November 29, 2007
Transit on Thursday: At Long Last
If you’re a regular reader of Transit on Thursday, you’ll have noted week after week of Green line delays over the past few months caused by the testing of new rail cars.
Good news – those delays could soon cease.
Metro is getting ready to stop testing and starting using, reports WTOP. The new rail cars, featuring two different designs, will be brought into service by Christmas.
The first design is carpetless, with lots of above head metal handles. The second features benches and cloth seats as well as “padding” customers can lean against.
We’re curious to see what this all really looks like. There is no word on where the cars will first appear, but if history repeats itself, the Green line is the likely destination -- new cars generally enter the system on the Green line.
Also, please note that we said “soon cease.” Details on this week’s car testing-prompted delays, as well as other Metro news, after the jump.
Photo by Greg McElhatton
Fewer people, fewer cars
The folks at Metro who deal with ridership have determined that, because fewer people typically ride on weekends in the winter than the rest of the year, they should reduce the numbers of cars per train during the season.
The move, The Washington Post reports, is sparked by a desire to reduce wear and tear on rail cars and, ultimately, the never ending desire to save money. Train frequency will not be cut, just the number of cars.
Weekend track work, delays
Remember how we said that car testing may soon cease? Well, by “soon,” we mean “not right now.” Riders on the Green line can expect trains between Greenbelt and College Park to share one track from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. due to, you guessed it, new rail car testing on Saturday and Sunday. That could add as much as 15 minutes of travel time to your trip.
On the Red Line, those traveling between Friendship Heights and Medical Center can expect single tracking from 9 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Saturday and the same between Saturday and Sunday. That should cause an up to 20 minute delay.
Also on the Red Line between Fort Totten and Takoma stations, trains will share one track from 10 a.m. to closing Saturday and Sunday. To help speed thinks up, every other train going toward Glenmont will end at New York Avenue and return to Shady Grove.
On the Orange Line, track maintenance will cause single tracking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday between New Carrollton and Cheverly stations. Verizon cable maintenance will cause single tracking from midnight to close Friday and Saturday between Ballston and Clarendon, which will cause an up to 15 minute delay.
On the Blue Line, trains will share one track between Van Dorn and Braddock Road stations from 10 p.m. to close Sunday, again thanks to track maintenance. That will likely cause a 15 minute delay.
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COOOOOOOOLLLL!!!!!!
New cars are awesome. I am so psyched! I might start riding the train again!
By "bench" do you mean eliminating the forward and backward-facing seats in favor of seats lining the sides facing inward (a la NYC or the Boston red line)? Because that's a design shift long overdue...
By "bench" do you mean eliminating the forward and backward-facing seats in favor of seats lining the sides facing inward
One of the 3000 railcars is already in this new style....freaked me out riding on the red line.
If the new cars are anything like this "test" car, seating will be a mix of old and new. Probably about half the seats in a current Metro car were there in their traditional set up. The "bench" seating consisted of about 6 cloth seats on the sides facing inwards on one or both (can't remember) side of the middle doors, and the entire back half of the car (not where the driver cab is) was padding to lean on. I seem to remember it had a fair amount of standing room as well, like the new 6000 series cars.
Oh goody, lots of above head metal handles - THAT NO ONE SHORTER THAN 5'8" CAN ACTUALLY USE COMFORTABLY.
Grrrr.
Metro can configure all the seats they want for as long as they want, nothing is going to change until they widen the door opening.
Excuse me. Is that your bag?
Less seats mean more standing during the commute -- that sucks.
I happened to encounter one of these new trains on the red line. Just like Mainland commented above, it freaked me out at first.
I took some photos (with my cell phone because that's all I had on me. Had I known what a special day it was going to be I would have been more prepared!).
You can see it's all exactly as Mainland described. But I also saw the weird padding for customers to lean against. It had me and another rider rather confused.
I think it does a good job of leaving a lot of open space by the doors but also open space further into the car, encouraging people to keep walking in once they enter the train rather than gathering behind the door making things more crowded than they need to be.
And the metal handles will be hard to grab for our shorter DC friends, but they do move, so if a taller friend can get you started, or if you jump, you could be in luck...?
such small words but they can mean so much.
That padded leaning apparatus looks supremely stupid. Sit or stand. If you're worried about padding, have another donut.
I'll second wider doors, minus the suggestive overtones of the previous comment.
yea, padded leaning thing does look pretty stupid. the one facing perpendicular to the others is going to be pointless...
general standing space or more bench seating would be better.
Flip-down seats, like the ones on most Paris Metro cars, would be better; they enable people to sit when the train is not crowded, but they don't take up space when the train is standing room only.
For the flip down seats, wouldn't the first people to get on the train (say out in Franconia/Springfield) sit down on them and as the train got progessively more crowded as it got closer to the city, wouldn't the train just fill up as it normally does with people sitting and a lot standing around?
The flip-down seats would make a lot of sense. They have those on the circulator buses.
"wouldn't the train just fill up as it normally does with people sitting and a lot standing around?"
Only people who really enjoyed the smell of crotch would remain sitting.
I third the call for flip-down seats. Parisians were always pretty conscientious about standing when there was trop de monde.
Otherwise, at least they haven't gotten rid of the seating entirely. I'm not a fan of the new seats, but if the future is going to be a standing commute, I guess this opens up some room.
although the bench seating like new york's subway will allow for easier access to the doors when crowded, i think the lack of seating will not fare well with us daily commuters. after staying at work late (like i am right now), the last thing i want to do is stand the entire way home when there's only 20 people on the train taking up all the seats.
also, i HATE overhead handlebars. i'm only 5'4" and i can't reach SHIT. and i'm tired of ending up with people's armpits in my face. thank goodness it's winter right now, but phew! this summer was stink-Y!
metro, i'm sure you can come up with a better solution to your overcrowding and seating problems. oh wait, you can't afford the system you have already? right.
I can't believe Metro STILL is not addressing the issue of what short people are supposed to grip while standing up. Hello? Metro? Half the female population is under 5'4". Is it really so hard for you to come up with a design to accommodate us? Every other subway system in the country can.