SUBWAY - Random Thoughts Topic

[Lex]

2 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Why has the  not attempted to restart the ability to offer high-speed service on the subway? The R211's being designed for only 55 MPH while the R44's reached 77 MPH is embarrassing. 

How many places in the subway would even benefit from that? Even if you were to manage full deinterlining, you'd still have switches, curves, and stations to deal with, to say nothing of potentially higher frequencies. Higher speeds come with longer stopping distances and greater wear, two things you especially want to limit on a metro/subway line/system.

[Lawrence St]

1 hour ago, Lex said:

How many places in the subway would even benefit from that? Even if you were to manage full deinterlining, you'd still have switches, curves, and stations to deal with, to say nothing of potentially higher frequencies. Higher speeds come with longer stopping distances and greater wear, two things you especially want to limit on a metro/subway line/system.

I can think of three, CPW Express, QBL Express (after 36th St), and Lex Express.

[MTA Dude]

6 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

I can think of three, CPW Express, QBL Express (after 36th St), and Lex Express.

Do any of them even come close to 55mph for any extended period of time? Even then, you'd shave off like, what, half a minute? And only outside of rush hours because otherwise the high frequencies cause bottlenecks entering the stations anyway.

[darkstar8983]

6 hours ago, MTA Dude said:

Do any of them even come close to 55mph for any extended period of time? Even then, you'd shave off like, what, half a minute? And only outside of rush hours because otherwise the high frequencies cause bottlenecks entering the stations anyway.

The only sections of track I’ve seen trains exceed 45 MPH are the Broadway Express section of the  between 96 St and Times Sq-42 St, the 60 St tunnel for Queens bound  trains.

[B35 via Church]

15 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

16 hours ago, Lex said:

20 hours ago, Lawrence St said:

Why has the  not attempted to restart the ability to offer high-speed service on the subway? The R211's being designed for only 55 MPH while the R44's reached 77 MPH is embarrassing

How many places in the subway would even benefit from that?

I can think of three, CPW Express, QBL Express (after 36th St), and Lex Express.

Even if we're theoretically speaking, I wouldn't put the Lex express on this list.... 59th & 86th are nothing at all to scoff at.

[Chris89292]

3 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

The only sections of track I’ve seen trains exceed 45 MPH are the Broadway Express section of the  between 96 St and Times Sq-42 St, the 60 St tunnel for Queens bound  trains.

I feel like the speed on the 60th street tunnel is beyond 60 MPH, It feels like it goes 80 MPH sarcastically, the R46’s go super fast

[ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ]

1 hour ago, Chris89292 said:

I feel like the speed on the 60th street tunnel is beyond 60 MPH, It feels like it goes 80 MPH sarcastically, the R46’s go super fast

I think it's in part because the R46s are older and therefore a bit "bumpier" and more metallic clanging, which gives the illusion of going faster than you are.

That's also why on SAS, it often feels like the  is going slower than it really is, because the tracks are reinforced to be quieter so you can't use sound or janky movement as a reference for speed.

[ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ]

11 hours ago, MTA Dude said:

Do any of them even come close to 55mph for any extended period of time? Even then, you'd shave off like, what, half a minute? And only outside of rush hours because otherwise the high frequencies cause bottlenecks entering the stations anyway.

Go to Roosevelt Av station in Queens. In a normal rush hour, the  and  are timed well and enter and leave the station at very high speeds. I think for Manhattan bound  and  trains, train spacing is already dealt with by the time they get to Forest Hills, so they are able to travel at high speeds for the rest of the journey into the city. Another advantage is that in normal times when the  uses 63rd, it doesn't have to worry about merging with anything new when the  and  diverge. Furthermore, if the  has to wait for an  train going into 53rd, the  can still go ahead into 63rd.

[JustTheSIR]

21 minutes ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

Go to Roosevelt Av station in Queens. In a normal rush hour, the  and  are timed well and enter and leave the station at very high speeds. I think for Manhattan bound  and  trains, train spacing is already dealt with by the time they get to Forest Hills, so they are able to travel at high speeds for the rest of the journey into the city. Another advantage is that in normal times when the  uses 63rd, it doesn't have to worry about merging with anything new when the  and  diverge. Furthermore, if the  has to wait for an  train going into 53rd, the  can still go ahead into 63rd.

The problem with Forest Hills is the switch between it and 75th where they diverge

[MTA Dude]

6 minutes ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

Go to Roosevelt Av station in Queens. In a normal rush hour, the  and  are timed well and enter and leave the station at very high speeds. I think for Manhattan bound  and  trains, train spacing is already dealt with by the time they get to Forest Hills, so they are able to travel at high speeds for the rest of the journey into the city. Another advantage is that in normal times when the  uses 63rd, it doesn't have to worry about merging with anything new when the  and  diverge. Furthermore, if the  has to wait for an  train going into 53rd, the  can still go ahead into 63rd.

Yes, they are timed well, for the frequencies they have to work with. It's simply untrue that trains enter Roosevelt at high speeds during rush hours. Before CBTC, express trains would crawl all the way from Forest Hills to Jackson Heights. Now with CBTC allowing for closer spacing, trains only need to crawl after Elmhurst Ave. It's just inevitable with the combined 2min headways that Jackson Heights would be a bottleneck, especially with how crowded the platform is. The section at 65th St is extremely fast, I'll give you that, and I love riding it. But that's still an extremely short section of the route, after which trains need to slow down to turn onto Northern Blvd.

Yes, I'm aware of the LIRR's 80mph trains going from Jamaica to Penn blazingly fast. That's because it's built like a railroad with favorable track geometry and limited stops. For how curvy QBL is, the speeds we already have are extremely impressive IMO.

 

[Chris89292]

41 minutes ago, ABCDEFGJLMNQRSSSWZ said:

I think it's in part because the R46s are older and therefore a bit "bumpier" and more metallic clanging, which gives the illusion of going faster than you are.

That's also why on SAS, it often feels like the  is going slower than it really is, because the tracks are reinforced to be quieter so you can't use sound or janky movement as a reference for speed.

Yeah I’ve felt that sensation, it’s terrifying but at the same time cool

[darkstar8983]

10 hours ago, Chris89292 said:

I feel like the speed on the 60th street tunnel is beyond 60 MPH, It feels like it goes 80 MPH sarcastically, the R46’s go super fast

I personally have seen the odometer hit over 55 on the R160s going thru that tunnel (Queens-bound), back when they were on the  since they didn’t have to slow down to 15 MPH for the diverging switch to the 11 St Cut 

[darkstar8983]

Changing topics, I’m amazed at the stupidity of some people. There’s a YouTuber who LITERALLY recorded himself vandalizing subway trains and posted it online for all to see. Videos show him and his group spraypainting graffiti on trains, breaking windows, subway surfing, trespassing. Part of this is the MTA’s fault themselves for not arresting them and making them pay out of their pocket the money  for repairing the damaged subway cars. These a-holes don’t understand that when a train is vandalized it can’t run due to safety issues, and must go back to the yard for repairs, leaving people stuck waiting even longer, which leads them to want to hop turnstiles / go thru the emergency gates even more because subway service is shitty. 
 

mayor Adams get your shit together, and you too, operations, and corporate MTA.

 

don’t store subway cars in places where they can be vandalized so easily, get better security, and enforce payment 

Edited September 5, 2023 by darkstar8983

[CenSin]

29 minutes ago, darkstar8983 said:

get better security, and enforce payment

You know it’s too easy to evade the fare system when yuppies casually stroll through the emergency exit or hop the turnstile. And they’ve got a lot more to lose from being arrested.

[Vulturious]

To anyone that wants to take a look at this, I didn't really bother looking at this honestly. I'm just disappointed it took them this long to really say something after months to even years of this happening.

[darkstar8983]

13 hours ago, CenSin said:

You know it’s too easy to evade the fare system when yuppies casually stroll through the emergency exit or hop the turnstile. And they’ve got a lot more to lose from being arrested.

This is why I had proposed repurposing the MARTY's from Stop N Shop and Target to patrol the subway and stun people who farebeat with lasers or stun-guns, rubber bullets, darts, arrows, you name it. or have a special system like EZPass that scans a person's credit cards or phones inconspicuously and automatically detracts the subway fare from that person, similar to scanning EZPass

[Chris89292]

1 hour ago, darkstar8983 said:

This is why I had proposed repurposing the MARTY's from Stop N Shop and Target to patrol the subway and stun people who farebeat with lasers or stun-guns, rubber bullets, darts, arrows, you name it. or have a special system like EZPass that scans a person's credit cards or phones inconspicuously and automatically detracts the subway fare from that person, similar to scanning EZPass

People will be against it, even the ones that pay, they don’t trust MTA with their technology

[RandomRider0101]

1 hour ago, darkstar8983 said:

This is why I had proposed repurposing the MARTY's from Stop N Shop and Target to patrol the subway and stun people who farebeat with lasers or stun-guns, rubber bullets, darts, arrows, you name it. or have a special system like EZPass that scans a person's credit cards or phones inconspicuously and automatically detracts the subway fare from that person, similar to scanning EZPass

I do not believe shooting objects at people for farebeating is the solution. Some of the stuff you propose on here is pretty extreme to say the least. Not surprising considering your history & reputation on this forum.

[Maxwell179]

3 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

This is why I had proposed repurposing the MARTY's from Stop N Shop and Target to patrol the subway and stun people who farebeat with lasers or stun-guns, rubber bullets, darts, arrows, you name it. or have a special system like EZPass that scans a person's credit cards or phones inconspicuously and automatically detracts the subway fare from that person, similar to scanning EZPass

LMFAOOOOO please be so deadass right now, it’s truly never was that serious, is that serious or will ever that serious 😂

[Lawrence St]

3 hours ago, Vulturious said:

To anyone that wants to take a look at this, I didn't really bother looking at this honestly. I'm just disappointed it took them this long to really say something after months to even years of this happening.

I’m not really wanting to sit through this whole video, can someone summarize?

[TheNewYorkElevated]

Is there any chance the Parade of Trains will happen this weekend? The weather is showing thunderstorms and rain all weekend.

[CenSin]

4 hours ago, RandomRider0101 said:

6 hours ago, darkstar8983 said:

This is why I had proposed repurposing the MARTY's from Stop N Shop and Target to patrol the subway and stun people who farebeat with lasers or stun-guns, rubber bullets, darts, arrows, you name it. or have a special system like EZPass that scans a person's credit cards or phones inconspicuously and automatically detracts the subway fare from that person, similar to scanning EZPass

I do not believe shooting objects at people for farebeating is the solution. Some of the stuff you propose on here is pretty extreme to say the least. Not surprising considering your history & reputation on this forum.

lol. You think that’s serious?

I propose mounting fare beaters’ heads on pikes—to take the place of the green/red lamps by the station entrances. The olde scarecrow trick should do it.

[Calvin]

Getting to the  platform at Grand Central during the rush hours from the  can take you at least 20 minutes going through the slope and stairs. Due to the detours and even the elevators are jammed pack. 

[darkstar8983]

3 hours ago, CenSin said:

lol. You think that’s serious?

I propose mounting fare beaters’ heads on pikes—to take the place of the green/red lamps by the station entrances. The olde scarecrow trick should do it.

Okay you took it too far. At least what I propose is just an inconvenience. You’re literally proposing public executions.

[Kamen Rider]

… I give them one day… ONE DAY… and what do I get? 
 

Surfers!

So, I am currently on paid leave for Grand Jury Duty. Yesterday, I had to go in to work since the courts were closed and per contract, when you’re not going in to court, you have to come into work.

they gave me a job, I do it, they ask if I want to do one extra trip…

Pull into a station, I see a bunch of kids standing around at the far end of the platform…

We start to leave and two of them leap onto the side of my train.

they ran when I pulled the brake.

 

this grand jury gig is four weeks. I give them 1 day and this is what I come back to.