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Re: WillD lacks experience and perspective

Posted by RonInBayside on Sun Jul 30 12:29:28 2006, in response to Ron hates Transit Infrastructure (was:Re: My Route Suggestion of the Old Abandoned LIRR...), posted by WillD on Sat Jul 29 23:50:53 2006.

"If you were to actually live in the area you'd see that SEPTA has rebuilt the Subway Surface tracks to the point where they're a simple T-rail with a plastic or rubber flangeway mounted in concrete. This design has a minimal effect on tires when compared to the previous girder rail installations"

No, it has less effect on tires, but not "minimal." It chews them up more slowly, but that still isn't good. That i and of itself would be OK if reactivating the line were desirable overall (cost-benefit). SEPTA has decided it is not, and I agree.

"SEPTA has a history of destroying perfectly good trolley and electric rail routes for no good reason"

According to some people. "No good reason" just means you're too closed-minded to understand what the opposing reasons are. That's typical for a young engineer with little experience and no administrative or political savvy. That takes time to pick up.

You don't know why the Streets Dept. put the rails back in. It could be that the Mayor wants to preserve the trolley option (and make sure voters know it) even if some of his own engineers do not fully agree with it (I don't know what their opinions are and neither do you).

PennDOT may not care one way or the other. The City asks for money to do something, and PennDOT says OK as long as it's not terribly objectionable in the big scheme of things. You are assuming that PennDOT has an opinion when in fact you don't know. They might, but even if they did they are more credible to you because you agree with them. So they are more credible to you, which is not the same as more credible in general.

"We've been over the emergency vehicle issues and while you can claim all you want that the fire department needs Germantown I've actually talked to firefighters and ambulance drivers who have explicitly stated that unless an emergency is located on Germantown they'll take alternate routes to get to a call."

Because Germantown is already traffic-laden. When I lived there I saw at least a half-dozen police cars and other emergency vehicles trying to negotiate Germantown Av.

"arking along Germantown Ave is such that no SEPTA bus is ever going to find 60 or even 40 feet to get out of traffic"

True part of the time, not all of it. The bus, additionally, can pull over at at intersection if the light is green and pedestrians are not directly in the way. This results in the bus blocking the pedestrian crosswalk while the police officer or ambulance passes.

"You do realize that without the 23 a restored 56 is an isolated line, right?"

Is there a law against SEPTA creating a new depot for the 56?

But you do bring up a possible compromise: the tracks on Germantown Av could be preserved and maintained for emergency use only. If we were to accept your argument that the new tracks are not harmful to tires, then we can do this: Remove the catenary and substation infrastructure needed for Germantown av per se, because maintaining that costs more than any "tow benefit" you get, but you can still tow the disabled trolley with a diesel vehicle while the trolley stays on the tracks.

You have a long way to go before you mature as a professional engineer, Will. You do some pretty nifty things now but you know just enough to get yourself and others in trouble if you tried making supervisory or higher-level policy decisions. Keep working, learning and make sure you pay attention to your breadth of education, and you'll be fine.

Oh, and while posting on subchat is harmless and fun (usually) I hope you understand when you need to keep your mouth shut at work. For one thing, it's hard for you to listen whe you're talking. Also, until you gain political or moral credence in your work place, that can be much of the time.

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