The delay data for Thursday, March 6th became available on the Late/Cancelled Train information page on the MTA's website, and the list told that the LIRR did not have one late AM peak train last Thursday morning. This is the railroad's first perfect rush hour since the morning of December 9, 2013, which was nearly three months ago.
We shouldn't really be celebrating perfect rush hours, since ideally they should be daily or twice daily occurrences during the workweek. But nonetheless, hopefully this is a good indication that as the weather conditions begin to improve, so will the reliability of trains, which haven't been too good lately. I noticed very few delays during some of the rush hours earlier in the week (though the nasty disruption on the Port Jefferson Branch earlier in the week messed up that), so as the temperatures rise, so should OTP.
The evening rush hour on March 6th was tainted when Mainline service took a hit due to a bridge strike in Westbury, which should sound familiar, as something very similar to that caused delays on the Mainline just last night when a truck struck the Post Avenue underpass in Westbury towards the beginning of the evening rush hour.
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| The Post Avenue underpass in Westbury, with some of the many low clearance signs visible. The one mounted on the traffic light pole, and many others, is bordered by solar-powered white flashing LEDs to attract motorists attention. (Photo credit: Google Street View) |
That bridge in Westbury has become a pretty big issue lately for some reason. They've added tons of signage and flashing lights to the roads leading up to the bridge yet people still don't seem to get it. "Darwinism" I guess.
ReplyDeleteAnother railroad bridge that gets hit with regularity is the one that spans the Montauk Highway (Main Street) County Route 80 underpass here in Center Moriches, despite numerous large yellow low-clearance warning signs, detour signs, and amber flashing lights.
ReplyDeleteThere's a guy in Durham, NC, who has a webcam in his office pointed at an overpass that is constantly getting struck by overheight trucks. Some of the better ones are on his YT channel (yovo68 is his nic). The signs say 11'8" and they ain't kidding. Ever see the roof of a rent-a-truck peel off like the top of a can of sardines...?
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is, the signage starts at the prior intersection, there are hanging chains, flashing lights that are set off by an overheight detector, and a damn great striped I-beam that NS put up over the street so they won't knock the bridge itself out of alignment, and they still manage to clobber it on the average of once a month.
They're either not paying attention or suffering from a lack of sleep. I wonder if we could fit a laser sensor or a bar with a contact sensor that triggers a set of horns and head/tail lights recovered from 100 LIRR M3 or MNCR M2/4/6 to alert the driver to stop.
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious (their full website is 11foot8.com). I live east of where most of Long Island's parkways end, so I can't say what the frequency of incidents of trucks wandering on the parkway have been lately, but I know there was a ton a few years ago, which prompted them to put huge big signs on parkway entrances and even bigger signs on the ramps where expressways lead onto parkways.
ReplyDeleteBut you can put a ton of signs and lights and buzzers and warnings on a bridge and people will still run into it. The only thing you can really do is build stronger bridges that don't take anything from these trucks.
Or, in NC's case, just install a strong metal bar next to the bridge....
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