M7 Issues

Hey, new member here. I ride Metro-North's Hudson and Harlem Lines daily, and have an interest in their equipment. This is obviously the right place to be to learn more.

In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that the M7's have been having door issues. After boarding is completed, the doors begin to close, but don't seal all the way. So they've been reopening the doors, closing them again. And, in many cases, STILL don't seal, until they keep on repeating the process over and over.

Also, all of a sudden, none of the M7's have automated announcements. Now, don't get me wrong, they're VERY annoying. Three times? Come on, do we not understand English?

And lastly, on a few of the different cars I've been on, the PA speakers are already blown!

Are these just normal bugs expected for new trains, or is this a sign of things to come?

Thanks!

the reopening of doors just makes things worse. a door cycle is about 20 seconds, but crews are use to M1/.3 and are impatient.
once you open them you need to wait again for 20 seconds till computer tells you doors are locked.
the announcements are Fed up due to a computer error that snuck into fleet and kept multiplying every time cars were coupled.
the Screen in cab gives you LIRR destinations and no MNCR stations. so we are told to do our own announcements till things are fixed.

Hi Richard Welcome Aboard!

I ride the LIRR alot and we have the same door problems on the M-7's. No station anouncement problems yet though... 3 times per station like you said. Thats kinda funny that the MN cars will only show LIRR station names. When did this computer glitch happen? When I rode an MN M-7 in Oct. the anouncement system worked fine.

Enjoy the forums Richard!

-Barry

<i>the reopening of doors just makes things worse. a door cycle is about 20 seconds, but crews are use to M1/.3 and are impatient.
once you open them you need to wait again for 20 seconds till computer tells you doors are locked. </i>

This reminds me of a problem I recall hearing about with the C-3 cars on the LIRR. The old penumatic doors needed a lot of open/close button pushes to make sure things worked. Apparently, old habits die hard, and crews would hit a button a few times, causing the computer to think "Hey! I've got a flaky button panel here!", and naturally ignore it. Whoops. Door issues on the DD cars seem to have gone away over the years...

<i>the announcements are Fed up due to a computer error that snuck into fleet and kept multiplying every time cars were coupled. </i>

Whoa - you mean the cars share notes and swap software when they couple? Cool! What else besides the announcement system does this?

I thought that'd be a great way to spread SW updates around the fleet, but, I guess it can spread bugs, too...

<i>the Screen in cab gives you LIRR destinations and no MNCR stations. so we are told to do our own announcements till </i>

Hey neat - next time there's a MN car in Hillside, could someone *please* bump it into an LIRR car, so we can have MN station announcements and have OUR automated announcements turned off?

In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that the M7's have been having door issues. After boarding is completed, the doors begin to close, but don't seal all the way. So they've been reopening the doors, closing them again. And, in many cases, STILL don't seal, until they keep on repeating the process over and over

One of two things is happening. Either Dutch has it right, that crews are impatient and not accustomed with the new cars. Or the crew is reopening the doors to let someone else in or out.

Proper M-7 door close is for the door to close most of the way, with the sonalert screeching away. When the door gets to that point where it is almost closed, it stops for 4 or 5 seconds. The sonalert should stop screeching at that point, but the red "door open" light associated with that door is still on. After that delay (I have no idea why the delay is built in...could only guess), the door finishes closing, and the locking bolt drops into place. If all the microswitches are satisfied that the door is closed and locked, the red "door open" light will extinguish at that time.

Tom

I wonder about the "blown" speakers. Maybe it's not the speaker?

One problem that used to happen on the LIRR C3s (which had this annoying announcement system first) was the digital chip would get zapped and the announcement would come out as noisy static. The only way you could identify it was that you could make out the "DINGK DONGK" sound. The Conductor's announcements would be OK (although not very loud).

It would be cool to get on a MN train and see the sign say "RONKONKOMA"

Metro-North does plan to fix this issue with the automated announcements right? It seems like a waste of money to not use this feature on the new trains. I know this feature is part of the cost of the new equipment.

I heard the conductor explain that the designers didn't factor in that the trains would be coupled and uncoupled and as a result the onboard computers loose thier memory or something of that nature. My thought to the designers was; ".......if you didn't expect the cars to be coupled and uncoupled, then why did you make every two car set with cabs at each end?"

Either way, I can't wait for the issue to be resolved. The normal PA speaker is too low compared to the automated announcements. Then again, the warning "bell" before the PA announcement compensates for the "attentnion getter" I guess.

The thing is, once they fix all the problems, the cars will still be ugly, small (smalll ,SMALL, SMALL!!!!!) , noisy( computer generated ) and uncomfortable.

A real question: Are the windows lower on the m7s ? Not smaller, I mean are the tops of the windows lower then on the MUs

Tthe M7a's have much bigger windows than any M series cars

I was at 125th Street this afternoon doing video, and I saw 9 sets of M-7 trains in consists ranging from 4 to 8 cars. One thing I did notice about them was an awful lot of wheels with flat spots.

Otherwise, they look pretty neat. Too bad most new rail equipment nowadays seems to be full of bugs. On the subject of doors alone, maybe it is time to just go back to doors with simple electric motors....ala Silverliner IV's and Arrow III's.....

Any idea how much the silly coat hooks cost us. They are badly positioned
and I have yet to see anyone use them.

The noise the doors make remind me of going to the supermarket as a kid.(late 70s/early 80s). The power doors at Grand Union made the same noise.

Kurt wrote:The noise the doors make remind me of going to the supermarket as a kid.(late 70s/early 80s). The power doors at Grand Union made the same noise.

The doors work like a Genie garage door opener with a motor and screw drive. A computer on each door senses the amperage on the motor as the door closes. If there is an obstruction, the door will pull back then try to re-close three times. After the third try, it will stay open. Crew members can quickly determine which door is open by their diagnostic display. Another nice feature is a button for the conductor to sound the door closing warning, without the need to activate the doors.

Was there any thought to putting the door mid car ?
It always seemed like a good idea to me

dc700 wrote:Any idea how much the silly coat hooks cost us. They are badly positioned
and I have yet to see anyone use them.

I think they are stupid, but I have seen people use them. If you look at old pictures, many heavyweight cars had actual hooks almost in the same place (although they were higher and there was more room for coats to hang without being in the way). After having done without them for 25 odd years we don't think about using them.

I bet the coat hooks cost next to nothing when compared to the robot PA system.