Small trains and small stations are good until they aren't, and then you're screwed.
Singapore built the orbital Circle MRT line exactly as you suggest: small trains (3 carriages, vs 6-8 on other line), small stations to fit these trains, frequent fully automated operation.
However, the line turned out to be much more popular than planners anticipated, with the result that at rush hour, it's common to have to queue just to enter the platform where you need to wait for multiple trains to arrive before you can squeeze in.
And the tricky bit is that there is essentially nothing you can do now to fix it. There's a hard physical limit (around 90 secs) on how fast the cycle of a train arriving, people getting on and off, and departing can get, and retrofitting all 30+ deep underground stations to be larger would be an insanely expensive and disruptive exercise.
So iiuc the MRT is building two other lines to relieve congestion on the circle line back, which I think is generally a good solution if high ridership catches you by surprise. (This is also something Asian cities with high transit mode share like Singapore have more to worry about in general, although I don't know if that was predictable when they were planning the circle line).
But also, I'm confused by MRT station size in general - it seems like half of them are also giant malls? I don't know how much the platforms themselves are a major cost center for them (would be happy to hear if you know more; I asked the transitcosts people about it once and they said the MRT's high construction costs might be the big stations but they hadn't done a detailed study there).
Well, you won’t get any argument from me there—especially since short trains, like sidewinders, seem to give you more for less. If sidewinders got the kabbalah treatment, do short trains get one too?
Chicago largely fits this description, but the L has terrible train frequency and tracks in such disrepair that trains can hardly move in some areas. I wish we could overcome dysfunction enough to take advantage of these accidentally good choices made so long ago.
Yeah, the L was unfortunately built long before automated trains :/. I don't know enough about Chicago to know how hard they'd be to upgrade and automate.
Short automated trains at 90 second frequencies are what I dream about.
Small trains and small stations are good until they aren't, and then you're screwed.
Singapore built the orbital Circle MRT line exactly as you suggest: small trains (3 carriages, vs 6-8 on other line), small stations to fit these trains, frequent fully automated operation.
However, the line turned out to be much more popular than planners anticipated, with the result that at rush hour, it's common to have to queue just to enter the platform where you need to wait for multiple trains to arrive before you can squeeze in.
And the tricky bit is that there is essentially nothing you can do now to fix it. There's a hard physical limit (around 90 secs) on how fast the cycle of a train arriving, people getting on and off, and departing can get, and retrofitting all 30+ deep underground stations to be larger would be an insanely expensive and disruptive exercise.
So iiuc the MRT is building two other lines to relieve congestion on the circle line back, which I think is generally a good solution if high ridership catches you by surprise. (This is also something Asian cities with high transit mode share like Singapore have more to worry about in general, although I don't know if that was predictable when they were planning the circle line).
But also, I'm confused by MRT station size in general - it seems like half of them are also giant malls? I don't know how much the platforms themselves are a major cost center for them (would be happy to hear if you know more; I asked the transitcosts people about it once and they said the MRT's high construction costs might be the big stations but they hadn't done a detailed study there).
Well, you won’t get any argument from me there—especially since short trains, like sidewinders, seem to give you more for less. If sidewinders got the kabbalah treatment, do short trains get one too?
Chicago largely fits this description, but the L has terrible train frequency and tracks in such disrepair that trains can hardly move in some areas. I wish we could overcome dysfunction enough to take advantage of these accidentally good choices made so long ago.
Yeah, the L was unfortunately built long before automated trains :/. I don't know enough about Chicago to know how hard they'd be to upgrade and automate.