Which sections of 'el' would have been replaced by the end of this latest round of construction?
Did the replace the part of the 'el' west of 63rd with the traditional non-ballast constrution?
Tear it all down. Its really getting bad again between 2nd and Girard. I think max speed inbound is like 25. The cars rock back and forth ALOT going inbound as well.
Any of you notice alot of excess car movement on the tracks in the tunnel as well---most noticeablly between 15th and 30th if you sit in the last row of seats in the rear of the car. I could have swore we were coming off the tracks the other day.
But the speeds after Girard till 2nd are very very bad, so slow that the 25 bus can beat you from Spring Garden to Girard. Did SEPTA botch something?
Also why do the wheels sound like they're riding on jointed rail there? Did they botch the welding too?
When I rode the MFL the last couple of times I was in philly, it seems that SEPTA has maintained the track in pretty good condition. It is almost all welded rail (even on the el, and non of the 'els' in NY have welded rail), they have fast speeds in excess of maybe 50 (NYC Transit stopped field shunting of motors in '95, which limits trains to 45mph, and Signal Dept. keeps adding more speed timers each year), and the Market St subway has no ballast trackbed, only concrete, even at the switches (NY has a lot of underground ballasted trackbed, especially in the former BMT and IRT).
I would think the movement is caused by the M4's, which have seemed to have problems from what I read, and from my experiences, sway or vibrate sometimes and have un-smooth braking.
As for the rail near Spring Garden, it seems to be jointed rail, but not the type of jointed rail with the joint bridged with brackets and bolts. It is something I never saw before. Back then, I thought it must have either been associated with the cab signaling system or a test of a new joint.
Kyle
