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Re: Half-a**ed-article on the errors of BART Technology
Author: fkrock
Date: 03-27-2016 - 09:20
synonymouse Wrote:
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> BART is a botched clone of the NYC subway.
> Idiosyncratic gauge and voltage, no front
> doors(A&B cars), no express tracks, cylindrical
> wheelset tyre profile. They copied New York but
> failed to bring along the obvious features,
> instead opting for proprietary just to be stupidly
> different. As if it was not obvious in 1966 broad
> gauge was a dumb idea that had been abandoned one
> hundred years earlier. And why 5'6"? Why not
> Brunel's 7' gauge? They did not even make the
> cars appreciably wider. Dumb and lots of people
> recognized it at the time but Bechtel was obdurate
> like Jerry's PB of today. The Palmdale deviation
> is the 2016 broad gauge scandal.
>
Mr. Mouse:
I would like to point out that the 5' 6" track gauge was the result of wind tunnel tests performed since much BART elevated track was perpendicular to prevailing Bay Area winds. The tests revealed that a wider track gauge was needed for safety and a smooth ride with lightweight cars. I assume you know more about this than the engineers who conducted these tests?
The wheel contour was developed by BART engineering staff. The original cars had traditional tapered tread wheels. The trucks hunted badly. You could even feel it when riding as a passenger. So the BART engineering staff put lights underneath a car illuminating a truck and made videotapes of the truck while running on all the different types of track on the BART system. Then they tried different types of wheel tread until they found one that did not cause the trucks to hunt. I have seen a videotape of the final wheel tread design. The trucks do not hunt at any speed or on any of the different types on BART track. Please explain what was wrong with this procedure. BTW you will find cylindrical tread wheels used in Australia.
BART was sold to the public as a more comfortable luxurious transportation system than one anyplace in the world. Thus it deliberately did not copy New York City car design. This lead to some things that were not satisfactory in the high passenger volume transit system that it became such as upholstered seats and carpet on the floor. So you can fault the original designers for not anticipating how successful BART would become.
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> BART is a botched clone of the NYC subway.
> Idiosyncratic gauge and voltage, no front
> doors(A&B cars), no express tracks, cylindrical
> wheelset tyre profile. They copied New York but
> failed to bring along the obvious features,
> instead opting for proprietary just to be stupidly
> different. As if it was not obvious in 1966 broad
> gauge was a dumb idea that had been abandoned one
> hundred years earlier. And why 5'6"? Why not
> Brunel's 7' gauge? They did not even make the
> cars appreciably wider. Dumb and lots of people
> recognized it at the time but Bechtel was obdurate
> like Jerry's PB of today. The Palmdale deviation
> is the 2016 broad gauge scandal.
>
Mr. Mouse:
I would like to point out that the 5' 6" track gauge was the result of wind tunnel tests performed since much BART elevated track was perpendicular to prevailing Bay Area winds. The tests revealed that a wider track gauge was needed for safety and a smooth ride with lightweight cars. I assume you know more about this than the engineers who conducted these tests?
The wheel contour was developed by BART engineering staff. The original cars had traditional tapered tread wheels. The trucks hunted badly. You could even feel it when riding as a passenger. So the BART engineering staff put lights underneath a car illuminating a truck and made videotapes of the truck while running on all the different types of track on the BART system. Then they tried different types of wheel tread until they found one that did not cause the trucks to hunt. I have seen a videotape of the final wheel tread design. The trucks do not hunt at any speed or on any of the different types on BART track. Please explain what was wrong with this procedure. BTW you will find cylindrical tread wheels used in Australia.
BART was sold to the public as a more comfortable luxurious transportation system than one anyplace in the world. Thus it deliberately did not copy New York City car design. This lead to some things that were not satisfactory in the high passenger volume transit system that it became such as upholstered seats and carpet on the floor. So you can fault the original designers for not anticipating how successful BART would become.
