MACTRAXX wrote: ↑Sat Oct 08, 2022 4:07 pmET and SX - SEPTA is going to have to make a CRUCIAL decision concerning the RRD MU car fleet soon -
Order Silverliner Six cars with the same capabilities as the earlier S5 cars or a high-level platform only MU
car fleet of a undetermined type - which will require a multi-million dollar long term high level platform
construction project for various stations throughout the SEPTA RRD System in addition?
Remember that SEPTA does NOT have MTA money or steady sources of subsidies available for funding...
MACTRAXX
They should move to all high-level, but until that is done, they should have cars capable as both, in case they end up with one or two station projects somewhere that are stuck because of whatever constraint someone comes up with to stop a high-level project.
ExCon90 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:14 amJust a SWAG from a non-engineer, but I think platform extenders would be cheapest by far (depending on how many stations vs. how many cars), even though the extenders would have to be interlocked with the signal system (as is done on the light-rail Oceanside-to-Escondido operation of North San Diego County) in California.
It wasn't an option in the question you were answering, but the cheapest is nothing. The freight trains just go by the platforms and have a couple inches of clearance.
The freight railroads like to have more clearance in case freight cars are out of their plate clearance for some reason, but they don't technically need it. Around here, Plate C freight regularly goes right by high level platforms without an issue. I believe they have wood platform edges that are "sacrificial" if a freight train is out of plate clearance, and relatively cheap/easy to repair.
We have either gauntlet tracks or platforms that are manually unbolted and swung down for high/wide loads, which AFAIK, have never actually come through in the 22 years or so that we've had the high level platforms.
eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 7:46 amSome of you have a love affair with high platforms but there's good reason they're mostly only used in closed passenger systems. METRA as a low level system makes do with an average of 15-30 second station stops unloading hundreds at a time, yet somehow that's too slow for the East Coast folks. You'll never have NYC or Hong Kong/Tokyo volumes on SEPTA...
The gallery cars have big, wide stairs in them. The entire NEC and connecting systems should have entirely high-level platforms. They really speed things up, are more accessible, and safer.
ExCon90 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 9:35 pmIf the gauntlet is inadvertently aligned for the platform when the approaching train is a freight, the lunar white should be displayed, but if it fails and is dark the freight engineer is going to think he has the main and will plan to roll by at track speed; when he reaches the gauntlet and sees that it's misaligned for the platform there isn't much he can do.
The problem with those is that the gauntlet is used by the passenger trains, and is rather tight/curvy, creating a lot of rocking and rolling of passenger equipment. If a stack train got routed through the gauntlet, it might have enough roll to briefly hit the platform, although in theory, if the train is actually within Plate C, F, or H clearance, it would get through OK. At restricted speed, it shouldn't be an issue.