Trains leaving early
BART so sucks a** at this point that I guess this is probaabbly considered a minor gripe to most. I have seen this move pulled before by whomever gives the greenlight for departing trains at the beginning of the line. As I am walking into the Bay Point station at 9:44 (and I am basing the time on Verizon Wireless) I notice a train departing, but it appeared to be shorter than usual so I figured it was an "out of service" train. Well after watching it scoot up the hill out of Bay Point very slowly (and even appearing to stop), I notice an empty platform. As I get to the platform at 9:46, I am thinking "maybe that was a really late train, and another should be coming since THE REGULAR DEPARTURE TIME IS 9:47); Of course that didn't happen. Now, why would BART pull a stunt like this?
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That is a problem (send in
That is a problem (send in the card that you can get from a station agent).
At a few places, the train operator is "under the gun" to get moving on time. For example, the Dublin train has to leave Millbrae on time, since he has the Pittsburg train on his tail. The Fremont train has to leave DC on time, to allow the Dublin train into platform 1.
At Pittsburg, the opposite is true. If a train leaves on time, and even if it has a whistle stop at the yard, it will probably get slowed down (PL5) at Pleasant Hill or WC. Unfortunately, the central computer sends the release to Pittsburg a minute or two early. There is a chart on the wall of the TO breakroom, listing all the dispatch times (to the second), but few look at it. As a result, the trains can, and often do leave early.
There are a few TO's who program "run thru's" in order to depart early. One guy (now retired) could get a train from Fremont to DC about three minutes early. He had some kind of medical condition, and always had his cab as hot as possible, even in July. You aren't supposed to do that, but I doubt central notices it much.