Subway Operations and Operations Planning

Collaborations for Subway Service Improvements at NYC Transit

Peter G. CafieroChief

Division of Operations Planning

John G. GaulVice President & Chief Officer, Service Delivery

Department of Subways

New York City Transit

New York City Transit

Internal & external factors present a

challenging operating environment

1

Operating conditions Key challenges

Hurricane

Sandy

Harsh winters

(10/11 & 13/14)

Aging

infrastructure

Operating at capacity more

frequently

Increasing delays

Decreasing wait assessment

(regularity)

Increasing track access

required for planned &

unplanned work

Increased

ridership

Size &

complexity

24/7 operations

New York City Transit

Historically, Operations Planning &

Operations tended to operate in silos

2

Planning (long term)• Setting service frequency

• Scheduling crews/trains

Planning (short term)• Approve track access

requests and create

supplemental schedules

Analysis• Statistics & modeling

• Report generation

Operations Planning

Execution• Daily operations

• Maintenance &

construction (w/ CPM, etc.)

Record keeping• Databases

• Hard copy records

Operations

Schedules & guidance

Performance & incident data

Requests for track access

Feedback on schedule

New York City Transit

Challenges have prompted investment in

bridging Operations Planning and Operations

3

Operations Planning OperationsCollaborative efforts

Schedule optimization• Revised running times

Special operating plans • Special events

• Inclement weather

System rebuilding• FASTRACK program

Service regulation• Back to basics

• Centralization

Operations analysis• Daily performance feedback

• Real-time mgmt. tools

Planning (long term)• Setting service frequency

• Scheduling crews/trains

Planning (short term)• Approve track access

requests and create

supplemental schedules

Analysis• Statistics & modeling

• Report generation

Execution• Daily operations

• Maintenance &

construction (w/ CPM, etc.)

Record keeping• Databases

• Hard copy records

New York City Transit

Collaboration fostered by increased

interaction, changing expectations

4

Increased interactions

• Collaborative projects and incident

critiques

• Joint service delivery meetings

• Planning analysts temporarily

embedded in Rail Control Center

Changing culture & expectations

• Jointly accountability for results

• A culture of continuing improvement,

not “That is how it has always been

done” philosophy

• Vertical and horizontal communication

within and across departments

Schedule

Optimization

5

New York City TransitRunning time adjustments

• First major analysis and changes to schedules since 1996

• Numbered line schedule changes completed based on full data from

automated data systems

– Changes in running time vary by time of day due to differing ridership, congestion

and maintenance activity

– Changes evened out service which had become uneven due to prior changes to

individual lines (flat junctions caused unintended impacts on other lines)

– Initial results are positive, showing improved throughput, on time performance,

and wait assessment

• Lettered line changes in progress, based on data entered by dispatchers, as

well as data from programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and a modest

number of traditional manual observations

6

The number/letter line breakdown is a general rule, with a few exceptions (e.g., L trains have centralized data).

Special Operating

Plans

7

New York City TransitBarclays Center special event plans

8

• Prior to the center opening, Operations Planning and Operations

jointly developed plans for additional service after large events, and

revised plans based on experience

New York City Transit

Hurricane planning has evolved and

improved

9

• Operations Planning and

Operations jointly develops

plans for:

– Evacuation

– Closure & protection of system

– Restoration and reopening

• Operations Planning input used

to prioritize during the storm

– Operations Planning reports

and data available to

Operations staff

– Operations Planning

representative providing live

support at the Incident

Command Center

NYC

Hurricane Sandy Service Timeline

-6

-8

-20

-18

-18

-42

-30

-42

+6

0

Hurricane Landfall

NYCT Coastal Storm Service Plan begins

NYCT Subway Service begins to curtail

All NYCT service suspended

Operating personnel in safe locations

NYCT Bus Service begins to curtail

Mayoral evacuation order issued

Evacuation Centers prepare for opening

Timepoints not to scale

Evacuation!

New York City TransitWinter Operations Plans

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• Objective: Lay out storm

preparation, fighting, and

service normalization

strategy, including plan for

underground fleet storage

• Operations Planning and

Operations work together to

schedule pre-positioning,

operations around stored

trains, and resumption of

normal service

System Rebuilding

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New York City TransitFASTRACK

• Objective: Maximize

effectiveness for maintenance

activities by removing service

from all tracks

Improved safety

Lower cost

Simpler closure definitions

(e.g., 10PM – 5AM each day,

all tracks)

Minimized substitute bus

service

Maximized use of alternative

subway options

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Example map from FASTRACK poster

Service Regulation &

Delay Management

13

New York City TransitBack to basics

Precise dispatching

Continuous headway regulation

Effective delay management

Dwell time control

14

New York City TransitDwell time control

15

New York City TransitEvolving service control organization

Numbered lines: 2006 ATS provided fully centralized monitoring and

control

Lettered lines: Centralized monitoring being phased in

16

The number/letter line breakdown is a general rule, with a few exceptions. L trains have centralized control and 7 trains do not, though centralized 7 train control is planned.

Decentralized Centralized

New York City TransitEvolving service control organization

Operations Planning/Operations collaborative efforts on:

Organizational change management

Streamlining processes and procedures

Optimizing use of electronic performance data

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Operations Analysis /

Capacity Utilization

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New York City TransitDaily performance feedback reports

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Illustrative mock ups only – not necessarily representative of actual performance. 1. Facilitating Subway Service Improvements with Near-Real Time Data Visualization and Reporting

Terminal OTP reports shared with Operations daily & interactive dashboard being built to trace

individual trains

More details in next presentation1

New York City Transit

Real-time service management tools:

Stringline chart

• OP developed stringline

chart to visualize service and

intervals to help operations

better regulate spacing

between trains

• Senior management and

planners found stringlines

useful for analysis

• Embedded analysts

discovered dispatchers

found the display too

complex for rapid decision-

making, preferred a simple

table

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Trains held to close gaps

New York City Transit

Real-time service management tools:

Largest gaps table

• Automatically identify and prioritize largest gaps in the system (A-

division) for service managers to target

• Currently under pilot testing at the Rail Control Center

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Gaps can be filtered by dispatcher territory as well as line/direction

New York City Transit

Stringlines and gap tables are new and

improved versions of much older ideas

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New York City TransitConclusions

Subway service is facing new challenges and NYCT is trying several

new initiatives to combat declining performance

Operations Planning & Operations are working collaboratively to

maximize resources and eliminate barriers

Collaborative projects

Regular OP/Service Delivery meetings & calls

Extensive coordination and collaboration between groups within

NYCT undertaken in a short time frame

Significant steps taken to take advantage of the data by using it to

improve performance

Schedule improvements

Real-time performance tools

Performance assessments

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