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| Re: Here comes Staten Is. Light Rail? (269593) | |||
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Re: Here comes Staten Is. Light Rail? |
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Posted by randyo on Wed Jun 21 03:57:23 2006, in response to Re: Here comes Staten Is. Light Rail?, posted by tydev417 on Mon Jun 19 15:56:56 2006. R-160 type trains need not be 4 or or 5 cars long if they are specifically designed for low density service such as would be found in SI. In the pre MTA days, SIRT often operated 1 and 2 car trains in the off hours as Chicago does according to the needs of the service. Even many of the NYC subway lines during midnight hours don't need the train lengths that are operated, but the MTA seems to feel that it is more economical to build trains in multiple car units and run cars that are not needed rather than to build single units or 2 car married pairs which might require more maintenance due to the additional motor control equipment. Also, even though the trains can be cut into shorter lengths for off peak operation, the MTA seems reluctant to do so since additional yard personnel would be required to lay up the excess cars and because the powers that be in RTO and CED are afraid to cut and add units fearing that overuse of the drawheads would lead to equipment failures.As for the cost of construction, as I mentioned in my other post, many so called light rail lines such as LAMTA were built with high level platforms which are more characteristic of heavy rail and there is a question whether overhead catenary or third rail is cheaper to construct. |
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