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| Re: G Train to be cut back to Court Square permanently (554634) | |||
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Re: G Train to be cut back to Court Square permanently |
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Posted by Michael549 on Wed Jan 16 15:29:12 2008, in response to Re: G Train to be cut back to Court Square permanently, posted by Zman179 on Wed Jan 16 10:53:34 2008. Let's us agree that the TA COULD terminate G-trains at the Queens Plaza if they wanted to, the tracks and signals exist. Let's also agree that the TA has shown over a number of years and in their train operations that they simply DO NOT WANT TO TERMINATE G-TRAINS AT QUEENS PLAZA.All of the pleading, whining and hub-bub about the G-train and Queens Plaza is for naught, and will fall on deaf ears. If one were to take a long view of the issue, it is simple by design from the original IND planners in the 1930's the G-train was not supposed to travel to Manhattan. This left only two express tracks to carry all of the Manhattan traffic - meaning congested transfer stations, etc. So regardless of how many trains use the express tracks there can only be 30 trains an hour from day one. To help with the situation, a 60th Street connection was proposed in the 1950's, and opened in the early 1960's, then called RR, then EE, then N, and now R. The plans for the 63rd Street tunnel originally was for a Super-Express in Queens to provide quicker express service to outer Queens - but we've talked about why the plans were changed to what we have now. The bottom line is that thousands/millions of riders want to travel between Manhattan and Queens, or Manhattan and Brooklyn - but not as much between Queens and Brooklyn. Now the train services along the Queens Blvd line allow all trains to travel from Manhattan to Queens - something the riders want. In another message stream about the Ditmars Blvd station there is a discussion about the IND Second System. In both the 1929 Map and the 1939 Map - one can see that the IND planners give little attention to travel between Manhattan and Queens. The IND planners wanted to provide three new direct tunnels to Brooklyn (the whole West and South 4th Street crap), and one new additional tunnel to connect Queens Blvd lines directly to Manhattan in the 1939 Plan, while the 1929 Map shows no additional tunnels. Oh sure, they wanted to extend IND subways in every direction on the eastern end of Queens, but no comparable improvements when it came to getting to Manhattan. Basically the original IND planners did not go a good job when it came to providing direct Manhattan to Queens service. They created a situation where the tracks do not lead to where the riders want to go, and they did it repeatedly in their plans. Since what we have to deal with is what has been actually built, the G-train is a problem in the eyes of the TA. While it is easy for transit-fans to draw on their paper maps their hopes and wishes for this or that - it is simply not that easy to actually come up with money to build new subways, stations or terminals. In fact real money is hard to come by, so the TA has to deal with, run and maintain what has actually been built. Yes, the TA could route G-trains into and out of the Queens Plaza station. Yes such G-trains would cross the paths of E and R trains both entering and leaving the station. Yes, its a pain in the tush for the riders and some riders feel abandoned. From the TA's point of view, ending the G-train at Court Square gets those trains out of, and away from trains who have a conflicting pathway. From a train operation point of view the less paths of the trains conflict the better. Please note that is was the original planners/builders of the IND System that created the Court Street station in such a way that it could become a terminal. If they had not done so, fate of the G-route might be different. If you want someone to blame then blame the planners of the original as built IND system. Is the G-train ending at Court Square such a surprising event? Only to those who do not read or understand transit news, transit history, or the actions of the TA. Otherwise there's no new news here. Mike |
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