Transit Authority's Airline Replacement for the BMT Culver Shuttle

Source:  ARCGIS ESRI Sandy Hurricane Before / After Map Source Panel

www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/hurricanes/hurricane-sandy-the-aftermap: 6k

"In order to help "D" (West End) riders reach the "F" line at Ditmas Avenue, the Transit Authority is pleased to announce the establishment of the new "Culver Shuttle Airplane".  This service will be made available by walking by foot to the "airport" on the easterly side of 37th Street near Fort Hamilton Parkway or taking a new shuttle train that will arive in the lower level of the Ninth Avenue Station and will exit the portal to a temporary wooden platform on 37th Street near the airport.  Passengers will need only to cross 37th Street.  (The track in the area is already 3rd Rail equipped).  Passengers will be equipped with parachuttes and will be given a selection of stops to drop off at, the main drop off point will be Ditmas Avenue on the F train and Coney Island.  Please speak to your pilot for requested drop off points.  If the service becomes popular, some "V" trains will provide direct service to Ninth Avenue (Lower Level) or the airport at 37th Street."  In keeping with tradition, the shuttle train between Ninth Avenue Lower and the airport will be labeled number "5"".

Actually, I am not sure if this airplane was photographed by satelite or a higher flying plane.  I came across it by accident.  ARCGIS ESRI provides an interactive map showing before and after pictures with a map underlay.  The focus when opening this map is the devasted Breezy Point area of the Rockaways, but you can adjust the map to anyplace in New York City.

There is an airplane path in the area that flies north following the numbered avenues (like 13th Avenue) and passes the Grand Army Plaza area of Brooklyn.  As a child, I remember the same path was in existence and I remember the propeller planes (US Constellations?) that followed this path.  I remember that at times, one of the four propellers would drop out of service and would start to sputter.  You could see and hear this at ground level.  Thank Gd the plane had three other propellers.  The plane in the picture is following the same air pattern.

Please find below a aerial of the washed out section of the Rockaway Line after Sandy using the same resource.  Its' location is north of the Rockaway area in Jamaica Bay.

Downhill Water Flow in Red Hook Brooklyn

In the attached map, GRASS 6.4.1 was used to produce a downhill flow map using local elevations.  The thin black lines shows the direction of water flow and the colors according to the legend show hypothetical low downhill water density flows in the area.  Areas east, near Prospect Park show stronger downhill water flows.  Hurricane Sandy was a sea surge event in New York City with relatively light amounts of rain.  The map shows that in case of large rainfalls, Red Hook is not in any danger and thus the flooding from Sandy was a sea surge.  Areas with more black lines shows increased downhill waterflows.

Theoretical Downflow Flow in "River Channel" in Southern Staten Island

In the attached map, I used the GRASS 6.4.1 hydrology program to construct the hypothetical river flow based on elevation for southern Staten Island.  I brought in the "Carve" program that used the Staten Island Rapid Transit right of way as a base.  The artificial channel follows the Staten Island Railway for a small section and then goes to along Seguine Avenue.  The narrow thin black bars is the theoretical water flow direction.  The program seems to have done this for even the higher elevations as well.  This is just an experiment and is not done by a professional environmental person.  The areas of interest, which is the flood channels along the SIRT and Seguine Avenue and vicinity is penciled in red.  Notice that the flood flow pattern for Seguine Avenue is from east to west and not north to south.  Since there are more flood flow bars on the Seguine Avenue than on the southern Staten Island RR right of way, I believe the Seguine Avenue corridor is a stronger flood flow victim than SIRT.  The SIRT flood flow is also from west to east.  Correction:  The GRASS 6.4.1 program here creates a vector showing downhill flow on the surface.  Since Hurricane Sandy was a sea surge event and not mainly a rain event, the flooding that occured was due to a sea surge and  a downhill water flow mapmay not explain that much, particularly any theoretical flooding along the right of way of the Staten Island Rapid Transit line and Seguine Avenue.  Notice that the flow along Seguine Avenue is west to east.

GRASS's 6.4.1 Prediction of River Channels in Southern Staten Island

  In the map below, I used GRASS 6.4.1  Hydrology Program and the "Carve" option to predict river channels based on street elevation.  Instead of using the input "river stream" I used the subway line shape file.  The results indicate that at the western end of the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway, there was an image of a river channel from Tottenvile to around Richmond Valley Station.  In addition, there appears to be a low lying area along Seguine Avenue near Wolfe's Pond Park.   I highlighted the potential "stream" areas in red pencil and it would interesting if some reader(s) can tell me if the map was accurate in predicting actual flooding conditions.  May the residents effected have a speedy recovery from their many hardships connected with the storm.  Tramway Null(0).

  In the map below, I brought in the Hurricane Zone layer for zones A,B and C, where A is the zone in most danger of flooding.  It appears that the river channel program was accurate in predicting Zone A.  The GRASS 6.4.1 program does take into effect the elevations but the hydrology option sought of outlines where a river type of channel may be created and you can see this clearly on portion of the Staten Island Rapid Transit right of way and near Seguine Avenue.

GRASS 6.4.1 Hydrology Program Predicts a River Channel on the Sea Beach Line

The GRASS 6.4.1 spatial analysis program has an hydrology program that uses local elevations.  Just bringing in the subway line layer as a "river" produced a map that shows a low level (in yellow) river channel at the location of the Sea Beach Line.  The "river channel" is more pronounced in the lower part of the map where the elevations are generally lower.  Notice the other rapid transit lines, indicated by X's as station stops do not have this effect.  To the left of the Sea Beach Line in the West End Elevated, to the east is the Culver El.  Further to the east is the Brighton Line on embankment and another color shows that it is not a channel.  The green line north of Sheepshead Bay is the Belt Parkway.  The hydrology "carve" program  thus shows potential river streams, in this case, the Sea Beach Line that became flooded during Hurricane Sandy and is presented in an earlier post.

NYC Transit Authority Plans to Convert "Sea" Beach Line (N) to Trolleyboat

http://rosetintedvisor.tumblr.com/post/34623407509/the-river-that-was-the-n-train

  As a result of Hurricane Sandy, the transit authority is still unable to provide Sea Beach Line Service between 59th Street in Brooklyn and Coney Island due to flooding in the open cut, specially between 86th Street and Avenue U stations.  As a result of failure to pump out the water, the New York City Transit Authority will convert the section from 86th Street to Avenue U to TROLLEYBOAT.  The line has already the "Sea" as part of the name.  See picture below to see an early model of a trolley boat.  In keeping with tradition, the much beloved Type D Triplex cars (shown below from a picture taken from the web showning a train at the Beverely Road Station on Brighton Line) design will be copied.  Three unit articulated boats with circular passenger connecting passageways will be built.  The units will receive their power by way of trolleybus wires.  For many years, the Type D Triplex was used on the Sea Beach and some of the other Southern Division lines


Tramway Null(0)

R-32 Class Subway Cars being transported to Rockaway Line

  As you now, the Rockaway Line in Queens has been hard hit by Hurricane Sandy in terms of bridge damages and track wash outs.  There is no service on the line and it has been proposed to re-equip the line with some subway rolling stock transported by flat bed truck.  This picture, I got off the web at the subway chat website: http://www.subchat.com/


It seems to be happening.  The service to be provided will probably be round robin service of a few cars from Far Rockaway to Rockaway Park on the hard hit Rockaway Peninsula.  The Rockaway line in the Rockaway Peninsula is physically isolated due to bridge damage and track washouts.  The only way to equip the line that is still intact is by flat bed truck.

I believe this photo was taken this early morning by Mike at subchat.  He states the location is at Pitkin Avenue.

Hurricane Sandy causes much damage and suffering to the New York - New Jersey Region

As of now Friday November 1, 2012 at 3:25 pm, many people are without electric power and heat and many have had their homes destroyed or damaged.  In the map that I prepared some time ago, notice that some low elevation areas, such as Coney Island, the Rockaways and parts of Staten Island and Lower Manhattan have a color code that is just a few few above sea level. A sea surge would easily overflow into such areas destroying homes, lives and equipment.
I wonder if more New York City elevated lines remained intact, the transportation situation would have been better because perhaps elevated lines are less effected by water conditions.
The photo above came from the web and shows the IRT Broadway Line elevated station at 125th Street and Broadway,  the subject of an earlier posting.

Below are some pictures from the MTA showing the Cranberry Street Tunnel, which links Manhattan with Brooklyn under the East River flooded and being pumped out.  The Cranberry Street Tunnel is used by IND "A" and "C" trains and it is the underwater tunnel that I pass through to reach Manhattan each day.

 

As of Tuesday October 30, 2012 7:45 AM ....

As of now, all bus and subway service in New York City has been suspended including the commuter railroads.  It is said that seven subway tunnels that run under the East River are flooded or damaged.  It is not known when service will be restored.  The streets of Brooklyn are deserted.  Please see photos taken by docjayca at Brighton Beach yesterday.

It looks like a rough week ahead for New York City transit riders.

Tramway Null(0)

The picture above is from the web. Not from docjayva.  The Coney Island yard is empty because the cars are stored elsewhere on account of low elevation near the Coney Island Creek.