Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the past and present operations of the NYC Subway, PATH, and Staten Island Railway (SIRT).

Moderator: GirlOnTheTrain

 #42033  by N.Y. State Of Mind
 
Should PATH extend all platforms on all of their stations to fit 10-car trains?

 #42134  by Irish Chieftain
 
Only if they were going to merge with the MTA. That would not be so bad of an idea either, to connect the PATH lines with the IRT lines in Manhattan (IRT cars can use PATH no problem); just have to completely isolate the PATH system from the FRA network.

 #42145  by Irish Chieftain
 
Yes, I know quite a bit about NJ-ARP's plan to connect the 6 train to PATH. Problem is, getting Pataki and Bloomberg to listen; that would free up the bathtub for other rail uses, should new tunnels be built under the Hudson and East Rivers...

 #42268  by JLo
 
If NY is going to actually build a downtown station, it really is a no brainer to link the PATH to Lex and open up the WTC for a Union-type station. Instead of one new Hudson Tunnel, we could then build two--one to connect NJT to the WTC and the other for Midtown.

I would love to be a politician spending everyone else's hard-earned money.

 #42325  by Irish Chieftain
 
I hear you on the politician thing. But if they are still pushing the idea to get the LIRR downtown, it'd only be to Downtown's benefit to have the Hoboken Division go there as well.

 #42757  by CComMack
 
I assume the original post was related to the extension of the Exchange Place platforms to 10 carlengths. I think PATH can probably fill as many rush hour cars as it can run, and extending Newark-WTC trains to 10 cars (from 8) would be a (relatively) cheap way of expanding capacity without running headways closer than the signal system can allow. Granted, this doesn't do much to help commuters going to Midtown or Hoboken, but one makes improvements where one can.

Which PATH stations in the system are capable of running more than 7 cars? (Forgive me, it's been a while since I rode PATH). The ones I can think of are:

Newark Penn Station (many many cars)
Harrison? (actually, I'm not sure about this one, but it's cheap to extend the platforms)
Journal Square (many cars)
Exchange Place (10 cars)
World Trade Center (I dunno; at least 8 cars)

Any others?
 #1575924  by west point
 
Unless things have change aren't PATH cars shorter than any NY city subway cars. Running PATH and the subway together would cause a turf war tween FRA and Federal transit authority. (FTA). Do PATH cars have MTA trip arms? Do I remember correctly that IRT trip arms on different sides from IND and BMT?
 #1575958  by R36 Combine Coach
 
PATH cars are 51', same as IRT (A) Division. As for running PATH with NYCT, PANYNJ could simply pull out
of FRA, since no more Class I carriers share the line (and connection at Harrison has also been severed).
 #1576638  by Allan
 
west point wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:51 pm Unless things have change aren't PATH cars shorter than any NY city subway cars. Running PATH and the subway together would cause a turf war tween FRA and Federal transit authority. (FTA). Do PATH cars have MTA trip arms? Do I remember correctly that IRT trip arms on different sides from IND and BMT?
Yes, the PATH system does have trip arms. They are at track level on the left side. This would be the same the cars on the B division of the NYC Subway. The trip arms on the A division (former IRT are on the right side of the tracks.

That would cause an issue if there was ever a cross operation between systems.

I did hear at one time (and don't hold me on this) that IRT cars might have a problem navigating the tight curve ratio between the Christopher St station and the tunnel under the Hudson. Something about how the trucks are positioned under the cars of PATH vs NYC Subway cars. Since I don't spend time comparing the position of wheel trucks on subway cars I can't comment further.

BTW just a minor point on the length of PATH cars vs IRT cars - IRT (R62, R 142) cars are actually 51 feet 4 inches measured from the of the anti-climbers. PA5 cars are also 9.2 feet wide vs IRT cars are 8.6 feet wide.
 #1576755  by R36 Combine Coach
 
Allan wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:38 pm PA5 cars are also 9.2 feet wide vs IRT cars are 8.6 feet wide.
PA series cars are tapered outward, unlike all IRT (A) Division cars which are slab sided with a box appearance.
 #1577451  by Head-end View
 
Close enough. My point is that PATH's cars are a little shorter than the IRT cars, and therefore NYC's "A" Division cars might not fit thru all locations in the PATH tunnels.