Comment by dsfyu404ed | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dsfyu404ed | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

This excites exactly nobody who rides the commuter rail.

What would excite us is more staff. You can only get on/off a train at a door where there is a conductor (you only get on/off at a door opened by a conductor) regardless of platform height, most time spend getting on/off is waiting in line for everyone in front of you to go through whichever few doors are open. We don't need faster clock speeds, we need more cores (metaphorically speaking). Even the conductors complain about this. They could literally hire more people tomorrow if they wanted to. Three is no need to go through a long RFP + proposals + procurement process like they would need to do for new rolling stock.

This entire piece reads like some aloof central planners telling everyone else what they need without actually assessing the situation.

Another thing that would be exiting is trains that run on time. Whether they run on diesel or whale oil won't matter to most people as long as they're an improvement over the status quo. A week doesn't go by when there isn't a (mechanical breakdown related) 1hr+ delay on any given line.

Edit: Yes, raised platforms are faster but they're not so much faster (and they're certainly not cheaper) than utilizing the existing infrastructure (i.e. all the doors on the train) to a greater extent.

1. Raised platforms would allow using automatic doors and all-door boarding. Right now, doors can't be automatic because you don't know which ones board at platform level and which need to have the builtin stairs dropped down to track level. As it is, not only does it take time for a conductor to drop the stairs, but staffing is a major part of the T's operational expense for each ride.

Also, the passenger throughput per door is higher when they can just walk off, instead of having to teeter down stairs. (Not everybody can just hop down the stairs)

Oh yeah, frustrated passengers opening the door and lowering the stairs themselves is a dangerous no-no.

2. Electric trains accelerate and decelerate much faster, cutting time off the trip. They have more rated HP and can "burst" up to something like 2x the rated HP when accelerating from a stop.

(Except on those fun fall days when the train slides on the wet leaves...)

Source: personal experience as an MBTA commuter rail rider (reverse commuting to Concord) for four years, former occasional NJ Transit rider (on the electrified Northeast Corridor)

Sure all that stuff is nice but increased staffing can create the same improvement as all of that right now without the massive up front cost of new stations or rolling stock.

Yes, but with massive ongoing operational costs. That's not sustainable.

> most time spend getting on/off is waiting in line for everyone in front of you to go through whichever few doors are open

I've ridden the commuter rail for 13 years. I can't believe "exactly nobody" has noticed that raised platforms load and unload roughly 2x faster. More conductors would help too, but anyone not excited about raised platforms everywhere is unobservant.

Conductors at every door sounds bizarre to me. I ride the Metro North commuter rail into NYC on occasion and when it pulls into the station all the doors open and you get on or off.

What's the deal with this in Boston? Do the doors not have automatic opening hardware? Are they checking tickets on entry instead of walking down the train and punching them at your seat?

It's the lack of automatic opening/closing hardware and consequent safety issue of passengers potentially trying to enter or exit a moving train. Also, for most doors some stops will have raised platforms and some won't. Passengers opening and closing the appropriately-named "traps" themselves to switch between level exit and stair exit would be hazardous.

Sounds like they still run steam-powered.

You don't need a conductor at every door to allow all door embarking/disembarking. Look at metro north, or SunRail. They both allow all door boarding without a conductor at each door. Raised platforms is something that could help to achieve process improvement.

Which station is this? I never had this problem doing a reverse-commute out of Yawkey station, but perhaps that's because trains are more packed going into the city.

Well for starters Waltham at peak hours (inbound in the morning, outbound in the evening) is a good example. If you want an example with full length raised platform then Littleton/495 is another good one.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com