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Benjamin Kabak

Weekend work impacting 14 subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak February 2, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 2, 2013

After Friday’s water main break, things are slowly returning to normal for the BMT Broadway line. The N and Q trains are running their normal service patterns, but the R is still diverted due to the water situation. Meanwhile, weekend work continues apace. The FASTRACK scheduled for the N and D trains in Brooklyn was canceled, but everyone else is a go.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 8 a.m. Saturday, February 2, uptown 1 trains run express from 72nd Street to 96th Street due to work on a new compressor plant at 91st Street.

From 3:45 a.m. Saturday, February 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday, February 3, Rector Street-bound 1 trains skip 238th Street, 231st Street and 225th Street due to track panel installation north of 231st Street.

From 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, February 2 and Sunday, February 3, the last stop for some uptown 1 trains is 137th Street due to track panel installation north of 231st Street in the Bronx.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, February 2, uptown 2 trains run express from 72nd Street to 96th Street due to work on a new compressor plant at 91st Street.

(Overnights)
From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, February 2, from 11:45 p.m. Saturday, February 2 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, February 3 and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, February 3 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, downtown 4 trains run express from 14th Street-Union Square to Brooklyn Bridge due to track maintenance at 14th Street-Union Square.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, uptown 4 trains run express from 125th Street to Burnside Avenue due to station rehabilitation at 149th Street-Grand Concourse.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 2 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, downtown 4 trains run local from 125th Street to 14th Street-Union Square and uptown 4 trains run local from Grand Central-42nd Street to 125th Street due to signal work between Grand Central-42nd Street and 59th Street and track work near 86th Street.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, 5 service is suspended. There are no 5 trains between East 180th Street and Bowling Green due to station rehabilitation at 149th Street-Grand Concourse.
For service between:

East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse, take the 2.
149th Street-Grand Concourse and Bowling Green, take the 4.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, downtown 6 trains run express from 14th Street-Union Square to Brooklyn Bridge due to track maintenance at 14th Street-Union Square.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. February 4, uptown 6 trains run express from 3rd Avenue-138th Street to Parkchester due to ADA work at Hunts Point Avenue.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4 (and the next seven weekends), there is no 7 train service between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to Flushing Line CBTC. Customers may take the E, N, Q and S (42nd Street shuttle) and free shuttle buses as alternatives.

Use the E, N or Q* between Manhattan and Queens
Free shuttle buses operate between Vernon Blvd-Jackson Avenue and Queensboro Plaza
In Manhattan, the 42nd Street S Shuttle operates overnight

*Q service is extended to Ditmars Blvd. (See Q entry for hours of operation.)

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, Queens-bound A trains run local from 59th Street to West 4th Street, then are rerouted via the F line from West 4th Street to Jay Street/MetroTech due to cable work north of Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, February 2 and Sunday, February 3, Brooklyn-bound C trains are rerouted via the F line from West 4th Street to Jay Street-MetroTech due to cable work north of Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m., Monday, February 4, downtown E trains skip 23rd Street and Spring Street due to cable work north of Jay Street-MetroTech.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, Jamaica-bound F trains skip 14th Street and 23rd Street due to electrical work at 34th Street-Herald Square.

From 11:15 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, Coney Island-bound F trains are rerouted via the M after 36th Street, Queens to 47th-50th Sts due to station work at Lexington Avenue-63rd Street for SAS project.

From 11:45 p.m. Friday, February 1 to 5 a.m. Monday, February 4, Coney Island-bound F trains run express from Jay Street-MetroTech to Church Avenue due to work on the Culver Viaduct Reconstruction and the Church Avenue Interlocking.

Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts due to work on the Culver Viaduct Reconstruction and the Church Avenue Interlocking. Customers should take the F instead.

For F service, customers may take the A or C between Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. and Jay Street-MetroTech.
G service operates in two sections:

1. Between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand Aves and
2. Between Bedford-Nostrand Aves and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. (every 20 minutes).

From 5:30 a.m. Saturday, February 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday, February 3, there are no J trains between Crescent Street and Jamaica Center due to structural steel repair and painting north of Cypress Hills. Free shuttle buses and E trains provide alternate service via Jamaica-Van Wyck.

J trains run between Chambers Street and Crescent Street
Free shuttle buses operate between Crescent Street and 121st Street, and connect with the E at Jamaica-Van Wyck, where service to/from, Sutphin Blvd. and Jamaica Center is available.

From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, February 2 and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, February 3, Q trains are extended to Ditmars Blvd. in order to augment service between Manhattan and Queens.

(42nd Street Shuttle)(Overnights)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, February 2, Sunday, February 3 and Monday, February 4, 42nd Street S shuttle operates overnight due to weekend work on the 7 line.

February 2, 2013 8 comments

Manhattan

Video: Water main break at 23rd St. snarls Broadway service

by Benjamin Kabak February 1, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 1, 2013

Just in case you haven’t gotten your fill of water-logged subway stations over the past few months, New York City’s aging utilities have decided to grace us with another one. This morning, a 100-year-old water main near Madison Square Park broke, flooding the 23rd St. station on the BMT Broadway line. The MTA’s Leonard Wiggins was on hand to record the above video.

Not surprisingly, as of around 2:45 p.m., the water main break has snarled service along the N, Q and R trains. There are no N and Q trains between DeKalb Ave. and 57th St., and there are no R trains along the Broadway line between Queens Plaza and Whitehall St. Rather, R trains are running on the F from 36th St. to Herald Square and then along the D to DeKalb Ave. In its understated way, the MTA urges customers to “allow additional travel time.”

Rush hour could be a bit bumpy. According to Matt Flegenheimer of The Times water topped the third rail for about 1000 feet near the 23rd St. station, and the MTA still has to clean up. Once the station is pumped dry, crews will inspect tracks and signals before running test trains. On the slightly optimistic side, at least this flooding was not an inundation of corrosive salt water. Whatever deposits sit in a century-old pipe must be somewhat less destructive than the ocean.

February 1, 2013 35 comments

East Side Access Project

Looking beyond a Grand celebration

by Benjamin Kabak February 1, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on February 1, 2013

Stick around for 100 years; get a stamp.

It’s a good time to be Grand Central Terminal. Currently being feted by politicians and rededicated for another century, the Terminal is celebrating its centennial today with a full slate of musical performances, celebrity appearances and a whole slate of fun and games. For such an iconic building and an important part of New York City’s transit infrastructure, the grand building deserves the accolades.

While not everyone may want to celebrate the landmark, over the past century, the building has seen a lot. It has lived through the age of the railroads, the rise of the car, rapid growth in Midtown, two World Wars, a New York City collapse and, more recently, a city revitalized. It has served as the grounds for many a romantic encounter. It has become such a sought-after destination that an Apple Store has taken up prime real estate and a Shake Shack may one day arrive in its lower level food court. No longer just a launching point for travelers from the north, the building is a destination unto itself.

Yet, for all the talk of 100 years, it’s not where Grand Central has been that counts; rather, it’s where it’s going. The next 10 years for the Terminal will set the stage for the next 100 and beyond. Under and around Grand Central, there is a lot happening that will impact the future of Midtown. An effort to rezone and up-build the area has taken off, and Grand Central will be the focal point. Along with investments in the Terminal, the city wants to improve the subway infrastructure in Midtown East as well, and I’ll have more on that next week.

Underneath, East Side Access is lumbering to completion. It’s a flawed project, with rampant cost overruns and an extended timeline well beyond its original projected completion date. It suffers from the same problems that the ARC Tunnel had — namely, that it’s about 15 stories underground — but will serve to bring around 160,000 daily LIRR riders into Midtown East.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal’s Ted Mann took a tour of the construction site and wiggled some choice words out of Michael Horodniceanu’s mouth. The head of the MTA’s Capital Construction unit spoke about the project:

“There’s no doubt in my mind that people will use it,” Horodniceanu said, walking through what was once a rail yard for trains on the existing lower level of Grand Central. The space is now on its way to becoming a concourse for travelers heading down to the unfinished platforms below…

“It’s always hard when you have a project that is, in many ways, visionary to accomplish it,” he said. “People, they want to know what’s on their plate tomorrow night when they have supper. They don’t want to know what’s going to be here in 2020 or 2019.”

Holding court with a group of reporters, Horodniceanu conjured a favorite image: Some future archaeologist uncovering the tunnel boring machine his crew buried into rock after completion of their tunnels, somewhere near 37th Street. In the meantime, he said, the station he and his workers are building would be destined to become as much a part of the city’s fabric as the grand edifice up at street level.

“After 200 years of Grand Central, they’re going to be able to see two pieces: the original Grand Central and what we’re building now,” he said.

By the end of the decade, when East Side Access work is completed, it may be tough to reconcile that experience with the one we know at Grand Central today. Tracks feed off of the main concourse or a lower level, and access is easy. In the future, it will take a few minutes longer to get down the tracks, and soaring historic ceilings will be a part of the ride but not the first sight for many. As the city grows, though, it may not matter. We need more rail capacity, and a Long Island connection to the East Side is long overdue.

Here’s to the next 100 years, no matter how imperfect.

February 1, 2013 25 comments

MTA Politics

Advocates, industry insiders floating Prendergast for MTA CEO

by Benjamin Kabak January 31, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 31, 2013

It’s been exactly a month since Joe Lhota stepped down as MTA CEO and Chair to run for mayor, and we’ve heard nothing at all about a potential replacement. Last time around, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a search committee, but this time around, as is often the case, Cuomo has seemingly forgotten that the MTA both exists and has two men sharing temporary duties as Chairman and Executive Director.

Still, that hasn’t stopped transit advocates and those invested heavily in the outcome of the proceedings — that is, contractors — from putting forward a name as a potential replacement. That name belongs to Tom Prendergast, the interim MTA Executive Director and current New York City Transit President. As Dana Rubinstein notes, some in the industry have begun to embrace Prendergast as a successor. She writes:

Denise Richardson, managing director of the General Contractors Association, told me Prendergast might make a lot of sense. “First of all, Tom is a world-renowned transportation system manager,” she said. “He was recruited out of the M.T.A. to go run the Vancouver system. He’s worked at the M.T.A. in various capacities a large chunk of his career. He was instrumental in developing the plan that was so succesfully excecuted with the storm. He knows the financial issues that the M.T.A. faces and he knows the political environment. And he knows certainly why the public loves the M.T.A., and he knows why the public doesn’t so much love the M.T.A.”

In short, he wouldn’t have much of a learning curve. That’s no small issue for an enormous and enormously complicated bureaucracy that’s seen six leaders in six years and has a capital plan up for renewal in 2015.

Nadine Lemmon, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Albany legislative advocate, put it this way, in an email yesterday: “It is no surprise that his name may be floating around, given his understanding and experience with the agency. What transit advocates would like is: 1) someone willing to make a commitment to sticking around, 2) who will continue the strong inroads Joe Lhota made with the legislature and customers, 3) who can be a strong champion that can help secure the funding needed for the next capital plan.”

Lemmon’s second rationale seems of particular importance to advocates, one of whom told me (anonymously, for fear of getting ahead of Governor Andrew Cuomo), “Whoever’s chosen should be willing to stay around, not somebody who is going to leave in a year or a two.”

Industry observers were quick to question if Richardson’s ready embrace is a net positive for New Yorkers. It’s certainly a positive for the construction industry, but with costs as high as they are now, taxpayers often do not emerge ahead in those scenarios.

Still, I echo Rubinstein’s last point in the excerpt above: Prendergast has been here for nearly four years and hasn’t shown a desire to leave. He’s well-respected internally which is more than we can say for predecessor at Transit, and he knows the various realms he would oversee as MTA head. If only for the stability of the organization and the ability to move quickly on a nomination, we could do far, far worse than Prendergast.

January 31, 2013 13 comments

Manhattan

MTA aiming for shorter South Ferry repair timeline

by Benjamin Kabak January 31, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 31, 2013

The South Ferry terminal may reopen to passengers sooner than anticipated, but it may still be a while. (Photo by Benjamin Kabak)

With Staten Island representatives breathing down their necks, Transit officials yesterday pledged to reopen the 1 train’s South Ferry terminal station as soon as possible. Although formal plans have yet to be drawn up, New York City Transit President and current MTA Executive Director Thomas Prendergast said that he hopes to restore passenger service to the station before cosmetic and other infrastructure needs are fully addressed.

One day after Staten Island’s MTA Board representative Allen Cappelli called upon the authority to reopen the decommissioned (and also damaged) South Ferry loop, Prendergast placated the borough’s concerns. “There are ways to restore service before the work is completed,” he said.

Ken Paulsen of the Staten Island Advance had more:

The MTA’s interim head said the agency is not considering re-opening the “old” South Ferry station so it can focus on getting trains rolling in the new station ahead of the three-year timetable set for its reconstruction. Interim Executive Director Tom Prendergast told the Advance Wednesday that the MTA — with funding now in place — is working to restore basic subway service to the station, even if behind-the-scenes work needs to continue long afterwards…

No one is talking about an imminent return to service at the new South Ferry station, but he sees a similar dynamic at play [as the one that quickly repaired the Staten Island Rail Road]: Get the riders back on the trains as quickly as possible, before the cosmetic or behind-the-scenes work is completed.

Predergast said it would require a huge effort to re-open the decommissioned old station — and that would no doubt affect efforts to get trains back into the new station before 2016. The old station was shut down in 2009 when the new one opened, and there was never any consideration that it would be placed back in service, he said. Means of access have been altered or shut down. Significant rebuilding and construction work would be required to make it accessible once again to passengers. The bottom line: “It would divert resources away from how fast we could get the new South Ferry up and restored,” he said.

According to the Advance, Transit’s next steps is to “formalize its assessment and plan to rebuild South Ferry,” and with federal funds on hand, it can begin to move forward with that planning. There is, however, no real timetable for a return to service, and as far as I can tell, even a best-case scenario would involve numerous weekend diversions once service returns and significant work on the terminal even before that.

January 31, 2013 33 comments

Second Avenue Subway

Photo: A recent glimpse underneath Second Ave.

by Benjamin Kabak January 30, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 30, 2013

Work underway at the future 72nd Street Station, where crews are filling out the raw rock of the cavern with concrete lining. Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin.

When you really stop to think about it, what’s happening on a day-to-day basis beneath Second Ave. is truly quite impressive. Despite the massively high costs, the slow pace of construction and the fact that all we’re getting is a two-track subway extension, we’re allowed to marvel at the sheer size of the caverns being dug out underneath the Upper East Side and the scope of the engineering work.

I haven’t been inside the work site at Second Ave. in a while, but the MTA’s own Patrick Cashin took a trip there recently. He shared his photos on Flickr, and while it’s tough to capture the enormity of the work in one photograph, his images allow us to see how things are progressing. We see the walls at 72nd Street coming into view and platform areas taking shape.

My favorite shots are those of the work in progress at 63rd St. So many subway riders used the F train at that station and had no idea that a semi-completed platform and set of active tracks were behind the false wall. We can see the tracks and third rail ready for further use. We can see parts of the platform already in revenue service. We can see new staircases and an idle F train.

So take a glimpse through the full set. It’s a great bit of infrastructure porn, and with no promise of funding for future phases any time soon, it may just be the last subway extension in progress for quite some time.

January 30, 2013 94 comments

Manhattan

Calls grow to reopen the old South Ferry loop

by Benjamin Kabak January 30, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 30, 2013

To recommission the old South Ferry loop, gap-fillers would have to be reinstalled. (Photo by flickr user Marcin Wichary)

With around 15,000 Staten Islanders a day faced with a longer walk and inconvenient journeys, Staten Island officials and MTA Board representatives have called upon the agency to reopen the old five-car loop station at least on a temporary basis. The station has not been open for four years, though, and the MTA has resisted calls to reopen it.

“Old South Ferry is completely decommissioned and no longer an entrance,” Deirdre Parker, an agency spokesperson, said to the Staten Island Advance. “We don’t want to divert funds from rebuilding the new station in trying to recommission the old one.”

The story, from Ken Paulsen, goes a bit like this:

Staten Island’s representative to the MTA board, Allen P. Cappelli, says the agency needs to take a closer look, especially in light of the long-term timeline for rebuilding the “new” station. “I think it’s an idea that needs to be considered in the short run, and I will certainly raise it” with MTA officials, including Interim President Thomas Prendergast…

But for now, his agency is not even considering re-opening the old station to commuters. Thanks to the installation of a temporary signal system, the old station is now being used as the train turn around point — just as it did for more than a century. But when the 1 train now rumbles through the old station on its way back to Rector Street — the current terminus — there are no commuters waiting to board. The MTA says the old entrance to the South Ferry is now property of the city Department of Transportation, which runs the adjacent Staten Island Ferry. Additionally, the only stairway to the station “was halved to allow for an employee facility,” and the station is not compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“None of these things is insurmountable,” Cappelli countered. He added that House and Senate approval of the Hurricane Sandy relief package means that the MTA knows it will get the cash to make repairs that are needed to its system — allowing it to seriously explore the feasibility of re-opening the old South Ferry station. “This is not a ‘Where are we going to get the money’ issue,” he said.

The issue for Cappelli, and Staten Island politicians who issued a similar call last month, is about timing at money. It’s going to take around three years to get the new South Ferry in working order, and Cappelli says that’s not fair or acceptable to Staten Island residents. “Three years is an unrealistic period of time to wait and I am going to be pressing agency officials to come up with a plan to get this done in shorter period of time,” he said.

Finding a way to cut the work time is a better solution, but what this article misses about the old South Ferry station is extensive. The gap fillers are gone; the station would need to secure an ADA waiver; and it too suffered extensive damage during Sandy. That, I believe, is key. Despite a temporary signal system for turning trains, the main South Ferry loop signals were controlled by the equipment in the damaged station, and a good chunk of the cost of repairs will go toward repairing that signal system whether old South Ferry is reactivated or not.

Additionally, there are questions of money and manpower. Although the feds are footing the bill for the South Ferry repairs, this isn’t an endless piggy bank, and the MTA would have to request even more for a reactivation of the old station. Furthermore, getting it ready for use would involve a shuffling work schedules and using man-hours that could be better spent on the current South Ferry station.

Of course, as Cappelli noted, none of these issues are insurmountable. If the MTA wants to reopen South Ferry, it could find a way to pay for the project while working on South Ferry. Whether they should, well, I’ll leave that up to you to debate.

January 30, 2013 81 comments

Asides PANYNJ

PATH set to restore HOB-WTC trains Wednesday morning

by Benjamin Kabak January 29, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 29, 2013

PATH will run a full weekday schedule tomorrow for the first time since Hurricane Sandy, Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo announced today. Beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, trains will once again run from Hoboken to the World Trade Center, offering up that elusive one-seat ride that had been knocked out due to sever damage from flooding.

“Restoring full PATH service to the region is possible because of the hard work of the men and women at PATH who labored 24/7 to bring this critical transit link back to life after the most devastating storm our region has ever suffered,” Gov. Christie said in a statement. “PATH riders’ patience, understanding and flexibility under such difficult circumstances are great examples of how the people of this region respond in the face of tragedy, and today is another major step toward returning our daily lives and routines to normal.”

With this announcement, PATH’s weekday service is fully restored with trains running from Newark and Hoboken to the World Trade Center and from Journal Square and Hoboken to 33rd St. on pre-Sandy timetables. Overnight weekday service will run from Newark to 33rd St. via Hoboken and from Newark to the WTC station. For now, though, and throughout February, Exchange Place and World Trade Center will be closed during the weekend as crews continue to make necessary repairs. The Port Authority expects to restore all PATH service to pre-Sandy levels sometime in March.

January 29, 2013 4 comments

New York City Transit

The G train’s chicken-and-egg problem

by Benjamin Kabak January 29, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 29, 2013

Once upon a time, the G train wasn’t a particularly popular train. The remnants of this era are still evident in the state of the line. Desolate, half-abandoned platforms that aren’t close to a state of good repair mark the line, and the way it shuffles back and forth between Queens and Brooklyn with nary a stop or even a tunnel in Manhattan lends it the air of being part of The Other.

Yet, despite the mysterious sense of foreboding allure that surrounds the G train, it is both popular and reliable. It touches some of the more rapidly growing areas of Brooklyn and connects job centers in Long Island City and Downtown Brooklyn while skirting through residential neighborhoods. It comes reliably, if not often enough, and can be rather crowded during rush hour and, when running normally, on weekends.

Passing through or around various other subway lines, the G is also ripe for better connections to the rest of the city, and to that end, the Riders Alliance — an organization for which I sit on its board — has targeted the G for its first campaign. Its goals are rather simple: The Alliance is building grassroots support to pressure politicians and the MTA into adopting a few easy improvements for the G, including a free out-of-system transfer between the G and the J/M/Z and the G and the Atlantic Ave./Barclays Center station, increased train frequency at rush hour, improving communications with riders and reopening closed entrances.

At a rally on Sunday with approximately 75 riders, the Alliance and a few local politicians presented the requests and a letter to the MTA for a full line review similar to that conducted on the L and F lines over the past few years. The letter came from State Senators Daniel Squadron and Martin Malavé Dilan. “After calls to expand weekend L services to Williamsburg were made in 2011, the MTA discovered that transit riders are a reliable resource and know a thing or two about what improvements can be made, and where,” Dilan said in a statement. “These suggestions are worth looking into. And I hope the G Line can share the same success that came of the working relationship between the MTA and L riders last year.”

The letter expressed similar sentiments. “We ask,” it read, the MTA to “review schedules and ridership on weekdays and weekends, with the goal of creating a schedule that is more reflective of ridership patterns.” It is a modest request and one tough to turn down.

While the MTA hasn’t yet issued a full response to the letter, in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Adam Lisberg offered a glimpse into the MTA’s thinking. “Our decisions to add service reflect on what we go out and measure,” he said. “What they’re calling for is not borne out by our numbers.”

And therein lies the MTA’s chicken-and-egg problem. First, the MTA sets its own load guidelines. If it doesn’t find the train crowded, that’s because its definition of crowded may not line up with yours or mine. (For what it’s worth, a train is full when every seat is taken and a quarter of the car is standing.) Second, the MTA has often said that demand doesn’t warrant more service, but it’s very possible that more frequent service will lead to greater demand. New Yorkers avoid the G train because they think it doesn’t run very often, they think waits are too long and they think trains are too crowded for the service. By changing perceptions and encouraging ridership, ridership will go up.

The G train has gotten better over the years but it could be more valuable. It could help feed riders off the L and to the M. It could serve as a true lifeline through growing neighborhoods. It could be a great way to travel in between Queens and Brooklyn without that annoying loop through crowded Manhattan stations. The MTA should give a nod to these possibilities and explore ways to make the G better.

January 29, 2013 57 comments

New York City Transit

Few solutions for improved subway platform safety

by Benjamin Kabak January 29, 2013

written by Benjamin Kabak on January 29, 2013

The subway accident rate has remained low as ridership has increased over the past ten years. (Source: New York City Transit)

I am growing weary of discussing platform edge doors. As I mentioned on Twitter yesterday, I believe the increased public concern over subway platform safety is a ruse to deflect attention away from the real issues facing our transit system. Politicians can use subway platform system to claim they care about transit issues and are looking out for riders when, in reality, the incident rate was one per 11.3 million subway riders and nearly a quarter of those were suicide attempts. But here we are. Again.

Because of two high-profile homicides that were both a far cry from normal, New York City Transit has been forced to respond to increased calls for, well, anything on subway platform safety, and during yesterday’s MTA Board Committee hearings, officials unveiled a 46-page presentation awkwardly entitled “Customer Contact With Train Incident Report.” In it, the MTA lays bear just how little of a problem this is and presents a few solutions. From public awareness campaigns to the challenges facing any sort of platform edge doors to hope for a next-generation track intrusion detection system, the MTA is clearly paying lip service to all solutions, but its options going forward are limited.

So first things first: How do people get hit by trains? According to Transit, in 2012, 54 customers were struck while in the tracks and another 51 were hit by a train while in the station. The agency says that 33 were suicides or attempted suicides while three customers fell in between cars. Short of locking car doors, the MTA can’t do much more stop people from moving in between cars, and the only solution that will put an end to subway suicides are platform edge doors. The remaining 105 collisions last year fall in that space between avoidable and unavoidable based on the circumstances.

The first step in the MTA’s campaign against collisions involves the public awareness effort. Already, the PA/CIS systems are broadcasting safety messages, and those will soon spread to the backs of MetroCards, the MetroCard Vending Machine screens, the digital ads aboveground at certain train stations and every social media outlet imaginable. At this least, this effort could scare passengers away from standing too close to the platform, but as New York is New York, straphangers won’t budge all that much.

In the realm of technology, the MTA can look to limit access to the tracks, develop a warning system or both. The first part is tricky. Even as some cities retrofit their transit system with platform edge doors, circumstances underground are working against the MTA. First, it’s costly, and the MTA has no money. Second, the rolling stock isn’t standardized and won’t be for at least another decade. Third, station infrastructure — curved, narrow platforms with both little room for required electrical systems and weak platform edges — is lacking for such an effort. Fourth, operations could suffer from extended dwell time and flagging requirements. Even though the MTA received 12 responses to its request for information, yesterday’s presentation contains the seeds of the agency’s argument that platform edge doors are basically a non-starter.

So what can happen? First, the MTA says it will expand its Help Point system which would allow customers to warn train dispatchers of a person in the tracks. This is useful as long as the train isn’t barreling down on a station or potential victim. Help Point, which I’ve mentioned obtusely as a waste of money, could be at 100 stations by the end of next year and system-wide by the end of the decade.

Second, the MTA could look at intrusion detection. Here, the idea is that an advanced imaging system can tell when a human-sized something is in the tracks and sound an alarm that essentially shuts down the system. In theory, it sounds promising, but it’s an early-stage idea. The MTA is going to initiate a Concept of Operations, but it could be years before a solution is ready for any sort of practical pilot testing or implementation.

That leaves the MTA and its customers then with few solutions to something that isn’t a major problem. The agency is going to move forward with some sort of safety pilot program, but doing so is as much about placating the rabbling masses than it is about finding a long-term solution. And while I don’t mean to minimize tragic deaths caused by train collisions, at a certain point, the cost and time spent on the non-problem will detract from Transit’s real issues that impact us all.

January 29, 2013 88 comments

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