InsideTransit

Earlier this week a runaway train crashed through the bumpers and into a Holiday Inn Hotel in Helsinki, Finland. Helsingin Sanomat has the details on the crash which happened on Monday, January 4. Reports are that no one was seriously hurt in the crash although some Ernst & Young workers who were in inside the hotel were able to get away just before the crash.

The four coaches had escaped from an empty Intercity train that was scheduled to leave for the eastern city of Kajaani at 8.12 a.m. The brakes on the coaches should have automatically engaged.

From the Sanomat news brief, “The scope of the damage to the hotel building is not known yet, but material damage is estimated to amount to millions of euros. On impact, the hotel’s sprinkler system went off and water also flowed into the pedestrian tunnel underneath the railway tracks. A shop in the tunnel was forced to close. The four coaches had escaped from an empty Intercity train that was scheduled to leave for the eastern city of Kajaani at 8.12 a.m.”

For 9 years the Improv Everywhere group has completed a train ride they call “No Pants!” Basically what they do is have a bunch of people ride the subway with no pants on. It’s a hoot! And no pervs, the people aren’t naked down there – they just ride in their underwear. You can read the history of the No Pants! movement here. Last year about 20 cities participated including Atlanta, Amsterdam, Sydney and Seoul.

It’s not just a few people running the mission but a load of people. The 2010 edition will take place on January 10th. More details on the Facebook signup page. So far they show about 5,000 registered attendees but I doubt that many will actually show up. The requirements for participation are:

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

Here’s a video from last year’s No Pants! event.
Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone moans and complains about how late the subways are here in NYC. But are the subway lines really that late? Subchat has posted the latest stats for on-time performance in the New York City subway system by line.

Here’s the breakdown:

1 Line: 91.7%
2 Line: 81.9%
3 Line: 85.2%
4 Line: 82.5%
5 Line: 89.2%
6 Line: 92.0%
7 Line: 96.3%

A Line: 84.5%
B Line: 91.8%
C Line: 94.6%
D Line: 89.2%
E Line: 87.0%
F Line: 76.2%
G Line: 95.6%
J/Z Line: 98.6%
L Line: 97.0%
M Line: 99.1%
N Line 91.0%
Q Line: 95.8%
R Line: 92.4%
V Line: 91.7%
W Line: 96.6%

Grand Central Shuttle: 99.6%
Franklin Shuttle: 99.8%
Rockaway Shuttle: 98.6%

It looks like the longer the line, the more often the train is late. Also, lines that share the track with other lines also seem to have poor on-time performance. Sorry to those F train riders! For reference, a train is considered late if it arrives or departs more than 5 minutes 59 seconds past the scheduled time.

Passengers on a NJ Transit bus were lucky to exit the bus before a New Jersey Transit train struck the bus and carried it down the tracks. A driver saw the bus stuck on the tracks and rushed to the bus to let the driver and passengers know to get off the bus immediately. The weather was near full whiteout conditions.

NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel says an engineer had minor injuries. The 26 bus passengers evacuated before the Atlantic City line train hit it.

Here’s a video from 6 Action News in Philly:
Read the rest of this entry »

“We were treated like animals”, said one passenger stuck on a Eurostar train. Passengers stranded for hours – some calling it a “death trap”. The BBC video shows passengers who made it out of the tunnels who have some choice words for the Eurostar management.

The Eurostar trains broke down as they left the cold air in northern France and entered the warmer tunnel en route to London.

John Keefe from Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, said the situation was “absolutely extraordinary and unprecedented”.

“There’s never actually been an evacuation of a Eurostar train in the 15 years that the tunnel has been opened and last night we evacuated two whole trains to get people off.”

The BBC notes that five trains were stuck in the tunnel. Apparently it was freezing in the carriages and very little water or food was provided to the passengers. They continue, “Director of communications Mary Walsh said the company was “extremely sorry” for the delays and refunds would be available for all those affected.”

I’ve been on the Eurostar once in 2006 and overall enjoyed the trip.

It’s a hard world out there for Mickey Mouse and crew. First there was a horrible crash of the Disney monorail that killed the operator of the monorail. A week later there was a bus crash that injured 12 passengers. Today we’ve learned that 300 Disney monorail passengers were stuck for about three hours in the middle of the night last night. Apparently the cause of the delay was due to a power outage.

Bo Jones of the Reedy Creek Fire Department says firefighters used ladders to assist some visitors aboard one train “more out of customer service than as an emergency situation.” Other passengers disembarked later when the trains were towed to nearby stations.

I am thinking on my next trip to Disney World, I might just walk.

This story was sent in by Mark, our German transit reporter. Apparently the passengers on the bus seen below didn’t want to wait in the ATM line to get their cash and make their deposits. Instead the bus driver decided to go above and beyond and just drive the bus directly into the bank. That’s what I call “door to door service”!

More photos are available on Der Tagesspiegel.

The woman in the video below is VERY lucky to be alive this morning. The woman stumbles and falls onto the tracks at a subway station in Boston.  She fell at the worst possible point – the entry point for trains into the station. Other passengers waved for the oncoming train to stop. Luckily the train operator was able to stop the train just a second before it would run over the passenger. The train operator and other fast-reacting passengers saved this woman’s life.

Please note that this video is very dramatic and could be considered frightening.
Read the rest of this entry »

Last year Google got cozy with the MTA with the launch of transit directions inside of Google Maps. Last week the Google Maps team has announced the launch of a new layer on Google Maps that displays all of the NYC subway routes directly on the map.

There have been many mashups that created something similar in the past but now the subway lines are displayed directly on the map. So far I haven’t been able to find any errors in the lines and/or stations. I am sure my fellow railfans will find any errors this weekend.

The new subway map lines also work on the mobile version of Google Maps. Google notes that they provide transit directions for 436 transit agencies around the world.

While the subway lines on the map are nice, nothing beats the Swiss Rail mashup that shows the trains in real-time and they actually move on the map!

Ewan also reports that the subway layer works in London as well. He calls it a mess and notes how wonderful the Harry Beck London Tube map still is today.

Here’s one out of Atlanta – where Riding MARTA Means You’re Smarta…Typically when you want to exit a bus you hit the strip or pull the cord to signal for a stop. When the bus comes to a complete stop, the bus operator opens the doors and you exit. It’s pretty common bus transit practice across the world.

Atlanta MARTA bus passenger Christopher James was one of the passengers on a bus that was asked to pray before exiting the bus. James said the bus driver asked him and three other passengers to join hands in prayer. James said the driver prayed with the group for about four minutes.

WSB TV has more on the story and notes, “A MARTA representative told Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones that the transit agency suspended the bus driver, identified as Leroy Matthews, for five days and told him not to proselytize to passengers. Matthews has been with MARTA for six years.”

Aah, I miss the fun days of taking MARTA to work – it was always a fun adventure! I typically would pray before getting onboard to hope that I get to my destination in one piece and on-time. If you are new to MARTA, check out our Atlanta transit guides.