Safety 1st spurs subway delays

Slower train speed limits

Crumbling tracks, ancient signals and decrepit trains are only partly to blame for subway rides taking so long.

Thousands of delays are due to new rules and lower speed limits instituted after tragic incidents in the 1990s and 2000s, including one where two trains collided, according to new info released by the MTA.

The agency lowered speed limits throughout the system after a 1995 crash in which a J train rearended an M train on the Williamsburg Bridge, according to those close to the agency.

The straightaway speed limit was lowered from 50-55 mph to 40 mph after that crash, which killed the J-train operator and injured more than 50 passengers. The agency also changed signal systems to automatically trip a speeding train’s brakes even if the track ahead was clear, instead of only when there was another train right ahead.

New subway-system president Andy Byford now wants to see if the speed limit can safely be raised.

He convened a signal-timer working group of agency engineers and service planners to look into safety rules that have slowed down service.

“The changes made to the signal system [in response to the 1995 crash] have undoubtedly had an impact on subway capacity,” Byford said.

“I met with my team . . . and we are studying the impact and what was done to see if adjustments can be made while still maintaining the safety benefit.”

Trains moving past track workers must now slow to a greater degree than in years prior. That’s because of two 2007 incidents in which workers were fatally struck.

Signal modification has resulted in an average loss of 2,851 total passenger hours per weekday, a 2014 study obtained by the Village Voice showed.

“The . . . signals force us to operate slower, and because they have been installing them gradually, the subways have been slowing down gradually,” a train operator told the Voice.

Transit union officials said they would fight efforts to speed up trains near track workers.