Why Do Our Modern Trains Look So Old?

recently the MBTA Boston's Transit Agency revealed some potential new designs for the new trains on the Boston green line and compared to even the vehicles Boston was getting for the green line in the late 2010s these new vehicles do legitimately look much better but they somehow still managed to continue the old Boston tradition of new trains which look old and for that I thought I would make a video you see all the design is improved it still feels kind of dated and a bit awkward award and this is an issue we see again and again across the US and sometimes in Canada an old looking design is bad in and of itself for matters of public perception but it also often means that a lot of the great features that can exist in transit in 2023 just don't exist in an old looking vehicle so let's look at new trains that look old why that's actually a problem and what we can learn from around the world on this issue now before I step back and talk about why I don't think old is necessarily a good look for new Transit it's worth talking about the good and bad of the design of Boston's new green line trains to start with a good unlike the current trains on the green line which are typically coupled up into longer consist to operate out on the line the new vehicles which are built by calf are seven segment long fully interconnected and walk through single Vehicles which is great the vehicle also do look much more Sleek than the older type 9 vehicles and they're 100% low floor even if that term is a total misnomer wherever it's used but it's not all good the vehicles have oldfashioned looking framed windows which awkwardly look a bit too small these are even being phased out on some Modern buses they also have doors with windows that are just smaller than the best examples you'll see out there and before you say well the design is fine these are going to be the vehicles you'll have for the next 30 Years get it right now while it's in the design phase there's also a fairly prominent antic climber on the front of the vehicle which while practical is not really something you visibly see on most modern vehicles even within the US now to be clear some of these features like the framed windows can make things like replacing Windows easier so I am sure there's a justification here but it's worth acknowledging that a justification doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea there's a reason vehicles around the world are going with seamless framefree Windows they look better and they're typically larger if cities around the world have figured out how to manage maintenance on big frameless Windows I'm sure Boston can as well now to be clear Boston's newest trams are not the worst offender for being new but looking old that would be Boston's last round of trams okay I just but there are lots of vehicles in North America which needlessly look older than they really should there's no reason a new tram in Amsterdam or Paris should look super modern while one in Toronto or Boston looks old of course Boston is not the only city that has this problem compare London's new temps link trains to the emus used on Denver's Suburban rail they might have been built only years apart but they feel decades apart and somehow Toronto's T1 trains managed to look older than paris's mp89 despite being newer a lot of modern features just seem to be missing from even new North American Vehicles like fully walkth through trains which have existed for decades in most of the world bigger Windows lighter construction and sleeker appearances now before you comment I so often hear the feedback for people who critique the look of new Transit Vehicles as just having some sort of rail fan Obsession and this is from people who would normally say we should do what the best systems in the world do well news flash the best systems in the world have vehicles that look modern and nice and at this point even some cities in North America have excellent looking vehicles from Montreal to San Francisco I just don't sympathize with the view that Transit vehicles in North America are uniquely functional and must look Antiquated there were tons of comments on the mbta's post about their new vehicles saying I don't care about how it looks I just want it to be reliable but the reality is that plenty of Transit Vehicles out there both are reliable and look good these things are not mutually exclusive but importantly I also reject the idea that calt train riders with their beautiful new Stadler emus or Sky train riders with their excellent Mark III and soon Mark 5 trains aren't benefiting from having nice modern vehicles on their respective systems it's important to also remember that Aesthetics often reflect real functional differences in vehicles but it's not all about Aesthetics perception matters and good design says something about public transit of course as I talked about in a recent video old stuff doesn't need to be retired just because it's old it's okay to respect old things for being old but I think new vehicles should also look new and not in a trendy way but in a Timeless way in places where Transit Vehicles stations and facilities have an Antiquated look what does that say about Transit and about how the society prioritizes Transit I'd say it often reflects a view that Transit should exist for purely utilitarian reasons and while utilitarianism is important for Transit it's not the only consideration while I don't agree that Transit is only about building the aesthetic of a city it's an important consideration and it's truly more about good design than about modern design paris's mp89 is a design Masterpiece and that's why it's so shocking that Toronto's T1 trains are over a decade newer another good comparison that came up online was between the r142 subway trains in New York and Berlin's H series trains now to be clear they're both good trains that serve their cities well but Berlin's despite being the same age as the trains in New York just look much more modern and to be clear it's not about the fundamental design of the trains in New York City I think the r211 front fascia looks fantastic but there's no reason trains 20 years ago couldn't have looked like that and what's more important is that these design considerations go beyond aesthetic preferences these are features that have real impacts on Transit Riders even if you don't care about how the train looks even though I think you should large windows for example make riding a train more pleasant with more natural light and better views but they also enable security through design meanwhile a Sleek front fascia can not only make a train slightly more aerodynamic but it can also make it easier to clean which is another key point to public perception of Transit people like clean trains another great example is that different construction materials and methods can mean a lighter vehicle which requires less maintenance and long-term cost on the Transit Agency which is really important in countries like Canada and the US that often don't fund Transit enough but also because a design that's more structurally modern can have more internal space enabling higher capacity and better accessibility and to be clear this isn't about avoiding certain materials like stainless steel or wood Japan has some fantastic modern looking stainless steel trains with modern features and I've seen a lot of really cool trams with wooden seat designs for example but it is about are old feeling designs that aren't thoughtful or user oriented the public understands that phones appliances and yes even cars have made huge strides in user orientedness but Transit can as well if we use modern design techniques the implications are even wider than just the passenger experience as well again referencing my recent video on Toronto seemingly wanting to phase out relatively new subway trains perhaps if they looked a bit newer there would be less desire to do that a big part of the problem here is that the T1 trains looked old from day one compared them to the C20 trains in Stockholm which were bought around the same time but look way better and way newer by buying a more modern looking train you're literally adding visual longevity to it so that people have less of a desire to get rid of the old thing for something that looks newer now the natural question is what's this going to to cost but I actually think that good design costs less a well-designed train is one that people won't mind not being retired for 10 more years than one that has a poor design as we see in Toronto at the same time since the transit industry has progressed what used to be the old lowc cost option like framed windows is now a niche bespoke option that costs more to procure a big part of white Transit vehicles in North America often cost way more than much better looking ones in Europe and Asia ultimately if transit systems in North America want to be like the best transit systems around the world they have to do the things those transit systems do like buying thoughtful user oriented vehicles with Timeless design thanks for [Music] watching [Music]

Channel: RMTransit

Views: 62,949

Keywords: transit, transportation, rail, railway, railfan, public transit, public transport, public transportation, train, subway, metro, underground, rail transport, urban planning

Id: wEEVdXCrMjg

Length: 9min 6sec (546 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 24 2023