Byford vows to speed up trains, cutting 10,000 delays a month

[GojiMet86]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-andy-byford-signals-delays-20180720-story.html#

 

Quote

 

Byford vows to speed up trains, cutting 10,000 delays a month

By DAN RIVOLI| TRANSIT REPORTER |JUL 22, 2018 | 10:00 AM

 

The dead stops, the fits and starts, the slow downs are all rage-inducing realities of subway service that NYC Transit President Andy Byford vows to stop with a simple aim: to get 10,000 trains to their last stop, on time, with no delay.

In an interview with the Daily News at MTA headquarters in lower Manhattan, Byford outlined his plan to keep subways running smoothly through tunnels, without trains bunching up and running with wide gaps.

The challenges are significant. In June, there were nearly 2,700 trains delayed each weekday and nearly 72,500 a month. A third of trains fail to make it to the last stop on time.

“I really want customers to notice a difference, tangible difference, by year end,” Byford asserted. “Preferably before, but by year end.”

For subway salvation, NYC Transit needs to complete its intense repair program — the $836 million Subway Action Plan — and enact the Fast Forward plan, a multibillion-dollar, decade-long transformation of the system and its decades-old signals, Byford said.

But for riders, the problems are urgent — including major disruptions before the start of the morning and evening rush hours, and unreliable service, even after the short-term repair blitz launched last summer.

The way transit officials see it, the Subway Action Plan is working, slowly but surely: There are fewer track fires, cars break down less often and malfunctions fixed sooner. There were 62 major disruptions in June, a quarter fewer than the June 2017.

“We’ve arrested the decline,” NYC Transit’s subway chief Sally Librera said in the interview.

In the meantime, Byford has some new strategies to keep the trains moving.

For example, NYC Transit is now identifying 20 areas where signal timers - devices that make trains slow down to a certain point to clear them - affect service the most.

The News learned of seven locations officials are considering. They’re mostly along the 4 and 5 lines - between the Bronx and Manhattan, 14th St. through Bowling Green, and Franklin Ave. to Atlantic-Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The rest of the locations are in Brooklyn, on the A and C lines from Jay St.-MetroTech to Hoyt-Schermerhorn, and the J, M and Z lines from Hewes St. to Bowery on the Lower East Side.

Signal timers were first installed after a 1995 Williamsburg Bridge crash in which a Manhattan-bound J train slammed into the back of an M train, killing the operator and injuring dozens of people. And in the years since, more signal timers were added, even in places that made little sense to train operators. As a result, trains wound up running further apart, especially on the Nos. 4 and 5 line.

“What really jams those trains up is the one-shot timer in the middle of Atlantic,” a five-year veteran operator said about the Franklin Ave.-Atlantic Ave.-Barclays Center run. “I’m not even sure why that’s there.”

The operator said he has to slow down to about 15 mph for a signal that should clear at 20 mph, and ““For me, it creates an experience where my speeds are changing drastically, which messes up the train flow.”

Byford’s plan will start with basics - they’ve surveyed the subway and are making sure signal timers are cleaned of dirt and grime and functioning properly.

“Ultimately, the operators have to have confidence that if they drive at a certain speed the signal will clear,” Byford said. “Otherwise they will totally, understandably, creep towards them.”

Transit officials will also make sure trains start on time — with crews in the right place at the right time, preventing trains from sitting in the station longer than necessary. Transit officials are also thinking about installing a countdown clock for train operators so they can maintain speeds.

NYC Transit officials want to test out the new strategies on a couple of lines this fall.

“The train plan is based around set run times between stations, that if everything works perfectly, the trains shouldn’t need to stop other than at the station,” Byford said.

Transit brass stressed nothing will be done without consultation with the Transport Workers Union Local 100.

Zachary Arcidiacono, the chair of train operators at TWU, said train crews recognize that trains have slowed down — and that it means angrier riders and train operators who get less time to grab lunch or take a bathroom break.

“Anything with more precision and information for the operator is going to be helpful for us to operate accordingly,” he said.

“The more signals that you throw up, the more caution you throw into operations,” he added, noting the MTA’s reputation for stiff discpline on operators who blow past signals. “You’re having people operate in the culture of fear, you’re gonna get slower trains.”

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said “we’re all for it” as long as there’s no effort to cut back on safety.

Byford acknowledged train crews have “expressed frustration” about impediments to doing their job right.

“I’ve had train crews, because I regularly do cab rides, who are quite frustrated about this,” he said.

 

 

[Union Tpke]

@GojiMet86

Remember. A year ago we had top NYCT brass saying the following:

Quote

Hakim and other officials say the priority has to be safety, but critics wonder if they value safety to a fault.

Soon after taking over NYC Transit in 2015, Hakim spotted a Department of Subways poster that read: Safety, Service, Speed, and Smiles.

"Why is speed on there?" she wanted to know.

Asked about that later, Hakim said, "It would concern me that people would feel pressure to be faster rather than to be safer."

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-ignoring-abysmal-on-time-performance-subway-trains-article-1.3184544

We have come a long way.

[Trainmaster5]

43 minutes ago, Union Tpke said:

@GojiMet86

Remember. A year ago we had top NYCT brass saying the following:

We have come a long way.

We were taught " in a SAFE and timely manner" as far as operation was concerned. Offhand I can't think of a US transportation entity that would emphasize speed over safety, at least publicly. Just sayin'.  Man told me years ago that the R in BRT and IRT was relative. Rapid as opposed to walking or horse drawn. Ask any current or former Surface or Subway employee what happens to the " speed kings ".

[Deucey]

1 hour ago, Union Tpke said:

@GojiMet86

Remember. A year ago we had top NYCT brass saying the following:

We have come a long way.

We'll be further along when she's left the agency.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

17 hours ago, Deucey said:

We'll be further along when she's left the agency.

Didn't you know she's considered a God in the transportation world? 

[Deucey]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Didn't you know she's considered a God in the transportation world? 

Given how many folks love God but ignore everything he says, I'm not surprised.

[CenSin]

2 hours ago, Deucey said:

Given how many folks love God but ignore everything he says, I'm not surprised.

I’m afraid that I’m a heathen. I am entirely ignorant about Hakim.

[Edwards]

Would definitely love to ride faster trains.

The newer subway cars Are able to at least get to 55 on level track. 

Field shunting...we miss you. 

[NewFlyer 230]

I'm looking forward to seeing less delays and faster service. I wonder if there is a timer before Sutphin Blvd-Archer Ave JFK airport on the  line because trains slow down and sometimes even stop before proceeding into the station on the Jamaica Center bound track. If so I don't think it should even be there because it seems to serve no purpose.

[MTA Bus]

14 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I'm looking forward to seeing less delays and faster service. I wonder if there is a timer before Sutphin Blvd-Archer Ave JFK airport on the  line because trains slow down and sometimes even stop before proceeding into the station on the Jamaica Center bound track. If so I don't think it should even be there because it seems to serve no purpose.

That is a timer. It's annoying tbh, but i think it's because of he downgrade.

[itmaybeokay]

On 7/22/2018 at 4:55 PM, GojiMet86 said:

Byford’s plan will start with basics - they’ve surveyed the subway and are making sure signal timers are cleaned of dirt and grime and functioning properly.

So I know the timers were originally physical clockwork timers (not unlike old traffic light controllers that would make the distinctive "kaCHUNK" when the light cycled) - but I had imagined that these would have been replaced with solid state systems. 

I know I know old analog signals but - we're talking about closing a relay here. Even if I'm ultimately just using a MOSFET to translate logic level to something that will close the original relay - the timer can be done solid state. For like $200 In the same physical space that the mechanical timer took up I could have 3 discrete, redundant solid-state timer circuits with TXCO oscillators running the clocks that would be - and would always be, accurate within 10ms over the timer interval. Hell - it could radio in if it has a problem. 

I bet the thinking is like "why bother we'll have CBTC soon enough" but - no we won't. Having accurate solid state timers would really smooth out the transition. 

 

Edit: Alstom makes a drop-in replacement so - damn. 

http://docplayer.net/46175216-Microchron-ii-timer-relays.html