From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   Gary McGath   wrote:   
   >Keith is always bragging that the DC metro is the worst in the USA, but   
   >Boston is giving it strong competition.   
      
   The Boston system is far worse.   
      
   DC is having a lot of problems right now because they are trying to clean   
   up after years of deferred maintenance.  This is difficult since the system   
   is designed with lines going in and out of downtown but no ring routes.   
   So if you close one section of track, you basically put half the route out   
   of service completely.  It's not like the NY or Paris systems where it is   
   possible to shut down one track and just send passengers on a different   
   route to the same place.   
      
   So the repairs that DC is doing are affecting people more severely than   
   they would normally.  And a lot of them are repairs that should have been   
   done years ago but weren't because of the impact of shutting anything down.   
      
   DC still has plenty of problems.  They still have union issues, they still   
   haven't got their 1970s vintage automation system working properly again,   
   and they still have plenty of track issues.  But DC is on the upswing,   
   even if it's not as sharp as one might like.  People are out there doing   
   track maintenance again instead of sitting by the tracks in Metro uniforms   
   with crackpipes.   
      
   But Boston... Boston doesn't seem to be doing actual repairs.  And they   
   have the same issues of having a system designed to get people in and out   
   of the city with no rings.  In Boston stuff is really just falling apart.   
      
   Interestingly enough, the Boston light rail system, which ALSO has no rings,   
   is actually doing pretty well and seems to have really good reliability   
   statistics.   
   --scott   
      
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)