Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlesCO
Here's the most recent study of express trains. This plan calls for express trains through Daly City-Dublin Pleasanton and Daly City-Fremont/San Jose, with additional peak hour trains through Contra Costa County (which already exist).
http://www.mercurynews.com/traffic/c...equent-service
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Splitting trains is routinely done in Japan with the understanding that splitting trains apart is much easier than putting them back together for two reasons:
A) When train A is at the station on time, and, train B is running behind schedule train A has to wait for train B, and train AB is running behind scedule.
B) Coupling forces are higher than Detachment forces, i.e., you cannot miss the "coupling" if you are detaching
. When coupling, at least two and preferably 3 people are needed- if A is coupling B, then A would have to have an engineer, 1 witness would be need to watch the process and possibly an engineer in train B. Detaching, I would think would not need an outside witness, just the two engineers.
I think what BART is suggesting is using only the detachment scenario for select outbound routes. This negates problem A. In addition, as the procedures get worked out through repeated practice, as BART becomes more confident in the practice, and, as stations with 3 or more tracks (should) go on stream, then slack can be built into scheduling to accommodate wait times at the junction.
This two way ability to form and detach trains is another benefit that 3 and 4 track stations can provide at a minimum wasted time cost.