Two-person train operation

The first time I ever went to NYC was with my Hebrew school graduation class. We were riding the subway with my Rabbi and as we got off we ran into another Rabbi who was a buddy of his — and who told us we were at the wrong stop and to get back on. 😂 I was convinced then that transit was magic.

Something else I notice here: the relationship of coach yards to the station. European stations seem to have ways for trains to get from the yards to platforms without getting in the way of revenue service. But in DC the line narrows down to only 4 tracks between the station and the yards.

Yeah and it allows portions of the station be operationally independent. Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, while a rapid transit station, is probably the best U.S. example of this. The best mainline example is no doubt Philadelphia 30th Street.

opting to pass on an independent investigation of the near-catastrophic Metrolinx incident - investigating your own agency is akin to hiding evidence from Ontarians: “The U.S. mandated technology that automatically stops speeding trains or trains operating unsafely after a 2008 passenger train

Reminds me of the excellent observation you made in this thread about expanding terminus stations by moving them in front of the old too small main hall. I passed through Torino Porta Nuova and Zürich, and it was really obvious once you know the history. bsky.app/profile/chit...

Because CBTC significantly reduces the work the driver has to do, which makes OPTO feasible. It's not just "another button".

I disagree! But thank you for not being a freak about it 🙂

Usually on metro trains the main purpose of emergency brakes is to stop the train right away in the unlikely event that somehow something got caught in the closing doors and the train is departing. The override usually only goes into effect once the train has left the station.

Why would you still be on the Nazi CSAM site?

The metro in Barcelona has 0 drivers on board (at least on some lines) so what are we talking about

The real sickos_jpg move would be to coordinate CBTC, new line construction, and OPTO so conductor retirements get offset by additional motorman jobs.

The in-cab CCTV monitor is the same system for the T/O and the C/R, and viewable from either cab. The manual head check is today the only operational rule that the motorman is incapable of doing, so if in-cab CCTV is enabled the conductor role becomes fully vestigial.

Safety issues on CTA would improve immensely under 2PTO.

Yes, I was joking

Thank you! Nice article. Obviously I agree about SAF. America is so far behind where Japan and Europe are when it comes to passenger trains. On the other hand, I remain perhaps a bit more optimistic about electric aviation (for flights eventually up to 1000 km) than expressed in your article:

You could solve like 60% of Destructive NIMBYism by just asking people to estimate the harm in $ that will occur if the government builds XYZ projects and cut them a check

if every global transit system switched to two person train operation, it would result in service decreases, more people driving, and increased emissions, driving tons of death all across the globe

love 2 be a "leftist" going to bat for shameless rent seekers

PANYNJ mention lol

Transit has an American Exceptionalism problem and the epicenter is NYC

NYC seems hamstrung by politics and history.

It really pained me after going to places like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei and even Paris to see what train travel can be like and then going back to NYC.

this is why we need to hire more people to stand around on their phones while carrying an nypd badge and gun

One person train operation is over 50 in the USA.

Chicago only has cameras at a few stations with curved platforms. (Our trains are shorter than NYC trains, though.)

Yes. In the front car the door swings so that the cab is full width. (Cabs not in use are half width.) Driver steps to the appropriate window and sticks their head out, operates the doors manually similar to NYC conductor. Closes window and returns to motorman position and drives train manually.

why do you think a conductor sitting in the middle of the train operating the doors would have done anything to prevent these incidents

I've commuted on trains where the emergency brake was unsupervised, and the only time I remember someone pulling the emergency brake was when I pulled the emergency brake in an actual emergency (and it works instantly, trust me, I tried!).