(no subject)

[randomness]

So, according to Wikipedia, that unimpeachable source, the only subway systems in the world that operate 24 hours, 7 days a week are the New York City Subway, PATH, the Red and Blue lines of the Chicago L, and PATCO between Philadelphia and its New Jersey suburbs.

Anyone know of any others? Night bus networks, while nice, don't count.

(I thought of this after a conversation with bloodstones about Chicago's Blue Line, in which she said, "All-night transit service is a mark of civilization. Sorry, Boston.")

Comments

[earthling177.livejournal.com]

"All-night transit service is a mark of civilization. Sorry, Boston."

ROFLMAO!

Really, why go thru so much trouble mentioning all-night operation? I'd say a rational, decent, easy to use turn-style and vending is a mark of civilization, and Boston could start fixing that, then, when profits start happening because people will *want* to use it instead of *having* to use it, all-night operation might come.

On a more serious note, I've heard it before that NYC subway system had track maintenance while the trains were *running* -- they'd slow the trains to say, once every 10 minutes, then the workers had about nine minutes to do part of it, wait for the train to pass thru, continue until they were done. Given that we have *no* 24h service, they could start with a train every 20 minutes or 15 minutes for example, which is better than nothing, and do maintenance in between. If we're talking about something so bad that they need to stop the track for hours, well then, bus people, it's not that different from when something bad happens during the day and has to be dealt with. It's just part of being a grown up, I suppose. ;-)

[holmes-iv.livejournal.com]

More like 25 minutes, but yeah, I think that's roughly how it goes. And sometimes where there's a three-track section or an express line they can hop onto, they'll skip some stops in one direction or the other for a weekend, so you have to go past and double back, which lets them do more violent things to that section of track for a few days. I'm honestly not sure how they manage serious maintenance on the two-track lines (of which there are quite a few, especially outside Manhattan), but it probably involves running shuttlebusses from station to station along the affected section.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Sometimes they alternate directions on one track and close the other. "Board all service on the Manhattan-bound platform", etc. I've spent many late hours watching this sort of work done, including reconstruction of the entire railbed on the 1/9. (There's something very satisfying about watching them cut and weld rail and then riding on it the next day.) There was certainly also some bustitution, but it was rare, and writing as someone who spent years riding the late-night subway, I only remember dealing with buses once or twice. (I think they generally only do it for fairly far-out fringe service.)

An example of single-tracking, taken from today's bulletins:

  #7 Flushing-bound trains stop at the Times Square-bound platform

  Late night, 12:01 AM to 5 AM Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jun 9 - Jul 2

  Wait for Flushing-bound service on the Times Square-bound platform at
  Vernon Blvd-Jackson Av and Hunters Point Av stations.

  Note: trains run every 20 minutes during this time.