From the NY Post:Nearly 16 months after its debut, a pricey ploy to run the L train on autopilot is still hamstrung by glitches that cause aggravating delays for riders and multimillion-dollar repairs for the MTA, according to train operators and union leaders.
Yet despite the lousy track record, the cash-strapped agency is gearing up to spend $453 million to create another "robotrain," on the No. 7 line in 2015.
"It's trying to fit new technology into an old system," said William Henderson, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. "There is some skepticism...about why we are doing this."
The newfangled system, which cost more than $340 million to rig on the L line, has computerized signals that automatically detect and pilot the train. But NYC Transit's old infrastructure sometimes causes the new signals to short out and make the brakes seize up, resulting in delays from 15 minutes to nearly an hour, according to those who work the line.
"There's a fluke in the system. It's constantly happening," said one train operator.
In the last three weeks, the L has suffered from "mechanical problems" at least 10 times, two of them on Friday alone, according to NYC Transit information. Those incidents also include a hot, sweaty wait during rush hour on July 8, where the crowding nearly caused a riot.
9 comments:
Auto pilot is not the cause of delays, rather it is the fault of the MTA who cannot execute a project properly per the vendor or perhaps cannot determine which vendor will be effective at working in a dysfunctional transit system. It boils down to this: It boils down to this: The MTA is so grossly incompetent, it cannot be effective in implementing new technology if it cannot currently run the existing system.
The MTA has tried something like this for decades: recall the Times Sq Shuttle disaster.
The MTA needs to quit listening to those assholes in Europe. The system is to big and old to retrofit.
It will never work right.
I wonder who and how many of these "Islander" scummbags running the MTA and are planning retirment in the French Virgin Islands.
THIS IS A SCAM !!!
The MTA is 90% Islanders and Jamaicans. Go down to the Coney Island yard, you wont find one white person working.
What does anybody really expect from these imports ? Wasnt their union boss jailed a couple times ?
I dont know what this has to do with the "assholes" you say in Europe? The MTA has chosen a bad idea for their mix match old system. Then again many train systems in Europe are a hundred or more years old also.
You will never see a train system this dirty and dysfunctional in Europe.
Look at the train system in Munich or Berlin with the U Bahn or the Copenhagen train system. You can also bring dogs on the train in Berlin when buying a ticket notifying the ticket agent.
Japan is miles ahead and its where some of the new trains came from for the MTA that are old for the Japanese system.
You will never see a train system this dirty and dysfunctional in Europe.
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You also wont see a train at 3am. 99% of those systems over there close daily form 12am to 6am.
That's about 2,200 hours a year each year for service and cleaning.
NYC is the city that never sleeps. We dont have that luxury of time.
Anonymous said...
You will never see a train system this dirty and dysfunctional in Europe.
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You also wont see a train at 3am. 99% of those systems over there close daily form 12am to 6am.
That's about 2,200 hours a year each year for service and cleaning.
NYC is the city that never sleeps. We dont have that luxury of time.
Monday, August 09, 2010
The U Bahn in Germany runs all night and so do the Japanese trains. The London Underground trains do also.
Look it up.
OK I stand corrected on the late night trains. The German trains stop for 3 hrs most nights and then theres the trams and buses to take though.
In london thats true also but buses are outside stations.
The reason the system is so filthy is because of the many savages who use the system. Clean up after yourself!I wish the city would hire more cops and bring back the "zero tolerance" policy.
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