Stimulus Money to Update Metro Subway Systems


This was posted up on MTAMaryland yesterday highlighting some improvements to the Metro Subway systems including PA systems and train truck assemblies.


The best news on this is the updated auto-visual PA system. If you have been in the Charles Center station recently you will notice new signs on the station walls that denote the date and time, and when a train is approaching. When a train begins to come into the station a (slightly annoying) buzzer warns passengers, and on the signs the destination of the train and arrows pointing to which direction the train is going appear on the signs. Eventually these signs, or similar ones, will be at every station and will not only provide information on arrival, but also updates, outages, and notices. Pretty cool huh? Maybe they will post when the next train is coming like they do in D.C.

Hopefully the signs will be a bit larger than the ones at Charles Center now. They are a great improvement, but there are awfully small for the information MTA might be trying to provide on them.

The rest of the money will go to tunnel inspections and upgrades as well as replacing the wheel truck assemblies on the trains. I'm guessing this will cut down on the squealing as the trains go around corners, and braking. The trains are 25 years old, and you can tell the brakes need a tune up on many cars as you are jerking to a stop coming into the station.

Too bad the upgrades won't include awesome LCD screens like Chicago
.

Enjoy the weekend!

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