Who is the Paragon Transit Authority?

[KidKourage]

This is something I started a long time ago and dusted off recently.  Thought I should finish - and share - it.

Did anyone else have the sense that the Paragon Transit Authority was bureaucratic insanity? 
Bus stops everywhere, but did you ever ride one?  Know anyone who ever did?  Know where the garages or fueling stations are?  Know anyone who ever even saw a bus? 
Proposing, much less building, a single track system was ridiculous.  If any single train breaks down, the system halts.  If the track needs maintenance at any point, the system halts.  Even working as designed, performance is inconvenient to riders; all traffic follows a single circuit, so if you are in Atlas Park and wish to go to Skyway City you are not five minutes away, you are more like half an hour, having to pass through Steel Canyon, Galaxy City, King's Row, and then finally arriving in Skyway City.  A duel track system is an absolute must for any metropolitan area.  The ability to provide access in both directions and shunt traffic to the opposing rail in times of maintenance/emergency is vital for the system's continued operation.
Elevating the rail provides some measure of pedestrian safety and does not disrupt local street traffic, but it is expensive (which might partially explain the single rail choice).  Elevating rails this high – over water, particularly salty sea water – is risky.  It increases maintenance time and cost, and is increases the hazard to passengers in the event of a mishap.   In some areas, the elevation can be as high as one hundred feet off the ground, which would terrify many prospective riders.  If a train were to break down in one of these locations, rescuing the passengers (much less the car itself) would pose extraordinary difficulties for an emergency crew.  Any derailment turns these trains into bombs dropping on unsuspecting traffic below.
The most obvious flaw of the system is that the support pylons are completely exposed; ripe for anything from daredevils trying to walk the tracks to a determined attempt to destroy them (and cripple the city's transportation network).  Scavenging forays by Clockwork automatons could result in tragedy.  It is a good thing that Paragon City has so many heroes.
Rather than improve the safety and reliability of the system, the PTA has chosen to develop emergency spurs in cooperation with the Paragon Police Force; providing the capacity to shuttle superheroes (most of who can fly, leap, or teleport – and even the slowest can jog at 20+ MPH) to obscure parts of the city and remote islands.   What makes it an invaluable aide is that these special trains are equipped with invisibility generators, masking the presence of the train at the drop off point along with the nearby rails. 
These 'tactical' trains however are never deployed into neighborhoods that have been labelled hazardous, despite the obvious need for them.  In many of these zones segments of rail can be found, evidence that the system pre-dated the 'hazard' event.  The PTA is unwilling to risk its assets in these areas, which only further isolates those citizens and businesses that remain.  Even if this is not a case of criminal negligence, it is a self-defeating business model.  Deny services to those in need and that neighborhood collapses.  Those people lose everything and move away.  Reduced ridership means reduced revenue means shutting off more cars and stations, until the system itself is no longer viable and ceases to operate entirely. 
A number of questions:
1)   All trains have the confusing marquee "Red Line" to honor a predecessor system.  Prior to the 'merger' of the lines, there was no chance a yellow line or green line train could arrive at the same station, so it didn't really matter.  But now they can; so how do passengers know which trains to board?
2)   What does 'merged' even mean?  There is only one connection point: a rail running between the two stations in Skyway City.  Does this mean a given train runs both circuits, potentially doubling the amount of time it takes to get from place to place?  How is that beneficial?
3)   Why is there is a rail line running in a loop in the southern half a Skyway City, yet there is no station for it?
4)   How does one reach the basement of the Talos Island station to access the train to Founder's Falls?
5)   Are the stealth trains based out of Croatoa station?  At that location, you can see trains arriving and departing in an orderly manner... inside the platform.  Outside the rails are empty and silent.
6)   With the destruction of Galaxy City, how does the circuit continue to operate?
Finally, let's compare the route given on the train schedule brochures to the actual station to station travel. 
Yellow Line
Starting in Galaxy City, a train enters through the north war wall from Steel Canyon as indicated and passes south to the station, and then exits the south war wall.  It is a few dozen yards to the east of the underpass (the map indicates west).  On the King's Row side, the train does not emerge from the north wall even though there is more than enough distance between the underpass and the northeast corner of the war walls.  Following the wall clockwise you discover the train finally emerging from the east wall just to the south of Royal Refineries.  It proceeds to the station and then back to the east wall.  The tracks run along Industrial Avenue, they are to the south and below the nearest war wall underpass.  If one steps through that underpass, you find the track entrance is now immediately north and above your head.
In Skyway, the trains wisely pass through structures designed to help them control speed as they descend into The Gruff and then back up to Aerie Plaza.  From that station, the trains head east up towards the hospital (there is no station, nor stairs, so exiting would be perilous for those in need of medical attention) and then northwest to the war wall, just east of the underpass.  On the Atlas Park side, there are no tracks anywhere along the southern war wall.  Searching around, we discover the line entering the west wall in Argosy Industrial Park and running east then north up to the station.  From there the track continues east, exiting the north wall several hundred yards to the east of the underpass.  A complete contradiction to the map, which indicates the train should appear to the east of the Skyway underpass and proceed north and west as it moves on to the final station in Steel Canyon.
Using the underpass into Steel Canyon you will notice a station a hundred or so yards in front of you, but that can't be the one you're looking for.  The tracks don't lead where you expect them and the trains are going in the opposite direction.  You follow the wall north, searching for the tracks.  You find some, nearly half a mile down, and very close to the entrance of Siren's Call.  You follow these tracks west.  They do not change grade, so when you reach Blyde Square, you find yourself at the 8th floor level of the surrounding buildings.  The tracks turn north at the statue and then meander back and forth among the city blocks for no reason.  There are no stations and the rails are a hundred feet off the ground; there's no possibility of exit.  Finally you do arrive at a station – only to discover it's on the Green Line.
A second look at your map makes you rethink that station you first noticed to the south.  The map indicates it should be the Yellow Line station!  Returning to it, you follow its tracks back to where it enters the zone, passing another hospital near the rails (also lacking access).  It does indeed seem to connect with the rails at our starting place back in Galaxy City.  In horror, you realize the trains here are running in the OPPOSITE direction!  Luckily though, these tracks exit the south wall towards Perez Park and can't possibly connect to the ones in Atlas Park. 
Can they?  You have discovered three potential places where the Yellow line might access the city's central park: the exit from Steel Canyon, the entrance from Atlas Park, and possibly the train running outside the war wall east of Kings Row.  But searching near the park turns up no sign of tracks.
Green Line
The Green Line consists of a central circuit like the yellow but also a number of spurs.  The Croatoa spur is simply out to the station and back.  The next spur exits from underneath the Talos Island station and down to Founders Falls and then west towards Eden.  The oddity here is that there is no sign of a rail connection on the Eden side; although there are traces of rails further into that region.  The final spur is, or was, Baumtown.  There are bent and twisted rails standing all over this area.  There is no sign of a station, so it's hard to discern where all it lead.  There is no opening through the war walls, so this spur has not operated since the war.
Starting from the Green Line station in Steel Canyon the tracks run west to an exit. They reappear on the Independence Port side at not quite the same distance from the underpass, but this is not very significant because cars have had to travel the width of Galaxy City outside the war walls.  Within IP the tracks wind south to the station and further on towards the war wall exit at Brickstown.  This differs somewhat with the printed route which suggests the train exits through the war wall north of Kings Row and continues down to Brickstown on the other side.  The only significant complaint about the line in IP is how little of the region it supports.  The eastern shore of Liberty Harbor is readily accessible to other modes of transportation whereas access to Power Island or the western shore would have been remarkably valuable.  And while it can be lauded that for once the station is near a hospital, the fact that it is the sole station within the largest region of the city pretty much cancels that out.
In Brickstown we find that the rail entrance to underpass configuration is the most accurate of the entire system.  But we once again find big discrepancies between the maps and the actual rail lines.  The map leads one to think the rails go due east from the Mashu Bridge straight to The Chasm and out.  In fact, after reaching the station they turn south creating a spur for the hospital (though again, no means to exit) and partially return north before threading its way east, skirting the edge of Zigurski prison.
Now we come to the more bizarre stretches of track, starting with the Green Line in Skyway City.  It should enter from the west war wall, but there's no sign of it anywhere.  The best guess it that it runs underground through the Land of the Lost.  Though to be honest, there are a number of spots where a train-sized tunnel is doubtful, so the exact route of the rails is all conjecture.  Tracks are not visible until very near the station.  They run in wide circle from the station and disappear into the foundation of the highways near Faultline.  Trains are entering that tunnel, so they again appear to be running the wrong way.  Trains approaching the station are coming from the east.  The only conclusion is that the tunnel from Brickstown somehow passes the station and circles back around to it, then loops back toward Talos Island via another underground route (in which case why wasn't the station simply turned clockwise 90 degrees and built underground).  All of which is hard to prove because the entire length to Talos Island must also be underground.  No part of it can be seen anywhere.  However, in the southeast corner of Skyway City is the greatest mystery of the entire system.  In this corner the highway is freestanding some sixty feet off the ground and is only the thickness of the road deck.  There is no possibility of a rail tunnel hidden within the cement and steel.  The only option is for trains plunge to the valley floor and climb back up under Hyde Park, roller coaster style.
Finally there is Talos Island.  At the underpass from Skyway, it is surprising to discover the rails are once again elevated above our heads, and immediately to the south.  And then a train coming from the island passes overhead and exits through that opening.  They are running BACKWARDS again!  Back in Skyway, those trains are coming FROM Talos and leaving towards... where?  The map says the station after Talos is back in Steel Canyon.  The line comes in from the southwest, runs to the island, and then back northwest outside Atlas Park and up to Steel.  The map has been wrong before, so maybe this is the exit and the northwestern connection is the entrance.  Checking there, trains are also exiting, not entering.
In an effort to untangle this mess, we go directly to the station and back track the incoming rail to a tunnel underneath New Corinth.  Circling the island we find rails connecting at three points: Under New Sparta heading for Steel Canyon, and two under New Thebes – one to Skyway City, and the other to Founder's Falls.  None are used to approach Talos, they are all exits.  It is impossible to guess how this completes any circuit.
The two passages under New Thebes also stand out as unnecessarily dangerous.  The route to Skyway could have been run immediately alongside the highway bridge rather than several hundred yards north of it.  Likewise the route south to Founder's could have been shifted to meet up with and parallel that highway; far safer, less costly, and less exposure to mishaps with massive container ships. 
Searching the entire city will turn up no sign of a rail yard where trains are stored or maintained.  Nor will you find any sort of offices other facilities operated by the PTA.  There are no ticket windows, so all money transactions must be handled by the driver when a passenger boards; which is yet another inconvenience to the system.  A tempting target for petty thieves, too.

[Ohioknight]

Obviously the facilities are between war-wall zones, probably underground adjacent to the tunnels

[Paragon Avenger]

I think that there must be other city zones where supers are not allowed.  This would explain other defects in the city.  There are no supermarkets.  No suburbans.  No schools.  No churches.  No shopping malls.  There are lots of roads with a few vehicles, but no car lots.  There is a lot of water, but no skiing or diving or swimming beaches.

Mystery zones, that has to be the answer.