Washington Metro trains are so poorly maintained that parts falling off of the railcars are damaging later trains, leading to the tunnels filling with smoke and the evacuation of several trains. This has some people reconsidering their transportation habits. “Today is my last day as a full time Orange Line commuter after almost 10 yrs,” tweets one rail rider. Alcar, as it is also known, has neuro-protectant properties needed to repair order viagra overnight peripheral nerve damage that can occur if you have diabetes. Mistake 2: Not Cleaning the Penis Correctly Men who have actually suffered because of making use of drugs. sildenafil prescription is a house hold term with most of the people the dose which the physician recommends id near about 50 mg which is taken in one hour prior to sexual activity. Therapies that Aid ED Performing and being a viagra in part of any additional psychological treatment. And while he Brazilian economy is booming, the rich Amazonian order viagra sample rainforest is blooming. “Cheaper, easier & safer to drive.”
The railcar that dropped parts is among the newer cars owned by Washington Metro. Though more than a decade old, it should be able to stand up to another decade or so of service. But Metro is in dire financial straights and has been deferring maintenance since at least 2002, leading to a huge maintenance backlog and a significant increase in breakdowns and mechanical problems.
I honestly don’t think the system is any more dangerous than making the drive. It is just much more uncomfortable! AND Much More Expensive! People are just nuts when it comes to subway trains. The WMATA Orange line tunnels under Capitol Hill, basically a multi-million dollar system burrowing under townhouses. Then it serves much less dense neighborhoods, then the last three stations are pretty much just park-n-rides or bus-to-park-n-rides. I can’t think of a single apartment complex visible from the train once it’s above ground at RFK. ???
In non-government companies, differing maintenance would a red flag to the Board of Directors. They might go along with deferring maintenance for a year or two, but not much longer, because then it would increase costs and reduce productivity.
But it makes sense to defer maintenance for government. That way you get to spend funds on what you most like, and the maintenance problems will become a crisis in which taxpayers “must” throw lots of additional money at. Government agencies cannot build up reserve accounts because those accounts would be immediately raided by politicians and spent.
The DC Metro knows that eventually the federal government will give them billions of dollars for new rail cars. Until then, it is only passengers that are hurt.
Sandy, the private sector isn’t any better than the public sector. If the people in charge don’t care, then others are going to pay the price.
Don’t feel too bad they’ll get some assistance on behalf of the federal government when they showcase how it’s litteraly falling apart piece by piece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJCWStejSc
Sorry I like to inject bits of humor which is sad when you’re talking about a topic in which peoples lives might be at stake. Sandy makes a good point, not too long ago 9 people were killed on Washington Metro’s due the culture of ignored safety problems. They don’t have the financial means to maintain it all so they just let the smallest problems deteriorate until they become large problems. It begs the question as to what standard of quality was it built to begin with. Your talking about a system built in the late 70’s; not even 40 years old. Just about every pre-19th, 20th century American city has some form of rail transit, New York, Boston, Baltimore, Phily, Pittsburgh; Typically streetcars or heavy rail. Lisa Schweitzer, a professor of environmental justice and sustainable transportation at the University of Southern California, dismisses streetcars as urban decoration. She says they accomplish little toward the goal of replacing automobiles, and she accuses streetcar lovers of elitist attitude toward most people who need some kind of public transit to live. People who believe in rail transit, everything from heavy rail to streetcars, tend to assume that rail is easier on the environment than cars and buses. When the comparison is based strictly on what comes out of the tailpipe, obviously, electric-powered rail wins, as it has no tailpipe. But environmental science has come a long way since the first Earth Day and more comprehensive methods of measuring energy and pollution arise. Light rail beats cars by very narrow margins in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As cars get more efficient and light rail continues to be built out into suburban sectors where no one but a scant few will ride them, they’ll lose the battle. The argument for buses is that they just work better, especially in heavy traffic, especially if they are new and efficient. John Charles, transportation analyst for the Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, claims that resident Portlanders never use their own city’s streetcars, even though the Portland streetcars are immensely popular with tourists and out of town visitors who presumably flew or drove there (how does that help with emissions). Streetcars may have a bigger passenger capacity than the buses but it runs less frequent, which zeroes out that advantage. In the golden age of streetcars, from the 1880’s to 1945, developers built their own streetcar lines to extend beyond settled city limits out into the raw land they intended to develop; that was the goal to sell the first suburbs. John Charles has done studies regarding how people travel in and out of so called transit oriented developments in Portland. You will find rail consistently has the lowest market share, consistently less than 10 percent. Did any private company ever make money off streetcars, even 100 years ago before most people had their own cars, not really. Private companies made money by using streetcars to sell houses, a model of which did not include government. It was all about the private sector, and it was not about fares being paid into that system. It was land game. Many streetcar companies were already losing money before the automobile came to dominate. The Great Depression left many streetcar systems short of funds for maintenance and capital improvements and crippled others while labor relations, and tight regulation took a heavy toll on city streetcar systems. Systems nationwide were wearing out their equipment faster than they could replace it while operating expenses were generally recovered, money for long-term investment, maintainence and construction not so much.
OFP2003 wrote:
I honestly don’t think the system is any more dangerous than making the drive. It is just much more uncomfortable!
I was once a regular Metrorail rider. No longer.
AND Much More Expensive!
In spite of huge subsides from federal, Maryland, Virginia and D.C. taxpayers.
People are just nuts when it comes to subway trains. The WMATA Orange line tunnels under Capitol Hill, basically a multi-million dollar system burrowing under townhouses.
And in spite of all of that Smart Growth rhetoric, there’s not going to be any densification along the Blue/Orange Line in that part of the District of Columbia. Though D.C. is densifying some nearby areas along the Green Line around the Nationals ballpark.
Then it serves much less dense neighborhoods, then the last three stations are pretty much just park-n-rides or bus-to-park-n-rides. I can’t think of a single apartment complex visible from the train once it’s above ground at RFK. ???
There are a bunch near the Landover Station in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Off of Route 202 (Landover Road). Some have actually been torn down, and new ones constructed. The volunteer fire company that serves this area of Prince George’s, (Kentland, Company 833) has made some, well, interesting comments about those apartments on its Web site here and here. Those comments should be read by any planner promoting increased residential density near a rail station.
C.P. Zilliacus???
Landover??? There’s nothing but industrial warehouses all around the train station. I don’t recall any sidewalks either!! Are you sure you aren’t thinking of the Blue Line????
If someone wanted to walk home from Landover late at night…. well it’d be through the empty, dark warehouse district and probably on a dirt path next to the road and the trees in the ditch.
OFP2003 wrote:
Landover??? There’s nothing but industrial warehouses all around the train station. I don’t recall any sidewalks either!! Are you sure you aren’t thinking of the Blue Line????
No, I meant Landover. On the Orange Line. Yes, there are a lot of warehouses in that area, but there are also apartments.
Look here on Google Maps.
If someone wanted to walk home from Landover late at night…. well it’d be through the empty, dark warehouse district and probably on a dirt path next to the road and the trees in the ditch.
I’m not going to claim that the area is well-designed for pedestrians, because it is not.
D.C. Examiner: Metro pulls rail cars with suspect brake systems after meltdown
It’s been known for decades that the insurance payout on a plane crash actually benefits an airline financially. That said the passenger perception of the given airline and competition would ultimately destroy an airline that is viewed as unsafe. Even though an accident may be profitable, there is a natual incentive to have a safe operation.
One has to wonder if the same is true of mass transit with regard to the insurance issue. The difference of course being that government run local mass transit like the metro has no competitor and doesn’t have to give a rip about what the passenger thinks about a safety record.
In non-government companies, differing maintenance would a red flag to the Board of Directors. They might go along with deferring maintenance for a year or two, but not much longer, because then it would increase costs and reduce productivity.
Tell that to PG&E. Or Xcel. Or the baby Bells. Or any other monopoly. Or Enron gaming the system. Or BP-HAL. Or or or or or or or or or or.
It is simply human nature in almost any enterprise to try and get away with something. That is how the world works, and is not confined to gummint.
DS
PlanesnotTrains – I haven’t heard anything about insurance payments for accidents benefiting airlines. Can you explain that further?
PainsnotTrains said: The difference of course being that government run local mass transit like the metro has no competitor and doesn’t have to give a rip about what the passenger thinks about a safety record.
THWM: Then there would be political fallout instead.
Your examples are for the most part public utilities, not non-government companies. They’ve been granted monopoly status by the government. Apples…oranges.
HTH
They are still operated by people, including successive telecom companies that went under or were bought out. And the succession of ‘or’ in 10 can be filled in by any company that prompted the passing of ‘lemon laws’, consumer protection agency formation, poor service like Embarq, Comcast, CenturyLink, food recalls, public health inspectors to ensure private restaurants don’t poison their customers and, and and. And so on. Yada.
The premise that private is always bettern’ public is false. People are people.
DS
I agree with Dan, somewhat, about the public private dichotomy. I would temper Dan’s assertion by saying that “the premise that private is always better than public is” unproveable, not necessarily false. “Better” is a matter of personal preference and personal preferences are not measurable or transitive(and therefore not subject to mathematical ranking).
My own preference is still for private not public ownership and markets. It’s not because private is better, per se; but because in the private sector, if one fails to deliver, then inevitably, as expenses exceed income, the failed business will be forced to shut down, and someone who does it better can take its place.
Of course, this notion falls down in sectors of the economy where the government, via regulatory capture, has been bought wholesale; i.e. banking, the railroads, aerospace, & c & c.
I would temper Dan’s assertion by saying that “the premise that private is always better than public is†unproveable, not necessarily false.
You’re right – yours is better worded. Point taken.
DS
Dan said: The premise that private is always bettern’ public is false. People are people.
THWM: Exactly!
I guess my posting was misinterpreted. I never said that people in private enterprise were better, only that when they ignore maintenance costs they go out of business.
Government agencies never go out of business, but rather they get even more money if they let their expensive assets fall apart. Just look at the article — the DC Metro is expanding its line while letting trains fall apart at the same time.
There have been a thousand articles about how the DC Metro needs to replace their aging trains, but all the incentives for Metro are to just wait and they know they will get more funding for new trains. It is only the passengers that get hurt in the mean time.
Sandy got it. Not sure whay it was so complicated for the rest of you.
THWM: “Then there would be political fallout instead”.
LOL… You’re kidding right? Most politicians aren’t around long enough to see their bad decisions become a reality.
Not sure whay it was so complicated for the rest of you.
Because there are some places – here included – where you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone mindlessly parroting the mantra. And try as I might, I can’t equate the phrase ‘go out of business’ to ‘reduce productivity’. YMMV. Speaking of productivity, I spent a lot of time in the corporate sector wondering how anything ever got done, with all the petty office politics, incompetence, etc.
DS
Sorry I didn’t connect the dots between increased costs and reduced productivity to going out of business. I guess it is a little unclear to some people. I also have a hard time using acronyms all the time.
I guess I will never be a city planner… http://youtu.be/pCF-DUR0GmU
PlanesnotTrains said: Most politicians aren’t around long enough to see their bad decisions become a reality.
THWM: Though that’s the same thing with management in the private sector too.
THWM: Though that’s the same thing with management in the private sector too.
If you think the two are interchangeable, then I invite you to work in the private sector for a bit.
This has to be one of your most ignorant posts to date by the way.
I’ve only worked in the private sector and I’ve seen plenty of shady things go on!
Dan said it before very well.
People, are people!