Sardines, anyone?

6419
Its just a number, but now it instills dread on my every morning.

Ok, a little flare of drama there, but, it gets attention.

Bonus material at the end, 2 stories for the same low low low price as one (or none). But all of it true!

Train 6419, Warminster to 30th street station seems to be having an overcrowding issue of an almost extreme nature. I'll not call it totally extreme as we are not turning away rail riders while we are on the branch line, but we end up doing so at Glenside, the final stop before the train goes 'express'.

The train was a consistent 5 car set, every morning except rare events of availability issues. then perhaps 4 or 3 cars. But it went right back to 5.

Well, this time, it seems the last car was plucked from 6419 permanently. I'm sure just like before, due to availability a rare 5 car set will show up because it was timed right and was in alignment to come up the tracks as train 6404 which reverses direction as 6419.

This seems to have happened about 2 weeks into the Dec 13th schedule change and the disassociation of Warminster/West Trento . . . with Airport line. What I say is being said without any calculation, as I don't know what SEPTA has in terms of available fleet. What is sidelined due to mechanical issues, what is sidelined for mandated inspection . . .
BUT, I start to wonder, does the Dec 13th schedule change cause more 'train sets' to be in motion at that time of day? Or sometime throughout the day, and they needed to steal a few individual cars to make up a new set or two to make up the difference?

So whats it like on 6419? Warminster, all the window seats are taken. for the 2X seats, the outer seat is usually empty, a few have a person in them. for the 3X seats, many have 2 people in them. At Hatboro, the seats mostly fill up and there are a few folks standing already. A rare few 3X seats and seats near vestibule (SL IV) may have only 3 people as some people prefer to stand rather than be packed in a seat.
On to willow grove. Passengers have shed their bashfulness and all are glad to ask a fellow passenger to move it on over. All seats filled, standing room about 70% filled. Crestmont? who knows, doors on my car (I moved up to 3rd car, I was a regular 5th car rider before) are not opened for the few that board at crestmont. Roslyn 95 percent filled for standing only. times were, on a 5 car set, at this point a few folks would stand (didn't want to sit 3X across or in corner with 4 folks, but plenty of standing room and if you wanted all could sit. But this is no more. Ardsley we are pretty much at 100X standing. I don't know if anyone does not enter the train due to crowding but I don't think so. I think they all make it on board. Finally Glenside. People get on, look and get off. They'd have to do the big no-no and ride in the vestibule. Some folks squeeze in tighter and a few glenside folks make it on, especially when a few passengers choose to jump off. I think they are aiming for the next train thru glenside(I think it originates in glenside as an empty train to start off). And so we go express to Temple. Today, about 20 people had to get off my car to let someone in the middle get off at temple (around 7 temple students went out the door near me) only to have the 20 come back in the door. they had to get off as there was no space to pass people.

Finally, decompression at Jefferson station, formerly known as Market east (but the signs only say Jefferson station, for short)

I assume folks are a lot like me, surrounded by responsibilities so they can't just up and leave 20 minutes earlier to get prior train, or go in 'late' on the next train. I have little ones I have to pack up and walk to school bus stop as I watch the prior train move happily on, 1 block away.

So I'm stuck on that train except for school days off, summer . . .
I'm hoping this is a rolling inconvenience. To make us feel loved, they wait 2 weeks after we start complaining, then SEPTA puts the car back on and plucks another car from some poor unsuspecting set of riders, only to eventually come back around to 6419 again.

So where did that extra car go? Is it really as I suspect, that It was used to fill into a new set where there is an need to increase the number of sets in use with the new Dec 13th schedule? Maybe its a fleet shortage due to that blizzard, where the snow got in the vent holes and the electric components overheated due to lack of airfl . . . oh wait, it hasn't really snowed yet this season.

transition to bonus story, still 100% true

Perhaps just a large number of breakdowns, like the train I was on this past Monday (had appointment, so went in to work late). the train came into the station with a nasty noise coming from underside, I could feel a slight warmth as the noisy part passed within 2 feet of me and there was a nasty stink in the air of very hot component (part just hot hot hot metal, and then the smell of stuff around it (wires, plastics . . .) getting hot too.
I was about to say something but I think it was PAINFULLY obvious something had gone wrong. I stayed silent. I expected an equipment swap at Wayne Junction was in order. Most people were turning away from that car (I could imagine an underside fire breaking out and breaching the floor of the car (surely an impossibility). So sitting near someone, I heard someone else mention to someone that they had called it in but that they were to stay in service. (not mentioning names or positions of people on purpose). we made it to wayne, indeed no equipment swap. We rolled passed all the garages and got up a good head of steam (thank goodness). I think we were near or a little before where Norristown cuts in, then . . . darkness, silence. Nothing but unpowered mass rolling along the rail, slowing, slowing, slowing. Wait, what are you doing, North Philly is coming up, slow down, stop, there it is, what are you . . . we passed north philly. granted we'd have to get off train and cross another set of rails. Surely we'll be doomed to run out of momentum before reaching Temple. No No No, why meeee, why is this happening to meeeee. We'll have to wait in between stations for 2 hours for someone to get the diesel on the rails to push us . . .Wait, we're still moving. Still a little bit of momentum. perhaps 35 MPH still. Onward, onward, but slower, slower. Long story, short (too late for that), we made it to Temple at about 10 to 15 MPH. but the train was 100% dead, both cars. so we passengers jumped on next car on other track, leaving b ehind the 100% dark (well, emergency back up lighting was still on) train.

The wonderful, one car short train. Not to be confused with the over crowded weekend train that is five cars long but only two are open. Usually referred to as the "Sardine Express Passing Through Agony"

For SEPTA, it's normal to:

As you mentioned, routinely run already crowded trains with a car short, and if it starts to smoke...

Limp passed maintenance facilities only to brake down at the perfect spot down the line that will clog up the whole system. Most times, a breakdown is not lucky enough to end at a station.

Run a Sunday schedule during major city events - "Made in America"

Be completely caught off guard during major events like the Phillies World Series Parade. Even my special needs mentally challenged aunt knew the city would be bursting at the seems that day. Which leads to...

The totally genius plan for the pope visit - which in a way, did show that given time to plan, SEPTA will make matters worse

When many cities in the nation are finding ways to build light rail systems, SEPTA could not rip apart existing trolley lines fast enough.

When many major cities in the nation are expanding or creating new rail routes, SEPTA makes excuse or spends years to "plan" a two mile expansion on an existing line

Retire a major percentage of management personnel only to hire them later in the year as a "Consultant" with higher pay.

Spend over $100 million to restart a trolley line but equip it with 18 green lemons. I guess they were thinking if life gives you lemons, make a bus route.

Implement a multi-million $ transit first traffic signal system, that never worked

Implement a signal system on the MFL that makes the system slower then it was the day it opened

Don't forget:

- Printing tens of thousands of new schedules without bothering to check them for accuracy.

- RailWorks, which gave RDG-side riders a brand new 1931 railroad.

- The K of P line, despite being desperately needed it will take until ~2025 to design and build 4.5 miles of track. IF there are no problems ...

- The SEPTA Key: RRD riders will have to contend with turnstiles on their platforms, while transit riders will still be using a 1920's system of base fares and transfer charges even if they can be paid by credit card.

- and of course, still no bathrooms on trains.

I'm guessing that SEPTA prefers to stick to consists with an even number of cars because most of their cars only work in pairs. Also, the 4s and 5s can't be combined on trains. I don't really miss the 2s and 3s, but at least they were all singles and could be combined with the 4s. I'm guessing that 6419 is supposed to have 5 cars, but a single of the same type as the two married pairs isn't always available.

JeffK wrote:- The SEPTA Key: RRD riders will have to contend with turnstiles on their platforms, while transit riders will still be using a 1920's system of base fares and transfer charges even if they can be paid by credit card.

Is there a more modern fare structure that you would propose?

I'm thinking mostly about the transit division. What I see as the two biggest stumbling blocks are:
- For individually-paid fares, the base fare + high transfer model biases a trip's cost more towards how many vehicles are needed than on how far you travel.
- For passes, validity is linked to specific calendar increments rather than to the number of days a pass is used.

Both of these anomalies discourage efficient use and complicate riders' payment decisions. Unfortunately the Key will simply perpetuate them in electronic form. Depending on how broad a hatchet you want to take to the existing fare model, the Key could address them without huge changes to the architecture that's already nearing completion.

At the simplest, individual trips could be redefined as "going from A to B" rather than "boarding N vehicles". The idea of timed transfers is well-established: a second boarding on a connecting route within a specified time period is identified as a continuation of journey rather than a new trip, so the second fare or transfer increment is waived. It's not perfect but it would be far less distorting than the current approach. Most bus routes are rationally laid out along the grid that William Penn gifted us, but that means any trip across the grid, no matter how short, automatically incurs an extra dollar. A second consequence is that riders are discouraged from using buses as feeders to the El or BSS. For anyone whose schedule doesn't justify the cost of a pass, that extra dollar can outweigh the inconvenience of sitting on a slower surface vehicle. In particular SEPTA has research showing that many riders stay on the C bus for much of its length rather than switching to the BSS at transfer points.

The Key could address pass validity by switching from calendar-based periods to time-based. Nearly all regular riders at some point run up against timing problems under the current system of calendar-month or -week validity. Unless you're willing to eat the cost of unused days, anyone whose schedule deviates from those two periods has to come up with an alternative. An electronic system should be equally capable of handling a validity period for any reasonable number of contiguous days regardless of when they start and end. Riders who still fit the model of a monthly or weekly user wouldn't see any change - they'd just start their pass periods at the beginning of the month or week. Anyone else could simply buy the period they need rather than jumping through the hoops we currently face if our travel times don't mesh nicely with the calendar, a situation that's becoming more and more common.

Depending on how sophisticated the Key's on-and-off record keeping is, it might eventually be possible to make fares more closely related to distance. Perhaps something as granular as a few miles (2? 5?) could be used so that riders making average-length trips would be charged a fare similar to the current base amount, but longer or shorter trips would be adjusted accordingly.

Another possibility would be to offer the option used in some other cities where, at least within some designated area such as the Central Business District, a single fare instrument and price is valid for any mode - bus, underground, or commuter rail. It's a sort of "open access" policy where a rider chooses the mode that best meets their needs rather than being concerned about how if operates.

Of course in an ideal world POP would avoid almost all complexities but <cynic> we're talking about Philadelphia </cynic>

I feel like Regional Rail should be charged a higher fare than transit, as it is now, considering it's more of a "premium" service. All trips on city transit should cost the same. Maybe have additional charges for victory and frontier services.

I threw in the idea of RRD access mostly because I'd seen similar policies in Paris and Berlin. However their RRD analogues are much more integrated with other forms of transit. If you tried to define a CBD for Philadelphia I don't see it including more than maybe 5 or 6 RRD stations, so arguably an equal-fare policy for such a limited area wouldn't gain much. The only major change I would make to RRD policies doesn't even involve the Key: immediate elimination of the odious surcharge-that-isn't-a-surcharge, at least until TVMs or some other open payment option is available at the majority of stations.

My experiences with the ex-Red Arrow and Frontier divisions are that they're no longer just feeders to the City Division. The existence of large shopping malls and office complexes has given them their own constituencies, so IMO their fare structure and the City Division's should have consistent policies. A system that more closely links cost and distance would minimize many of the inconsistencies riders now face. E.g. it doesn't make sense that end-to-end trips on the MFE and NHSL (almost identical in length) should cost different amounts, or that long bus routes in the CTD should charge half what similar-length suburban routes do simply because SEPTA inherited different fare policies from the PTC and Red Arrow half a century ago.

Your thoughts?

With the separation of the Airport line to Temple and Jenkintown I'm sure it required more cars needed for service on a weekday.

And add the cold weather last week which I'm sure led to some equipment issues, and the fact that holiday vacations and school breaks are over, not to mention the RRD already had a capacity/ridership growth issue.

The Doylestown weekend trains which were already crowded picked up two stops adding to crowding and delays on that line on the weekends.

So "Sardines" may be just "the way it is" unless ridership drops or some new equipment comes sometime soon.

Quick update - during one of our rides, it may have happened that a conductor said that if you want the 5th car back you will have to complain to SEPTA (I think he was trying to deflect the complaints being made directly to him). He stated that the conductor crew already told 'them' that this particular train definitely needs 5 cars.
As it so happened, an activist rider decided to go up and down the isle (with, I must add some seriously good moves to get thru the compressed crowd, I think I recognized a few pilates moves and yoga poses, but she made it from one end of the car to the other, and into the next car and managed to free her arm to pull out pen/paper and camera)

On Friday, 1/15/2016, a five car train rolled into the Hatboro station. Things were back to normal. Almost all 2X and 3X seats were filled, with a rare 3X holding only 2 people. And a few people standing for the whole ride (after Roslyn)

So we'll see if the petition made a difference (or the god-like creature had enough fun with us and will focus his/her desire to toy with the little passengers by plucking a traincar off from another route - and handing that over till the next time they visit this train run)

I'll let you know in a few days to see if the fifth car is back on a regular basis.

While this train's capacity clearly needs to be addressed, hopefully there is more fleet flexibility in the coming months once the positive train control installations complete. Let's hope we don't have a number of winter storms with that fine, powdery snow that like to short out the electric motors.

JeffK wrote:Don't forget: ...

- RailWorks, which gave RDG-side riders a brand new 1931 railroad.

I'm from out of town and that was 20+ years ago, can anybody explain the failings of railworks? I don't have any reason to disagree with your point, just way out of my depth. All I know is they did a big overhaul while barely running any trains for a year and used some U34's from Jersey Transit.

Thanks!

Tadman wrote:

JeffK wrote:Don't forget: ...

- RailWorks, which gave RDG-side riders a brand new 1931 railroad.

I'm from out of town and that was 20+ years ago, can anybody explain the failings of railworks? I don't have any reason to disagree with your point, just way out of my depth. All I know is they did a big overhaul while barely running any trains for a year and used some U34's from Jersey Transit.

Thanks!

Basically Railworks rebuilt the existing infrastructure but didn't update it to reflect the current/future needs of the system. As Jeff points out and I agree, the Main Line from 9th & Fairmount to Jenkintown is exactly the way it was when the Reading built it in 1931 with new tracks, over/underpasses, signals, etc. During the time they spent rebuilding the Main Line, they could have also reengineered it to be more futureproof.

ekt8750 wrote:

Tadman wrote:

JeffK wrote:Don't forget: ...

- RailWorks, which gave RDG-side riders a brand new 1931 railroad.

I'm from out of town and that was 20+ years ago, can anybody explain the failings of railworks? I don't have any reason to disagree with your point, just way out of my depth. All I know is they did a big overhaul while barely running any trains for a year and used some U34's from Jersey Transit.

Thanks!

Basically Railworks rebuilt the existing infrastructure but didn't update it to reflect the current/future needs of the system. As Jeff points out and I agree, the Main Line from 9th & Fairmount to Jenkintown is exactly the way it was when the Reading built it in 1931 with new tracks, over/underpasses, signals, etc. During the time they spent rebuilding the Main Line, they could have also reengineered it to be more futureproof.

Tad and Everyone:

Railworks was the rebuilding of the 4 track Reading trunk from just S of Wayne Junction to the CC Tunnel
entrance. The shutdown was over two periods: April to September 1992 (6 months) and May to August 1993
(4 months) and as built has been described as a "rebuilt 1931 railroad" because of its infrastructure and the
lack of any noteable speed limit increases.

See: viewtopic.php?f=72&t=152533" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Going back to topic: With the entire Northeast cleaning up from the Blizzard of 2016 more folks will be
relying on SEPTA Regional Rail and all operating MU cars will be needed to handle this ridership increase.

It is tough when trains turn up short on cars - and the age of the Silverliner 4 cars (the add-on order
fleet turns 40 this year) has to become a factor even though they have held up well despite their age.

Silverliner 6 cars - or any possible replacements - are years away meaning that RRD riders will have
to rely on the S4 fleet for the foreseeable future and increases in push-pull equipment: The ACS64s
and multilevel cars - will only benefit certain long routes such as the Paoli-Thorndale Line...

MACTRAXX

Regional Rail ridership is growing to the point where operations are limited by infrastructure. Trains are crowded, platforms are not getting any longer (and neither are trains), and parking is expanding in bits and pieces. I am guessing that SEPTA's yard space is getting confined as well.

While there are multilevels and sprinters to pull them on order, the Silverliner VI order is critical. If we were to replace the Silverliner IVs with new equipment with a configuration similar to the Silverliner Vs, there will be a net loss of seats. I think that the best solution to address increasing ridership within the limitations of the current infrastructure is to do as New Jersey does and order Multilevel EMUs from the same manufacturer. The increase in number of seats may be marginal, but it would be better than a net loss on the same number of cars created by 2x2 seating, quarter-point doors, and full-width cabs on a single level EMU. By the time the Silverliner VIs come online, I expect the power limitations on the RDG side to be addressed with new substations at Wayne Junction and Jenkintown.

But that is not going to happen. PA politicians will do their hardest to award any and every rolling stock contract to Rotem again.