BusTalk

[W.B. Fishbowl]

When I was last to the Transit Museum Gift Shop at Grand Central, I saw neither hide nor hair of The New York City Subways' Motorman's Rant. Gee, I wonder why . . . ? {/sarc}

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further...........

".......a recent news article mentions the Astoria line (N & W trains) CBTC plans to to 'improve' this line from 15 trains per hour to 19 trains per hour; clearly not mentioned is that the R trains which also run on this line, between Lexington Avenue-59th Street in Manhattan and 59th Street in Brooklyn......"

"......in between these two stations is the narrowing of the main line from four tracks to two, south of Canal Street......."

".......a four-track local and express line is not reached again until Atlantic Avenue. How many R trains will be permitted to run on this line? Will it coincide with the number of R trains running on the Queens Boulevard line? And so on and so forth....."

Continued in following post.....

"NYO"

["BMT LINES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued.........

"......this fantastic CBTC 'heaven' (as ardent supporters see it) IS NOT FAIL SAFE. One glaring incident, which, for obvious reasons, did not make it into the papers, took place back in October, 2014......"

".....the ever-enterprising subway rat had eaten through the zone controller wiring on the CBTC-equipped L line, halting all service east of Broadway Junction......"

".....MTA management were calling for overtime for train operators for several days afterwards. I later learned that the contractor had installed the cabling using PEANUT OIL. Yes, that was SMART............"

'NYO"

["SIGNAL POWER ROOM"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

That story about the rat chewing on a "See-Bee-Tee-See" cable that was treated with peanut oil . . . that reminds me of that Lefty-Right film I did, where in one scene my boss chewed me out for hawking an issue dealing with the subways and getting too technical (" . . . kinetic energy . . . third rails . . . mice in the subways . . . who the h*** cares?") (Beyond subway straphangers stranded between stations because of rats walking the tracks and causing havoc - or chewing at cables as mentioned.)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Let's just be thankful that our ol' pal "Uncle Hoiman" prefers CHEESE over subway signal cables.....(!!)

"NYO"

["I.R.T. LINES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further from Mr. Reid's book............

".......and, do you know what? The present 1930s legacy signal system that exists now can EASILY support a HIGHER level of service. Don't let anyone bull---- you; we DO NOT need any more CBTC to improve service....."

Tell it like it is, my friend! "Aging infrastructure", my Aunt Louise!

"NYO"

["SHUTTLE-TIMES SQUARE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued.....

"......in a recent Daily News article, the CBTC promises are once again parroted. And, once again, no one has taken it into account the pressure of other train lines, choke points, and terminals while they claim the following improvements....."

"........in the 'Modern Signals' article, it says that the MTA will be allowed to run 21 trains per hour on the Lexington Avenue line, instead of the current 27 trains. Didn't the recently-opened section of the SAS take some of the load off the Lex?"

".......the G line will upgrade from 15 to 18 trains per hour. Why do this if you are only operating nine trains per hour?"

"NYO"

["MTA"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued.........

".......the W. 4th Street tower was a part of the original IND system, constructed back in the 1930s. This tower was placed at a point where all of the former Independent lines that travel throughout the city (excepting the G line) come together......."

"......if the need arises, any of the A, C, E, trains on the upper level, and the B, D, and F trains downstairs can be monitored......"

".......even after the Unification of 1940, the W. 4th Street tower remained in charge of a crticall junction within the system. This tower was fully staffed around the clock, before, in later years, being replaced by a Master Tower......."

"NYO"

["INDEPENDENT SUBWAY SYSTEM"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued..............

"......regarding the mania for conversion to CBTC, I feel like shouting 'KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID'......"

"........large numbers of the 1930s legacy signals and related hardware have been removed and and replaced in kind during the 'Master Tower' programs of the 1980s and 1990s, where the control of subway trains was consolidated down into several Master towers from hundreds of smaller towers throughout the system.....was this really needed?"

".......for the 7 line, think of the CBTC installation cost of $538 million dollars over a seven-year installation period......"

"NYO"

["XL 217"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued (Trackworkers)............

"......though I most certainly have problem with trackwokers who asre taking their jobs seriously, and work hard at it, I DO have a PROBLEM when they take over the $%*^#! tracks for miles at a time......"

"......I will never forget a trip on the E train that took TWICE the scheduled 42 minutes to get from the WTC to Parsons/Archer in Queens.........."

".......ut looked like there was a MAJOR party on the tracks down there, all the way to Queens! There were THREE work zones, one after the other. Each zone required the trains to operate at 10 MPH, no more....."

".......there were a new set of red lamps three feet after the last green lamps. It's like, they don't GIVE A DAMN while the motormen and conductors on several trains lose their lunch hours and break times between runs....."

"....within that entire E run to Queens that night, there were 17 work gangs......."

"NYO"

["R432"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further ("New Technology")............

".....in my opinion, when you see service disruptions on a subway line for more than, say, 8 to 10 weekends out of a 52 week year, I believe that you will, at one point, see a decline of ridership on that particular line......"

"........with all of the non-stop talk about 'New Technology' being continually thrown around, I openly wonder WHY some of this so-called 'New Technology' could not be aimed at a more efficient way of subway reconstruction......"

"NYO"

["M"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued........

".......there are many examples of how constant service disruptions. will, over time, make people less and less dependent on the subways, Today (2019) most New Yorkers see the subway system as unreliable, not because there are so many breakdowns, because the overwhelming number of rerouted trains, and service disruptions....."

".........too many now are forsaking the subways for private cars, making the overcrowded streets even more congested, streets that are already more restrictive with bike lanes and such......

".......all the while, there are many empty seats going begging on the subways. And these forner riders are not likely to return. Don't believe me? Try driving in Brooklyn. Or anywhere else in the city, for that matter............."

"NYO"

["SHUTTLE"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued ("Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!'!)..........

"..........indeed, running a subway train in New York these days is akin to from one electronic fiefdom (the control towers) to another (controlled by the unseen, Wizard of Oz-like character, who, in reality, with their magic cloaks removed, are just transit workers)......."

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

More on "track gangs".........

".....a long-forgotten rule, one that dated back to when 'Service Delivery" was called 'Rapid Transit Operations', was that only TWO work gangs were allowed on the tracks in each borough....."

"......in those days, the Foreman of the gang had to call the Control Center to get permission to perform work on the tracks......."

".....in later years, the MTA relaxed these rules, after it was shown that that the motormen were still arriving on time at terminals. In this way, the motormen, in a sence, 'cut their own throats', by continuing to be on time........"

".......more and more work gangs started coming down. Now-or at least when I retired in 2016-it's a party down there on many nights. This is just one of the ways that a train can be delayed that the MTA doesn't track......"

"NYO"