What is the Line of Authority on an Overnight Train?

[AlanB]

Not sure, but my lines (they use the R160 cars) always take around 5 - 10 seconds to open the doors from the time the train stops. Watching from the outside of the train, I see the train come to a halt, the conductor exits his position, crosses over to the next car, inserts his key, and then the doors open.

Maybe it doesn't happen on the (7) because of the necessary low layover time.

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.

And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

 

[railiner]

Not sure, but my lines (they use the R160 cars) always take around 5 - 10 seconds to open the doors from the time the train stops. Watching from the outside of the train, I see the train come to a halt, the conductor exits his position, crosses over to the next car, inserts his key, and then the doors open.

Maybe it doesn't happen on the (7) because of the necessary low layover time.

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.

And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

I haven't paid any attention to this area, but am now curious as to why on full width cabs, the conductor would have to move to the next car at the end of the run. Does it really make any difference if he operates from the cab of the fifth or the sixth car on a ten car train (the two cabs are adjacent)?

 

[NY Penn]

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.
And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

The conductor can't take the door-control key out while the train is moving, so he/she has to do so when the train stops.

What I meant was that maybe the MTA doesn't want the conductors to be wasting time switching cars if the headways are too small.

Not sure, but my lines (they use the R160 cars) always take around 5 - 10 seconds to open the doors from the time the train stops. Watching from the outside of the train, I see the train come to a halt, the conductor exits his position, crosses over to the next car, inserts his key, and then the doors open.

Maybe it doesn't happen on the (7) because of the necessary low layover time.

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.

And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

I haven't paid any attention to this area, but am now curious as to why on full width cabs, the conductor would have to move to the next car at the end of the run. Does it really make any difference if he operates from the cab of the fifth or the sixth car on a ten car train (the two cabs are adjacent)?

IIRC it's so there can be one crew member in each 5-car set.

 

[xyzzy]

Hang around any railroad for long and you'll hear antipathy between conductors and engineers. This has been going for at least 100 years. More recently it has been evident in friction between the corresponding unions. My dad, a former RR employee (union) who was neither a conductor nor an engineer, has told me the exact words that conductors are reputed to have called engineers and that engineers are reputed to have called conductors. I won't type either word.

 

[GAT]

The conductor has been the boss of the train since railroad started nearly two hundred years ago.

And that is true on any train - either LD, SD or Corridor! If the Conductor says to stop the train, it must stop! If the Conductor says for the train to depart, only then can it move. If the train is running 2 hours late and the next stop "should" be a smoke or fresh air break, it is the Conductor who decides if the stop will be 5 minutes, 10 minutes or -0- minutes long!

Conductors dictate the operation of the train. That's why they are called "conductors." :lol:

 

[AlanB]

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.
And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

The conductor can't take the door-control key out while the train is moving, so he/she has to do so when the train stops.

If that is indeed true, then that is a departure from the older cars. In the older cars the conductor most certainly could and did remove the door key while the train was in motion. I live on the #7 line where conductors on the old Redbirds had no choice but to move from one cab to another for the express stops and the varying center island vs. outside platforms between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square. Many, many, many times I watch as a conductor moved between cars to prepare himself for the fact that the next stop required him/her to be on the other side of the train, and therefore in the other cab.

So I have to think it odd that they would handicap themselves with such a change.

I do freely admit that I've not paid much attention to what they do with the newer cars, especially since they all have full width cabs making it harder to actually see what's going on.

 

[railiner]

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.
And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

The conductor can't take the door-control key out while the train is moving, so he/she has to do so when the train stops.

What I meant was that maybe the MTA doesn't want the conductors to be wasting time switching cars if the headways are too small.

Not sure, but my lines (they use the R160 cars) always take around 5 - 10 seconds to open the doors from the time the train stops. Watching from the outside of the train, I see the train come to a halt, the conductor exits his position, crosses over to the next car, inserts his key, and then the doors open.

Maybe it doesn't happen on the (7) because of the necessary low layover time.

I can't even begin to imagine why they do that. However, if indeed that is the case, then the delay is being caused by a lazy conductor. There is simply no reason that he/she couldn't have crossed over to the next car prior to arriving into that station. Then they'd be ready to open the doors immediately upon arrival and the other cab would be free for the conductor taking over.

And a shorter layover time would be a bigger reason to occupy a different cab upon arrival. Every other line, save the L, simply doesn't have the frequencies that would demand such a quick turnover.

I haven't paid any attention to this area, but am now curious as to why on full width cabs, the conductor would have to move to the next car at the end of the run. Does it really make any difference if he operates from the cab of the fifth or the sixth car on a ten car train (the two cabs are adjacent)?

IIRC it's so there can be one crew member in each 5-car set.

Okay. I guess that sort of makes sense....if the intercoms failed on the newer trains, passengers could still walk through the cars in an emergency situation and get the attention of one of the crew members. On the trains with the 75 foot long cars, the end doors are always locked, so it would not apply in that case....