Path: utzoo!dciem!dretor!client2!chk
From: chk@client2.DRETOR.UUCP (C. Harald Koch)
Newsgroups: tor.general
Subject: Re: TTC Subway fault-tolerance
Keywords: TTC, Subway, delay, fault,turn-around
Message-ID: <1599@client2.DRETOR.UUCP>
Date: 25 Mar 89 01:36:47 GMT
References: <810@mv03.ecf.toronto.edu> <446@ontenv.UUCP> <1989Mar20.211818.27937@sq.com> <383@becker.UUCP>
Reply-To: chk@client2.dciem.dnd.ca (C. Harald Koch)
Distribution: tor
Organization: NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 31

In article <383@becker.UUCP> eric@becker.UUCP (Eric Siegerman) writes:
>A way to test this hypothesis:  when riding in one of the old red
>subway cars with the incandescent lighting, see how often the
>lights go off.  I've always assumed that they flicker when the
>train crosses the insulated gap between zones (and that the newer
>cars' lights don't flicker because they are equipped with
>batteries -- necessary because fluorescent lights would take too
>long to come back on once power was restored.)

The reason is actually much simpler. Normally, the power strip is on the
left side of the train (in the tunnels). In center platform stations, and at
switches, the power rail is on the right.

When the rails switch sides, there is a short distance with no power.  The
old red cars are shorter than the newer silver ones.  The new trains are
long enough to bridge the gap, the older ones are not.

Actually, another possibility is that the newer trains share power between
cars while the older ones don't. That would also explain it. It is still
because of the gap between sections of power rail, though.

--
C. Harald Koch		NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Ontario
chk@zorac.dciem.dnd.ca, chk@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu, chk@chkent.UUCP
Veteran of the Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force - 1999 to 1951.
"be EXCELLENT to each other"  - Bill and Ted
-- 
C. Harald Koch		NTT Systems, Inc., Toronto, Ontario
chk@zorac.dciem.dnd.ca, chk@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu, chk@chkent.UUCP
Veteran of the Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force - 1999 to 1951.
"be EXCELLENT to each other"  - Bill and Ted