Systemwide Speed Restriction 3/10/23

Because they weren't doing their job and many people are now watching.

Oh!!! LOL I get it. So now to show productivity, it sounds like they reached for low hanging fruit and came up with the headlight rule, just to show that they're actually doing something. Typical government agency.........

Head-end View wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 7:51 pm Okay thanks. I'm from New York so I wouldn't be familiar with Massachusetts regulatory agencies. And so if they've been around almost forever why are they requiring headlights now when they never required them before?

Maybe a FTA regulation. Can anyone cite any system running with lights off?

Head-end View wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 8:03 pm Oh!!! LOL I get it. So now to show productivity, it sounds like they reached for low hanging fruit and came up with the headlight rule, just to show that they're actually doing something. Typical government agency.........

Or maybe when it rains it pours? This came out at the same time that the T didn't have their records in order so the slowdowns.

west point wrote: ↑Sun May 14, 2023 4:44 am

Head-end View wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 7:51 pm Okay thanks. I'm from New York so I wouldn't be familiar with Massachusetts regulatory agencies. And so if they've been around almost forever why are they requiring headlights now when they never required them before?

Maybe a FTA regulation. Can anyone cite any system running with lights off?

I don't know of any other mass transit systems that run with headlights off. I believe Boston's MBTA was unique in that.

All NYCT cars prior to R22 (first introduced November 1957) had no headlights. Retrofitting began during the late 1950s.

Older cars also lacked wipers (or only had a hand crank for the operator to clear the glass).

Much like a line from the Pixar movie 'Cars' that racecars don't need headlights since the track is always lit,
subway cars don't need headlights or wipers since they spend most of their time underground.

I always assumed the reason MBTA subway trains didn't use their headlights was because their tunnels are fairly well lighted and because the operators don't want to blind each other. It appears that in Boston the subway trains only have high-beam headlights, not high and low-beam like some other trains.

Head-end View wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2023 5:43 pm I always assumed the reason MBTA subway trains didn't use their headlights was because their tunnels are fairly well lighted and because the operators don't want to blind each other. It appears that in Boston the subway trains only have high-beam headlights, not high and low-beam like some other trains.

When I took the Green line as a commuter they would have the headlight on in the tunnel and would definitely dim them when there was an approaching train in the other direction. This was in the mid 1980s

Rbts Stn wrote: ↑Mon May 22, 2023 2:59 am

Head-end View wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2023 5:43 pm I always assumed the reason MBTA subway trains didn't use their headlights was because their tunnels are fairly well lighted and because the operators don't want to blind each other. It appears that in Boston the subway trains only have high-beam headlights, not high and low-beam like some other trains.

When I took the Green line as a commuter they would have the headlight on in the tunnel and would definitely dim them when there was an approaching train in the other direction. This was in the mid 1980s

Yes, Green Line trolleys or light-rail trains always used headlights presumably because they do street running and they may well have both high and low beam settings. We were talking about the lines with actual subway trains, the Red, Blue, and Orange that didn't used to use their headlights.

Might that be a motor vehicle law requiring all vehicles on a public road to have headlights? Bikes, obviously
are excluded.

Getting back on topic.

This from a reddit post. https://www.reddit.com/r/mbta/comments/ ... blue_line/

"All Speed Restrictions West of Maverick have been cleared.

Restrictions removed:

Westbound State Street Station: was 100 feet at 10 mph.

Westbound State Street to Government Center: was 100 feet at 10 mph.

Eastbound Maverick Station: was 401 feet at 10 mph.

Eastbound Aquarium to Maverick: was 99 feet at 10 mph.

Restrictions shortened:

Westbound Wood Island to Airport: shortened by 580 feet, lifted from 10 to 25 mph.

There are still 4.04 miles of slow zones on the Blue Line, accounting for 32% of the track."

I have to say, this really improved things and cut my commute in half!

For over thirty years of riding that line when in Boston, the only time I ever saw headlights used on the Red Line was at night outside the tunnels.

I've never paid attention to whether it was all, most, or some, of the time, but I've definitely seen (from the station) the lights dimmed just before entering the station and have also been blinded when they didn't.

Rode the redline for the first time in about a year the other day. Took about an hour from South Station to Braintree. With some of the slow zones it seems the operators just speed and and brake and repeat instead of staying at a slow constant speed. Sat over one of the truck on the non-cab end and boy what a rough ride being jerked in two different directions every few seconds. Didnt sound good for the trucks or draft gear either.

Sorry to hear it's still as messed up as it was last Spring. At that time you could ride the commuter rail between Braintree and South Station for free just by showing your Charlie Card to the conductor. Don't know if that's still in effect.

CSRR573 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 26, 2023 10:23 pm Rode the redline for the first time in about a year the other day. Took about an hour from South Station to Braintree. With some of the slow zones it seems the operators just speed and and brake and repeat instead of staying at a slow constant speed. Sat over one of the truck on the non-cab end and boy what a rough ride being jerked in two different directions every few seconds. Didnt sound good for the trucks or draft gear either.

Sounds like you were on a 1500/1600/1700-series train. Operators are instructed to hold the controller in power and let the ATO control the speed. These older cars exhibit the jerky start/stop you noticed as they exceed the regulated speed and then coast; lather-rinse-repeat. The 1800-series trains are smoother in this process.