Union Square, where else?! The loadest, harshest station an ear can imagine.
GBSG.
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Underground Exhibition
26 July, 2006 • Express Train
Photography © Travis Ruse • photoblogs.org • listed
Haha this capture is awesome! Very comical.
Never having experienced the NY subway system, what is it about this station that is so noisy compared to others? Is it the number of trains, or does it have bad track design? Just curious.
I like the expression of the girl in the grey t-shirt in the background. You can tell just how noisy it is simply from her expression.
I like the noise, I go there all the time, I used to be a Moterhead fan.
Priceless! Captured at just the right moment. It's almost as if I'm actually there and I hear the screaching of the trains.
The station is built at a curve in the tracks. So all the trains coming into the station are slammed up against the sides of the tracks. Hence the incredible piercing. And it can get really loud when you have two and three trains coming into the station at the same time.
A little history of the station:
Aug. 28, 1991: Five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a southbound No. 4 train derails going over a switch just north of Union Square. Service on the Lexington Avenue IRT, was disrupted for six days as transit workers toiled around the clock to clean up the wreckage. The motorman, Robert Ray, who was drunk and going more than 40 mph where the speed limit was 10 mph, is later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison. It was the worst subway accident in 63 years.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeech!
Hi Travis, i'm margarita from colombia, south america. How come you don't have picutres of yourself? i've been trying to find a picture in the web to see how you look, but it was imposible. Congratulations, great work!
Everybody was protecting their ears... how did you handle both taking the picture & protect your ears ? :-P
I would also tell you that your work is just excellent. every day pictures that are never the same, always telling a different story, despite they all take place in the subway.
my first thought was plesant. there doesn't seem to be a lot of distress here. mainly because there's a lot of blur, and you have the back of this lady as the focus point. the brightness and white/silver seems to mask the idea of this incredibly loud noise. in that same first thought, it seemed like music ad, like everyone was trying to listen to their own music through their headphones. but knowing what your site is about helps a lot, and ithe fact that no one subject has a clear facial expression is great because it can keep people guessing and looking deeper into the details of the photo to find out what's really there.
Astor Place is also pretty bad, IMO, especially when you have the express (especially the downtown ones) trains taking that curve...
I can SO relate, I was on an R train today with the LOUDEST PA system I'd ever heard, and I kept covering my ears too. Of course I didn't have my iPod when I needed it most. This is brilliant.
Travis, thanks so much for the explanation. It makes sense that people would have to cover their ears in that situation!
Love this!!!
For those of us that live and use that station every day we love it as it is always full of life. Almost an extension of Union Square Park that sits directly above it.
We moved a few months ago to Roosevelt Island ( a one train place) and I miss all the different sights and sounds. I also miss my kids not growing up living life through that station. Travis, you always capture this station perfectly. Thank you.
I read in the NY Times that this station (Union Square) has ambient noise far above federally acceptable levels, and in fact can rapidly cause permanent hearing damage. There's always someone there who is way too cool to cover their ears, and I look at them like, "hey man - that hurts; I can see it in your eyes. "
Buckle up kids.