MTA puts trains on faster track
Lifting limits, pulling in more quickly
The next stop is … coming up sooner than it used to.
Subway trains are moving significantly faster on some stretches of track, and NYC Transit brass are telling train operators to step on the gas.
MTA officials announced Sunday that speed limits have been raised or eliminated at 26 locations across the subway system. That adds to 20 speed-limit areas changed earlier this winter.
One change is that eastbound trains on the C line between Kingston and Utica Aves. in Brooklyn are now allowed to hit 45 mph, up from the previous limit of 25.
Another is that southbound B and D trains are running faster out of Broadway-Lafayette in Manhattan. And the 25 mph speed limit for R and W trains heading north out of the Times Square-42nd St. stop was removed entirely.
The MTA has identified 240 cumbersome speed limits across the system, and reviewed 110 of them, Crews have also gone through and checked 350 signal grade timers, which trigger the emergency brakes on trains that are running too fast, but sometimes malfunction and force a stop when a train is traveling below the limit.
“[Raising speed limits] is not something we do in a cavalier fashion,” said NYC Transit President Andy Byford. “Before we make any change, we look to make sure that it has gone through a safety certification process.”
Riders say they’re noticing the swifter speeds, which are making a difference in their commutes.
Renika Williams, 26, lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and takes the C or the A every day. “I’m definitely a big fan [of the new speeds],” she said, adding that the trains did not feel unsafe.
“I felt like it was faster than normal because the C train is a local,” said a straphanger named Maaida, 25, who lives in lower Manhattan and takes the C line on weekends. “I think every train should run that speed.”
Agency leadership also has issued several bulletins to train operators in recent weeks directing them to enter stations at higher speeds — a move they call “assertive stops” — and avoid creeping along platforms before coming to a full stop.
The directive is a bit concerning to some train operators who worry that they’ll be disciplined if they overshoot the platform by a few feet.
“If they want us to be more assertive and come into the stations faster, then they have to be a lot more forgiving and not write us up when the inevitable miscalculation or error occurs,” said Eric Loegel, head of trains at Transport Workers Union Local 100. “They can’t have it both ways.”
But some train operators are glad they can go a bit faster — if the equipment allows it.
“I was always going 45,” said a train operator at the Utica Ave. station. “I mean, it really depends on who’s driving it, and also what kind of train you have.”