Kawasaki M8 emus on MNRR updates

[bikkuri bahn]

Interesting local report:

Talking Transportation: Good News from Metro-North

     

By Jim Cameron

 

Special to WestportNow

So often this column is a screed of complaints about Metro-North. This time, the good news, because I really think in the last year we have turned the corner in everyone’s goals and hopes for making Metro-North service better.

 

http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2_5/comments/40134/

 

From a Japan perspective this stands out:

On Time: This has always been a justifiable point of pride with Metro-North, as 97 percent of the trains arrive “on time” (within six minutes of the timetable).

 

*in Japan, anything over a minute past the published timetable figure warrants an apology from the train staff.

 

Also, reading the comments, once again the curious expectation (only in North America??) that all commuters should have a seat on the train is apparent.

[Guest ___]

I think I actually know or have met Mr. Cameron.

 

That aside, I know in DC,MD area, MARC can and has refused pax to ride the trains as standee, however it's pretty rare and hard for 2 conductors on the 4-6 car trains to enforce, especially since pax will queue up to the vestibules several minutes before arriving at the station during the AM commute.

 

Of course unlike Jpn commuter trains, stateside commuter trains tends to have relatively narrow isles, and 2x3 fore-aft facing seating so standee is not exactly all that comfortable, where as Jpn trains tend to have more isle space to accommodate standees better.

 

As to on-time performance, IDK if Amtrak has changed this since I started at NARP, but it had been policy or at least at WAS Union that a train was reported as on-time if it arrived within an hour of being scheduled, though Julie will announce the train as delayed. Amtrak has some nice loopholes in reporting.

[Jcarlton]

Metro North is my home railroad.  I've been watching The M8's as they have started to make their mark. Here's a video that I shot taking a train into NYC recently:

As for that on time performance, It's very rare that trains are actually 6 minutes late.  On the other hand Metro North has had to deal with issues that a Japan line doesn't, for instance, operating on a railroad that is trying to upgrade itself from a century old infrastructure, until recently an aging fleet  and having to share the railroad with Amtrak's highest density lines to say nothing of harsher weather than in most of Japan.  In spite of all that, Metro North gets the job done.

[Nick_Burman]

Also, reading the comments, once again the curious expectation (only in North America??) that all commuters should have a seat on the train is apparent.

 

It's a reflex of the automobile culture, people are just so used to their cars that they expect always to travel seated even in public transportation during rush hours. The same happens here in Brazil, folks don't realize that it's better to stand 20min in a train than sit for 45min (or worse) in a car stuck in traffic.

 

Cheers NB

[Jcarlton]

The coaches used for commuting on the New Haven Line have always had seats.  The usual trip on the NYC commuter railroads is about an hour or more which is a little long to be standing.  the trains also have a very fast accelleration and speeds that are faster than most light rail or subways and in fact faster than say the Yamanote Line.

[miyakoji]

 

From a Japan perspective this stands out:

On Time: This has always been a justifiable point of pride with Metro-North, as 97 percent of the trains arrive “on time” (within six minutes of the timetable).

 

*in Japan, anything over a minute past the published timetable figure warrants an apology from the train staff.

 

 

The whole system can't be scheduled so that six minutes won't mess up a transfer.  Can it?  Such "flexibility" must inconvenience passengers, and some of the them must complain.  At some points in their histories, these railways must have occasionally looked into what causes delays and what can be done to prevent it.

[Jcarlton]

The only transfers are the  New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury branches whose trains will wait for the connecting mainline train.  Going in the other direction the wait isn't significant as train frequency is about every half hour and the mainline trains keep to the timetable.  Though a mainline train does get held for a dink from time to time if the dink is five or so minutes late.  This is the most likely reason a mainline train will be late.  As for mainline connections the system is set up so that a Eastbound  Stamford local pulls into Stamford about 5 minutes before it's connecting New Haven bound train.  Likewise the departing local will follow the  Westbound New Haven train which runs express into 125 ST Station in Manhattan.  Any connections to the Harlem or Hudson also has to happen there.  Until the new connector terminal is finished, you have to transfer to Penn Station on the subway to use the LIRR or NJ Transit lines.  The entire Metro North system  is an inherited mishmash of habits dating back through predecessor Railroads for a century and being forced to maintain those habits by different electrifcation systems and incompatible equipment.

Here's the Metro North system map:

http://mta.info/mnr/html/mnrmap.htm

[Jcarlton]

It's great when you are talking about something and somebody posts a completely relevant video:

Timelapse of a New Haven Line express from GCT to Stamford with stops at New Rochelle and Greenwich.