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Ksevio t1_j9vlyxv wrote

Reply to comment by LightBound in A man was shoved onto Blue Line tracks in Revere. He landed on his feet and just barely missed getting hit by an oncoming train. by _Hack_The_Planet_

You need a lot more infrastructure for that to work. The trains have to stop at the exact right place so the doors line up and they have to sync with the platform doors when they open and close. We'd need some more modernization of the trains and signaling before that's possible

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LightBound t1_j9vpnbp wrote

I'm cool with that

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McFlyParadox t1_j9vt8qw wrote

At this point, I'd be cool with them ripping all the hardware - rails, ties, switching, everything, even concrete in places where it needs to be repoured - out of the tunnels, and replacing it all with modern gear, one line at a time. And then they do the red line and orange line, dig another tunnel or two to connect the commuter rail between North Station and South Station. Would probably have to replace entire lines with bus service for years, while the line was being gutted and rebuilt, but it's honestly getting to that point. There is only so much you can do when you need spend half your maintenance time just getting equipment in and out of the tunnels. And maybe if we're really good, we can finally have the yellow line. As a treat.

Big-Dig-it-up, but for public transportation this time.

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free_to_muse t1_j9y30px wrote

Sounds good. T grand reopening summer of 2038.

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McFlyParadox t1_j9y3azx wrote

As I said: one line at a time.

So, yeah, it probably would take a couple of decades to do all the work. But it wouldn't be a couple decades of "No trains".

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free_to_muse t1_j9y3zri wrote

Ok great. Just 5 years for the line that goes to your home. And then the next 5 years for the line that goes by your work.

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MgFi t1_j9y827f wrote

You can suffer waiting for the line to be rebuilt, or you can suffer waiting for the line to be rebuilt. It's your choice.

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free_to_muse t1_j9yx8wd wrote

So flippant. If you shut down a train for 5 yrs, people just don’t keep doing the same thing until it reopens. You’ll destroy countless businesses and communities, perhaps permanently. People will move, and change their behavior to not need the train. So when the train comes back, it’s a different world.

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MgFi t1_ja0yjhw wrote

My comment was meant to imply that whether they degrade service to rebuild the line while keeping it running, or they shut the line down to rebuild it faster or more completely, it's going to impact people either way. The same effects you mention will happen, regardless of which option is chosen, although if the line is kept running in some reduced capacity, there might be less of it. When the line is brought back up to full service, the world will be different either way.

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PassCommon1071 t1_ja09wm1 wrote

And design/re-fit so the system won't be drowned in sea level rise in 30 to 50 years.

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User-NetOfInter t1_j9w0qqt wrote

You’re talking ten billion. Easy.

Probably tens of billions.

MBTA annual budget is 2.5 billion

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BradDaddyStevens t1_j9wnxfm wrote

It should be done at some point, regardless. Also, could you elaborate on your $10bil number?

If we manage to do all that, then it will be possible to run trains without drivers and we’ll be able to run trains a lot more frequently.

Speaking long term, one of the biggest recurring costs to transit systems in expensive, modern cities like Boston is paying for operators of the system. Eliminating that when we can would be quite nice.

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CJYP t1_j9w3fq8 wrote

Signal modernization is already happening. It's really not that hard to get the train to stop at a specific point. Maybe a bit of training for the drivers. Other cities even have driverless trains that can stop precisely enough for platform screen doors to work.

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Alloverunder t1_j9wcg1e wrote

Are you perhaps suggesting installing RFID scanners on trains so they know exactly how far they are from the platform, and then giving each train a config file so it knows it's individual braking distance at a particular speed, and then doing a single mathematical operation at runtime?

8 billion dollars and 12 years or it's a no go I'm afraid, we simply don't have the tech yet /s

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TDKevin t1_j9xoc8w wrote

I don't get this defense of not having it. I have to stop in the exact right place when I park a car too. If the trains are that hard to control they can't stop at a certain line then there's a bigger issue.

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Ksevio t1_j9yo0l6 wrote

It's not that it's impossible, there are trains systems that do it, it's just the MBTA system isn't set up to do it automatically. Even being off by a foot would mean the doors would be too narrow and restrict the flow of people

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StarbeamII t1_j9z88qg wrote

Then make the platform doors 2-3 feet wider than the doors on the train so that if your train is a foot off the door still works. It's not that hard.

EDIT: looks like the ones in London do exactly that.

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TDKevin t1_ja1t1as wrote

That gates could be 15 feet wide. It doesn't really matter as long as they're shut when the train isn't there.

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TDKevin t1_ja1t4pt wrote

Then make them ultra wide. It doesn't matter how big the gates are if they're shut when the train isn't there. Who said it had to be a perfect ratio?

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roar8510 t1_j9wxas5 wrote

They have this in New Delhi metro in India.

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jtet93 t1_j9yf1ck wrote

I was thinking about this the other day. I’m the furthest thing from an engineer but I’m confused as to why there are no alternatives that don’t involve making the trains stop at the same place every time. Like what about a barrier that raises up from within the platform and lowers when the train pulls in? Or like a garage door style system where it pulls down in front of you and raises when the train pulls in? Having doors that open just seems like a complicated option.

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Dizzy_De_De t1_j9vr8y3 wrote

Or, the barrier could just be a room that restrict riders from the boarding area until the train arrives (and passengers disembark)

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Ksevio t1_j9vuhzf wrote

That would seriously slow down the boarding process

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Dizzy_De_De t1_j9xbx75 wrote

And yet airport trams all over the world make it work 24/7/365

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Ksevio t1_j9ynr4a wrote

Airport teams don't usually have a separate room

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