Weekdays: about 50 vs. projection of 400
Game days: high of 4,200 vs. capacity of 10,000
Source: Slow start at new station
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Initial Ridership Figures for Yankee Stadium Metro-North Station
Posted in commuter rail
Tagged Metro-North Railroad, MNCR, MNR, mta, new york city, nyc, station, train
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Final day of service for the R-40 “Slant” subway cars
Rumor has it that today *may* be the final day of service for these awesome subway cars. In fact, the R-40 Slants have always been my favorite New York City subway cars, based on their amazing modern design, penned by Raymond Loewy in the 1960’s. Over the years their appearance has been marred (see the images in the middle of the page) by the addition of safety equipment and General Overhaul (GOH). Still, their unique railfan window (tall and narrow) allowed countless hundreds of thousands of young children to see out the front of the subway train (the railfan windows of the other subway cars were situated too high for them to see out of).
Goodbye old friends.
Posted in railfanning, subway
Tagged mta, new york city, New York City Transit, nyc, nyct, r-40, slant, slants, subway, train
1 Comment
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is the REAL DEAL
The New York Post published an article today that tells how much of the new movie “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” was filmed in real New York City subway tunnels, in real New York City subway stations, and on real New York City subway cars, and that’s what the director demanded. I’m glad he decided ot do the right thing!
And what makes the movie unique is that the production took great pains to make this New York story as authentically New York as possible, including traipsing through dusty subway tunnels, trying to film in crowded Grand Central and risking death from the ever-humming third rail.
…..
Much of the action takes place down in the dark, rat-infested tunnels beneath the city streets, and when director Tony Scott signed on for the project, he had one demand: that as much as possible, it would be shot in the actual subway system.
“When Tony and I were prepping the picture, what we always spoke about was that we needed authenticity,” says producer Todd Black. “We didn’t want people going, ‘This isn’t New York. That’s not the real subway. That’s a set. That’s Montreal or Vancouver.’ It needed to have that whole New York flavor, on the streets and in the subway.”
That meant heading underground for what Katherine Oliver, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, says is “probably one of the biggest productions shot in the subway.”
…
Most of the subway scenes were filmed on a stretch of abandoned track off Brooklyn’s Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, along which the HH shuttle used to run. (Service was discontinued in 1946.) Those particular tracks were unused, but the location gave the filmmaker’s the advantage of having active A, C and G trains passing along the neighboring tracks, giving scenes a realistic feel.
[Railfanwindow.com Blog Editor’s note: This would be the abandoned “side” platforms at Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, as well as the tunnel between that station and the former Court Street station, which is now the New York Transit Museum.]
…
“In the past, we’ve allowed filming on a platform or inside a train, but very little filming with actors down on the track,” says Joe Grodzinsky, superintendent of Rapid Transit Operations. “‘Pelham’ shot scenes with the actors on the track as trains moved past them. That was unique.”
…
To make sure no accidents happened, everyone involved with the production (some 400 people, including a high-up executive at Sony) was forced to enroll in an eight-hour NYC Transit safety course. The group took a classroom lesson at the NYC Transit Learning Center in Gravesend, then strapped on regulation boots and safety vests, grabbed flashlights and headed down onto the tracks from a Brooklyn R station.
Because there’s only so much space in an actual subway car — as anyone who’s been smashed up against a weird, sweaty guy during rush hour can attest — the production built a fake car on a stage at Kaufman Astoria Studios. It was made from scratch using pieces of decommissioned subway cars and powered by hydraulics, so it could zip along a 40-foot section of track.
In truth, much more of the film would have had to been shot on sound stages had NYC Transit not consented to allow the crew access to the subway. The agency has turned down requests before for many reasons, including when a plot is considered too sensitive because it involves destruction or terrorism.
“There was concern [about “Pelham”], but we were very careful to say in the film, this isn’t about terrorism,” Black says. “Particularly after 9/11, we didn’t want to make anything about this movie be about terrorism. And the original wasn’t about terrorism. It was about greed and money.”
Image Credits: The New York Post article
Source: SubChat
Posted in Celebrities, film, railfanning, safety, subway
Tagged mta, new york, new york city, New York City Transit, nyc, nyct, Pelham 1 2 3, station, subway, train
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Jerome Avenue Line Express Experiment
Starting Monday, there will be experimental peak direction express service along the Jerome Avenue El during an hour in the morning rush.
Some Utica Av-bound trains run express from Mosholu Pkwy to 125 St
AM Rush Hour, 7 AM to 8 AM, Mon to Fri, Jun 8 – 26
Please allow additional travel time at skipped stations.
Screen shot of relevant advisory on MTA.info
There’s additional information (pics!) posted on this subject at SubChat.
UPDATE – Two media outlets have published reports on this topic:
- amNewYork (note the error [at the time of this posting] in which stations will be served)
- Daily News
UPDATE #2 – MTA NYCT Press Release
Press ReleaseJune 4th, 2009IMMEDIATE
#86MTA New York City Transit Pilots Bronx Express Service Along the Jerome Ave. Line
It’s All About Time!
MTA New York City Transit is set to begin a pilot program aimed at shortening travel times along the 4 Line with the creation of a new Bronx Express 4 service between Woodlawn and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. The enhanced service will operate for a one-hour period during the weekday morning rush.
The pilot will begin June 8th and run through June 26th and be comprised of four trains within a one-hour period during the morning rush. The Bronx Express trains are scheduled to depart weekdays from Woodlawn at 7:15 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 7:45 a.m. and 8 a.m. After leaving Woodlawn, the Bronx Express 4 will make a station stop at Mosholu Parkway before switching to the middle track and heading to Burnside Avenue. From Burnside, the train will make its final Bronx station stop at 149th Street before making all regular express stops along the 4.
Customers boarding at Mosholu Parkway and Burnside Avenue will be alerted to the Bronx Express 4 by conductors’ announcements. Customers are being informed of the pilot through the distribution of take-ones printed in English and Spanish, as well as informational posters.
“The idea for this pilot is directly attributable to the Line General Managers program and it illustrates the types of innovations made possible when you have people running the railroad directly. David Knights, Group General Manager of IRT East and 4 Line General Manager Herb Lambert were looking to speed travel along a route that has been traditionally local in the Bronx,” said New York City Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. “Signal improvements and the continued mechanical reliability of the car fleet have allowed them to try new ways of improving service.”
“By skipping nine stations, the Bronx Express 4 is expected to shave about 3.5 minutes off the 20 to 21 minutes scheduled running time between Woodlawn and 149th Street-Grand Concourse during the height of the a.m. peak. This is a significant time saving when you are headed out to work in the morning,” said IRT East Group General Manager Knights. “This pilot will determine the feasibility of bringing Jerome Avenue service in line with the Concourse, White Plains Road and Pelham Bay corridors by offering an express service to morning commuters.”
This pilot is possible because of the recent upgrades made to the center track signaling system within the 2005-2009 Capital Program. The signal job called for the installation of intermediate signals along the stretch of elevated track between Woodlawn and 161st Street. As a result of the project, we now have a greater flexibility of use with the middle track and can send trains in passenger service as well as work trains up or down the middle track. In the event of a disruption in service or track maintenance, we can also reroute trains onto the middle track. Similar signaling systems, allowing express service, are in place on the Flushing and White Plains Road Lines among others that have three tracks.
The results of the pilot will be evaluated after the completion of the three-week period and a decision will be made on whether to make this change permanent.
Customers may call our Travel Information Center at 718-330-1234 from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, or log onto www.tripplanner.mta.info to use Trip Planner to plan their trips. Customers with web enabled phones or PDAs can use our Trip Planner On-the-Go! by going to www.tripplanner.mta.info/mobile; in addition to planning their trips, Blackberry users can download the free icon for one touch access to the service.
Update #3:
Service details graphic from MTA.info
Posted in railfanning, service alert, subway
Tagged mta, new york city, New York City Transit, nyc, nyct, subway, train
3 Comments
Bus Destination Sign Failure
And this bus looks like it was serviced/painted/cleaned-up rather recently, too!
::::shakes head::::
NYCT Bus Orion V 6257 (Bx20). Note that the destination sign is broken and two "paper 20's" can be seen behind the windshield.
Photo taken with my cell phone camera. Please excuse the poor quality.
Posted in safety, Uncategorized
Tagged Bronx, bus, mta, new york city, New York City Transit, nyct
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MTA NYC Transit – 2008 Ridership by Subway Station
MTA NYC Transit has released 2008 subway ridership statistics by subway station for all 422 station complexes.
Here are the top 10 busiest New York City subway stations for 2008:
| Station and subway lines | Annual Ridership |
1. Times Sq-42 St          / 42 St    |
60,880,668 |
2. Grand Central-42 St    |
44,600,738 |
3. 34 St-Herald Sq     |
39,040,943 |
4. 14 St-Union Sq  |
35,545,653 |
|
5. 34 St-Penn Station
|
28,343,889
|
|
6. 34 St-Penn Station
|
26,013,432
|
|
7. Lexington Av-53 St
/ 51 St |
20,858,197
|
|
8. 59 St-Columbus Circle
|
20,475,053
|
|
9. Lexington Av
/ 59 St |
20,053,574
|
|
10. Fulton St
   / Broadway-Nassau St |
19,813,040
|
Additional information: Subway and Bus Ridership Statistics 2008
Source: BusChat
Posted in bus, metrocard, railfanning, subway
Tagged mta, new york city, New York City Transit, nyc, nyct, ridership, subway
7 Comments
PATCO makes plans to reopen the Franklin Square station in Philadelphia
John Matheussen, president of PATCO, surveys the closed Franklin Square station. 7/26/07. (Michael S. Wirtz / Inquirer). The Franklin Square station on the PATCO line in Old City is a ghost station, closed since 1979. There is talk of reopening it as part of a possible expansion of PATCO.
It’s a railfan’s dream come true! The Franklin Square subway station may be reopening! All those years of passing through it – its silence deafening – left me wondering if it would ever see passengers again. Well it just may!
The Transport Politic just made me aware of a story published last week in the Philadelphia Inquirer that discussed just what is going on with PATCO and its downtown Philadelphia subway stations. Here’s what the Inquirer article has to say about the proposed plans:
The 73-year-old subway station beneath Franklin Square, last used in 1979, will be remodeled and reopened to PATCO commuter trains, Delaware River Port Authority chairman John Estey said yesterday.
…
Four other subterranean PATCO stations in Philadelphia and two in Camden also will get face-lifts this year, with new flooring, lights, security cameras, and stainless-steel columns, port authority officials said yesterday. The upgrades, which require board approval next month, will cost about $9.6 million and be paid for with the agency’s controversial “economic development” money.
…
The port authority’s consulting engineers are examining the station to determine how much work is needed to reopen it. Chief executive John Matheussen estimated it would cost at least $5 million to $10 million to install elevators and make the station meet modern standards.
And here’s what the Inquirer article has to say about the current physical state of the Franklin Square station:
Franklin Square Station has been preserved much as it was when it closed. PATCO riders can still glimpse its shadowy platforms and green-and-white tiled walls on their way to and from New Jersey.
But the gaudy orange foyer, with its 1970s-era fare lists (35 cents to Philadelphia stations, 75 cents to Lindenwold) and multilingual instructions on “How to Go PATCO,” have long been hidden from view.
The article goes on to give a brief history of the station. It’s well worth the read.
The Transport Politic also mentions a plan to reopen the Spring Garden station on SEPTA’s Broad Ridge Spur and also extend the route of the Spur trains into the Locust Street subway.
Here are some of my photos of the currently closed Franklin Square station:
Eastbound platform at Franklin Square station (abandoned) on PATCO as seen on 8/11/2003.
Westbound platform at Franklin Square station (abandoned) on PATCO as seen on 12/29/2008.
Posted in railfanning, subway
Tagged abandonded, BRS, BSS, patco, philadelphia, philly, septa, station, subway
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This blog’s been quiet since…I became a father!
On May 20, 2009, my first child, a son, was born! He’s going to be a big railfan!
Baby Boy Weinberg @ 2 days old
Posted in railfanning
2 Comments
New York By Rail – Amtrak Travel Trade Show at Penn Station TODAY
Today at New York Penn Station there is a travel trade show that focuses on New York State destinations reachable by Amtrak. I picked up a lot of good travel destination information. These are the people who put out the New York By Rail publication.
Here are some photos I took:
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged amtrak, nyc, nyp, penn station, train, travel
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The Great Broadway Bus Rerouting of 2009
Since NYC DOT is closing Broadway through Times Square in Manhattan and turning it into a pedestrian plaza, several bus routes are being rerouted off of Broadway and onto 7 Av. This happens May 25, 2009. And as a bonus, the M6 bus route will be totally eliminated!
Posted in bus, delays, service alert
Tagged Add new tag, broadway, bus, mta, new york, new york city, New York City Transit, nyc, nyct, times square
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