Turbinosamente posted:Yeah you're not thinking like a profiteering corporate ghoul evil_bunnY, Kyle would be fired for missing poo poo on inspection. If he did report poo poo he'd be probably be fired there too for causing trouble, delays, or complaining too much. Kinda a no win scenario for him. That isn’t how this works. The inspection referred to occurs(or can occur) at the interchange point; where one company drops cars off and another picks them up. Conductors(Kyle) aren’t doing this inspection because they aren’t trained on that task. They aren’t trained on the task because it is another craft’s work. Carmen are trained on the task. Inspections can be automated as well. I don’t think anyone really does these at interchange because most of the damage won’t be handling line responsibility. Also, Kyle(conductors) are in the union and their job is determined by seniority not manager fiat. Every train that goes out is inspected in the yard. Each car is inspected before departure by federal law. The carmen look at the brake travel to ensure the brakes work, air leakage over the length of track inspected, running gear(wheels, trucks, etc) and other obvious things(leaks, cuts in car body, ladders, placarding). They are assisted in this task by various automated wayside detectors. These detectors note cars that have bad wheels(thin/high flange, flat spot, tread buildup, hot bearing etc) and direct carmen to conduct a closer inspection. Once a damaged car is found, the car is either placed to a specific track for repair(rip track) or routed to a specific point for repair(homeshop) As someone else pointed out, the individual railroads own very few cars. The majority of cars are owned by TTX, the shippers(customers), or leasing companies. There are minimum standards, set by the AAR and the FRA, that cars must be maintained to. These companies do not want to pay for repairs in excess of standards. Anything that doesn’t meet the standard must be repaired or replaced. There is a set of rules out out by the AAR that explain who is responsible for what damage in various situations. For example, a flat spotted wheel indicates someone drug the car with the brakes applied. So, that is handling line unless caught at interchange. In a different example, someone observes that the brake pads are down to the backing material. That is owner responsibility no matter where found. Etc. All of that aside, the various RRs all have cut down on both the number of carmen on their respective systems AND the time allotted to inspect each car. Further, they absolutely do not want to set cars out for repair if not absolutely necessary. That takes time away from switching cars for delivery or departure. Carmen are absolutely pressured to inspect more cars per shift and find only the minimum necessary repairs.
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Mar 20, 2023 15:56
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I rode the Amtrak northeast regional train. It's very comfortable but holy heck why does it have to be so expensive?
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Mar 21, 2023 00:33
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the NER is the cheap one
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Mar 21, 2023 00:38
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I think it’s bucketed pricing, so the cheapest bucket is very cheap but once it sells out, all the tickets cost more. One-way NYC to Boston starts at $31 if you are a few months out and ends at $161 traveling tomorrow.
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Mar 21, 2023 01:29
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NYC to Boston return cost me $380. I probably could have flown for cheaper but the train is more comfortable. Nice views of Connecticut. The Accela cost morre. I booked it 2 days in advance 
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Mar 21, 2023 03:42
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Where I live in CT, I can drive 30 mins to get to New Haven which is a fixed $23.50 to get to NYC and very frequent trains, or drive 15 minutes to a NEC station which is $22 at best and has a much worse schedule but nicer trains that you can work on. Too many choices!
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Mar 21, 2023 12:44
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYUIaebzNLs A cool documentary of a german locomotive engineer who tracked down, bought and fully refurbished the only DB class 169, and now drives it for various jobs as an independant worker.
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Mar 21, 2023 21:23
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Noosphere posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYUIaebzNLs There was someone else doing this more extreme from 2001-2018. She bought two E94 units, built in '45 and '55. And ran them for almost 20 years, while making a profit. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_4U
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Mar 21, 2023 23:35
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Can you just... buy a locomotive and drive it on rails you don't own in Germany? Google translate of that page indicates she kinda operated as an "independent contractor" for railroads?
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Mar 22, 2023 00:03
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If by "just" you mean after filing enough paperwork even scare most Germans. Found a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ3MGgk0Jk4
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Mar 22, 2023 00:10
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Badger tunnels halt traffic on Dutch railways https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65034493
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Mar 22, 2023 01:29
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MRC48B posted:Can you just... buy a locomotive and drive it on rails you don't own in Germany? The EU has spent the last couple of decades liberalizing the railway system. One consequence of which, is that if you can obtain a security certificate from your countries department of transportation (the renewal process for which SBB Cargo is currently going through, and it's a mammoth task), obtain a locomotive driver's license, and get your hands on a locomotive, then congratulations! If someone is willing to give you work, you've just started your own railway company. There are no minimum size requirements, but the administrative overhead and safety and maintenance requirements require a ton of work. Your question regarding "rails you don't own" : as part of this liberalization, few railway companies own their rails currently. Instead, each individual train running on the rails pays for its train path to the infrastructure owner. See https://www.bav.admin.ch/bav/en/home/modes-of-transport/railways/informations-for-professionals/train-path-price.html for more details. Train paths are bought mostly on a mid- to long-term contractual basis, according to the yearly passenger timetable for example. But some paths are kept free for unexpected traffic such as delayed trains, firefighting trains, or in this case moving a locomotive around so it can pull pre-planned trains.
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Mar 22, 2023 07:24
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There are quite a few hobbyists that own and operate a couple of old locomotives for preservation reasons - and making it somewhat break even by hauling non-passenger trains around. Apparently it's pretty doable in the Netherlands because even just little groups of a handful of people can do it.
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Mar 22, 2023 14:17
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I got curious about it and the lowest fare I could find is $5 to get from WAS to New Carrollton, MD at 4:30 in the morning.
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Mar 23, 2023 01:45
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Sash! posted:I got curious about it and the lowest fare I could find is $5 to get from WAS to New Carrollton, MD at 4:30 in the morning. That's a dollar cheaper than an equivalent MARC ticket, haha.
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Mar 23, 2023 01:58
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Guess I just picked the worst time to buy tickets. I'm impressed with the acceleration/braking of both the Amtrak northeast regional and MBTA commuter trains. Compared to tiny European trains these things have cool performance, and I like how station stops are done so quickly. Just an observation. American trains are cool.
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Mar 23, 2023 07:11
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You bought a ticket two days before, that’s always going to be more expensive here.
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Mar 23, 2023 12:01
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how to keep an at-grade crossing clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdRrtLpPQbo&t=155s
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Mar 26, 2023 22:15
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ChickenOfTomorrow posted:how to keep an at-grade crossing clear: I have questions
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Mar 27, 2023 15:15
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Question, from a former caltrain commuter All of conductors use the phrases "last and final" and "station stop." Do these mean specific things that the single word synonyms "last" and "station" don't, or is it a verbal tic they pick up from the conductors who trained them, who got it from the ones who trained them, all the way back to some kook on the SP in 1879?
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Mar 27, 2023 22:48
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A non-station stop would be just the side of the rail somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It's probably a flag stop so you'd probably have to flag the train down to get on, or notify the conductor to get off there. I don't think Caltrain would have any stops that aren't station stops. The Alaska railroad has a few. Not sure about Amtrak.
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Mar 27, 2023 23:51
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SixFigureSandwich posted:I have questions yeah?
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Mar 28, 2023 00:10
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Guy Axlerod posted:A non-station stop would be just the side of the rail somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It's probably a flag stop so you'd probably have to flag the train down to get on, or notify the conductor to get off there. There's a few stops I've seen that are the next cousin to this. Back in 1990 the Amtrak stop for Grass Valley was a tiny platform by the side of a road. I don't think it even exists any more.
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Mar 28, 2023 01:06
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Amtrak does still have flag stops, but doesn't list them on the schedule as such. Part of the shift was around the general move away from being able to buy tickets onboard. This pretty much eliminated flag stops for boarding, although the crew knows to keep an eye out just in case someone happens to be hanging around on the platform at the stations they know they can pass because there's no one on the manifest for getting on or off. The only three I know of off hand are Thurmond (WV), Essex (MT), and L'Enfant (DC), although L'Enfant is in a different category because it doesn't even show up as a possible station.
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Mar 28, 2023 03:11
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Obviously not the same as a line that serves primarily as transportation, but the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad does this. There are just three stations that trains regularly stop at, but there are another half dozen "Explorer Stations" where people can flag down the train as it approaches and get a ride to any of the further stops along the line. They'll even let you bring bikes or kayaks aboard if you've been out enjoying the parks in the area. It was really convenient when I used to live near the railroad, I could go out biking and just go as far north as I felt like going before riding the train back to the southern station, then the route home from there was downhill enough to require almost no pedaling.
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Mar 28, 2023 06:05
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Sash! posted:Amtrak does still have flag stops, but doesn't list them on the schedule as such. Part of the shift was around the general move away from being able to buy tickets onboard. This pretty much eliminated flag stops for boarding, although the crew knows to keep an eye out just in case someone happens to be hanging around on the platform at the stations they know they can pass because there's no one on the manifest for getting on or off. i don't think amtrak lists flag stops as such but i know the Cardinal has one at Crawfordsville, IN and another one in WV (other than Thurmond).
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Mar 28, 2023 08:45
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Greg12 posted:Question, from a former caltrain commuter British announcers started using this jargon with the public for the last decade or so and it was incredibly irritating to hear. They seem to have stopped it recently though; i've not heard it this year - thank God. meltie fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Mar 28, 2023 |
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Mar 28, 2023 14:02
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I don't live in an English speaking country so things might be different, but there is also a difference between the final stop of a line and the last stop for a train. Thought they are the same most of the time in which case both get announced.
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Mar 28, 2023 16:40
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Peanut President posted:i don't think amtrak lists flag stops as such but i know the Cardinal has one at Crawfordsville, IN and another one in WV (other than Thurmond). You go back ten years or more and there was a little flag icon that would appear on the timetable. I went back to 2004 to get the times for the one time I'd used a flag stop. Back in 2004, I decided to take a fall weekend trip on Amtrak because I'd never done that before. Drove down to Altoona from State College. Waited on the platform for my train, which arrived four minutes late. Not too bad. Off to Pittsburgh I go! Except it turns out that I'd actually boarded a 37 minute late Three Rivers and was bound for New York. I immediately informed the conduct that I'd boarded the wrong train and was willing to buy a ticket through to the next station. I figured I could get someone that owed me a favor to drive to Huntingdon to collect me. Conductor tells me to sit tight. A few minutes later, he comes back and says "come with me." I follow him back to the vestibule, where another crewmember is waiting. They've got the door open as we're flying down the tracks. He tells me that they'd managed to get word to the westbound Pennsylvanian that they had one of their passengers before they'd passed Tyrone. There's only 16 minutes between Altoona and Tyrone, so these pieces had moved pretty quick. Tyrone was a flag stop for the Pennsylvanian, so they'd instructed the Pennsylvanian to hold there while the Three Rivers approached. I thanked them profusely and made the comment that I didn't know that the Three Rivers stopped at Tyrone. It does not. Dropped the trap door before we even stopped moving and down onto the tracks I went. Didn't even use the platform. They didn't even try to line us up because I got to walk two car lengths between trains. Oddly, I don't remember them lifting my ticket when I got on the Pennsylvanian. So my first Amtrak trip involved riding an train that no longer exists, using a flag stop, getting an unscheduled stop, and probably affecting multiple freight trains.
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Mar 28, 2023 23:51
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Sash! posted:Oddly, I don't remember them lifting my ticket when I got on the Pennsylvanian. This story kicks rear end. The conductors on Amtrak are almost always really nice and willing to help if you have issues. They can also register your ticket without having to scan it, somehow. I don't know if it's on an individual basis or if they update some master count, but I take Amtrak back from work and most of the time they don't bother scanning the ticket, but just count how many people get on at my small stop. I think the Maryland/DC Marc commuter trains used to have flag stops on the Brunswick line, and maybe still do.
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Mar 29, 2023 00:47
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There's a way that they can do a blanket lift, but that definitely did not exist in 2004. I actually got my paper ticket in the mail! They're not really supposed to do it that way. When they don't scan the individual tickets, the system can list the unscanned ticket as a no show and inadvertently cancel the reservation on a connecting trip. At a minimum, that person doesn't get their AGR points, if they're in the system. It also opens a door for free riders because the conductor never interacts with people to determine who isn't supposed to be there. I'm a pass rider now and I make sure they lift my ticket instead of just looking at my badge. They shouldn't be assuming that I don't have a connection or, when I'm on the Acela, that I'm not stealing someone's seat.
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Mar 29, 2023 01:31
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Log082 posted:
I grew up along that line and can confirm they still do. Washington Grove, Boyds, and Dickerson are the ones I know for sure. Most (but not all) trains do not stop at those three stations, unless someone is waiting on platform
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Mar 29, 2023 13:32
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Metro North has some express trains with stops that only let people off and don’t let in new passengers. My guess is that lets them run faster than scheduled if they want?
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Mar 29, 2023 14:21
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smackfu posted:Metro North has some express trains with stops that only let people off and don’t let in new passengers. My guess is that lets them run faster than scheduled if they want? Amtrak also has at least one of these on the NEC! I know because I was taking an early morning train to a job interview and would have gotten off on a stop I didn't even know existed if the conductor hadn't caught me. Log082 fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Mar 29, 2023 |
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Mar 29, 2023 15:59
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Long distance trains have Discharge or Receive flags to prevent seats from being used by commuters or short hauls. For instance, once the northbound Silver Star or Silver Meteor reaches Fredericksburg, VA, it becomes discharge only all the way to New York. The Silver Meteor arrives in DC at 7 am, making it attractive for Baltimore or Philly traffic. But they'd rather have those seats available for people in GA, SC, and NC to book. So the SM only lets people off in DC and anyone going north has to get a different train.
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Mar 29, 2023 21:21
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I was riding the MBTA Rockport line and some of the stops were just people standing on a dirt siding or standing on the opposite track at a level crossing. Was interesting
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Mar 29, 2023 23:18
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Jersey avenue on the NJ transit NEC is a strange one. I just looked it up now because I realized that I've only stopped there when going southbound. Only Northbound trains that originate at Jersey avenue will service the station. The SB platform is on the main line, but the NB platform is on a siding, other trains would have to back in.
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Mar 30, 2023 00:06
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Sash! posted:Long distance trains have Discharge or Receive flags to prevent seats from being used by commuters or short hauls. For instance, once the northbound Silver Star or Silver Meteor reaches Fredericksburg, VA, it becomes discharge only all the way to New York. That seems rather suboptimal from the passengers perspective. What if someone wants to go from DC to NY ? Having a half empty train do that trip that allows no one to board in DC sounds silly. An obvious solution would be to not allow booking in advance, but if you buy a ticket and get on, you can try finding a seat, or travel standing.
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Mar 30, 2023 05:47
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Sash! posted:Oddly, I don't remember them lifting my ticket when I got on the Pennsylvanian.
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Mar 30, 2023 08:46
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Noosphere posted:That seems rather suboptimal from the passengers perspective. What if someone wants to go from DC to NY ? Having a half empty train do that trip that allows no one to board in DC sounds silly. An obvious solution would be to not allow booking in advance, but if you buy a ticket and get on, you can try finding a seat, or travel standing. The IC trains from Amsterdam to various german places charge separately for the train ticket and the seat reservation. You can travel on them along any stretch you want, but are only guaranteed a seat if you book the seat (which is 5 or 10 euro or so). You can, of course, sit in an already reserved place without a seat ticket. When the ticket holder arrives, you are expected to give up your seat. You can be lucky and have a seat for the entire 6:45 trip from Amsterdam to Berlin without having a seat reservation, but for such long rides it's of course way better to actually get the seat reservation. If you only use the IC to travel within the netherlands for like half an hour, you don't have to bother. Usually there's a seat free outside of rush hour, and otherwise you stand for such a short stretch.
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Mar 30, 2023 11:09
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