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Something that could never, ever happen here
By adamg on Thu, 11/16/2017 - 10:03am
Bloomberg reports a Japanese rail operator has publicly apologized because one of its trains left a Tokyo station 20 seconds early, possibly inconveniencing riders who would then have had to wait a whole four minutes for the next train. Bloomberg adds the conductor whose timetable error led to the early departure was warned to be more careful in the future.
H/t Ryan and Tim.
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Comments
But we can dream...
....can't we?
This is an advertisement
They go onto to add no one complained. This is a PR move by that railroad.
Also 45 minutes to go 37 miles isn't too impressive. That's the exact same distance and speed of the MBTA Lowell line. (Granted, if our trains are <5 minutes late it's considered on-time.)
OK, but ...
Do Lowell trains run every four minutes?
timetables
Check out the timetables:
http://www.mir.co.jp/en/howto_tx/timetable/holiday...
Every 6-7 minutes. On the weekend.
In distance and number of stations this is closer to the Worcester line.
I've actually ridden this train
It runs like a subway, weekdays & weekends. Plus it's CLEAN. So so so clean.
I think Adam meant
our Lowell line, not theirs.
No, it's not
Lowell is 25.5 railroad miles from North Station. The fastest trains trains make the trip in 41 minutes, averaging 37 mph and making just three stops.
These trains run 37 miles in 45 minutes (49 mph) making 7 intermediate stops. The local Lowell Line trains which make as many stops average just 34 mph.
If the Lowell Line had that kind of top speed and acceleration it would be able to run between Lowell and Boston in 30 minutes.
And imagine a train from
And imagine a train from Lowell to Boston every five minutes!
Not Lowell
But Reading might have had that if the T hadn't caved to the NIMBYs and extended the Orange Line to (at the time) Route 128.
Be careful what you wish against - you'll probably regret doing so.
Exactly. But good perspective
Japan would never spend 4-5 billion on four miles of Green Line Extension trolley while the core system collapses
To be fair, would you prefer
To be fair, would you prefer your train to leave five minutes early or late? Late means you don't miss it; early means you well might.
The Swiss give it 5 minutes
Then they give you chocolate and an apology.
Missed a planned connection in Dallas
Because the train left the station about 45 seconds early. DART runs 4 lines of trains on a published schedule, so if the schedule says that there will be a Green Line train at Bachman at 2:17 and 2:28, you can count on a Green Line train pulling into the station at 2:17 and 2:28. I remember complaining at the end of the trip about how my intended connection left almost a minute too early, causing me to miss the jump from the Orange Line.
So believe it or not, Americans are capable of caring as much as the Japanese.
LOLZ
Those whacky Japanese.
Actually
most of my buses are early, by about 23 hours and 55 minutes. Except the ones on the weekends; those are early by 6 days, 23 hours, and 55 minutes.
"We apologize ...
for the convenience."
Escalator
Temporarily stairs.
Who are the clowns ???
As someone who has also ridden Japanese trains for work all over the mainland and Hokkaido, they are fantastic and I've told people for 15 years you can set your watches by the trains.
We should hire the head or a very high up person who runs the Tokyo train system to run our system or at least be a consultant.
The saddest part of all of this to me is that we used to be proud of actually trying to make things great, to be the best in the world at things. Now we just lead the world in snark and we tolerate demonstrably lower standards in our country compared to others.
Japan is a wonderful country and there is a lot we could learn from them and others. Our xenophobic leaders should get out and see the world.
"Yes, but at least the trains ran on-time."
Hmmm, where have I heard that before? think think think
One thing you can say about Fearless Leader
He made the submarines run on time.
Boris Badenov
Can someone explain what a
Can someone explain what a schedule adjustment is?
If only the Northeast Regional was early...
We were taking a TGV from Aix-en-Provence to Charles de Gaulle (which is about like DC to Boston) and they apologized for being like five minutes late. I think for Amtrak that's on-time. Public transit basically sucks in the US.