I actually worked the subway on Thursday, and saw firsthand what the
problems of delayed trains is all about. In a nutshell--One-car trains!
See, between 800am and 1030am, it takes half a minute to offload passengers
at Montgomery and Embarcadero Stations, even with using the four doors on
the Bredas vs. two doors on Boeings. It takes a 3- or 4-car train just as
long to unload, making it more efficient. Plus, less crowded.
Now, as for coupling: At West Portal, coupling of trains is now
occasionally practiced outside the station, which works fine if they are K
or M trains of compatible equipment, but doesn't work for L trains. For
some reason, they don't want two-car L trains to couple to, say, a single K
or M, or a single L to a one or two-car K/M train. They're afraid it'll
mess up the ATCS, I guess.
At Duboce and Church, I know of no reason why a J Breda can't couple to a
2-car N Breda train and have the whole train go out the Ferry Portal, where
the J car will uncouple at Folsom Street Station, use the Harrison Street
crossover, and return to the subway. Unless, as alluded to by someone
else, use of 3-car Breda trains knocks the power out.
If TPTB (the powers that be) can't come up with a solution, I'm afraid that
the Muni Metro Subway's present cancer will become permanent.
BTW, in the morning rush, while coming into Church Street Station inbound
with a one-car Breda, the train went into emergency braking in auto mode at
6mph. The passengers, two of whom were thrown to the floor but unhurt,
were not amused (despite my explanation that the train was in automatic
operation). ARRGH!
Peter Ehrlich
<norcalrr@sprynet.com>