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Post by bzcat on Apr 3, 2012 9:54:25 GMT -8
$10m could get us a new platform at Pico station and maybe a pedestrian bridge. Not enough for putting the station underground.
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Post by James Fujita on Apr 3, 2012 14:39:00 GMT -8
I'd be happy with a new platform and a pedestrian bridge, especially if it were a well-designed walkway which could serve as an architectural monument for LACC and the stadium.
If I were to put the Pico Station underground, I would want to extend the underground tracks much further down Flower towards the new wye. That would be a much more expensive and time-consuming project.
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Post by masonite on Apr 20, 2012 20:01:30 GMT -8
Looks like the LA Times has a critical article on the MTA in regards to maintenance. It seems like the current admin get it, but who knows if this talk. I don't much care for Roger Snoble's comment that the Blue Line is just old. Should we expect the Red Line to break down because it is "old"? Back East they are operating some systems over 100 years old.
Art Leahy can hopefully get his team's hands around the issue, but as the system gets bigger and older this may be a real problem. These articles really hurt a chance of an extended Measure R passing. 66.7% is going to be real tough this time around. Of course I never thought the first one had a chance of passing...
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Post by Gokhan on Apr 21, 2012 0:22:37 GMT -8
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Post by jamesinclair on Apr 21, 2012 1:43:20 GMT -8
A few months ago someone on this forum was arguing with me that there is no such thing as deferred maintenance in metro.....
I believe the discussion was that one fellow said the expo (or was it gold?) lines will get faster over time as improvements are made. I said its the opposite, because deferred maintenance results in slow orders. The fellow said that metro spends millions on maintenance, and hence, none is ever deferred.
Looks like I was right.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Apr 21, 2012 7:20:03 GMT -8
A few months ago someone on this forum was arguing with me that there is no such thing as deferred maintenance in metro..... You were right about the deferred maintenance, although I still find your reasoning (because Boston and Chicago deferred maintenance, so must LA) to be illogical. But your original statement that deferred maintenance would result in speed restrictions 15 years from now looks like it will be incorrect since Metro is addressing these issues now. I even mentioned the new state of good repair program in my reply. Now you're making stuff up. I never said anything so stupid. I only asked for examples of deferred maintenance and said that I wasn't aware of any being deferred. I also mentioned the new state of good repair program.
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Post by Justin Walker on Apr 21, 2012 10:44:16 GMT -8
I believe the discussion was that one fellow said the expo (or was it gold?) lines will get faster over time as improvements are made. I said its the opposite, because deferred maintenance results in slow orders. The fellow said that metro spends millions on maintenance, and hence, none is ever deferred. Looks like I was right. I disagree that it looks like you were right. Two trends certainly exist: decreasing travel times over time due to fine-tuning and increasing travel times over time due to deferred maintenance. We still have a relatively new rail system, so the improvements in travel time we've seen from fine-tuning still greatly outweigh the losses from deferred maintenance (especially for the very new lines, Gold and Expo, we were discussing). That's not to say deferred maintenance hasn't happened; it obviously has.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Apr 21, 2012 12:16:47 GMT -8
The new timetables show that the blue line trip time was increased by 4 minutes because of Expo. All of it between Washington and 7th/metro. Likely all of it between Grand and 7th/metro. I nailed that one several years ago.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Apr 23, 2012 17:16:21 GMT -8
The new blue line timetable is also out and appears to match the operator timetable. And since it doesn't show an extra 4 minutes per run, I now see that I was misreading the old timetable. The run times are actually only 0-2 minutes longer with more at 0 minutes than 1 and 2 combined. So essentially the run time hasn't changed. Sorry for the earlier misinformation. And while this means that I was wrong about Metro needing to increase run times, I'm happy to be wrong.
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Post by jamesinclair on Apr 23, 2012 23:11:49 GMT -8
You were right about the deferred maintenance, although I still find your reasoning (because Boston and Chicago deferred maintenance, so must LA) to be illogical. But your original statement that deferred maintenance would result in speed restrictions 15 years from now looks like it will be incorrect since Metro is addressing these issues now. I even mentioned the new state of good repair program in my reply. Now you're making stuff up. I never said anything so stupid. I only asked for examples of deferred maintenance and said that I wasn't aware of any being deferred. I also mentioned the new state of good repair program. I agree that the first part is a fallacy, but it can also be true. Just because everyone else does it, doesnt mean LA does...but in this case, it means it's more than likely that LA is because they all operate on the same funding system. Im sure there will be speed restrictions 15 years from now as well. I never said you said that. I never quoted you. Im referring to a collection of previous conversations.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 6, 2012 16:54:13 GMT -8
FWIW, none of the maps in the blue line stations south of Pico have new maps showing Expo.
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Post by gatewaygent on Jul 5, 2012 18:51:26 GMT -8
I don't know whether or not this is the thread to put this in, but my father and I were riding the Blue Line home from a day in DTLA. It must have been between 1 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. and as we approached Vernon Station, the train crawled to a stop. Then as we departed Slauson Station going down the ramp at what seemed normal speed, the train came to a screeching stop and people lurched forward. A gentleman sitting in his Hoveround almost made a semi-circle from the force of the jolt! I haven't ridden the Blue Line in a while, but I hope this was a one-time thing! Also, the LRV's are starting to show their age.
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Post by Elson on Jul 7, 2012 12:38:16 GMT -8
FWIW, none of the maps in the blue line stations south of Pico have new maps showing Expo. I think this was a secret compromise deal done with the Cheviot Hills NIMBYS to allow the Expo Line Phase 2 to get built in their community, on the condition that "those people" won't have to know the line even exists.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Jul 7, 2012 12:44:42 GMT -8
I think this was a secret compromise deal done with the Cheviot Hills NIMBYS to allow the Expo Line Phase 2 to get built in their community, on the condition that "those people" won't have to know the line even exists. Most, but not all of the stations have Expo maps now.
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Post by TransportationZ on Jul 7, 2012 22:18:16 GMT -8
I think this was a secret compromise deal done with the Cheviot Hills NIMBYS to allow the Expo Line Phase 2 to get built in their community, on the condition that "those people" won't have to know the line even exists. Most, but not all of the stations have Expo maps now. It wouldn't make sense anyhow because allot of "those people" live off the Expo/Crenshaw and Expo/Western stations.
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Post by bzcat on Aug 27, 2012 10:36:05 GMT -8
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Post by Gokhan on Aug 29, 2012 9:44:49 GMT -8
The train clipped the bus' tail. Therefore, my best guess is that the bus operator ran a red light. Some bus operators routinely run red lights to make their schedule, entering the crossing after the yellow changes to red. Obviously, it's very dangerous to do so at a rail crossing, especially when the train signal is flashing. If that's what this bus operator did, he/she should be terminated. The accident could have been tragic.
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Post by bzcat on Aug 29, 2012 9:51:39 GMT -8
On a bus message board, some people commented that the bus involved is on a "road call" from a different division than the one that usually serves this route. So it is possible that the driver was not familiar with the intersection. But that is still no excuse for running a red light.
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Post by metrocenter on Nov 28, 2012 8:29:36 GMT -8
Took the Blue Line to my new job for the first time yesterday. And last night during rush hour, a disabled train shut down all Blue and Expo service downtown for at least an hour. 7th/Metro was filled with angry passengers from 6:00 on.
Apparently it was all caused by an emergency lever being pulled.
Sux that the system is so easily shut down, and its passengers evening messed up.
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Post by metrocenter on Nov 28, 2012 9:50:24 GMT -8
Update: The Source. So apparently it was much longer than an hour - at least 1.5 hours.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2012 14:27:39 GMT -8
Update: The Source. So apparently it was much longer than an hour - at least 1.5 hours. Oh, dear. Is that normal now for LA? Breakdown, and lock the geese in the cars for two hours? No A/C, no water, won't let them out of the car? Places I've been, they evacuate folks, get them out. The deferred maintenance issue is all over. Heavy rail freight, light rail, all of it. I've been watching and reading..the bond issues pay for new equipment and upgrades, highways....but not maintenance. How is that working out? Overhead wires wear out, rails wear, wheels wear, motors.....heck, even the cars become obsolete due to changing safety items (look at DC Metro). I have always had a concern about publicly funded transport that doesn't pay it's own way..rather depending on bonds and taxes. At some point, does it become unworkable? Service cutbacks? Route closures? In our area, they've been A) ripping out tracks and making bike/hike paths, and B) cutting bus service back to those little 15 passenger type airport parking shuttles on lightly traveled lines. I see the Metra (Heavy Rail) I think it's called...sending their Amtrack type engines up north for "retrofit"....more "ecologically Friendly".....removing the prime movers, dropping in smaller prime movers....with a lot less horsepower....I know a guy who works on them, the joke is, they truly do have a more fuel efficient, ecologically friendly locomotive, but it's going to take two of them and maybe more to do the work that one used to. How many folks does the light rail think it can eventually move? Enough to close down freeways? Dave....just rambling a bit....
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Post by Gokhan on Dec 4, 2012 10:09:31 GMT -8
Apparently it was all caused by an emergency lever being pulled. Hm, do our light-rail trains even have emergency levers? I've never noticed one. From what I heard, it was apparently due to a signal malfunction at the junction and/or the control center and they had to send someone to the junction in order to manually switch the trains, although it could be something else as well. Welcome back to the Blue Line, Joel, and congratulations on your new job! From the Metro alerts I am getting, it looks like the Green Line is having more problems than all the other lines these days. The Siemens trains could be the least reliable in the fleet.
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Post by joemagruder on Dec 4, 2012 12:24:48 GMT -8
In the really old days I recall that the Pacific Electric had a switch tender where the trains turned from the city street (Olympic?) onto the 4 track main. Watts Local - throw the swich to the right; Long Beach/San Pedro/Bellflower - throw the switch to the left. I would guess that the inbound switch was a spring or variable switch. It's not ideal, but it would eliminate delays.
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Post by metrocenter on Dec 4, 2012 13:02:26 GMT -8
Thanks for the welcome Gokhan! Trains have run fine ever since. I did read the next day, there were problems at the junction.
Did we ever find out what specific kind of problems the junction generally experiences? Are they mechanical movement problems? Actuator (electro-mechanical) problems? Communication problems? Switching-logic problems?
I like JoeMagruder's approach - make the switch manual and have a guy out their manually throwing the switch. LOL. At least until they get the kinks out of this one.
It seems like this should be fairly easy to fix. I mean it's just one double-switch junction. There are thousands of them across the US, from Dubuque to Rock Island - many under very heavy loads. I'm not sure what makes this one so "special" (expensive/fragile).
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Post by bluelineshawn on Dec 4, 2012 20:38:49 GMT -8
From what I recall the design of the Expo/Blue line junction is so unique that the company that designed it decided to not sign off on the final design. They instead recommended that Metro bring in outside entities to evaluate the long term prospects for the junction, which Metro declined to do until pressured by the CPUC.
As I understand it from what I've read (anyone feel free to correct me), in layman's terms the junction is designed to force trains to go a way that they don't necessarily want to go. Train wheels start to wear and there were reports that trains were slipping through the junction. So then they had to affix an extra piece (outside the original design) that helps guide the train wheels through the junction. This piece in turn becomes worn and without inspection can damage train wheels and has also broken several times. So now they have to regularly inspect the junction for defects and train wheels for damage or risk a derailament.
To me this sounds like a temporary solution, but Metro is so far convinced that it's permanent. We'll see.
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Post by metrocenter on Dec 7, 2012 9:38:56 GMT -8
Thanks for the description bluelineshawn! So the issue is mechanical design.
Now I'm even more curious. Every switch forces a train to go one way or the other. So I wonder what makes this different from switches operating on freight railways.
Somewhat at Metro must have set a minimum level-of-service (LOS) for the junction, in terms of how many failures per month is acceptable. I would set that LOS at allowing no more than one failure per month. So far I've heard of at least two failures in the past two weeks.
Would love to read the internal reports on the junction. But that'll never happen, I guess.
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Post by metrocenter on Jan 14, 2013 8:48:49 GMT -8
Another issue today at Washington/Flower, 30 minute delay on trains. Made me late to work.
It would be nice if metro.net's service alert page would show the issue while it's happening, rather than an hour after it's cleared.
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Post by metrocenter on Feb 7, 2013 13:16:43 GMT -8
With little fanfare but much hope, a new Wetzel's Pretzels has opened this week in 7th Street/Metro Center station. The store is located at the east (Hope Street) portal of the station, in the location of the former "Rush Snack Bar"/"Pure Juicery. The pretzel/pretzel dog/lemonade shop is open daily, including morning rush hour. From what I've seen, it's doing a brisk business in the morning. Hopefully it's brisk enough to allow them to survive for a good long time.
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Post by Philip on Feb 7, 2013 15:39:03 GMT -8
With little fanfare but much hope, a new Wetzel's Pretzels has opened this week in 7th Street/Metro Center station. The store is located at the east (Hope Street) portal of the station, in the location of the former "Rush Snack Bar"/"Pure Juicery. The pretzel/pretzel dog/lemonade shop is open daily, including morning rush hour. From what I've seen, it's doing a brisk business in the morning. Hopefully it's brisk enough to allow them to survive for a good long time. I really hope Metro is able to expand with more underground businesses near transit, particular after the Regional Connector is finished. Back home in Philly, Suburban Station (in addition to being the major transit hub for Center City, Philadelphia) has a plethora of food places, as well as access to several nearby office buildings and many exits spanning several blocks. 7th Street/Metro Center is crying for that sort of convenient access and expansion.
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Post by masonite on Feb 7, 2013 16:52:55 GMT -8
With little fanfare but much hope, a new Wetzel's Pretzels has opened this week in 7th Street/Metro Center station. The store is located at the east (Hope Street) portal of the station, in the location of the former "Rush Snack Bar"/"Pure Juicery. The pretzel/pretzel dog/lemonade shop is open daily, including morning rush hour. From what I've seen, it's doing a brisk business in the morning. Hopefully it's brisk enough to allow them to survive for a good long time. It is a nice space. I sat in there killing a few minutes while I enjoyed a juice from Rush. Unfortunately, no one came in while I was in Rush for the 15 minutes I was there so I was not surprised it failed. Hopefully, this will fare better. I don't see this type of store in many stations though. This is the busiest station. Maybe some of the new Connector Stations they can build in a space like this here or there.
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