

Giving how complex the B Division itself is, the can also get backed up by the , and . It all depends on whatever has (or had) happen on those three lines that the itself interacts with along its run, not to mention that it's the second longest line in the system, after the .

[Union Tpke]

Giving how complex the B Division itself is, the can also get backed up by the , and . It all depends on whatever has (or had) happen on those three lines that the itself interacts with along its run, not to mention that it's the second longest line in the system, after the .

Exactly, and I see you changed your account name, why?

[RollOver]

In my opinion, I didn't like "RollOverMyHead" and just decided to go with "RollOver" instead. The way I originally named my account sounds strange. You know what I mean.

[Union Tpke]

In my opinion, I didn't like "RollOverMyHead" and just decided to go with "RollOver" instead. The way I originally named my account sounds strange. You know what I mean.

Yup and I would never change mine because mine is the home station I hope to have for life!

[realizm]

The F runs 44 trainsets in the rush, far more than any other line.  Not all delays are the fault of the equipment.  In the past year there have been an inordinate number of signal problems between Bergen and 18th Ave. as well equally affecting the G but it doesn't show because the G runs far less trains in a 24 hour period than the F.

Ok I see what you are saying. Rolling stock's car performance would have only minimal impact on service. What the problem as you've stated really is are related to signal malfunctions @ Bergen Street, Church Avenue and 18th Ave. I was suspecting that as well, because on my end as a commuter all I see, where it relates to service alerts and/or personal experiences with delays in service, is a pattern alluding exactly to what you are revealing now.

[Union Tpke]

http://web.mta.info/capitaldashboard/allframenew_head.html?PROJNUM=t6080303&PLTYPE=1

Do you think that once that the Church Avenue Interlocking Modernization is completed that some of these problems would be alliviated.

Also, because of the fire at Bergen St weren't the signals replaced?