Other People's Rail: Amtrak, commuter rail, rapid transit news & views outside New England

https://wjla.com/news/local/purple-...operations-maintenance-person-delays-progress

First LRV for Maryland’s long delayed Purple Line was delivered & unveiled yesterday & they updated that construction was 2/3rd done. Very exciting for me as someone who’s spent a lot of time in Montgomery & PG County.

From my understand these LRVs are gonna be pretty similar to the Type 10 “supercars” the MBTA is purchasing from CAF for the Green Line.
 
This may have been commented upon before, but this weekend I saw what must be the poster child for quality on-board wayfinding information displays on rapid transit vehicles.

The over door displays on the 8th Avenue Express (A) trains in NYC.

High resolution displays that adaptatively display:

Between stations: next stops on the line with connection, out to end of the line for grounding.
1722959342334.png


In stations: Information about the location of that specific door in relation to station features such as stairs, escalators, elevators and connections.
1722959309400.png
 
This is a super small thing but I thought it was really interesting: the Buenos Aires Underground (or Subte, from Subterráneo, which is a really cool abbreviated name for a subway) marks center platform (andén central) stations on its map!

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1723298811462.png


I haven't been able to find too much detail on why this is done (i.e. why this information is so important that it has a dedicated symbol on the map), but I have found a couple of stray references to the need to check which entrance you are using because you can't pass between side platforms behind fare control.

This, of course, isn't unique to the subte. IIRC, an old iteration of the T's map had a note indicating the lack of transfer at Copley. But it's interesting to see a system where the lack of free transfer between directions is apparently so prevalent that it gets baked into the subway diagram itself.
 
Riverside said:
This is a super small thing but I thought it was really interesting: the Buenos Aires Underground (or Subte, from Subterráneo, which is a really cool abbreviated name for a subway) marks center platform (andén central) stations on its map!
[snip]
But it's interesting to see a system where the lack of free transfer between directions is apparently so prevalent that it gets baked into the subway diagram itself.
Click to expand...
I think it's actually about knowing that an entrance to a station could potentially be only for one direction and that you need to choose the right entrance from street-level, that is, kind of like Copley, Central, Kendall. Meanwhile, the stations with a center platform are the ones where you can enter any entrance and then chose the direction after you're underground.
 
^ Yeah sorry, that was part of my point: need to choose the right entrance because if you don’t (and don’t realize until after going through the turnstile), you’ll have to leave and pay a second fare.
 
stick n move said:
“The barriers are starting to go up along the L train.”

View attachment 53848

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19F5XmCYnY8EuaDL/?mibextid=K35XfP
Click to expand...
Huh. I looked this up since that didn't look like 3rd Ave - looks like these "fence panels" are being deployed more widely as a low cost quick build in addition to the planned pilot full height platform doors at 3rd Ave. (And two other stations). NYC folks seem pretty dismissive of these so far, but I'm intrigued. Given NYC seems to have a bit of a subway pushing problem, it's at least creating some areas of protection. Even if it's just creating a physcological barrier - the perception of safety might be enough. I wonder how precise the platform stop point needs to be for these, but I think it's fairly likely that these could be set up to be more forgiving.
 
M1 Metro in Sydney finally has its extension from Chatswood through Sydney CBD opened today. Additional extensions in 2025 as well (map).

The first trip left Sydenham at 4:54 a.m. AEST and north from Chatswood at 4:38 a.m. AEST on the morning of August 19th, running on 15.5 kilometers (~9.6 miles-ish) of new metro track with high frequency 4 - 10 minute service across the densely populated city.

This is one of the biggest transit expansions in the Anglophone speaking world since maybe the Elizabeth Line in England?

Makes me depressed that US cities like Boston have pretty much given up after GLX, no more big ambition here. Best the MBTA can offer are "Silver Line buses in Everett and maybe Red-Blue". RMTransit tried comparing Boston with Toronto in Canada on YouTube, and noted that "yea, Boston has almost given up compared to Toronto, and Toronto will come out way, way, way ahead of Boston in the future".

Expanded post below from the Urban Transport Magazine (UrbanRail):
www.urban-transport-magazine.com

Australia's first metro line reaches the centre of Sydney - Urban Transport Magazine

For many years, Australia’s metropolis of Sydney with its more than 5 million inhabitants relied on an extensive suburban railway network – branded Sydney Trains (previously: CityRail) – as the backbone of its public transport system, after the once very extensive tram network had disappeared by...
www.urban-transport-magazine.com
 
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Delvin4519 said:
Makes me depressed that US cities like Boston have pretty much given up after GLX, no more big ambition here. Best the MBTA can offer are "Silver Line buses in Everett and maybe Red-Blue". RMTransit tried comparing Boston with Toronto in Canada on YouTube, and noted that "yea, Boston has almost given up compared to Toronto, and Toronto will come out way, way, way ahead of Boston in the future".

Expanded post below from the Urban Transport Magazine (UrbanRail):
www.urban-transport-magazine.com

Australia's first metro line reaches the centre of Sydney - Urban Transport Magazine

For many years, Australia’s metropolis of Sydney with its more than 5 million inhabitants relied on an extensive suburban railway network – branded Sydney Trains (previously: CityRail) – as the backbone of its public transport system, after the once very extensive tram network had disappeared by...
www.urban-transport-magazine.com
Click to expand...
Boston v. Toronto is a bit of an unfair comparison, though. Toronto is the 4th biggest metro area in North America, Boston is 17th. Plus, the TTC historically seems less underinvested than the T - their 2023 SOGR backlog was $17B CAD (~12.5B USD) compared to the T's $24.5B USD, and across a much bigger agency - Toronto's HRT division recorded 3.5x the ridership of the T's in 2023 - their SOGR needs are just that much smaller piece of the pie.

Generally, I have more faith in systems expanding if and when they're not in the SOGR hole. Amtrak's expansion is bottlenecked by need to invest in, and replace the decrepitude that is its catenary, tunnels and bridges, NYC subway suffers from the same, as do we in Boston. WMATA isn't in nearly as big of a SOGR hole - it's 23 backlog was $4.1B - so it can afford to think about major expansions like SL to Dulles or the proposed Blue Line Loop. Conversely, look at the Western systems. LA Metro is expanding like crazy, Seattle Link, Denver RTD's FasTracks expansion... All of those systems don't have significant backlogs, so they only have to program "keep up" instead of "catch up" like we do. Not having to spend on catch up, they have the opportunity to spend a equal or smaller number of capital dollars on expansion.
 
Last edited:
Delvin4519 said:
M1 Metro in Sydney finally has its extension from Chatswood through Sydney CBD opened today. Additional extensions in 2025 as well (map).

The first trip left Sydenham at 4:54 a.m. AEST and north from Chatswood at 4:38 a.m. AEST on the morning of August 19th, running on 15.5 kilometers (~9.6 miles-ish) of new metro track with high frequency 4 - 10 minute service across the densely populated city.

This is one of the biggest transit expansions in the Anglophone speaking world since maybe the Elizabeth Line in England?

Makes me depressed that US cities like Boston have pretty much given up after GLX, no more big ambition here. Best the MBTA can offer are "Silver Line buses in Everett and maybe Red-Blue". RMTransit tried comparing Boston with Toronto in Canada on YouTube, and noted that "yea, Boston has almost given up compared to Toronto, and Toronto will come out way, way, way ahead of Boston in the future".

Expanded post below from the Urban Transport Magazine (UrbanRail):
www.urban-transport-magazine.com

Australia's first metro line reaches the centre of Sydney - Urban Transport Magazine

For many years, Australia’s metropolis of Sydney with its more than 5 million inhabitants relied on an extensive suburban railway network – branded Sydney Trains (previously: CityRail) – as the backbone of its public transport system, after the once very extensive tram network had disappeared by...
www.urban-transport-magazine.com
Click to expand...

I'll be there next week. I'm hoping to snag some photos!
 
Stlin said:
Boston v. Toronto is a bit of an unfair comparison, though. Toronto is the 4th biggest metro area in North America, Boston is 17th. Plus, the TTC historically seems less underinvested than the T - their 2023 SOGR backlog was $17B CAD (~12.5B USD) compared to the T's $24.5B USD, and across a much bigger agency - Toronto's HRT division recorded 3.5x the ridership of the T's in 2023 - their SOGR needs are just that much smaller piece of the pie.

Generally, I have more faith in systems expanding if and when they're not in the SOGR hole. Amtrak's expansion is bottlenecked by need to invest in, and replace the decrepitude that is its catenary, tunnels and bridges, NYC subway suffers from the same, as do we in Boston. WMATA isn't in nearly as big of a SOGR hole - it's 23 backlog was $4.1B - so it can afford to think about major expansions like SL to Dulles or the proposed Blue Line Loop. Conversely, look at the Western systems. LA Metro is expanding like crazy, Seattle Link, Denver RTD's FasTracks expansion... All of those systems don't have significant backlogs, so they only have to program "keep up" instead of "catch up" like we do. Not having to spend on catch up, they have the opportunity to spend a equal or smaller number of capital dollars on expansion.
Click to expand...

I generally agree - although one thing I would point out is that WMATA was, arguably, even worse than the MBTA not too long ago and even triggered deeper Fed involvement. That is to say: there can be a light at the end of the tunnel if WMATA can get where it is today, and I think the progress at the MBTA in the last few years (well, under Eng) is very promising. One thing I always thought was interesting was the MBTA's SOGR estimate as it includes rolling stock/etc, and never seems to shrink even after the procurements. On paper, at least, ignoring reality with CRRC, the SOGR should plummet drastically with all the track work, new signal systems, and full fleet replacements on the Red, Orange, and Green Type-10s, which is all in theory within the next ~5 years. Let's also not forget that SOGR is only one issue - the lack and underfunding of the T in general from Forward Funding, along with it's debt service, is crippling and directly leads to things like the SOGR backlog.
 
Despite being a long time coming, expensive, delayed, and problem-plagued, we did manage to complete a rapid transit extension through the region's most densely populated city and are set to finally complete a regional rail extension to the states 9th largest city and Fall River next year. While there's much more that could be done like OLX to Reading and West Roxbury or BLX to Lynn, at the very least we haven't sat completely stagnant in our dysfunction.
 
bakgwailo said:
I generally agree - although one thing I would point out is that WMATA was, arguably, even worse than the MBTA not too long ago and even triggered deeper Fed involvement. That is to say: there can be a light at the end of the tunnel if WMATA can get where it is today, and I think the progress at the MBTA in the last few years (well, under Eng) is very promising. One thing I always thought was interesting was the MBTA's SOGR estimate as it includes rolling stock/etc, and never seems to shrink even after the procurements. On paper, at least, ignoring reality with CRRC, the SOGR should plummet drastically with all the track work, new signal systems, and full fleet replacements on the Red, Orange, and Green Type-10s, which is all in theory within the next ~5 years. Let's also not forget that SOGR is only one issue - the lack and underfunding of the T in general from Forward Funding, along with it's debt service, is crippling and directly leads to things like the SOGR backlog.
Click to expand...
Worth noting that IIRC, WMATA is also facing funding concerns for the upcoming fiscal year, even more so than MBTA due to 3 "states" being involved.
 
These platform edge... screens? from Sofia seem like an interesting way to add platform guards without precision train control. They're not perfect but they're significantly better than nothing.
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Here are some of the reasons why there's an atrociously long delay that's plaguing the startup of the new Acela's.
 
Caltrain's electrified service is now in operation. Among other things, it looks like this will reduce travel time by 5 minutes on the express service and by 25 minutes (!) on local service. Setting aside the "inside baseball" around how the thing came to fruition, hopefully from a PR perspective this will provide an easy-to-understand case study when making the pitch for electrification to the public here.

Example of local coverage: https://abc7news.com/post/caltrain-...ervice-san-francisco-silicon-valley/15333842/
 
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