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New York City Thread: Part III (Info in OP)

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I wish we had maglev on the NEC.

They were supposed to be making a new train for the subway with open vestibules to walk through as opposed to the separate cars but now they won't even be in any yard 'till maybe 2020 or so.
 
JRinNYC said:
Don't get me started with the maglev technology out in Asia. Holy smoke, that's some impressive speeds! Speeds of 350+ mph!!! That's just unreal.
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I rode the shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo and basically laughed the entire time. It was crazy good.
 
Is it amazing that it's been running for almost a century now and that it operates 24/7? Yes. Is it amazing that you can go pretty much anywhere in the city at any time of day for a fairly cheap price? Yes. That being said, I truly wonder whether the people who say the system is "fantastic" are actually relying on it five days a week during rush hour times. The delays, the unpredictability, the filth, the overcrowding, the lack of communication is absolutely miserable, especially if you are commuting from an outer borough to another outer borough or into Manhattan.

I read a pretty good article in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago. There was a photo of one of the transit hubs and the equipment they are relying on in there looked like something you would see in the Smithsonian. I was amazed that there were actually people sitting there running the public transit system in one of the biggest cities in the world on machines that would be placed on display in a museum if they were retired tomorrow.
 
PlamsUnlimited said:
It's less about the updating and more how it keeps going. They put off a lot of renovating though that there's so much old tech that things are crapping out all at once. And with ConEd doing work it apparently also shorted things out lately. But I would be dead in the water without it at all times.

I'm a train nerd/geek so if y'all have questions about them let me know :laugh:

If you guys want to see some anomalies they're taking R143 half length trains from the L and using cameras and sensors between cars around sharp curves on the 8th avenue line and around Coney Island yard for the proposed new R211's design. The R32 fleet is to be retired at the end of 2017 supposedly too. Something incredibly impressive is that we keep these things in running condition that are into the 50s and near 60s. They are living history. The R32 outlasted the R40, which was younger than the R32.

For anyone that takes the crosstown the R68 and R68A trains on there are getting refurbishments and new PA/LED systems. :D

And of course, they're closing down one side of at least 53rd street on 4th avenue in Brooklyn to do renovations and plan to continue that progress with most stations. Also, the N/W service in Queens is going to be disrupted for some weekends. So plan accordingly for that.

I really should work for the MTA.

You can still see platforms from the old trolley systems in some J line stations... The old 42nd street platform was cut in half when they extended the 7 to Hudson Yards, and did you guys know the Broadway line is the deepest system below the ground on average?! The IRT (1-7) actually get more maintenance than the IND/BMT (letters) and the people working the IND/BMT actually have to manually run switches and such more. Debating on whether or not I should scare all of you away with more useful and useless MTA info.
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What's the solution? Like others have said, I would be absolutely on board with shutting the thing down at certain times if that's what it would take to conduct massive repairs. I doubt that will ever happen though.

It seems like in the articles I read the main focus is always on the signal system. Something to the effect of having to keep more space between the trains to compensate for the older signal system which leads to cascading delays. If they're that bad, and everybody seems to agree they're that bad, how do you fix them?
 
StaalWars said:
What's the solution? Like others have said, I would be absolutely on board with shutting the thing down at certain times if that's what it would take to conduct massive repairs. I doubt that will ever happen though.

It seems like in the articles I read the main focus is always on the signal system. Something to the effect of having to keep more space between the trains to compensate for the older signal system which leads to cascading delays. If they're that bad, and everybody seems to agree they're that bad, how do you fix them?
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The solution is new interlock plants

http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Subway_Signals:_Interlocking
 
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The Gloaming said:
The car industry, especially GM lobbied (bribed) Congress back in the 50s to cut any potential passenger rail projects they may have had. So you can thank them for our horrendous passenger trains.
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This is also part is the reason why gas is so cheap here. It's a no brainer to invest in rail, and easy to convince people to use rail, when gas costs $8/gal.
 
Fire AV said:
Is the fact that it's never really been updated really something to be proud of though?
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Proud of the fact that this country is unwilling to support public transportation? Not really. But proud of the fact that the system works. And if you want to talk about an urban transit system that hasn't been updated since it opened, I suggest you read up on what's happening with Washington DC's system (which is 60+ years younger).
 
Public transit is great...

...if you live or work in Manhattan.

If you live and work in Queens like I do, you're basically told **** off :laugh:
 
Machinehead said:
Public transit is great...

...if you live or work in Manhattan.

If you live and work in Queens like I do, you're basically told **** off :laugh:
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Recently, Uber was testing out Flat Fares in all 5 boroughs. It was great for this purpose. Basically you would pay a $20 fee per month and get 40 Uberpool rides for $2.99 each, anywhere in the 5 boroughs. So if you work 20 business days a month, that's a month of commuting to and from work via Uber for $140 total (40 rides x 2.99 each + flat fee of $20).

Sadly, I think this promotion has ended now. But while it lasted, it was a life saver.
 
Machinehead said:
Public transit is great...

...if you live or work in Manhattan.

If you live and work in Queens like I do, you're basically told **** off :laugh:
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Yup. It's not just Queens though, it's everyone in an outer borough, especially if you are going into Manhattan.

I love when I complain about the subway and than someone who's daily commute consists of going from 86th to Grand Central every morning tells me how great it is. Try taking it more than two stops bud. :laugh:
 
PlamsUnlimited said:
I mean from Brooklyn it's pretty great. In my case I can catch the N/D/F all within minimal to moderate walking distance.
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...do you live near me or something? I have all that and 3 bus lines practically outside my house.

just takes nearly an hour to get to midtown on the F. still convenient, though
 
FultonReed said:
I have the N 2 blocks away and the F one block away.

if you're nearby, come into my job and talk some hockey. I'll make you a sandwich
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What station I mean and yeah I'll come around :laugh: I like to meet you guys

The N is a like one and a half blocks for me, the D is 3 and the F is like 3. It may be more realistically for the F but I feel like it isn't. I like to take walks
 
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PlamsUnlimited said:
What station I mean and yeah I'll come around :laugh: I like to meet you guys

The N is a like one and a half blocks for me, the D is 3 and the F is like 3
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so you live near U-ish. I work on Z lol

that's awesome, though, that you're in my vicinity. maybe we can grab some Spumoni from L&B one day
 
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