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upsidedown posted:The loading gauge makes it a pretty tough job right? I was only just reading about the previous ones a couple of days ago. Looks pretty uncomfortable. Similar cars were used on some American railroads, but have since been succeeded by true double deck designs: http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/doubledecker.htm
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Nov 18, 2015 16:04
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 02:39 |
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FISHMANPET posted:True double deck designs can't run on the oldest parts of the US network, the north east of the country, for the same reason that you can't run them pretty much anywhere in Britain: height of the loading gauge. You are quite mistaken, as ways were found to create proper double deck cars within the restrictions of the New York river tunnels.   This one, the Kawasaki C3, is used by the LIRR in order to get two decks of seating while still fitting the East River tunnels into Penn Station. The maximum height of it is 14 feet 5.6 inches, and they've been in service since 1997. They have a single level design at the ends of the car for the platform access, and then you go up or down stairs like so to get to the main seating areas. These seat either 137 or 143 passengers, depending on whether it's a plain trailer, or a cab car or bathroom car..    This one, the "Bombardier Multilevel", is used on NJ Transit to get into NYC through the North River tunnels, which are the most constrained piece of trackage on the American passenger system. One thing you'll notice is that the top of the car is rounded to more safely pass through the tunnel at its height. It's 14 feet 6 inches at its top, but a few inches shorter on each side of the top. It's also used by the commuter rail systems of Montreal in Quebec and the MARC in Maryland due to similar but less severe structure gauge bottlenecks. It has a different layout for the stairs up and down, and has a larger "platform level" seating area at each end for handicapped passengers and a bathroom in every other car. Unlike the C3, the ends of the cars are equipped with the ability to exit to a low level platform by a set of stairs. Effectively, the Bombardier Multilevel trains can operate on any freight or passenger main line railroad in North America, being able to fit the minimum structure gauge you'll encounter, and being able to be either diesel or electric hauled, and use high or low level platforms. The car seats about 127 to 142 people, depending on whether its a cab car, a bathroom car, or a plain coach. Of course these are both monsters at ~14.5 feet high and about 10 feet wide in comparison to anything you can run on most of the British rails. fishmech fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Nov 19, 2015 |
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Nov 19, 2015 01:47
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Munin posted:Is there any provision for disabled access? On both cars, the seating for disabled people is provided on the car end single deck sections. There's a couple of permanently mounted seats that can't flip up as well as a row of seats that can be flipped up so wheelchairs can be secured for transport. It's surprisingly difficult to find pictures of the insides that aren't the main seating decks but in this publicity photo:  You can see that the dude there is standing in the normal entryway for high level platform stations. That partition roughly marks where the seats are for the platform-level seating area - they're not as nice as the seats in the main decks but they're still pretty decent. And when they're being used on a line with low-level platforms, everyone has to take steps down from the vestibule at either end of the car, no platform traps are provided for the main deck. So you're out of luck if in a wheelchair at a station that hasn't been upgraded yet, though they're being upgraded on an ongoing basis.
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Nov 19, 2015 15:59
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Bozza posted:Double deck might help with capacity short term but unless you install more doors it's dreadful for throughput of trains at stations as the dwell times are now shite. They're not actually double capacity, since the single level railcars they replaced had 3-2 across seating through the whole deck, instead 2-2 across seating on two middle decks. Instead they add about 30 seated people compared to a replaced single level car, on average, albeit with improved seating and better handling for handicapped passengers. There is of course more room for standees, but it still doesn't get near doubled overall capacity Sheer structural considerations means you can't get close to doubled capacity within the height and length limits (they can't be longer than the 85 feet they are, or they'll get caught on some tunnels and trackside equipment in other areas) As a result the increased dwell time is less than you might think, even though the single level cars typically had three doors to load in while these can only have 2 (the decks don't descend/ascend in the middle for a safe middle door). Still, instead of your 12 car consist carrying maybe 2400 people when packed full, you get maybe 3600 people. And that helps a lot so long as there's still only a two track tunnel to get into NYC from the west. Maybe someday additional tubes will finally be built, and at a more reasonable height in case of future expansion of the tunnels on the other side. Edit: and especially for anything double-deck that would fit on most of the British railways, you wouldn't get near double capacity. You'd need to have single level seating areas suitable for the disabled on each end of the car even if you bring back the staggered seating for a bi-level effect on the bulk of it fishmech fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Nov 19, 2015 |
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Nov 19, 2015 17:05
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Renfield posted:What's the thoughts on the electrification of the South-West line to Cardiff, as currently there demolishing all the foot/road bridges over the line here and rebuilding them Slightly higher to accommodate the electric trains. I'm not sure if I'm looking at plans for the right route, but it looks like they'll be doing overhead catenary electrification on there, and possibly leaving extra space for if larger (especially taller) trains are ever planned to go there. Since they're already tearing up and replacing all the bridges that is.
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Dec 16, 2015 23:07
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coffeetable posted:To contrast, here's the NY subway, which still runs on people flipping levers But of course, this system actually runs 24/7 as well.
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Mar 5, 2016 19:14
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 02:39 |
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forkboy84 posted:Wait, what? It can be cheaper not to use a Railcard? How? Look all you need to do is follow the formula:  Simple!
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Apr 6, 2017 20:04
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