London Mass Transit

Found it in this thread.

The Weekly Dig said:
Ways the T used to be better, Part I
By reischel on Thu, Aug 23, 2007 12:44 pm

In the feature about the T?s badass antique trolleys this week, I quoted several railfans (definition: people who are obsessed with all things track-bound) discussing the irony of the longevity of the T?s oldest cars. Here?s the rub: the ancient PCCs on the Mattapan ?high speed line,? which were built in 1945 and 1946, are still operating because they?re better and cheaper than anything else.

To think that the T would?ve been better off it hadn?t changed a thing since World War II sounds like misguided Luddite nostalgia, but it gets more convincing the more you learn about T history.

Historical epiphany number 1: The tunnels used to be cool

You know how Park Street Station is an airless tomb from June to August? Just like all the other underground T stations, which are also sweltering and breezeless in summer? Well, they?re not hot because of global warming or substandard building codes of generations past. The real reason the T is stuffy and hot is the fault of modern improvements, according to Gerry O?Regan, railfan and officer of the Boston Street Railway Association.

?Back before air conditioning was popular, the tunnels used to be nice and cool in the summer,? he says. ?They used to be where you went to get cold in the summertime.?

Which makes sense, because they?re underground, a place where temperatures aren?t as extreme as they are on the surface. That?s why before refrigeration, people had root cellars. That?s why small animals in deserts (and people in Australia, while we?re at it) live in burrows and dugouts. Because of this, the T tunnels were designed with an average temperature of 50-60 degrees in mind, and kept breezy with a ventilation system of vents that let air from the tunnels into the cars.

So hot right nowSo hot right nowSo what went wrong? Why are the once-cool tunnels now sweltering doldrums of death?

?It?s because the cars are air conditioned,? O?Regan says. ?It heats the air discharged back into the tunnels, and works as a heat pump. It?s hot in summer because air conditioning is on. And the electronics in the cars and tunnels give off heat, too, which means that additional heat gets pumped back into subway. And there?s nowhere it can go.?

We?re hot because of the A/C? Holy ironic unintended consequences, Batman!

The only way to get the cool tunnels back, O?Regan says, isn?t to install more air conditioning, as people and the T seem to think. Instead, we should just trash the whole A/C system and go back to the root cellar model. ?It?s called ventilation instead of air-conditioning,? he says.

Stay tuned: more lessons from antiquity to come.
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Justin7 said:
What is the source for that fact? Sounds kinda made up. :p
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Why would that sound made up? AC units put out a lot of heat. Guess where that heat goes when a train is inside a tunnel or station. Into the tunnel or station.
 
Haven't you ever felt the heat coming from underneath your refrigerator?

And it would be a lot more economical to have a modern ventilation/air-circulation/filtration system in the cars. Better for the environment, the passengers, and the people waiting at the platforms. But it makes way too much sense, not to mention it's probably quite expensive. Regular fans would do.
 
jass said:
I was in London for 4 days, Ill post my tube review next week, but heres a couple important points:

My friend and I flew out of London City Airport, accessible by DLR (light rail). I flew out Friday, he flew out Saturday.

The system was closed for the weekend but there were no posters or info warning about it. No shuttle buses were provided. He missed his flight.

The tube is on a 48 hour strike right now.

Complain about Boston, but at least our closures come with shuttle buses. In London, youre screwed.
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While I was there, it was well known that the tube was going on strike and it was also well known that the Jubilee line would be shut down every weekend until further notice for "engineering repairs." I don't know what line your friend was taking but that's just my experience. Obviously it's not a perfect system but as a frequent T user in Boston, my experience was that the underground blew the T out of the water.
 
tommym96 said:
While I was there, it was well known that the tube was going on strike and it was also well known that the Jubilee line would be shut down every weekend until further notice for "engineering repairs." I don't know what line your friend was taking but that's just my experience. Obviously it's not a perfect system but as a frequent T user in Boston, my experience was that the underground blew the T out of the water.
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It was the entire Docklands light rail system that was shut down. It has 30+ stops, and shuttle bus service was operated between only 4 stops, not including the airport.


Anyway:

Pro:
Screens (or whiteboard) with service updates at the entrance to every station
Very clear PA updated as follows:
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a service update from the control room. Due to a signal failure at ..... etc"
"Ladies and gentlemen, due to a computer failure, the Piccadilly line is experiencing severe delays"

When our train stopped in the tunnel, the automated system said "Ladies and gentlemen this train is being held by a red signal and will be moving shortly"

Basically, very updated, very clear messages about delays and issues. It was very nice to hear

As for the "severe delays" on the Piccadilly line, my first thought was "what does severe mean in London?". In Boston, id GTFO. I learnt in london however that severe means trains were coming every 7 minutes instead of every 3.

Cons:
A shitload of delays, issues etc. Because of how clear the PA updates are, I learnt about the following:
Stations being closed due to power failures
Delays due to signal failures
Skipped stops due to construction
Stations to be avoided due to escalator failure
etc etc

Basically, all the problems the T would experience in a year compacted into 4 days. However, while these problems cause huge backlash in Boston, in London theyre very normal. The power failure (4 station on the victoria line closed, and severe delays on the rest of the line) were very relevant to me because of what we had in Boston last month.


And yeah, very expensive to ride.
There probably more people on escalators in the london tube than on the boston green line.
 
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