Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2010

Regarding Austin:

The 2000 figure was the capacity of the system with the originally planned 5 trains in operation (1 in reserve). Since then, plans have changed; current plan is to have 4 trains running, some not going all the way out to the end of the line.

I’d estimate capacity at something like 1600 now – that’s not prospective riders, that’s capacity.

Concerning Austin: Maybe that schedule makes it a little bit less of a mess… according to the official website, they will run in 35 minute intervals… IMHO a good way to not get the ridership numbers wanted.

BTW, the interior (which may or may not have an effect on the ridership) is definitely not among the best I have seen in GTWs … who would obstruct the great big windows with baggage racks…

I am not familiar with the area, but is the ridership potential so bad that they won’t offer all day service? What a waste of resources…

About Dallas’ LRT route length: There are long LRT lines elsewhere (Belgium, BLT line 17, Köln/Bonn area, Düsseldorf area etc. However, they have either very good connectivity in the middle, or are bridge lines between centers.

Max, I’m pretty sure the long lines in the Rhine-Ruhr area are all S-Bahn lines, which connect to urban trams and buses. S-Bahn service can be done on a larger scale than light rail, because it leverages existing railroads to reduce construction costs, and runs at a much higher speed.

I seriously doubt if the Evergreen Line in Vancouver starts construction this year. Translink faces a huge budget deficit and both the fed and prov governments are going into penny-pinching mode this spring.

It’s interesting to see that most of the building in the United States is occurring in areas that aren’t currently transit rich. In other words not the Northeast and Chicago. Its also interesting that most of the new building is LRT and CR and not heavy rail. I guess this is due to cost. It’s good to see we are building some stuff though there could be a lot more on the list. Surprised to see that Sacramento and Salt Lake City are doing so much haven’t really heard about those. Also will Norfolk be the smallest city in North America to have LRT?

The Northeast and Chicago don’t really do light rail – they do heavy rail. And they do it at high cost per route-km even relative to other heavy rail project, so a project that looks like a small deal of only a few km can actually turn out to be the most expensive one.

Alon, I was specifically referring to LRT lines (using LRT vehicles, DC electrification, and having inner-city operation). Some lines may actually be labelled “S-xx”, or “U-xx”, but they are LRT. Specifically in mind in Köln/Bonn area, I had the lines 16 and 18, both connecting Bonn and Köln (where line 16 even goes further south to Bad Godesberg). And in Düsseldorf, I am thinking of the U79 to Duisburg.

I was not thinking of the “tram-train” operations around Karlsruhe, which does have some very long lines, but which are on DB tracks outside of Karlsruhe.

S-Bahn lines (using mainline rolling stock, AC electrification, no inner-city operation) are considerably longer, because in many cases, they are diameter-lines, running through the centers.

With that, I agree…

Well, Dallas has a lot of homework to do…

Note to the Dallasers: A network is more than just lines; much more…

For the Minneapolis/St. Paul light rail’s new Central Corridor line, only utility relocation and barrier setup has so far occurred. I think you should add “St. Paul” to the list, as much of the construction will be there.

> will Norfolk be the smallest city in North America to have LRT?

Norfolk’s metro area is 1.7 million, which makes it comparable to Charlotte and Austin, and notably larger than New Orleans (1.1m), Buffalo (1.1m), Salt Lake (1.1m) or Honolulu (900k) – which will become the real new smallest once its line opens.

If you go by city proper population rather than metro area population (which really would not be appropriate), then Norfolks 230k would still be quite a bit larger than Salt Lake City (182k), not to mention Tacoma (197K) and any number of other places that are part of larger metro areas.

I live near Norfolk and drive down there several times a year and Norfolk is really only one city that is a part of a much larger mega city in the Hampton Roads area that runs from Newport News to Virginia Beach it is really one super city if looked at beyound the Norfolk City limits. I’m shocked how they could have let their streetcar system die consdering how much growth they had in the last few years. In fact I remember hearing in a newspaper that the Norfolk and Virginia streetcar system used to be over 69 miles of track.
They also had a story in the news how one of the orginal streetcar drivers got to see the new light rail cars and he offically said that the streetcar system was back in the form of light rail in fact the new light rail line runs along a former streetcar rail bed. It’s cool that streetcars are back in Norfolk and soon Virginia Beach.

Also, the Providence to TF Green airport project is almost done. No start date has been announced, but the MBTA has agreed to run trains and the station is on schedule.

According to their website, they most likely will operate all day Monday to Saturday, at hourly intervals throughout the day, and at 25 minute intervals during peak time. (that has potential for improvement, but could be way worse).

Vehicles are Diesel GTW by Stadler. (that is definitely a good choice; ok, electric together with FLIRT would be better, but that may come later…).

When you visit Canada and try to get around by transit there is less of a chance that you will be gunned down in the drug wars crossfire.

At 28 miles, the Green Line IS a long line, but it’s actually two lines from the ‘burbs to downtown. These lines connect and the trains continue past the city’s core — the through-running that Alon usually applauds. Perhaps that was for DART’s operational reasons, but more likely it was for political balance between the richer areas north of downtown and the poorer areas to the south.

The Green Line will connect Southwest Airlines’ hub at Love Field with the DART system. Again political considerations of balance probably required construction of the Orange Line next, extending to Dallas-Fort Worth AIrport with its American Airlines hub, by the end of 2013. Meanwhile the Orange line will also reach the U of Dallas campus, and the Belt Line commuter train station. At 14 miles it is no longer than the two parts of the Green Line.

I’m surprised to find myself in the role of defending Dallas, but I think DART’s expansion of rail service is about as good as you could get. A downtown-only or inner-city-only plan would not get the needed votes or funds from the rich residential areas.

Linking suburbs not just to downtown offices but also to sites like the State Fairgrounds, the Spurs’ arena, the Arts District, the Convention Center, the U of Dallas campus, Love Field, and even D-FW has helped the system build support, even if many riders to these destinations will make the trip only occasionally. And at some point it will be possible for many residents to say, “Yes, I can get there without a car.” Already thousands of commuters reach downtown jobs by rail, allowing two-car households to get rid of the costly spare. They will be the base of support for infilling the center city with more transit lines.

DART has been a resounding success, and it is becoming a showcase for transit in the South-Central region.

Houston is scrambling to catch up with light rail, to extend its hugely successful single line, after its plans were kneecapped by two or three House Republicans who wanted to rule the big city from D.C., or suburban Sugarland.

Austin has totally and completely botched transit, losing a close referendum on light rail, then turning around to squander money and goodwill on a disastrously stupid plan for a rail line that will serve a few busloads of commuters.

San Antonio also lost a rail referendum, but leaders are looking at Dallas and Houston now, and rail transit is being talked about again.

Fort Worth is trying to get its act together, too, with plans for streetcars and commuter rail.

Oklahoma City may also be getting serious about rail transit. This after decades of the city being roadkill from the Interstates that cut off the Capitol complex and the U of Oklahoma medical school/hospitals from the traditional downtown.

DART has shortcomings, but Dallas’ transit is now at least a decade ahead of all these neighboring cities, and maybe two decades ahead of regional rivals like Phoenix, Memphis, Kansas City, and St Louis.

Woody, I know that the DART line is an example of through-running. The reason I’m skeptical is that so far the urban network is T-shaped, with three lines meeting at West End, and each service running over two of the three lines. It would be better to build new suburban lines in such a way that they’d run on different streets in the city center, creating a more expansive network than a T.

I notice Chicago is conspicuous by its absence from any of these lists. This is a city that has seriously lost its way — the only one of the top ten US central cities to lose population during the current decade. From selling off its parking meters to an investment bank at one-third of their real value, to casually brushing off every serious proposal for transit development, not to mention a stubbornly high rate of gang activity compared to most of its top-ten city peers, Chicago is a city mired in stagnation. The dysfunction that is the Illinois state government does not help, but California cities are still progressing even with a far worse crisis in Sacramento than in Springfield.

Where art thou philadelphia?

M1EK: no, timed cross-platform transfers have a history of success, to the point that some ridership models don’t even include a transfer penalty for them. It’s the transfers from rail to bus that require walking a block and have no schedule coordination that reduce ridership.

Assuming EIR is adopted in February, Expo Phase 2 Culver City to Santa Monica could start construction in 2010 with a projected 2015 opening.

Alon, once again, I am referring to ‘new rail’ cities (cities with little current transit market share outside the transit-dependent). Obviously the first rail line will involve a transfer to bus, because otherwise it wouldn’t be the first rail line, but even if the second rail line requires a transfer to or from the first, it underwhelms compared to the car that everybody is currently driving.

You keep bringing up modelling which was developed from places like New York, which is completely irrelevant to a place like Austin (or Dallas, or Portland, or Salt Lake, or San Jose).

To Russ Jackson:
Technically, it would be possible to build dual mode GTWs. I don’t think it has been done yet, but the concept would allow for it. And if it would not fit into one power cube (that’s what they call the power unit of those trains), a double unit, using two power cubes, one diesel, one electric, would definitely work. If I remember correctly, about one fifth of all GTW units built are diesel powered, the rest is electric, either 15kV AC or 700 to 3000V DC.

It would also be possible to replace the power unit at a later time.

3-seat ride above is “car to park-and-ride, train 1, (train 2 or bus 1)” in case that wasn’t clear; 2-seat ride is for people within walking distance of train 1’s station.

We’re operating on entirely different premises, then; I consider Houston and Dallas’ first efforts to be successful because they led to massive expansions approved by voters in a transit-hostile state that even involved potential tax increases.

Washington, DC is also putting in new street cars. There are 2 separate sections that should open in the coming months.