Commuter rail ridership

Same with the Littleton station. Its usually over-capacity with people parking on the verges and grass and all, but the last time I was by a week or so ago, there were three cars.

Three automobiles? They should suspend parking fee collection.

Given the already mentioned choices of keeping full length trains running versus substituting buses, why not something in between, like running shorter trains?

What is the capacity of a train coach with proper social distancing? Twenty percent of rush hour?

Then 8% of pre-Covid ridership is 40% of the new normal, the new full.

Then, with strategic use of double deckers , an assortment of two coach and three coach trains might be used without really having to remake trains several times a day.

(Lines with the 15-20% ridership would either be run at pre-Covid levels or with remaking shorter trains mid-day.)

As has been discussed before, the MBTA needs at least 4 coaches to make braking requirements to be able to run at track speed. Re-making trains is also not efficient or cost-effective. A train would be unavailable for revenue service for at least an hour to make shorter, and then again to make longer. There isn't room to do all that switching without impacting necessary switching like swapping out coaches for repairs. It's cheaper to just run the trains.

I think the T mentioned in one of the board meetings that coaches are running at 1/3 capacity for distancing. But you can't consider broad ridership numbers, you have to get specific with each individual train. The T's trainsets were always built and assigned around the largest single load that train would carry, and would have excess capacity for the rest of the trips throughout the day. So while ridership may be at even 15 or 20% on some lines or 8% on others, if on certain trains the numbers climb high enough you need more coaches.

Trinnau wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 5:25 pm.....Re-making trains is also not efficient or cost-effective. A train would be unavailable for revenue service for at least an hour to make shorter, and then again to make longer......It's cheaper to just run the trains.

This screams out for a technological fix.

I'm talking the whole picture takes an hour. Train arrives South Station and comes out of revenue service. It goes to the yard where the consist change is made, which has to be from the middle of the train because of the need for a control car on the far end. The extra cars are removed to or added from a storage track, the train is put back together, airbrakes are re-tested and the paperwork is updated. The train then returns to South Station with enough time to board for it's next departure.

Arrival South Station on prior revenue run to Departure South Station on new revenue run is at least an hour. And that's in isolation. With only a few yards and switching leads to actually do this, each train would have to wait it's turn.

A few ways to reduce that. Every car is a control car like a DMU/EMU, and trains can just be reduced/added at South Station from the end of the train. This means storing cars at South Station all day and performing some work on them there instead of a more secure, out-of-the way facility. This also means trains using those tracks for actual trips where cars are stored have to berth further away down the platform, like if there are private cars there today. Reducing the train is simply pulling away from the dropped coaches, and adding is simply coupling on, plus the brake tests. If you're going somewhere else to store cars other than South Station it's going to take time.

Technology and regulations around train braking systems have to significantly change. The limitations of the current air brake system and the requirements for air brake tests to ensure safety take time to comply with no matter what type of train you are running.

People keep talking about the brake test requirements as though they're prohibitive. The FRA mandated brake tests are no more stringent than what a freight conductor does when he picks up a cut of cars at a siding. You have to walk and inspect the equipment anyways so you might as well test the most significant contributor to the train's safety while you're at it. Terminal brake tests (every time the engineer changes ends) has been said before in this forum to take at least 10 minutes, so just to reiterate it hardly takes more than 10 seconds, as it's nothing more than an application and a release with someone watching the other end.

Trinnau's explanation is mostly accurate, except what I would do is not make EVERY car a control car, but certainly have 2 control cars per set. Break off at the second control car, test the set, certify it, and send it on its way. A herder engine would then retrieve the cuts after the train leaves so the cars aren't sitting there all day and there's no added time OOS for the revenue train. The argument against that is that control cars have to be brought into the house every 90 days like a locomotive rather than 180 like a blind coach. I believe what you'd save on maintenance and fuel by not dragging up to double the equipment you need on a train would make up for that and, in the long run, make the equipment last longer.