If you’ve felt like your train has been going faster than usual in the last month or two, it probably was.
As part of efforts to reduce the amount of subway delays trains will begin to move at a faster speed, with the Brooklyn N and R lines being the first to test it in early December. Now, the subway speed has increased at 24 locations under the Save Safe Seconds campaign, with plans to increase them at over 100 locations across the system.
As part of this campaign, lines will not only increase but will double speeds at some points, and even get rid of speed restrictions altogether at others. For instance, the southbound 1-line just north of Penn Station has no speed restrictions, while some points on the N and R lines increased for 15 mph to 30mph.
These changes are part of New York City Transit chief, Andy Byford’s, $40-billion Fast Forward plan to cut down the amount of delays experienced on the subway system and improve overall service. In an interview with the New York Times Byford said “this is all about getting the safe maximum out of the existing signaling system.” Earlier this week, the MTA also announced that they have found about 320 faulty signal timers and have recalibrated 59 of them so far.
The speed limit increase at all 100 locations are expected to be completely implemented by this spring.