redarrow5591 wrote: While that statement might be easy to say, YOU ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT COMBINING TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT OPERATIONS. No amount of NPT or switch installations will change the fact that PATCO and the Broad Street cannot operate together for any reason at any time. There are too many obstacles (quite a few physical) that automatically restricts that from happening. Right from the gate is the car end shrouds that protect the undercarriage on the PATCO cars CANNOT clear various lowball signals just on the Ridge Spur alone..... never mind the Main Line itself.
That's a bit harsh. While there are physical constraints in the rolling stock which do prohibit through operation, its definitely not impossible because both lines share the same design heritage. Maybe the current PATCO stock won't work on the BSS, but the two can be adapted to one another, or a future rolling stock order can rectify this interoperability issue. The same goes for signalling, as both systems will likely be looking to upgrade their signalling systems in the next 20 or so years. It'd make sense for them to both adopt a compatible system which would restore that aspect of universality in the Philadelphia subway system. For the time being a bigger issue would be fare collection on a combined system. But even then there are ways to work around the problem. For example it should be possible to have a transfer tap point for smartcard users, or a fare cancellation machine for paper ticket users, both within fare control so PATCO riders can continue on to exit at a SEPTA station without having to tap or swipe there.
IMHO pairing the BRS and PATCO operations through a relay at 16th is impractical because it would inevitably require a tremendous amount of ultimately quite expensive schedule padding to prevent major delays. If we're going to combine the BRS and PATCO, then I'd be more interested in extending the BRS from 8th and Market down the Locust St subway to 15-16th. This could improve the operating economics of the BRS by changing it from an extended shuttle into a secondary express service servicing a different market than the BSS Express yet still serving effectively the But then terminal capacity becomes a problem, with PATCO almost fully utilizing the number of trains 15-16th can be realistically expected to turn during peak hours, and using one track west of the 11th St crossover as a terminal yard during middays we can't even extend the BRS during off peak hours without throwing PATCO's operations all to hell. But then that's not a particularly difficult to do, as even the Glassboro line service plans required a corresponding reduction in service on the Lindenwold line to accommodate the second service operating out of the Locust St Subway.
As a result of the constraints 15th-16th places on the system, I find myself agreeing with Melrose Matt (and
some other more grandiose plans) that something more substantial will be required if we are to have a subway system which serves the region effectively. We've all seen the original plans for the Center City
distributor loop, and while it's doubtful it's any more realistic today than it was in the 1910s or 1930s, it may be what we need to make the BSS an integral element in the city and region's mass transit system.
We don't need to build the loop as just one outrageously expensive project either. Chicago plans to build their outer loop
Circle Line in a series of phases, and a modern day circulator loop could be approached in much the same manner. If we were to adopt Melrose Matt's proposal with the western leg of the loop out around 30th St, then it is possible the first phase may only see service extended to a terminal capable of handling more traffic under 30th and Market with one or two stations between the two points. 30th St also opens up the possibility of using some portion of the Amtrak MOW space east of Powellton Yard for PATCO/BSS storage tracks, thereby reducing the number of deadhead trains PATCO has to operate to maintain its evening peak service. Beyond 30th St it may be years before we get a TBM to dig under the Schuylkill, the Ben Franklin Parkway, and on toward Broad and eventually the 8th and Ridge junction, but in the intervening years it may be possible to utilize bellmouths provided in the loop built to that point to extend the BRS to some point in University City, perhaps as an opening move toward a Woodland Avenue subway. As the loop were completed the same would be true of service through Fairmount and Strawberry Mansion, to Henry Avenue and Roxborough, and along the edges of South Philadelphia. It's even possible the proposed Parkside Ave service could be operated either as a subway/elevated, or using standard gauge 48inch floor LRVs out of the loop.
