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We already have driverless trains. That technology has existed for decades.
The DC metro has that technology built into the system already along with a few other cities. When automatic train control is on, the driver only has to open and close the doors.
Vancouver's Skytrain system is totally driverless. Like you said, the technology has been around for decades. Vancouver's Skytrain started in 1986 and has now grown to 96.3 K of track. Longest in the word for driverless metros.
I am originally from Philly and have been a lifelong subway enthusiast and rider, since the 1970’s to school 7th grade thru 12th grade and to work for a few years. I have also ridden subways in New York, Boston and Washington, DC.
My questions are this:
In Philly there are express tracks where you have tunnels that are 4 tracks wide in North, South, Center city and West Philadelphia -2 tracks for local trains and 2 tracks for express trains, other than New York do other cities have this arrangement? This is a cool effect when two trains are riding side by side heading in the same direction-it's almost as if they are racing.
In Philly there are certain instances where you have tunnels that are 6 tracks wide -2 tracks for local trains, 2 tracks for express trains and 2 tracks for spur trains (in North Philly Between Girard and Fairmount avenue and at Erie avenue) do other cities have this arrangement?
In Philly you have instance where there are 4 track wide tunnels and 2 of the tracks either raise up to another higher level tunnel or sink down to a lower level tunnel. This is a cool effect when two trains are riding side by side heading in the same direction-when the other train either rises up or lowers into a deeper tunnel right next to your train.
In Philly at a major hub station-(Suburban Station) the tunnel is from 8 to ten tracks wide, other than New York’s Penn station and Grand central Terminal, do other cities have this arrangement?
In Philly you have double and triple level stations, I know that New York, Boston and DC have double level stations where two tunnels intersect, do other cities have triple level stations?
In Philly you have certain locations where you have several lines in separate tunnels merging together at one location (i.e. City Hall and 8TH STREET- Commuter Lines Train station 4 tracks- Market Street Line-2 tracks- Ridge Ave train 1 track –Patco train -2 tracks) do other cities have this arrangement?
In Philly you have abandoned subway stations and tunnels, other than New York do other cities have this arrangement?
In Philly you have a train that runs over a major bridge over the river right next to automobile traffic (Patco line on the Ben Franklin Bridge) and tunnels that run under the river, other than New York do other cities have this arrangement?
In Philly you have elevated train structures where one elevated train bridge crosses directly over another train bridge structure, do other cities have this arrangement?
In Philly the number of cars on each train varies-on the Broad street and Market street lines there are usually between 5 and 6 car trains, on the Subway surface lines (5 separate lines in total) there are usually one car trains, on the Ridge Avenue line there are 2 to 5 car trains, on the Patco trains there are usually 2 to 5 car trains and on the commuter lines there are 2 to 8 car trains. How many cars are there on other city trains, I have seen up to ten car trains in New York.
In Philly several tunnels and abandoned stations are heavily painted over with graffiti, the stations and trains are cleaner now than in the 1970’s, do other cities have this issue?
In Philly I have seen special trains for money collection-“The Money Train”, police trains and buses for getting a lot of police officers to a location quickly and special event trains for sporting events- The Phillies/Eagles Express train. Do other cities have specialty trains?
Thanks in advance for your responses. I have often wondered about the Subway System infrastructure in other cities. It’s sad that in these days and times, infrastructure like this would be considered too expensive to build, especially considering that most of the infrastructure in question was built from 1900 to the 1930’s, through the Great Depression.
As for Philly, just north of the Erie Street (express/local) station, tunnels rise from track level to a mezzanine level with no tracks... I understand this was actually a planned BSS junction to a northwest branch under Germantown Ave to serve the Germantown, Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods. These plans were shelved during and after the Depression 1930s largely since both the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads already served these communities with electrified (rapid transit-like) commuter rail branches, featuring numerous closely-spaced stations -- even though the hourly non-rush hour schedules of both regional rail lines suck compared to true rapid transit.
As for subway (PATCO) trains running along side cars on on the Ben Franklin Bridge, doesn't New York's subway do this also on a couple bridges? I know it does on the Williamsburg Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan. Of course the Brooklyn Bridge once hosted both subways and LIRR trains before trains were rerouted to under-the-East River tunnels ... and the Williamsburg Br... right?
As for Philly, just north of the Erie Street (express/local) station, tunnels rise from track level to a mezzanine level with no tracks... I understand this was actually a planned BSS junction to a northwest branch under Germantown Ave to serve the Germantown, Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods. These plans were shelved during and after the Depression 1930s largely since both the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads already served these communities with electrified (rapid transit-like) commuter rail branches, featuring numerous closely-spaced stations -- even though the hourly non-rush hour schedules of both regional rail lines suck compared to true rapid transit.
As for subway (PATCO) trains running along side cars on on the Ben Franklin Bridge, doesn't New York's subway do this also on a couple bridges? I know it does on the Williamsburg Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan. Of course the Brooklyn Bridge once hosted both subways and LIRR trains before trains were rerouted to under-the-East River tunnels ... and the Williamsburg Br... right?
Yeah NYC does this with the JMZ trains on the Williamsburg Bridge.
And also the BDNQ trains on the Manhattan bridge
I never knew that about the Brooklyn Bridge though. Thanks for sharing that fact.
I love going over bridges on the subway. I like it a lot better than the underwater tunnels even though it is a little slower. It would be really cool if the Brooklyn Bridge still had subways on it. It would be cool if the Queensboro had subway tracks on it too. It's such a beautiful bridge.
As for Philly, just north of the Erie Street (express/local) station, tunnels rise from track level to a mezzanine level with no tracks... I understand this was actually a planned BSS junction to a northwest branch under Germantown Ave to serve the Germantown, Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods. These plans were shelved during and after the Depression 1930s largely since both the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads already served these communities with electrified (rapid transit-like) commuter rail branches, featuring numerous closely-spaced stations -- even though the hourly non-rush hour schedules of both regional rail lines suck compared to true rapid transit.
As for subway (PATCO) trains running along side cars on on the Ben Franklin Bridge, doesn't New York's subway do this also on a couple bridges? I know it does on the Williamsburg Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan. Of course the Brooklyn Bridge once hosted both subways and LIRR trains before trains were rerouted to under-the-East River tunnels ... and the Williamsburg Br... right?
the previous post boasting philly as something special is off premise (in fact, most people feel that phillys subway system is somewhat lacking). pretty much every city I know has subways that crosses bridges or has parallel tracks in some sections, etc... ?
(and suburban station is commuter real I thought; hence the name suburban station ?
and most subways carry like a dozen cars ?
Last edited by stanley-88888888; 03-24-2017 at 12:03 AM..
People who rate Boston highly have probably only ever been here as a tourist and used it to go from their hotel at Park Street either to Fenway Park or to Harvard and back on a summer weekend or something. Try living here and being dependent on it.
You're better off walking.
Maybe for sections of the Green Line but for the rest of it it works fine. I live near Ashmont and took it downtown for years and never had a problem. Is it fun? No, its not supposed to be.
the previous post boasting philly as something special is off premise (in fact, most people feel that phillys subway system is somewhat lacking). pretty much every city I know has subways that crosses bridges or has parallel tracks in some sections, etc... ?
(and suburban station is commuter real I thought; hence the name suburban station ?
and most subways carry like a dozen cars ?
I agree that Phillys system is somewhat lacking but it's still easily one of the best in The US. In context of the thread, the bar is set extremely low so it kind of is something special. For American standards.
Somebody mentioned Vancouver though and that got me thinking of where do you guys think the Canadian cities would rank in this? I've only been to Toronto so I can't speak for all of them, but I think Torontos subway was also somewhat lacking, but compared to these cities I would rank it near the top. Above Philly but just below Boston.
Idk about Vancouver or Montreal, but I love the name "Skytrain" btw. I'm guessing it's mostly all elevated like Chicago.
Yeah NYC does this with the JMZ trains on the Williamsburg Bridge.
And also the BDNQ trains on the Manhattan bridge
I never knew that about the Brooklyn Bridge though. Thanks for sharing that fact.
I love going over bridges on the subway. I like it a lot better than the underwater tunnels even though it is a little slower. It would be really cool if the Brooklyn Bridge still had subways on it. It would be cool if the Queensboro had subway tracks on it too. It's such a beautiful bridge.
Both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro USED to carry "subway" cars. The Brooklyn Bridge used to carry the old Myrtle Ave elevated line. You can still see remnants of this line off the M's myrtle Ave stop. There is some cast iron structure that extends out but without any tracks on it.
The Queensboro used to carry the second Ave subway over the bridge's upper level to Queensboro plaza. There, riders could transfer to either the Astoria line or the flushing line. The subway cars were deemed too heavy for the bridge, and the 60th st tunnel was constructed soon after. Queensboro plaza used to be a 4 island stop, with trains coming from Manhattan terminating at the 2 upper islands, and trains heading to Flushing or Astoria at the bottom 2 islands. When the 60th st tunnel opened, the north side islands were demolised, and we got the configuration we have today.
Both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Queensboro USED to carry "subway" cars. The Brooklyn Bridge used to carry the old Myrtle Ave elevated line. You can still see remnants of this line off the M's myrtle Ave stop. There is some cast iron structure that extends out but without any tracks on it.
The Queensboro used to carry the second Ave subway over the bridge's upper level to Queensboro plaza. There, riders could transfer to either the Astoria line or the flushing line. The subway cars were deemed too heavy for the bridge, and the 60th st tunnel was constructed soon after. Queensboro plaza used to be a 4 island stop, with trains coming from Manhattan terminating at the 2 upper islands, and trains heading to Flushing or Astoria at the bottom 2 islands. When the 60th st tunnel opened, the north side islands were demolised, and we got the configuration we have today.
Wow, I never knew any of that. I've noticed that structure at Myrtle-Broadway before though. So I guess the present day M train tracks used to continue down Myrtle to downtown Brooklyn, and then across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan? That would be really useful if it were still around today. Also it would be really cool to have a subway cross the Brooklyn Bridge today. At least the BDNQ on the Manhatan bridge get a good view of it.
All of this is really interesting, but it kind of sucks that a lot of these lines no longer exist. I don't think the 2nd avenue el ever should've been demolished either.
Maybe for sections of the Green Line but for the rest of it it works fine. I live near Ashmont and took it downtown for years and never had a problem. Is it fun? No, its not supposed to be.
The green line sucks. Do you take buses? Also pretty bad. Glad you don't have to take a bus to a train ever.
I don't even commute that far: brighton (near St cols) to harvard square. More often than not I walk. 86 is unpleasantly crowded and has terrible frequency.
So I guess the mbta is good in that it has made my lifestyle healthier. Not uncommon to get 6 miles walking in a given day!
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