For three weekends for the last month, Metro has been in the hard spot of having to do trackwork on both ends of the Red Line. The issues at hand: work on the approach between Brentwood Yard and Rhode Island Ave and the "cover our butts because we poorly built an incline" deal between Medical Center and Grosvenor. Typical rush a system to completion and budget zero for preventative maintenance for the first 30 years junk that only Metro can do.
How does Metro deal with it? By having trains running the entire legnth of the line running on 30 minute headways and filling in gaps (Friendship Heights/Medical Center-New York Ave) running every 15. Even then, those trains often come in packs. This isn't a urban mass transit system, this is a good commuter railroad at best.
Can anyone else think of any other transit agency that would subject riders to this much agony? Anyone? Anywhere? Most mature agencies would've shut down one leg and have shuttle bused it; at least then there isn't a rush for space.
Quote from: Scrabbleship on May 20, 2010, 10:19:10 AM
For three weekends for the last month, Metro has been in the hard spot of having to do trackwork on both ends of the Red Line. The issues at hand: work on the approach between Brentwood Yard and Rhode Island Ave and the "cover our butts because we poorly built an incline" deal between Medical Center and Grosvenor. Typical rush a system to completion and budget zero for preventative maintenance for the first 30 years junk that only Metro can do.
How does Metro deal with it? By having trains running the entire legnth of the line running on 30 minute headways and filling in gaps (Friendship Heights/Medical Center-New York Ave) running every 15. Even then, those trains often come in packs. This isn't a urban mass transit system, this is a good commuter railroad at best.
Can anyone else think of any other transit agency that would subject riders to this much agony? Anyone? Anywhere? Most mature agencies would've shut down one leg and have shuttle bused it; at least then there isn't a rush for space.
Poorly built an incline? Care to back that up with any sort of facts, other than it needing preventive maintenance, unless you know something we don't? If anything, from what I understand, the problems in that stretch are water related.
In light of the fact that I doubt most riders are riding end to end, having trackwork on both ends of the line doesn't seem all that bad to me, most riders won't ride through both work zones. Now, if the trains were coming bunched up, even in the core, that is a problem, since it means there is no reliability for passengers. It also might work a bit better if trains ran Shady Grove-New York Avenue and Friendship Heights-Glenmont so that no train had to go through two single track zones, if they weren't doing that.
Metro used to issue timetables for single tracking so riders would know when the trains were scheduled, and generally, those schedules were followed. It would be great if they did that again so people could minimize the amount of time they need to wait at a station.
Your assertions that no other system would do this require some sort of factual backup in my mind. As do those saying that the system was built as a rush job and given no money for preventive maintenance (only half that statement is true). Also, I suspect you would be bitching and moaning loudly if half the line was bustituted about how long a shuttle bus ride takes from Silver Spring to Union Station. But since you asked, Philadelphia often bustituted the MFL, including on weekdays IIRC as they rebuilt the el structure. And London has plenty of planned closures, especially on the weekends, for trackwork. And Israel Railways, although not a subway, this month had several sections of line closed entirely for grade separation with no alternate transportation provided (though buses do parallel the closed routes).
This is standard operating procedure with all TA's and railroads and not unusual. For example, Amtrak is performing trackwork btw DC and B'more as we speak that requires "wrong-rail" operations through the work areas all day including peak periods. MARC is publishing temporary schedules as each section of track is worked on and may cancel some trains depending upon how the work impacts operations on a given day. Baltimore's lone Metro line encounters similar disruptions during normal maintenance or emergency repairs that cannot be completed overnight when the system is shut down. The usual result is single-tracking btw the stations where the work is being done and the occaisional bus bridge as well.
This is especially true now as we enter "construction season". This outdoor work, mostly PM and upgrading, is squeezed into the Spring-Summer-Fall time of year with multiple projects underway simultaneously. Same for highway work.
Ah, I went through that operation a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, I survived. I do agree with Oren, though. WMATA really needs to start providing timetables for the Metrorail if they are going to plan to run such limited service during construction periods and other times. I'd really like to see Metrorail timetables in all of the stations as well.
Scrabbleship
"cover our butts because we poorly built an incline"
I am going to have to agree with Oren on this one and add some information that you likely don't know.
All of the single track circular tunnels between Rock Creek Park and the Capitol Beltway were excavated using a mechanical boring machine. As a matter fact the same boring machine was used to excavate the full length of both tunnels. The density of the schist the tunnels were bored through varied over their length. Over most of the length of the tunnels no additional shoring was required and there was little or no water seepage into the unlined tunnels. The tunnels are lined with unreinforced concrete. At the time the engineers decided that any water seepage would be held back or diverted by the density of the concrete used to line the tunnels. WMATA later learn that the concrete alone was insufficient to hold back water at a few locations.
The method WMATA uses to eliminate or diverted water seepage is to drill holes through the concrete lining and into the surround bedrock and inject grout. The grout fills the cracks in the surround bedrock diverting the water to a path of least resistance.
Later tunnels were lines with a PVC membrane outside of the finished concrete lining. The PVC membrane was put in regardless of the fact there was evidence or not of seepage at the time of construction.
Thanks for clearing that up, Oren and John. I knew it was something with water seepage but that still doesn't get Metro off the hook for such problems happening under 30 years into the life of the tunnels.
If there is any one stretch of the Metro system that has issues, it's the Woodley Park-Medical Center part. Between the water seepage and that some stations (Woodley Park, Van Ness, Bethesda to name 3) have elevators far from the bus bays/main station entrance.
Quote from: Scrabbleship on May 21, 2010, 09:55:07 AM
Thanks for clearing that up, Oren and John. I knew it was something with water seepage but that still doesn't get Metro off the hook for such problems happening under 30 years into the life of the tunnels.
If there is any one stretch of the Metro system that has issues, it's the Woodley Park-Medical Center part. Between the water seepage and that some stations (Woodley Park, Van Ness, Bethesda to name 3) have elevators far from the bus bays/main station entrance.
John can probably elaborate more on the specific plans for those stations but remember that most early stations were NOT designed to have elevators and were added in later, which may explain their locations in some cases. Also, some of those stations you mention are very deep. Think of Pythageoran's Theorum where the diagonal is the escalator, and you'll see why some of those elevators are far from the escalators. Also, why isn't Friendship Heights on your list? You realize Tenleytown is only close to the buses because there is no street elevator from the mezzanine? And at Cleveland Park, the escalators wrap around to bring you closer to the elevator, but otherwise, they would also be further away.
Why should Metro be on the hook in the first place? Things often don't work as intended. They know far more now than they did in the 1970s, can you blame them? They've taken corrective action elsewhere in the system since they learned about the water seepage. The Woodley Park to Medical Center (Grosvenor) segment is one of the longest deep bored sections on the Metro, and also one of the oldest. It is in need of major upkeep, which is to be expected considering its age. They do some pretty big trackwork projects up in New York, why don't you take issue with those? What about rebuilding highway bridges and such? You (and many others) hold Metro to a standard that is far and above the standard that other large transportation providers, such as DDOT, MDOT, or VDOT are held to on a daily basis.
Also, for the record, at least this weekend, the press release indicates when trains are supposed to leave the end stations on the Red Line. Better than nothing, but, there is lots of room for improvement in that regard. More on my opinions on how WMATA could improve its PR when it comes to announcing trackwork related schedule changes when Shabbat isn't about to start imminently.
More from Dr. Gridlock on the Red Line work: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/getthere/2010/05/whats_up_with_red_line.html
Also, I'm in the middle of reading Robert Caro's "Power Broker", which is a biography on Robert Moses. For anyone wanting to know what the root cause of WMATA's current problems are, read this chapter. In short, it is a lack of funding for preventive maintenance. Some of the quotes used to describe the NYC Subway of the 1960s are identical to what is being used to describe WMATA now. I kid you not. The issue isn't shoddy construction or any of the claims being made in this post, but rather a lack of money to make necessary repairs and to keep things in good, working order. The death spiral will commence if the politicians on the board don't get their act together and if the public doesn't put pressure on the right people.
That just makes WMATA look worse! Instead of making sure they have the money to maintain their system, they keep expanding, expanding, and expanding at a rapid pace. From January, 2001, when the Green Line was completed, WMATA added a fill-in station for the Red Line, extended the Blue Line by two stops, and is now working on a brand new line (although thankfully it is being co-funded by a third party). That's more than I've seen elsewhere in the Northeast. It's fantastic to expand service options, but when the expansions put a strain on the maintenance budget to the point where the expensive to build and maintain system starts having to defer maintenance, it's a serious problem. One can only wonder how long this practice has been going on!
Anyway, it's too late for woulda, shoulda, and coulda. Hopefully the politicians and Metro officials can put their heads together and figure out how to save the system.
I don't think it's really a matter of figuring out what WMATA needs. In my opinion it's more than the politicians need to make it a high priority. I think Oren is correct in saying that the people need to put pressure on them. I think it's being ignored all around which is probably why we're paying very high fares to ride a system that seems to be falling apart.
I would be surprised to learn of any politician that doesn't see the value of WMATA's Metrorail. The buses, however...
Until the riding public gets heavily involved in demanding better service for the fares paid, things will not change that much for the better. Riders in Baltimore got very little response from the MTA over the years because they did not demand it and only got the minimum that was required. In addition the City Council and the city's legislative delegation in Annapolis did not perceive that transit was a big deal with their constituents and therefore was not a priority for lawmakers. This is understandable when crime, schools and keeping your job are legitimately greater concerns.
But several years ago when the Ehrlich administration proposed the Greater Baltimore Bus Initiative (GBBI) which was going dramatically change the system, folks got PO'ed and turned out in unexpected numbers for the hearings. As a result, the most controversial elements of the GBBI that would have left many communities in the city without service were not implemented. As a result the MTA has become more proactive in community outreach (But still has a long, long way to go.) regarding the bus system.
However, MARC riders especially are organized and very vocal regarding the quality of the service they get. In part this is due to the large number of politically savvy, high income professionals riding the trains who know how to lobby the MTA, MDOT and the General Assembly. To as lesser degree this true of the MTA's long distance Commuter Bus riders as well.
The old proverb of the "the squeeky wheel gets the oil" is true. If you don't complain the powers that be assume you're not concerned.
Quote from: mrpete on May 23, 2010, 02:38:54 PM
Until the riding public gets heavily involved in demanding better service for the fares paid, things will not change that much for the better. Riders in Baltimore got very little response from the MTA over the years because they did not demand it and only got the minimum that was required. In addition the City Council and the city's legislative delegation in Annapolis did not perceive that transit was a big deal with their constituents and therefore was not a priority for lawmakers. This is understandable when crime, schools and keeping your job are legitimately greater concerns.
But several years ago when the Ehrlich administration proposed the Greater Baltimore Bus Initiative (GBBI) which was going dramatically change the system, folks got PO'ed and turned out in unexpected numbers for the hearings. As a result, the most controversial elements of the GBBI that would have left many communities in the city without service were not implemented. As a result the MTA has become more proactive in community outreach (But still has a long, long way to go.) regarding the bus system.
However, MARC riders especially are organized and very vocal regarding the quality of the service they get. In part this is due to the large number of politically savvy, high income professionals riding the trains who know how to lobby the MTA, MDOT and the General Assembly. To as lesser degree this true of the MTA's long distance Commuter Bus riders as well.
The old proverb of the "the squeeky wheel gets the oil" is true. If you don't complain the powers that be assume you're not concerned.
Since I ride 3 of the 5 modes of MTA, I've felt I should have a say in proposed service changes regarding the three modes (Bus, Light Rail, MARC) because I rely on all three to get to and from school. There is still a problem of connectivity between different modes which greatly affects me everyday to where I have 4 hour commutes a day. I remember back in 05 when GBBI was about to take place and I attended one of the public hearings regarding it and was furious because of the proposed broad changes that were going to effect the entire region. After I became a MARC commuter, I've started to endure the painful commutes that most of the MARC commuters endure everyday (crowded trains, track work, CSX bs, Amtrak bs). I do agree that the public needs to be more involved with having their voices heard on proposed service changes (I wish the folks at UMD could have gotten that through their thick heads before they decided to close Campus Drive this summer for a "trial").