Multi-Level Cars—Delivery/Status

I agree with Dutch, the dwell times cannot be higher considering that there are two doors on each end of the train and the fact that the doors are bigger.

If nothing else, it'll beat out the Comet IIs!

I have some questions about these cars:

1. What kind of door closing alarm sound will they have?
2. Will there be the same automated announcement voice as the Comet IIM, IV, and V has?
3. Will the info screen inside be the same as the Comet IIM, IV, and V?
4. Will there be a destination screen on the outside?

Yes, they may beat out the Comet IIMs, but I don't see how they could be the equivalent or faster unloading times than the IIIs, IVs and Vs.

Granted, you have 4 doors per side of the coach, but the problem is to exit out of one of the two end doors, you have to all go to the same end. Beauty with center door is it spreads the wealth. Now, folks will be pooring out from two level through the same area. And many folks may walk and wait to exit through the closest door to them (which would be not the end door) and thus potentially create a slight bottleneck. IMHO, if anything, these coaches will take slightly longer to unload—but not by much.

Jtgshu wrote:TR you can't retire until I start trainhandling and you show me how to perfect your famous Hammonton High Speed Stop"!

Hammonton High Speed Stop? Hmmmm....methinks I may have experienced that on a recent ACL ride a few months ago....

nick11a wrote:Granted, you have 4 doors per side of the coach, but the problem is to exit out of one of the two end doors, you have to all go to the same end. Beauty with center door is it spreads the wealth. Now, folks will be pooring out from two level through the same area. And many folks may walk and wait to exit through the closest door to them (which would be not the end dor) and thus potentially create a slight bottleneck. IMHO, if anything, these coaches will take slightly longer to unload- but not by much.

Well, the LIRR/MNR (MU/Shrelnr I/II)'s cars have 2 doors per side & to me the dwelling times are good on the two. New Jersey Transit also already uses 2 doors per side on low level platforms & it's fine, plus some people right now are saying that they don't have a lot more seats, if you were to add the center doors, then seats would be removed.

Will the vestibule in the bilevels not be much larger than the conventional cars? I have on a few occasions been on the Boston area bilevels and it seemed to me that the crowd entered or exited as the case was, much more rapidly than the single queue in conventional equipment.

That's my point, you have two doors on each end so assuming both are working, you can get people out in half the time once they arrive in the vestibule. I can't imagine dwell times becoming a problem in equipment which has four large doors per side no matter where they are located.

True, there are 2 doors on each end, however, people will line up in queue for the first available door - people do not and will not walk past an open door to another open door.

IMO, the end doors will be for those in the vestibule area, while the "center" doors will be for those in teh body of the car, both upstairs and downstairs, and most people, I would say about 75% or so of the car, will exit out of the "center doors" of the bi-levels, slightly better than the C2's, but not as good as real "center" doors, in the center.

Center door style cars can unload MUCH faster than C2's - and MORE than half the time of C2's - the doors are spread evenly, and if its broken down, there are only about 30 seats that exit out each door - which can be done very quickly, less standing in line, waiting for people to get up, get their junk, etc, and it also spreads out the area on the platform for people to go to and get away from the door.

I have notice that the center doors of the CIII, IV, V and Arrows can move more passenengers than both end doors combined in the same time period. I agree with Jt that people will go to the first door they come too. You see this even today. Think about it, people jam themselves in to the first car they come to at NYP complaining there isn't enough room while the rest of the train is open and empty. The stairs will add to the dwell times. Let's just hope NJT is smart enough to keep these of the NEC on weekends. The non commuter on the NEC seems incapable of dealing with the different doors on the Comets much less the added obstical of stairs and a second level.

I think you are all making too big a deal of this. Many other transit systems as well as Amtrak operate bi-level and two-level cars with no problems at all.

I for one can't wait to ride in one of these!

arrow wrote:I for one can't wait to ride in one of these!

Wait, stop the press! You're looking forward to riding in these things? You, arrow?

Hey Nick, didn't anyone give you the old college advice: "Try everything once"? Even new bi-level cars!

No, its not that. I'm excited about the bilevels. I was referring to the fact that if you knew arrow, you'd be shocked that he was looking forward to riding anything else but an Arrow.

Yes, it's true I am looking forward to riding them, but I'm sure they won't compare to the Arrows. I rarely ever ride in an Arrow anymore since I use the RVL everyday now.

You know me too well, Nick

Nick,

I am looking forward to riding in the Bi-level cars too, however I grew up riding and watching the good ol' Pullman Standard Comet I's.....And once I see sets of bi-level trains in service it means the imminent doom of the 35+ year old EL/NJDOT workhorses!


Steve

I came across a slightly larger version of the picture posted to start this topic off:
http://www.njtransit.com/images-uploads/bilev6126.JPG
It's still small, but it's better than the small version. You can read the number (7200) from this one.