Comments on: Kansas City Envisions 150-Mile Regional Commuter Rail System

By: enough

enough — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:27:56 +0000

the so-called “regional rapid rail” concept is being evaluated as part of a commuter corridors study by mid-america regional council, the region’s metropolitan planning organization. the concept faces countless technical and institutional challenges — not the least of which is the need to construct (from the subgrade up) about 30 percent of the total mileage — and has been described by one knowledgable person as the most elaborately presented rail fantasy he’s ever seen. nobody in the know expects it to go anywhere.

By: Nathanael

Nathanael — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:18:24 +0000

Chastain should be described as an “ex-local”. He was a local in KC when he started advocating for light rail. He’s just continued to do so after moving out (perhaps because of the lack of transit service? ;-) ).

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:22:34 +0000

The important thing is not total system length, but station density in the urban core. American transit systems are often no shorter than European ones – for example, Washington and Chicago have some of the longest rapid transit systems in the world. They fall behind in transit ridership because of the emphasis on hub-and-spoke service to far-flung suburbs.

By: Matt S.

Matt S. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:28:04 +0000

Wow, this is sort of comical. Kansas City is probably a really bad place to do commuter rail projects like this since the rail lines are almost all routed through the river bottoms, where basically no one lives. It might not be fatal if there were good transport options after you got off the train, but this isn’t the case. Also, the one place that this might sort of make sense is along I-35 through Johnson County, which of course is completely left out of this plan.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:18:22 +0000

Johnson County, KS, must have excluded themselves from any regional tax proposal, as this system plan wouldn’t serve that high-growth, relatively affluent area southwest of the urban core.