Good thing I get there early

October 24, 2010 8:07 AM

Once or twice a week at least, I hear a subway announcement that the line is running with delays "due to a disabled train." This might signify that the train is five minutes later than you expected, or two hours later. Does anyone know exactly what "a disabled train" means?

Although I commute in the Boston area, other subway systems probably have similar issues. I also suspect that "a disabled train" can mean anything the announcer cares for it to mean.

posted by Countess Elena to Travel & Transportation (14 answers total)

Best answer: It means the train isn't going to be on time and they better tell people something neutral that doesn't sound easily fixable so that calls to higher ups aren't made.
posted by nomadicink at 8:25 AM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have no inside knowledge, but to me a disabled train means a train that can't move on its own. So they either have to figure out which fuse blew, or get something in there to tow it away.

But the delay will depend where exactly the train (and your train) is on the tracks. Does the system have other ways around the disabled train? Is there a cros-over thingy nearby that can let other trains by in single track mode? Etc.
posted by gjc at 8:26 AM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also, if I heard that announcement, I would assume it is some other train that is in the way. If the train I am on is disabled, I would assume the message would be "we are experiencing mechanical difficulties, please remain calm".
posted by gjc at 8:28 AM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

I hear the same thing, but on the TTC, and it's always a "passenger medical emergency." I have no clue what it means, or what actually happens (is the train stopped in mid-tunnel and EMTs are rushing down the maintenance tunnel on foot? Why can't they just move the person off the train for treatment and continue service as usual?)
posted by pravit at 8:42 AM on October 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

There's a train disabled on a track. This means it can't move, so it's in the way of other trains. They need to reroute trains so they go around the disabled train.

Medical emergencies: if it's a situation where you can't move the passenger, or have to treat then move, that's going to cause a delay.
posted by zamboni at 8:50 AM on October 24, 2010

I commute in the Boston area as well and I hear this fairly regularly taking the green line. I always figured, as gjc mentions, that it's a mechanical difficulties sort of thing.
posted by LittleKnitting at 8:51 AM on October 24, 2010

No, the MBTA also uses the terms "police action", "fire department activity", and "medical emergency" as appropriate.

The MBTA usually only has two tracks and any particular place, so it's hard to move around a disabled train. Although if the disabled equipment is on only one branch of the Red or Green lines, the other branches can of course move as normal.
posted by mkb at 8:52 AM on October 24, 2010

Check the conditions of carriage or service. Usually, if a train is > X minutes late, there's a chance of a refund. If the train is declared disabled (or similar), passengers aren't eligible for anything.

pravit, the reason the TTC trains wait for EMT is that moving a patient off the train by non-medical staff could worsen their condition.
posted by scruss at 8:57 AM on October 24, 2010

I don't know if I'm just morbid, but I would presume that at least some of the time those are suicides. They tend not to broadcast those, but as I understand it they happen pretty frequently.
posted by Hildegarde at 9:12 AM on October 24, 2010

Best answer: A disabled train means that a train can't move on its own unless a problem is fixed. Sometimes, the operator can remedy the situation by resetting something, and other times, the fix requires a mechanic to get the train moving again. Ways to get things moving can involve a simple reset, isolating the problem (including offloading passengers from a single car), to overriding certain built-in safety features (which would require, under federal safety regulations, to offload the entire train of passengers), in order to get the train to a repair yard.

A train might also be pulled/pushed by another train (called a recovery train, and the recovery train, also by federal law, might not be able to carry passengers, resulting in passengers being asked to offload a train for no apparent reason (to the customers, that is). Situations (and day-to-day operations, for that matter) have to be managed by a central control facility, which means that operators and mechanics must get permissions to proceed with train movements or actions. Track problems or situations can also cause delays.

As for sick customers, if a customer cannot leave the train on his or her own, the train can't move until paramedics/EMTs have responded. Other passengers may be cleared from the train or area to facilitate this.

(A good resource to learn about train operations is Railroad.net.)
posted by SillyShepherd at 9:33 AM on October 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

I was on a "disabled train" once (on the TTC green line in Toronto). The damn thing caught fire. They had firefighters come down and put it out, then diverted it to the nearest train yard.

Other announcements we sometimes get:
"Passenger medical emergency": When I was on that train, it was exactly that. Passenger had a heart attack.

"Police situation": Bomb scares and knife fights and such.

"Personal injury at track level": Thaaat's the jumpers.

Here's a bunch of urban explorers talking about TTC PA codes.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 10:16 AM on October 24, 2010

I hear the same thing, but on the TTC, and it's always a "passenger medical emergency."

I envision this as a problem with someone on another train ahead of yours. Yours is mid-tunnel, but theirs is in the station, where they wait for EMTs or whoever to safely assist the imperiled soul. The ripple effect can continue for quite some time.
posted by thejoshu at 10:31 AM on October 24, 2010

Usually, if a train is > X minutes late, there's a chance of a refund. If the train is declared disabled (or similar), passengers aren't eligible for anything.

No, the train probably really has broken down or caught fire; there is essentially zero chance of a refund if the train is late.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 6:24 PM on October 24, 2010

On London Tube trains, people sometimes hold the doors open for friends. If this happens more than two or three times, it will trigger an automatic safety hold that disables the train from moving until an engineer can reset it. They're getting around it by allowing train drivers to open or close one door in isolation. Previously, every time the driver opened the doors to free the idiot who had dived on and got their bag caught, another thirty people leapt through the doors and so on.

Hildegarde: "I don't know if I'm just morbid, but I would presume that at least some of the time those are suicides. They tend not to broadcast those, but as I understand it they happen pretty frequently."

In London, they started using the phrase 'due to a person under a train' when they had a jumper, because they apparently found it massively reduced complaints.

Although you haven't heard real lack of compassion until you've heard a London tube commuter saying "Christ, you'd think they'd wait until after rush hour."
posted by Happy Dave at 3:40 AM on October 25, 2010