Our crumbling infrastructure: Copley T stop

It's because the HVAC on modern trains radiate ungodly amounts of heat into the tunnels which then gets pushed by piston effect of the trains moving through the tunnels into the widest-open spaces of the system...the stations...where it stagnates.

This wasn't a problem for most of the subway's history because all trolleys from PCC's and earlier and all heavy-rail cars from the mid-1960's and earlier (Red Line 01400's, Orange Line 01100's, Blue Line 0500's, etc.) just had basic roof fans for cooling...no air conditioning units. The subways were markedly cooler than the surface during the warm months because the trains themselves didn't run nearly hot enough to exert much influence on the ambient underground temperature.

That all changed dramatically about 40 years ago. Red Line got the first AC units on the system in 1969 with the 01500/01600 cars still running today, but they only made up half of Red's fleet until the late-1980's so the heat effect wasn't major. But in a 5-year span from '76-81 you had the Green Line Boeing LRV's, Orange 01200's (current fleet), and Blue 0600's (most recent prior fleet) displacing nearly all fan-cooled cars on the system with big power-hungry AC units. That kicked off the heat pump effect in earnest. Then, in the ensuing decades, chuck on top of that:

• 1985 - purging of the last fan-cooled Green Line cars with end of PCC service in the subway
• 1986-87 - introduction of Green Type 7's, with more powerful HVAC than even the Boeings
• 1987 - introduction of 6-car Orange Line trains for first time, increasing per-train heat output by a third
• 1988 - introduction of 6-car Red Line trains for first time, increasing per-train heat output by a third
• 1988-89 - supplemental order of 58 Red Line 01700 cars, pushing fleet to majority HVAC-cooled
• 1994 - retirement of Red Line 01400's...last fan-cooled cars in the subway...in favor of the 01800 series cars with souped-up (if oft-malfunctioning) modern AC
• 1995-96 - midlife rebuild of Green Line Boeing LRV's with brand-new more powerful roof-mount AC
• 1997 - supplemental order of Green Type 7's with more powerful AC than the '86 batch
• 1998 - Green Line Type 8's with most massive AC system to-date on a Boston trolley
• early-2000's - Standardization of nearly all Red/Orange train lengths to consistent 6 cars all-day instead of chopping down to 4 cars (or, in older times, 2 cars) on off-peak and weekends. Less resulting heat dissipation on the off-peak as a result. Similar standardization of *most* all-hours Green Line trains at 2 cars, with singlets deployed more cautiously than before to avoid accessibility issues from running too many all- high-floor trains in branch service.
• 2004-07 - introduction of 6-car Blue Line trains for first time, increasing per-train heat output by a third + order of 0700 cars with more powerful AC than their predecessors. Immediate standardization of all-hours Blue trains at 6 cars instead of paring down to 4- or 2-car off-peak.
• 2004 - Silver Line Transitway opens pumping more heat from air conditioned electric buses into subway via shared South Station concourse

Only now in the 2010's are you seeing new technologies like regenerative braking in cars starting to pare back some of the brawn and heft of the HVAC units on these trains through energy recapture so they can suck less juice and radiate less waste heat for doing the same job. But you get the picture. With exception of the Alewife extension of the Red Line, the Silver Line, and a very insignificant length of 21st century Green Line tunnel under North Station absolutely none of Boston's subway tunnels or stations were designed for the air conditioned train era, with ventilation built in at the structural level to dissipate all the waste heat that pools and stagnates in the station caverns. Or, in the case of transfer stations like DTX and Park...heat pooling and stagnating on multiple levels of a station cavern. As recent-ish ago as 1976 the scope of today's subway heat problem would've been unfathomable to commuters riding some of the very same subway cars still in-service today because the trains were still predominantly fan-cooled and subway stations were still consistently the coolest places in the city on any given hot day.

It's entirely a modern problem, and unfortunately one very hard to retrofit out of century-old structures. Advancing technology has started to rein in the heat output...such that the much-increased service levels offered by the new Orange and Red Line cars are unlikely to make the heat problem any worse than it currently is. But to actually tame it and make it substantially better??? Short of making sure those largely ineffectual platform-level fans are actually working instead of majority burnt-out or unplugged, there isn't a lot they can attempt that wouldn't cost a billion or more systemwide in very invasive station ventilation retrofits. It's unfortunately what we have to put up with for having tunnels and station caverns poured a full 70 years before air conditioned trains became a mass-market enough thing to have to design around. New construction builds around the ventilation needs; old construction obviously didn't have a crystal ball to foretell future airflow demands (nor could it in NYC, London, Paris, or other similar-vintage systems that suffer varying degrees of the same HVAC-induced heat pump problem).

And, yeah...I suppose if they can't be arsed to slap a coat of paint on Copley more than once every 40 years all that increased heat contributes to the base coat literally baking itself off the ceiling through time like crumbs of burnt toast.

Maintenance isn't sexy and buys few votes. A century ago most public spending went to infrastructure. Now it mostly goes to pay, perks, transfer payments, and debt service from all the borrowing to pay for pay, perks, transfer payments and a tiny bit of infrastructure.

That's lead paint and spray asbestos fireproofing. You can't just scrape or pressure wash it off!

Concrete designs you!

I have been saying this for years. When T stations are designed for looks or prestige rather than practicality it only leads to trouble. For years misguided people complained about the old "bunker style" of stations such as Government Center and Wood Island, two stations I use regularly. Although they would never win any beauty contests, those stations were designed that way for a reason. People were protected from the elements and there was efficiency of getting in and out. They were FUNCTIONAL. The redesigned Wood Island is completely exposed to the elements save a tiny postage stamp sized patch on the middle of the platform. You should see it when it rains or snows and large amounts of people are huddled into that one cramped spot. And, of course, all the benches are exposed to the elements also, so they remain wet for hours after it rains, or remain covered in snow when it snows. On bright days there is no shade from glaring sunlight. What genius designed this misfit of a station and how much were they paid? And I'll take the unobtrusive, if somewhat plain, old bunker entrance to Government Center over that overbuilt glass monstrosity any day. Subway stations are not museums or art galleries. Neither are they lounges. They should be functional, efficient and should not encourage "lingering" for any longer than it takes to get in and out of the station.

And raise taxes.

Our taxes are too low. We pay fleabag rent, and the fleabag will collapse.

Time to start placing a solid disincentive on automobile travel and make it cost what it really costs. Then we will have the money for transit.