Transit Strike Modified Regional Rail Schedules

Ok, now that station closures have been put in a different forum, I'm going to vent again about how steamed I am that city stations got shafted with the strike contingency schedule modifications.

I picked up schedules for all the trains today and SEPTA really did not go out of their way to accomodate city stations or increase service. All the city stations picked up a few trains here and there during rush hour. Most of course are served mid-day, but during the AM/PM peak, I'm really not impressed.

I'm wondering why mid-day service wasn't bumped up at all. I mean why not even short runs, like a Wayne Junction-30th Street shuttle, of course so few stations remain, but at least that trunk has the most city stations left. Even stations like Allegheny got short changed, and I would expect that to be heavy in the event of a strike knowing how heavy Route 60 is.

Is the labor and equipment just that bad that they couldn't do it? Or do they just not want to "spend the extra money"? I mean duh, you would think maybe the Cynwyd line could even go hourly during a strike. I'm sure people would walk to it if that's all they had, and seeing how the busy Route 65 goes right by it, the R6 might be a good alternative to some. Overall, very little was added to Regional service. Thumbs down to SEPTA.

jfrey40535 wrote:I'm wondering why mid-day service wasn't bumped up at all. I mean why not even short runs, like a Wayne Junction-30th Street shuttle, of course so few stations remain, but at least that trunk has the most city stations left. Even stations like Allegheny got short changed, and I would expect that to be heavy in the event of a strike knowing how heavy Route 60 is.

Perhaps it's based on experience in previous strikes. A lot of alternative transportation arrangements have been made besides RRD (e.g. carpools, employer-chartered buses).

Well thanks for nothing SEPTA.

Another reason for not running extra trains is the preexisting scheduling, especially between 30th street and Wayne Junction. There would have to be a sufficient window to operate those extra shuttles. A train stops at Wayne Junction on average about every 10-15 minutes during midday hours without the strike. As far as extra Cynwyd service, I can agree with that reasoning. I think the problem, once again, is scheduling. Amtrak has to like it because you have to go through their territory to go from 30th street to the Cynwyd branch. They normally shut the power off on the branch between the rush hours along the Cynwyd branch. One other problem would be a lack of equipment. Most of the yards, such as Roberts Ave/Wayne Electric Car Shop and Powelton, are using most of the standing equipment they have to prepare for rush hour, so somehow all of the proposed off peak passenger extras would have to make it back to those yards. Those trains would also require extra conductors and engineers to operate them, which at times SEPTA is short-handed.

whovian wrote:They normally shut the power off on the branch between the rush hours along the Cynwyd branch.

That overhead is energized at all times; they don't shut the power off on the branch. Besides, there is one midday round trip to/from Cynwyd as well as the rush-hour trips.

I stand corrected. Maybe they stopped shutting off the power on the branch. I haven't been out there in a year and a half. Overbrook tower used to insist on trains being clear of the branch by 9am.

You gotta wonder what SEPTA thinks they're doing. If they want to stand a chance of coming out of this strike somewhat unscathed and with their contract proposal being used they're going to need to minimize the effect the strike has on their riders. Obviously scabs are out, getting neophytes to operate 40,000lb buses or, worse, 1000 passenger subway trains is out of the question. However, the one way that they can minimize the effect is to provide additional regional rail service for passengers effected by the strike. As others have noted this of course means running more regional rail service to those people who are worst off for this strike. If these people are not otherwise accomodated they're going to begin clamoring for the strike to be brought to an end. I would imagine in arbitration SEPTA's proposed changes to the healt plan, discipline proceedures and other sticking points would go by the wayside and the union's proposed contract will dominate. If SEPTA isn't going to work to get their contract to win out in this strike, why didn't they just cave in at the bargaining table? Why bother wasting everyone's time with a strike when we'll just end up with the union's contract anyway?

SEPTA needs to fight the strike to win or give in. They cannot afford the political black eye this gives them while seeking a dedicated funding source from the state legislature. This garbage with them pushing the TWU out to strike while providing nothing for the people inconvenienced needs to stop.

How many extra cars does SEPTA have they could pull out?

At rush hour, none.

Increased off peak service certainly would be warranted under these circumstances. Off peak ridership can be quite high on SEPTA's bus system, especially some routes which roughly parallel regional rail routes. The R2 could easily sub in for the Rt22 and 55, while the R6 and R8 could, with a hike, work as replacements for the WTC routes and the R5 could replace the Rt10. It's just wrong that SEPTA isn't running more on the R6 Cynwyd, as this would be a perfect time to show how utterly ridiculous the parallel Rt44 bus is. But I guess they want that route dead so they can LRV it, regardless of it's utility in getting diesels into 30th St Station. Some trains specifically from like Glenside to 49th or Overbrook would make sense, as they'd avoid squandering trains where people don't ride the bus while giving more transit dependent areas trains which they desperately need.

I still don't understand why the P/P's aren't pressed into all day service. Certainly would make sense running Paoli and Trenton Lines. They are so inflexible. I rode a midday R6 Norristown, 2 car consist and actually fairly light considering the circumstances. I forgot about the mid-day service change, and SEPTA forgot to post it at Wissahickon, so me and 10 others are boiling as the train pulls up 30 minutes past the original scheduled time. Then the conductor gives me a funny look when I ask why the train was late. Funny how if you pick up a R6 timetable at Market East, there is no mention of the change, and if you're out on the system its not posted anywhere.

One word: Rude.

Push-pull service during the off peak hours would be nice. I think the problem lie in fitting them into the schedule. If you run them local on the Reading side you are talking about running one slow train; if you run them express, they'll be following a slow local. Amtrak is certainly not going to let SEPTA run extra passenger express push-pull trains on inside track in the middle of the day on the corridor (especially with there penchant for breaking down), and the Harrisburg line has #2 track out of service do to the ongoing track work between Paoli and Bryn Mawr. The Push-Pulls really don't do SEPTA much good outside of rush hour with the current scheduling constraints. Let us not forget that SEPTA's push-pulls frequently break down due to poor maintenance, and how embarrasing would that be if it happened between Fern Rock and Glenside. I can agree with the argument about the lack of revised schedule posting, but, then again at SEPTA one hand does not know what the other is doing. There are far too many mid-level managers and supervisors sending mixed signals. Dispatcher said this, Station Master said that, Transportation Manager ordered you to do this, its all a joke. Remember the transit debacle during Live 8, where they were systematically changing the route designations of ONTIME trains to compensate for the LATE trains going through town, caused tons of confusion.

Considering how little SEPTA gets to maintain and replace its fleet, I'm surprised they have extra equipment to even add a couple trains. Also, because of the number of branches that join up to a 3 or 4 track main line, it's really difficult to add another train to the schedule without delaying other trains.

so there I stood this morning, at 6:30 on the platform at 49th and Chester with about a hundred of my fellow citizens. SEPTA reps were there selling tickets to make sure that we had them (since no tickets are cut onboard) and the 6:47 train was late. Understandible - there's a strike on. Finally, we spot train #328 in the distance. We're all getting happy and ready to be on our way. Some of us (like me) have connecting trains to catch. 328 blows it's horn and blasts right on thru the station. From my vantage point, I could see open seats on the train, and nobody standing in the isles.

"F&@#$#@!!!" was yelled, though I doubt the engineer heard or cared.

"There's another one in about ten minutes, folks" calls one of the people selling tickets.

it was observed that the engineer might not want to stop for a platform full of minorities.

"Fire them all," says I, "the managers, the union, every last one, and let's reinvent this worthless system." I missed my train and was an hour late for work. Thanks for nothing SEPTA. You have no redeeming value.

Same thing happened to my wife this morning at Bridesburg. Twice. Hour late for work. Although this stuff should go in the strike rant forum.

I'll say it again, if SEPTA wasn't in such a hurry to get rid of working equipment we just might be able to add more service. The Blues obviously weren't up to snuff with today's standards, but would have made a nice mothball fleet for times like this. The only other problem would have been the lack of crews to run them since labor is so tight on the RR Division. They have like 3 drivers for every bus in CTD, and half that for the RR.

Also, because of the number of branches that join up to a 3 or 4 track main line, it's really difficult to add another train to the schedule without delaying other trains.

The Reading didn't seem to have problems years ago when freight, commuter and LD passenger trains all left from Reading Terminal. Imagine poor SEPTA trying to coordinate their trains with freight on the Reading main between Temple and Wayne.

I also wonder if this is a product of the so called superior automatic computerized signalling, but it seems like the more trains that are on the line, the faster the system grinds to a halt. I noticed this on the R7 the other day. Speed up to 70, slow to 20. Repeat 4 or 5 times, with nothing in front of us. It also doesen't help that Amtrak removed tracks around N. Philadelphia and did I don't know what to the layout over the Schyulkill River bridge.