Too spooked to go track speed (Village Voice article)

I saw this off of Reddit: https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/03/13 ... ains-down/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“It’s not that complicated,” a source with direct knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified told the Village Voice. “The trains are slower because they slowed the trains down.”

In short, MTA is forcing operators to go slower than track speed, sometimes nearly 50% slower, for no other reason than "for safety sake! Remember the Williamsburg Bridge crash!!!" and is just now noticing that they shot themselves in the foot.

Some timers are completely warranted, but some are completely stupid. I don't think train operators would mind timers if they only had the ones that actually serve a purpose and were actually properly calibrated. If the sign for the timer says GT 15 for example - that timer should clear at 15mph, but that doesn't always mean that it will. Some won't clear until well under that speed, which also contributes to train operators being cautious, in addition to being cautious because speedometers have wiggle room in accuracy. Nobody wants to hit a signal...it delays service and is held against you. If you're a probie, it could mean you're out on the street with no job.

Robert Rey and his delightful incident at Union Square in 1991 is also a reason for timers - the blame definitely can't be placed squarely on that Williamsburg Bridge incident.

It seems to me that the fewer timers there are in the system, the easier it will be to maintain the timers so that they behave the way motor(wo)men are trained to expect them to act.