Informed but opinionated commentary and analysis on urban transportation topics from the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal. Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

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From Your Master and That of All Rome:

O'Toole, Cox and Gordon: YOU have been warned! I'm back. Fear, o sneaky ones!


posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 9/30/2007 09:08:00 PM

 
THE WORLD’S ULTIMATE SECRET SUBWAY NETWORK! MOSCOW METRO-2!! DETAILED LINE DESCRIPTIONS!!!

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Veni, vidi, vici. In English, this means I own your arse! Your's Truly

From Your Master and That of All Rome:


THE WORLD’S ULTIMATE SECRET SUBWAY NETWORK!
MOSCOW METRO-2!!
DETAILED LINE DESCRIPTIONS!!!


(. . . remember, you saw it first on our blog! . . .)

Continuing our coverage of Moscow’s Secret Subway:

If this is first detailed description online of “Metro 2” in English – and that appears possible – then let it be a tribute to the efforts of the people who have tracked all this down, wrote it up and posted it. All we did was translate (. . . and add the opinionated commentary that you expect from this blog!).

METRO-2, LINE 1 – “Leonid.”

Opened 1967, although a portion was “supposedly” opened earlier.

Length: 27 km [17 mi].

Station locations:

-----“Kreml” [the Kremlin] http://www.kremlin.ru/eng .

-----“Biblioteka im. Lenina” [Lenin Library; official name is now Russian State Library http://www.rsl.ru/defengl.asp ; http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/mos/pix/L1-biblio-im-lenina.jpg ]. For the evacuation to the “underground city” [aka “Deep-Underground Command Post” in USDOD-speak) at Ramenki of all readers in the building at the moment of the alert signal “ATOM.” The “Kremlin” and “Library” stations may be one and the same.

[Um, yeah: the library is about 300m (0.2 mi) from the Kremlin’s western wall, but the major government buildings are twice as distant.]

-----The “yellow house with turret” on Smolenskaya Ploshchad [Smolensk Square]; the project of “Academician Zholtovskiy.” A reference to the metro station entrance at Smolenskaya Ploshshad (http://beeflowers.com/Metro/Smolenskaya/imagepages/image7.htm , http://metrowalks.ru/moscow/station-3-11 ). The article comments as follows: This special structure contains entrances to the two metro systems: the (public) Filyovskaya Line (Line 4 http://metrowalks.ru/moscow/station-4-11 ) and Metro-2 (Smolenskaya is also served by the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line (3): http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/f32.html ). The elevators in this building to the Metro-2 station stirred legends of such stations beneath almost every Metro station entrance in Moscow.

[We note that a large office building on Smolenskaya Ploshchad housed the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, now that of the Russian Federation http://www.ln.mid.ru/bul_ns_en.nsf/kartaflat/en01 .]

-----Former residence of the first and last President of the USSR, on the Lenin Hills.

[Reference is to “Gorbachev’s Moscow Residence” on the USDOD map; “Leninskiye Gori,” the Lenin Hills, are known once again by the historic name “Vorob’yovy Gory,” Sparrow Hills http://cr.middlebury.edu/public/russian/Bulgakov/public_html/vorobevy.html .]

----Underground city [aka “Deep-Underground Command Post”] at Ramenky, able to accommodate 12,000 – 15,000 inhabitants. Pedestrian tunnel to the main building of the “MGU” [aka Moscow State University]. MSU entrance at KPP, Zone B.

[“KPP” is an acronym for “Kontrolno-propusknoi punkt,” Identity Check Point or Passport Control Point http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/hi/resources/modern%20resources/PoliceGlossary-v3.pdf .]

[The pedestrian tunnel is one of those Metro Dva details that tends to stir raucous debate among Your Favorite Transit Pundits. If it exists . . . then it would have to be no shorter than about 2 km, almost 1 1/4 miles. That’s quite a hike to board an evacuation train – that passed the university at roughly half that distance.

[“But Comrades! Do you not agree that pedestrian tunnel between University and Command Post might be useful during peacetime?”

[. . . That sounded like a winner to the rest of us . . .]

-----Institute of Cryptography, Analysis and Information Science, FSB Academy, FSB, Russian Federation http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/russia/fapsi-org.htm .

[FSB, “Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti,” is the Federal Security Service http://www.fsb.ru . Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes, that really is a link to their official website! FSB has inherited the internal-security functions of the former KGB – which, as astute websurfers know, is the Russian acronym for “Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopastnosti,” Committee on (or: “for”) State Security http://www.ulfsbo.nu/kgb/kgb_2.html ; note that the law establishing and governing the KGB is described as an “unpublished statute.”]

The article describes this as an “Enormous brick building with an entrance into the Olympic village.”

[The latter was built for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games – boycotted by the U.S., about 50 other countries, and many individual athletes from countries that did participate http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1980 . The boycott, a response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1989, was announced by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The USSR and its satellites – minus Romania – boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in retaliation. Moscow is currently campaigning to host the 2012 Summer Olympics http://www.m2012.ru/en/?did=2_11_41 .]

In this building, behind a rarely-opened door, it is possible to see far down an outgoing corridor, with small lamps along the sides to provide illumination . . . according to the article.

-----The General Staff Academy [that is, a military college].

-----An emergency exit, somewhere in Solntsevo [a town just outside the Moscow Peripheral Highway http://www.fh.huji.ac.il/~solntsev/moscow.jpg ; a reputed stronghold of “mafia” (criminal gang) activity].

-----The “government” [that is, “non-civilian”] airport, Vnukovo-2. [This was opened to civilian use following the fall of the USSR; and yes, just like the FSB: website, website, they’ve got a website! http://www.vnukovo-airport.ru/eng/index.html ]

The article comments on discrepancies related to the alignment of the Moscow Metro Line 1 (Sokol’nicheskaya) extension from Park Kultury http://beeflowers.com/Metro/ParkKultury/mainpage.htm to Universitet http://metrowalks.ru/moscow/station-1-17 . The plan for this 6.5-km (4.0-mi) segment, described in a 1954 book differed significantly from what was built in 1957-1959. One very significant detail was the bridge over the Moscow River http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/strm09.jpg , incorporating Leninskiye Gory (today’s Vorob’yovy Gory) station, rather than a tunnel. (This station, on the lower level of a concrete arch bridge that carries a road on the upper level http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/mos/pix/L1-leninskie-gory.jpg , was closed from 1983 to 2002 owing to corrosion, caused by “high salt content” in the concrete. New bridges were built for road traffic and the metro station reopened thereafter http://metrowalks.ru/moscow/station-1-16 .)

The article refers to an “improbable” story about the Park Kultury – Universitet extension. This was planned for completion in 1957, in time for a youth festival. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decreed that the cost of metro construction should be reduced. (Khrushchev, then the chairman of the Moscow City Soviet (“Soviet,” in Russian, means “Council”), http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?action=L2&SubjectID=1934metro&Year=1934 , was one of the leaders of the initial Moscow Metro project http://www.schicklerart.com/auto_exh/RPCPolitics?id=2176922&from=2 .) Planners decided to use part of the Metro-2 tunnel already in existence (“Iosif”). A major incentive was use of the existing Metro-2 tunnel under the Moscow River, eliminating the need for a second river crossing. At the last moment came the decisive word from “competent authorities:” HET! (“nyet!”)

How much of this is true, and how much is the product of Russian storytelling, is anyone’s guess.

According to the article, “several things make it necessary to think, possibly, that there is some truth in all this.” The Moscow Metro’s Universitet station, planned originally for construction beneath the main building of Moscow State University (MGU), was instead built some distance to the south. The initial line of Metro-2 (“Iosif”) does pass beneath the main building, three levels underground, through the basement complex built using soil-freezing techniques. The third underground level (“sub-sub-basement”) is described as under KGB control. The article states that, according to U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (http://www.dia.mil ) data, the location of the Metro-2 station beneath the “former residence of the first President of the USSR (Mikhail Gorbachev) is exactly that originally planned for the Moscow Metro Leninskiye Gory (Vorob’yovy Gory) station.

It is most likely, states the article, that the Moscow Metro extension from Park Kultury was started as a deep-level tunnel, but abandoned following Khrushchev’s order for sharp reductions in Moscow Metro construction costs. In response, a shallow alignment including the bridge over the Moscow River was built. Then, during the 1960s, the Kuntsevo underground command post http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/kuntsevo.htm and the first line of Metro-2 (“Leonid”) were started. The deep-level alignment once planned for the Moscow Metro (and partially built, “to some unknown extent”) was incorporated into Metro-2

The article describes a connection near Sportivnaya station http://metrowalks.ru/moscow/station-1-15 as the only one between the “real” Moscow Metro and the elusive Metro Dva. The article also describes the location of Metro Dva ventilation shafts southwest of central Moscow.

The article also describes a large-scale construction project to extend Prospekt Vernadskogo, the road extending southwest from central Moscow that is paralleled in part by Moscow Metro Line 1. In 1978-1970, ravines, ponds and creeks in an area named “Salyuta” was filled in by “large quantities of soil, probably excavated during construction of the first line of Metro-2 and the underground city at Ramenki.”

Other details include location of a construction site, active until 1979, near the Yugo-Zapadnaya terminal http://metrowalks.ru/moscow/station-1-19 of Moscow Metro Line 1, and reports that the first line of Metro-2 (“Leonid”) was extended beyond Vnukovo-2 airport around 1986-1987 (the years during which “Yuri” was built).

------------------------------

METRO-2, LINE 2 – “Yuri,” southward segment.

Opened at the beginning of 1987. Length: 60 km (40 mi), said to be the world’s longest subway tunnel.

[We have here in CCCP longest metro tunnel in world! But you may not see it!!]

The line is described as extending southward from the Kremlin, parallel to the “Varshavskoye Shosse,” the Warsaw Chausee (highway) to the state guest house complex named “Bor;” (which means “Woods”) here is also located an “alternate command post” of the General Staff. It is probable, the article continues, that “Yuri” was extended to the new underground complex at Voronovo http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/voronovo.htm , about 74 km (46 mi) south of the Kremlin, [presumably near Chekhov http://www.saratoga-chekhov.com/saratogas_visit.asp ]. The location of the construction base is described as “somewhere in Tsaritsino;” Tsaritsino is a district of southern Moscow, not far north of the peripheral highway, noted for an uncompleted 18th-century Imperial summer retreat http://www.talava.com/tsaritsyno.html .

The article makes clear that the author does not accept everything he reports as true. It describes reports that “Yuri” extends southward from Chekhov as “inaccurate.” Summer residents of Akachkovo describe a massive underground complex, perhaps thirty stories deep, described by eyewitnesses as “simply enormous” – no specific size, but “simply enormous.” Summer residents of Kryukovo say that they sometimes feel trains passing beneath them at night, and recall a major construction project during the early 1980s . . . “something” was dug, and it was very deep, with pits one after another, that is, in a line . . .

------------------------------

METRO-2, LINE 3, “Yuri,” eastward segment.

Also opened at the beginning of 1987. Length: 25 km (16 mi).

The line is described as extending from the Kremlin due northeast and east to Zarya, the underground “TsKP” or Central Control Center of Soviet air defense forces – “holy of holies of our defense forces,” as the article puts it. No one, not even “high government officials and important foreign guests” may visit without the personal permission of the Defense Minister. Elevators from the surface are described as reaching a depth of 122 meters (396 feet). Construction of the TsKP was started “as early as 1958,” according to the article; “The ‘Cold War’ could at any moment become nuclear, and the initial bombardments of the capital could leave the military blind, deaf and dumb. In order to prevent this, ‘they’ decided to build a formidable bunker, deep underground, from which to lead our troops. This underground city was constructed Stakhanov style: by 1961, the first “moles” celebrated completion of their new homes. Marshal Pavel F. Batitskiy, commander of the air defense forces, personally thanked ‘Metrostroyevtsam,’ the metro construction enterprise, for its role in building TsKP.”

(If you’re in Moscow and have lots of hard currency to spend, you might want to check out some of the “state, departmental and private” museums http://www.rostourism.ru/museums.htm . For example, you can take a five-hour guided tour to the Air Defense History Museum at Zarya http://www.rostourism.ru/defense.htm ; oh, yes, allow 10-12 working days for the necessary permit. The charge for one person is $250 but that for 8-10 people is $440, so it pays to join a tour. Perhaps more of interest is the “The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center” http://howe.iki.rssi.ru/GCTC/gctc_e.htm ; this is better known in the West as “Star City” (Zvezdny Gorodok http://www.spaceadventures.com/media/info/destinations/starcity ; here is located the Yuri Gagarin Memorial Museum http://www.abamedia.com/rao/gallery/gagarin/ ). Six-hour guided tour, 5 working days required for permit, $500 for one person but $610 for 8-10 people.)

“Interesting” points en route along “Yuri-East” include “the Lubyanka” http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/kgb/lubyanka.htm , aka KGB headquarters, Dzerzhinskogo Ploshchad (named after Felix Dzerzhinsky http://www.angelfire.com/dc/1spy/Dzerzhinsky.html , one of Lenin’s henchmen who organized the Soviet intelligence apparatus; the square is once again known by its historic name, Lubyanskaya Ploshchad). Another, speculative, station location is Krasnye Vorota, said to be the site of an “enormous Stalin-era bunker” that has an entry from the platform of the Moscow Metro Krasniye Vorota station http://meta.metro.ru/moskva/krasvor.jpg (on the initial Line 1 segment opened in 1935).

Farther away from the city center, the line is described as paralleling the Shosse [Chausee] Entusiastov, “Enthusiast’s Highway,” through Izmailovskiy Park.

------------------------------

METRO-2, LINE 4 (“Boris”)

The article states that information about “Boris” is “almost invented” – which implies that only a few “improbable” details were available. The cost of construction was placed in the 1997 Russian budget, causing scandal and a hearing in the Russian Parliament, because some of the funds would be obtained from American credits (!!!!!). “Boris” is described as branching from “Leonid” in the Smolensk district (also known as “Kosygin”), extending under Park Pobedy, “sharing infrastructure with a planned branch of the ‘usual metro.’” It continues parallel to the Rublevskoye Shosse to a new bunker “next to Yeltsin’s house,” then to the sanatorium / bunker complex at Barvikhe (for an interesting commentary on dacha privileges as a driving force in Russian politics, pre- and post-1991, see here http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/08/14/007.html ).

------------------------------

METRO-2: ADMINISTRATION

Metro-2, according to the article, was administered by the 15th Directorate of the Committee for State Security (KGB) prior to 1991, and has been administered by the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) since then. The article states that Metro Dva “has no relation” with the FSB “Headquarters of the President’s Special Programs” (GUSP), in conflict with other information online http://www.agentura.ru/english/dosie/gusp/ . Projects are managed within the Metro-2 administration itself, but staff are recruited from the ”usual metro” construction organization as needed. Metro-2 staff members live in Odintsovo, east of the Moscow peripheral highway (housing of staff employed by “secret” enterprises in a single location was used during the Brezhnev era as a means to control “leakage” of state secrets).

------------------------------

METRO-2: TECHNICAL DETAILS

Metro-2 is not a “government metro” system, according to the article. It does not transport high-ranking officials during peacetime. Its “basic function” is “readiness for evacuation.” In addition, it transports freight and “service personnel.”

[Ah, but what sort of freight? Provisions and supplies for all those “underground facilities,” perhaps munitions as well.]

The entire system is single track; “it would be foolish to build for two-way traffic, because in the case of the “ATOM” signal or some other warning of disaster, all traffic will move in one direction.”

[The above passage is a bit unclear; it suggests that Metro Dva has no intermediate passing sidings, as at stations, that would permit two-way traffic. In any case, the single-track configuration rules out conversion to public passenger operation without great expense. Moscow will not be building a Paris-style RER network based on Metro Dva anytime soon.]

The article continues that in contrast to “the usual metro,” ventilation shafts are absent from Metro-2 tunnels. The air “down there” must be dank, stagnant, and uncomfortably warm during summer.

Metro Dva, according to the article, was constructed using the “closed” method, without intermediate shafts, as was the tunnel under “La Manche” (the English Channel). Outlying “stages” are not electrified – only the central segments have third rail.

Details of the “original” Metro Dva rolling stock are not known. Rolling-stock formations used on the second and third lines of Metro Dva (“Yuri”) included four cars: two accumulator (battery) – electric locomotives of type “L,” flanking two carriages of type EZh-B, EZh-E or the new series 81-174. Goods wagons (freight cars) are of series UP-2 and MK-2/15. From the beginning of the 1990s, scheduled maintenance was performed at the Moscow Metro Izmailovo depot.

(We’ve included the following links for the benefit of Intrepid Websurfers who would like to imagine what Metro-2 trains MIGHT look like – if 1.) trains resemble those used on the “real” Moscow Metro, and of course 2.) if Metro Dva exists.

(The initial Moscow Metro stock, Type A/B, built from 1934, worked until 1975: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg02.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type G stock, built from 1939, worked until 1983: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg04.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type V stock, built from 1947, worked until 1965: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg03.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type D stock, built from 1955, worked until 1995:
http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg05.jpg

(Moscow Metro experimental Type E (Ye) stock, built 1959, worked until 1970: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg06.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type E (Ye) stock, built from 1963, in service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg07.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type Em (Ye-m) stock, built from 1966, in service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg08.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type Ezh (Ye-zh) stock, built from 1970, in service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg09.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type 81-717 stock, built from 1976, in service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg10.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type 81-714 stock, built from 1976, in service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg11.jpg

(Moscow Metro experimental Type I stock, built 1973, not used in commercial service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg12.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type VEKA battery-electric locomotive, built 1992: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg13.jpg

(Moscow Metro experimental Type 81-720.1 stock, built 1991, not used in commercial service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg14.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type 81-720 stock, built from 1991, in service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg15.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type 81-718 stock, built from 1991, not used in commercial service: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/vg16.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type 81-740 stock (“Scythian”), built from 2002, trial operation: http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/skif250303.jpg

(Moscow Metro Type 81-740/741 (“Scythian”): http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/11/alexd_06.jpg

Metro-2 stations are described as resembling the usual “three-arch” (view of Arbatskaya station http://www.metropoliten.newmail.ru/mm2000.html ) design of deep-level stations on “the usual” Moscow Metro, with an overall size 1.5 times that of the usual metro tunnels.

------------------------------

IOSIF?

We found a page http://moscow.salex.ru/maps/map.php?metro-2 where “Iosif” is described as “Line 0.” However, this page also states that Metro Dva tunnels are 1.5 times as large as the “usual metro” tunnels. We are extremely skeptical of that particular detail, which appears to arise from a misunderstanding of details related to overall tunnel size at stations (above).

We’ll conclude our coverage of the Ultimate Secret Subway in a subseqent next post.
posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 9/30/2007 09:04:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS - 10

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our coverage of other transit-oriented blogs:

www.publictransit.us presents "original fact-based, 'in context' research and analysis of public transit operations, technical, and financial issues." Contents are arranged by topic: "Articles & Links on Energy and Oil," "Articles/Critiques of Bus Rapid Transit," "Details on New Transit Proposals," "The Economics of Transit," "Motor Vehicles & Their Impacts," "New & Improved Transit Systems," "Opinion essays on transit topics," "Protecting What America Is About," "Transit Supply and Service Consumption" and "Urban and transit advocates vs. skeptics."

This site has many technical and statistical resources, including tabulations of urban rail openings in the USA from 1980 here and of peak-hour passenger volumes carried by various urban bus and rail systems in the USA and Canada here.

Your Favorite Transit Pundits get tickled pink every time we take a look at this comparison of various light rail systems by annual traffic density here. Imagine: Portland and San Diego light rail systems carry roughly the same number of people as Zurich over each mile of line – and Los Angeles carries MORE!

(We’d love to hear how certain self-appointed and "Sappy(tm)" experts . . . "The Bearded Blow-Hard of Bandon," for example . . . or well, you know, Mr. Fudge – would spin those facts away!

(However, we wouldn’t suggest holding your breath while waiting for Randal’s or Wendell’s commentary . . .

(. . . with respect to this particular topic, as the late Argentine boxer Oscar Bonavena would say, we think "dese guys" and other "Sappy(tm)" sages are chicken!!

(. . . Cheep!!! Cheep!!! Cheep!!!)

(Not clear on what “annual traffic density” means? Check out this page: TrafficDensityPrimer.)

Many but not all pages posted on www.publictransit.us may be viewed in html or .pdf format. Also, you can register for free so you can log on and post comments. (Unlike the grumpy – and Sappy(tm) – Vic Vreeland, webmaster of the flashy but wasted "Railroading America" site, publictransit.us does not seem aversive to criticism.)

We’re opinionated (. . . but that’s why you keep checking out our blog . . . ), so we do have one "bone to pick" with this site: it is colorless . . . no 'tude (attitude) . . . and, worst of all, HUMORLESS! Check out some of the thorough de-bunking of various bunk by leading bunkmeisters (Randal and Wendell, of course) – and note the glaring lack of anything resembling riposte and ridicule!!

No crude attempts at comedy, no invective, no insults . . . think of the fun they could have!

For example:

Note the "counterpoint" to a Wendell "point" – a photo in Zurich, taken from the same location where Wendell stood, but facing the opposite direction. Clear evidence that Wendell took "his" photo with his back turned to the main railway station.

That opens up all sorts of comedic opportunities . . .

. . . imagine the headline:

Ultimate Show of Contempt for Rail:
WENDELL COX POINTS HIS AR-- AT ZURICH HAUPTBAHNHOF!

Intrepid Websurfers interested in various technical issues related to public transport planning and analysis will find much useful information at www.publictransit.us. But, alas, you won’t find much in the way of “entertainment.”

C’mon, chaps, lighten up! Mankind does not live by statistics alone!!
posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 2/17/2005 12:48:00 PM

 
We're Not the ONLY Ones Picking on Mr. Fudge

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Recently we in the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal heard a great line:

"Wendell Cox is the Torquemada of Transportation."

Well, you know: for what he does to numbers!

We certainly wish we had said this, but we didn't! Can't claim credit for something we didn't say! We also wish we had said this:

"Wendell Cox is a dips---!"

But we didn't either! Durn!

The second quote is from a Famous Author--much better known than Wendell--who is known in particular for his pithy, some say vulgar, wordsmithing on the subject of urban and suburban America.

Whomever guesses correctly about the second quote will get ONE FREE GUEST BLOG on this blog--even if the copy is violently anti-transit. Hey, we're sporting! Are you? Hey Wendell, Randal, Peter G. etc., are you reading?

Send guesses to transitcabal AT yahoo.com ("@" omitted to confuse spambots).

Good'day as they say in Kangarooland "Down Unda"
posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 1/05/2005 01:10:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS - 9

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our coverage of other transit-oriented blogs:

“Urbification: Taking the Sub out of California Suburbs:” covers “Walking. Bicycling. Alternatives to Driving Everywhere. Social justice. Alternatives to suburban boredom and waste. And the infrastructure and technology needed to get there.” urbification.blogspot.com. Webmaster is Scott Mace, a writer based in Berkeley, CA.

Here’s a sample post with a link to a timely story about the decline and fall of public transit in Montgomery, AL www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20001225&s=wypijewski

“From 1977 to 1999 a white bully-boy Republican named Emory Folmar was mayor, and he made the bus system scream. [Montgomery resident Rose Zell] Lawrence says things just gradually disappeared. Advertising income disappeared after Folmar tried to bar an anti-death penalty ad and then decided that if he couldn't discriminate among advertisers he wouldn't have any at all. By the fortieth anniversary of the bus boycott, service had been cut by 70 percent and fares had doubled, to $1.50. Student and old-age discounts were eliminated. In 1996 midday service stopped. Finally, in 1997, the City Council said there just weren't enough riders or revenue; the traditional system of big buses and fixed routes was finished. As Jon Broadway, an environmental engineer and a leader of the Montgomery Transportation Coalition, put it, ‘If you choke a dog long enough, it'll die.’"

(“Timely” because Ms. Rosa Parks, who now lives in Detroit, celebrated her 91st birthday on February 4, 2004.)

Here’s another sample post we like:

David Goldberg: "As lawmakers negotiate the transportation bill they should keep in mind the invocation with which Representative Earl Blumenauer, their Democratic colleague from Oregon, often begins speeches: 'Let's have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle.'"

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/22/2004 02:59:00 PM

 
CABALIST AT WORK

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

For a photo of a Cabalist(tm) at work, click here.
posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/16/2004 09:57:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 8

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our review of other transit-oriented blogs:

“The Driver’s Room” vtadriversroom.blogspot.com is another all-transit blog. It describes itself as “A running commentary about the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority [San Jose] from an inside perspective.” Check out the following sample of “hard-hitting commentary:”

Cash-Strapped VTA Still Spending Millions on BART

“VTA is forging ahead with its BART expansion plans despite protests from county municipalities that must pay for it and do not benefit by it. The cost of the BART extension is estimated to be more than $4 billion. VTA is spending tens of millions of dollars just studying its proposals.

“Two billion dollars of the estimated cost is to come from local funding -- sales taxes and farebox revenue. The rest is to come from state and federal grants. The state cannot make good on its promises to help fund the BART extension. And the federal government has not said it would provide any money at all.

“VTA has a problem on its hands. On the one hand it has cut service and laid off drivers twice in order to work within a dwindling influx of available operating cash. On the other hand, it promised voters in 2000 that BART would be extended to San Jose. Yet it does not, and will not, have the money to fulfill that promise.”

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/16/2004 09:54:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 7

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our review of other transit-oriented blogs:

Here’s another favorite of Your Favorite Transit Pundits: “Beyond Brilliance, Beyond Stupidity:” www.646industries.com/beyond. The general format is “point-counterpoint:” “Positive” and “Negative” developments in “transportation, urban planning, design, the environment, the internet and many other vaguely related areas.” Here’s an excerpt:

“Ignoring the Cost of Car Ownership

“Your Wallet: Being almost 30 and having never owned a car in my life, I know I'm a radical anomaly in the US, and perhaps an evil traitor by some people's measurements. But according to the American Automobile Association, I've saved almost $125,000 in my adult life by forgoing what most people are incapable of living without.

“Granted, it's hardly their fault, as the vast, vast majority of the American urban landscape is impossible to navigate by any other means, and I do rent cars from time to time. Additionally, a huge amount of my apparent savings has been eaten up by the higher rents of living in places like San Francisco and London, where cars are not required.

“But the point of today's entry is this - few people really stop to think about how much money they are spending on their car. If they did, perhaps they would demand better transit in their neighborhoods, or walkability from their local planners. For now, however, people still seem to be wearing blinders.”

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/08/2004 07:01:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 6

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal, that is "CAS's" "Cabal Adjunct Scholars." Congrats, Dudes!

From the Cabalmaster:

Continuing our review of other transit-oriented blogs:

Here’s a favorite of Your Favorite Transit Pundits: “BadTransit” www.badtransit.com. It’s an all-transit blog focusing almost exclusively on Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, known locally as “the T”) . . . which does not enjoy a sterling reputation for efficiency, integrity or customer service. Consider these BadTransit tag lines:

"Your ‘perpetually gloomy’ MBTA ‘watchdog’, with news, vitriolic opinion, commentary, biting sarcasm, parody, dissent, insult, rumor, and sad humor on the USA's most inept mass-transit system - Boston's MBTA"

"Greetings, fellow commuters! In the United States, Boston boasts as home of "America's First Subway". That's nice. It must be quite old. But why should it be so filthy and decrepit? Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA, and even parts of the New York City subway are cleaner and better operated. What happened?!"

"Our name is BadTransit, but don't get the wrong idea. We're for Good Transit "

We think it fair to say that the webmaster, a self-described long-time commuter who relies on the T, is as mad as hell (www.wavsource.com/movies/network.htm). Check out these samples of muckraking, no-holds-barred commentary:

"BadTransit is all about the MBTA... the really awful part. If you're interested in ‘Rail fan’ information you've come to the wrong place. But if you're a Boston commuter, or contemplate traveling to our fair city in search of clean, reliable and safe public transportation, you'll discover in our news, editorial content, Commuter Spotter reports, and other features significant reason to consider altering your travel plans. After recent events, some commuters are being sized for bullet-proof vests. Others, biohazard outfits. On the MBTA, it's clear to us that you should always have an exit plan: be as close to the exit as possible and prepare to run."

"As you can already figure out, we think the MBTA is a dangerous, filthy, mismanaged, corrupt and inefficient mess. These are not conclusions drawn in haste. They have evolved from almost 30 years of using this system."

(Hey! Sounds "informed but opinionated" to us!!)

"We pay a lot for our transit system. The MBTA says, perhaps as an excuse for its complete ineptitude, that we have the ‘lowest base fares in the nation’. However, looking at the federal and state subsidies, the MBTA takes in roughly 25 to 30 percent from actual passenger revenue (when they collect it). The rest comes from our high taxes. Considering the subsidies and the lack of in-system transfers, our system is, according to a recent report, one of the most expensive in the nation. It's also deeply in debt, over $4 Billion as of the spring of 2004, and this is expected to continue to rise. The debt deepens with massive spending on unnecessary and fiscally irresponsible expansion projects, mostly to keep former Big Dig contractors employed, while the core of the MBTA system melts down. In fact, the debt payments consume a huge portion of the T's budget.

"What do we get for all the cash? A transit experience from Hell.

"From the traditionally unscheduled performance and constant breakdown of MBTA buses and trains; the unmitigated filth; the surly and unhelpful crews; rampant safety issues; and an unimaginative agency that exists to live out the prime directive - save their own jobs - the MBTA is a real gem.

"Do we [at BadTransit] have to play fair? No. The Boston media and the politicians all coddle this agency. They seem to work so that the complaining is kept at a minimum. Someone has to speak for the commuters either too afraid or just too timid and polite to do so for themselves. Therefore, BadTransit takes a tilted position. Here, we will not permit one excuse to be issued for the MBTA's failure . They have a 3-person public relations team to do that and, insult after injury, their salaries are paid for by tax and fare-payers! Instead, we try to call it as we see it. We're not experts, just commuters who demand and deserve performance and a good return on investment. We're also not professional journalists. We often fail to present both sides of the story (or the MBTA excuse DuJour). If you want the other side, read the Boston Globe or the Herald, or an MBTA press release. (We also invite our readers to view " Are we balanced? ", disclosing our bias and asks for your input to help improve our service to commuters.)

(And you thought we were exaggerating about "opinionated" to us!!!)

"Are we fair . . . balanced? Is this news??"

". . . we think it's important to disclose that, particularly in our T-Watch section which covers various news items, the commentary, sarcasm, and all the rest do tend to shine on. Therefore, what you read is fact (as we know it!) but often laced with our opinions, understandings, perceptions, and all the rest. We have a section for pure rumor - the Water Cooler - and we try to keep fact and total rumor separate, but compartmentalizing everything is beyond the scope of our small effort."

We Opinionated Ones think this is a great site, interesting and entertaining even if you don’t live in Boston . . . that will perhaps inspire similar efforts for other cities. Check it out . . . and join us in waiting for completion of "BadTransit’s Tour the T," page, currently under construction.

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 12/02/2004 07:21:00 PM

 
NARROW-MINDED MYTH

Home of So Few Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds. Einstein

IMPORTANT NOTE: FOC's ("Friends of the Cabal") (you know, like "FOB's"--"Friends of Bill" [Clinton]) have now all been promoted to "Adjuct Scholars" of The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal. You know, like Wendell Cox, Randal O'Toole, et al are "Adjunct Scholars" (sic) to the Reason Foundation, the Buckeye Institute, the Cascade Policy Institute, and 500+ other conservative/libertarian "Think (sic) Tanks". Congratulations, Dudez!

From the Cabalmaster:

Um, excuse us for getting technical, but sometimes we come across a whopper of an urban legend in cyberspace. Intrepid Websurfers are well aware that some of the stuff you find online is incomplete, inaccurate, or just plain wrong.

(Intrepid Websufers also know that you’ve got to watch out for “dezinformatiya,” for there’s a lot of that online.)

(We’re actually going to restrain ourselves! We’re not going to turn the admonition above into one of our cheap shots at Randal “Disasters” O’Toole, Tom “Entitles” Rubin, Peter “Blogger” Gordon, Dennis “Ozone” Polhill, Maggi “Underground” Fimia . . . or Wendell "Mr. Fudge" Cox!!)

(Oh, so you enjoy reading and giggling at those cheap shots?)

(Well, just don’t sit there; compose one or two of your own – suitable for a family-oriented blog, of course – and send it by e-mail!!)

Anyway: we found the following in an online “free encyclopedia” while researching a previous post: “The narrow gauge [“Cape Gauge, 1,067mm, or 3’6”] results in lateral instability and prevents the trains to run at higher speed.” encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Philippine%20National%20Railways.

Although believed by many, this just “’tain’t so.”

IF the track is in reasonably good condition, narrow-gauge trains can be just as “laterally stable” as standard-gauge ones and can operate at quite high speeds. The secret – not widely known outside of transportation circles – is to build bogies (trucks) with a wheelbase (spacing between axles) LONGER than the track gauge (spacing between rails, and wheels) is WIDE. This has been found to provide substantial “lateral stability.”

And yes, there is a trade-off. Increasing the bogie (truck) wheelbase also increases the minimum required radius for curves. So “laterally stable” narrow-gauge trains might require extensive upgrading of existing infrastructure.

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 11/19/2004 05:29:00 PM