Silverliner Vs Out of Service - Schedule/Service Discussion

dcipjr wrote:Hoo boy. Just a Saturday schedule for Warminster: all locals, hourly service. This isn't going to be much fun.

This brings back bad memories of the World Series Parade. Trains are going to fill at Warminster and skip the rest.

Schedules are posted.

Manayunk/Norristown line looks to be decent with the Miquon-starting trains and the PM express to East Falls.
West Trenton has 618am-818am half hourly service, but there is no express after Bethayres. Only two trains are running Neshaminy Falls as their starting points.
Lansdale/Doylestown passengers are getting hosed. No better way to put that.

Fox Chase and Warminster have no adjustments to the Saturday schedule. Talk about a big F-U. Really trying to get those passengers to take other methods, like the 18/26 (Fox Chase) and 22/55 (Warminster)

scotty269 wrote:Schedules are posted.

Manayunk/Norristown line looks to be decent with the Miquon-starting trains and the PM express to East Falls.
West Trenton has 618am-818am half hourly service, but there is no express after Bethayres. Only two trains are running Neshaminy Falls as their starting points.
Lansdale/Doylestown passengers are getting hosed. No better way to put that.

Fox Chase and Warminster have no adjustments to the Saturday schedule. Talk about a big F-U. Really trying to get those passengers to take other methods, like the 18/26 (Fox Chase) and 22/55 (Warminster)

This North Wales passenger could not agree more that Lansdale-Doylestown riders seem to be getting the short end of the stick. Some of us need to be in Center City before 8:30! Why aren't the morning short trips starting from Lansdale?

The knock-on effect of this...

Late friday service is suspended through the Summer... :-/

I either take the Warminster Line from Willow Grove or the West Trenton line from Bethayres. Either way, with no expresses, it's going to be a long ride this summer. Do they really expect that these trains will have enough space to pick up additional passengers at Jenkintown and further inbound?

Limited-Clear wrote:Aside from the obvious disruptions this will cause lets actually give good marks where they are due, the cracks could not have been predicted 5yrs ago, even the best quality machinery fails, they (septa) identified a problem, they investigated it, then they decided the safest thing to do was pull the fleet, imagine how this thread would look if one of those cars failed and a tragic accident occurred at 70mph or even 100mph on Amtrak, well done Septa for actually erring on the safe side, now back to your expert armchair railroaders and armchair mechanics......

No doubt the problems at WMATA, while a different beast, were very present in the minds of management when they made this decision.

Does anybody know if the Comet's parked at Overbrook are mechanically up to operating in the near future for emergency service?

But as other's have said, SEPTA better be thinking hard outside of the box to get itself some more cars since I am sure they realize this is not going to be a quick fix. Could they lease locomotives, train engineers to run them, in the short term? Who has spare rolling stock and locomotives for Push-pull nearby anyway?

Brutal, Sputnik-era design. Just looking at that bast*rd you can almost feel it crumbling, under the terrible weight...

Got on the Paoli/Thorndale train at St Davids today

Already was running 15 min late - was the local to Jefferson from Thorndale. Why they're running locals from Thorndale makes no sense btw.

Anyways it was actually 6 cars which is a bit better than the 4 car push pull. Except any local passengers got kicked off at Bryn Mawr, and the train wasn't even standing room only yet. And there's no word when a local will be running from Bryn Mawr to Overbrook. Considering the station's weren't packed, this is going to be a problem once everybody returns from vacation.

SEPTA needs to only run locals starting at Paoli or Malvern, or add at least 1 Bryn Mawr local. If that can't happen, enhance and advertise local buses down Lancaster Ave.

To make matters worse, the Paoli/Thorndale is paired with West Trenton for every other train. So far those trains are 40 and 20 min late going WB.

8:40am today:

I was a bit surprised that my 2-car NHSL train wasn't very full this morning given the regional rail issues. Didn't seem to be any riders that were taking it as the alternate for R-R. I did notice as I walked through Suburban that most Regional Rail trains were running late, some nearly an hour. I am left to assume that this morning's commute is not the worst of it given the holiday yesterday and would think that many people are off today and perhaps the whole week. Next week should be worse for commuters.

scotty269 wrote:Schedules are posted.

Manayunk/Norristown line looks to be decent with the Miquon-starting trains and the PM express to East Falls.

I just noticed a bit of a schedule oddity with two of the AM runs into Center City.

#207 appears to head out on the trunk line through to Allegheny before the following short-run #6297 from Miquon, but #6297 is scheduled to arrive a few minutes *BEFORE* #207. I'm not sure if I understand that sort of logic at all...

Another odd printed schedule quirk--this time on the Paoli/Thorndale timetable...

#!516 is scheduled out of Thorndale, but #9518 is scheduled out of Paoli at 730am...but the time points for the subsequent station stops match (with the weird instance that #9518 supposedly goes back in time between Paoli and Daylesford). Yeah, totally slapdash...

ChemiosMurphy wrote:How much extra capacity does the BSL have?

If it is a substantial amount, why doesn't Septa use Fern Rock as the terminus on the Reading side? It takes a half an hour to go from FRTC to 30th, so Septa could free up a substantial amount of seats by turning trains even quicker.

Or run norristown inbound trains to CC to Norristown instead and put bodies on the NHSL/MFL. Keep looping a set or two of trains on the Norristown line to get bodies onto NHSL and skip wasted time from the trunk to 30th. Would you rather spend more time in transit or wait an hour for a train that skips you?

Suspend CHE and terminate trains PRR trains at 30th / SS and flip them there. Why waste time in the tunnel to Temple when MFL/BSL exists?

Flip Trenton trains at Bridesburg to use Shore interlocking and run a bus convoy down Bridge Street to FTC with police escort to speed it up. This saves a half hour of silverliner transit time to Temple.

Bustitute Fox Chase line to FRTC to free up vehicles

This way they can get extra cars onto Thorndale line where there aren't realistic ways for people to take alternatives. Think of the chumps at Wynnewood or Narberth who are going to get bypassed.

This whole plan of bypassing stations isn't feasible since it's going to realistically be October until the situation is fixed. Septa needs to think outside the box and think of ways to turn trains faster. 50% reduction in seats. This is unprecedented.

CM (and Everyone:)

I will add to your RRD service cutback ideas in this manner:

1-Fern Rock could again be a interim terminal as it was during the 1992-93 Railworks program for Lansdale-Doylestown, Warminster and West Trenton trains.
This would not be practical during the coming Democratic Convention (July 25-28) with the BSL being the prime route to the Wells Fargo Center.

2-A Manayunk-Norristown shuttle to connect with the NHSL could work - but will riders from Manayunk as a example want to backtrack?

3-Suspend either CHE or CHW with more frequent service if possible on the other operating route.

4-Trenton Line trains carry a lot of passengers between CCP and the NJT connection at Trenton. A forced transfer to an even busier MFSE could become
a huge hassle-especially for those with luggage. Another thought could be turning some trains at North Philadelphia connecting with the BSL perhaps.
Emphasizing PATCO to the River Line in Camden could also become another more used alternative to the Trenton Line for TRE connections...

5-Bustituting Fox Chase trains could be a good idea - if SEPTA has enough buses to handle the displaced riders. Service could be offered to Fern Rock
to connect to the BSL or other through RRD trains along with enhanced service on the 18, 28, 70 bus routes.

6-The Thorndale-Paoli route could operate in two sections: Thorndale-Bryn Mawr and Bryn Mawr short local east making BM a main transfer point.

7-I will add that with the Crum Creek Bridge construction cutting service on the Elwyn-Media Line should be considered over and above current
schedules perhaps making this route peak hour weekday only from Swarthmore east. More 100 and 101 service could help here.

The withdrawal of the 120 Silverliner Five cars has plunged SEPTA into a RRD car supply crisis - the only saving grace is that this is July - I remember
ridership being about 10% less then normal until after Labor Day but with coming events such as the Democratic Convention just weeks away we all
agree that this needs to be addressed ASAP before this results in service shutdowns or more. The Engineer shortage only compounds problems...

MACTRAXX

MACTRAXX wrote:
4-Trenton Line trains carry a lot of passengers between CCP and the NJT connection at Trenton. A forced transfer to an even busier MFSE could become
a huge hassle-especially for those with luggage. Another thought could be turning some trains at North Philadelphia connecting with the BSL perhaps.
Emphasizing PATCO to the River Line in Camden could also become another more used alternative to the Trenton Line for TRE connections...

Very good points, didn't really think the Trenton one through, especially since Bridesburg isn't ADA equipped. RiverLine/Patco is a great alternative.