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| Re: The 70s: N Queens Blvd Express? (1340119) | |||
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Re: The 70s: N Queens Blvd Express? |
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Posted by Michael549 on Mon Feb 16 13:16:36 2015, in response to Re: The 70s: N Queens Blvd Express?, posted by New Flyer #857 on Sun Feb 15 18:04:20 2015. From a previous message:Isn't the night portion a shuttle G and a crosstown G at the same time? K. Trout's question was the possible relay procedure for the shuttle G, if it was ever to be used. --- Ok, let's assume that the N-train did indeed travel along and service the Archer Avenue segment, and during the times when the N-train did not run the G-train replaced it. Further assume that during the midnight hours the G-train was reduced to 2 shuttle operations - a) running between Queens Plaza and Smith-9th Streets, and b) running from the Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens station to Jamaica Center. Of course we know that this did not actually happen, but this is a "what-if" exercise. For this exercise, I'm using my copy of Tracks of the Subway by Peter Dougherty, and I'll assume that the track numbers and track switches have not changed greatly. Most likely the G-shuttle coming from Archer Avenue would use its usual ramp-track D1A and would be switched to the downtown express track D3, meaning the G-shuttle would by-pass the Briarwood-Van Wyck Blvd local station. Upon entering the Union Turnpike station on the downtown express track, the G-shuttle train would discharge riders and take on new riders for the trip back to Jamaica Center. Riders coming in from Manhattan would have to cross-over from the Queens-bound platform to the downtown platform to catch the G-shuttle. The G-shuttle would reverse direction and travel on D3 until it encountered the track switch between the express tracks that lead to the 179th Street-bound express track D4. The G-shuttle train would again then by-pass the Briarwood-Van Wyck Blvd local station, and take the usual ramp-track D2A to head to Jamaica Center. That is how I believe a midnight-hour Archer Avenue G-shuttle would have been accomplished. I also think that the above operation was also a reason why it never happened. a) Most riders really do not like it when the shuttle train requires one to walk up and down stairs from one end of the platform to the other to reach the shuttle train. Given midnight frequencies of service the prospect of riders missing their connections should be a great concern. (However the almost 20-years of the #6 midnight-hour Pelham Bay shuttle under-cuts the depth of that concern.) b) More important I think is that the G-shuttle would have hampered the operations of the Jamaica train yard. The Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens station sits on top of the train yard access tracks for both the 71st Avenue-Forest Hills station, and the train yard access tracks for the 179th Street station, and the Archer Avenue segment. It is easy to imagine that the TA sends trains bound for service during the early am hours to 179th Street and to Jamaica Center, as well as to 71st Avenue that make up the current E, F, M and R routes. Under this scenario it would be the E, F, G and N routes. As proposed E-trains would remain local out of 179th Street, F-trains express out of 179th Street, and N-trains local out of Archer Avenue. Each of the G-shuttles would most likely have been short trains that would need to be taken back to the yard to regain its other half, and then rejoin service as a local to Brooklyn. It would simply be a really interesting set of operations in the transition from midnight hour service to the full-fledged rush hour service on the Queens Blvd line. Of course it might make sense to simply divert either the E-train or the F-train to Archer Avenue midnight hours, but once the TA starts thinking in that direction other ideas become possible. Mike |
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