Trains

[Gwizz]

It was reported that Obama is skeptically supporting a new local high speed rail line between Portland OR and Canada, with a stop in Seattle WA.

The cost will be only $1,000.00 for each US tax payer.

Also there are apparently other high speed rail lines proposed as part of the package.

Their cost were not mentioned on our local news.

[Gwizz]

Tomorrow Seattle's multi-Billion dollar light rail will open for business.

Well not quite.  No Business tomorrow.  All rides are free and there will be block parities and other celebrations funded by Light Rail.

There has been some concern that Light Rail having tapped into existing power grids, could overload these systems.

I doubt this will happen since Seattle owns Seattle Power Company. 

Also some of the businesses that left when Light Rail took their properties are no longer on the Electrical grid.

The noise problem may fix itself as the rails shine up with use.   

[Gwizz]

I heard this morning that Seattle light rail will be using two unit trains.

I'm guessing that the discovery of the low load rating for the steel in the overhead track construction required lower weight trains.

Buses have been temporally removed from the down town bus/train tunnel to give room for the trains.

Probably a good move should there be a snap phew with the trains.

Parking is still a problem as the city restricted neighborhood parking close to the Stations.

I heard a couple of gals say they will ride a bike to a station and not use their cars for a month to see if they can adjust.

[thomasjordan]

Gwizz:

I was in Minneapolis last March for a college program.  Minneapolis has an excellent surface light rail system that connects the Mall of the Americas in the south-southeast to the airport to downtown.  It was very inexpensive and relatively quick.

Unlike the DC Metro or the the New York subway, however, the system only connects those three points (with numerous stops in between).  No feeder lines to the suburbs, for example.  Minneapolis does have a bus system, but I didn't use that while I was there. Consequently, except for people going to and from downtown and the airport, the system didn't seem to have a lot of utility.

[Gwizz]

Seattle LR connects Seattle to the airport using about 12 station stops.

Trains leave every 15 minutes during the busiest hours.

100,000 riders were expected Saturday.  30,000 showed up for the free ride.  Even then, there was a 30 minute wait to get on.

One news station reported a train crash for the Seattle LR; But, I believe that was mistake.

A rear end crash occurred at San Francisco LR yesterday.

It took about 40 years to bring Light Rail to Seattle.  The people kept voting it down.

Finally, after removing neighborhoods that voted heavily against LR and expanding the vote to areas believed to be solidly in support of LR, it passed and is now built.

Cost to ride $2.50 from Seattle to the Airport, one way or less for a shorter ride.

[Gwizz]

After the last post I heard another radio station say there are 14 trains running 7.5 minutes apart. 

Not sure which is correct.  Maybe because they expected more riders they had adjusted the schedule.

[thomasjordan]

Gwizz:

If it all does it run from downtown to the airport, it sounds a lot like the Minneapolis system I was on in March.  Frankly, I didn't see the utility of it, except to make it cheaper for business people to get from the airport to downtown without using a cab, a limo, or renting a car.

[Gwizz]

That is what I think,. But it is only one part of the purpose behind Seattle's light rail.

It is also a Liberal thing about the controlling of people without really understanding the tax consequences.

Yesterday there was some discussion about the low ridership on the new light rail/

Today the transit authority answered that criticism.

They said that overall ridership was positive this year.  It was up slightly.

Since light Rail has just started, you would expect overall ridership to be up.

After all, ridership included the buses, Heavy rail that is in place and now includes Light Rail.

These jackals are just unwilling to dance to the common sense drummer. 

[Hawk]

Let's do the math.

If you had 0 riders last year and have 2 this year, then the statement "It was up slightly" would be correct, mathematically and politically.  ;D

[Gwizz]

An interesting report:

Why the U.S. and Washington Should Not Build High-Speed Rail

Washington should apply for its share of federal high-speed rail stimulus funds for safety improvements such as grade crossings and signaling systems, but not for new trains that will obligate taxpayers to pay millions of dollars in annual subsidies, says a new report from Washington Policy Center (WPC). Authored by WPC adjunct scholar Randal O

[Hawk]

I found the link to that, just for verification purposes ya' know.  ;)

http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/transportation/index.html

More interesting reading to go along with that.

http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/transportation/policybrief/HighSpeedRailPB.html

[Gwizz]

Here is a site relating to RR compitition for the 1920s and 1930s