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It has 2x Capacity of the Bus and 90% of the Network runs street separated or on abandoned Freight Lines. All Planned future Networks will do the same. The Next 10 phases of the Hudson Bergen LRT network will use the rest of the abandoned ROW Freight lines we have. The Newark Network expansions will use Abandoned ROW. Street running is only reversed in areas where tunnels would be to expensive or lightly traveled areas.
The NJ project is creatively using otherwise abandoned infrastructure in a high density
corridor. Neither is true here...
The NJ project is creatively using otherwise abandoned infrastructure in a high density
corridor. Neither is true here...
Its most of the Bos-Wash Corridor and Northeast thats really doing it. We have run out of room for Large Scale projects so we look for ways to cut them down in cost. & Using Abandoned or Lightly used Freight lines is one of them. You will see by 2025ish when our 200 billion $$ Restoration / Upgrading Northeast Rail / Transit plan is near completed. But New Mexico can use its Abandoned Rail lines to cut costs aswell. There has to be abandoned infrastructure there , every state has it.
But New Mexico can use its Abandoned Rail lines to cut costs aswell. There has to be abandoned infrastructure there , every state has it.
Ummm... not really... or at least not to the extent that you might think as most of the
abandoned lines are in dead or near-dead little towns and the main routes crisscrossing
the state are still in freight and long-distance passenger use. The only inter-city
"commuter" market is the heavily subsidized Rail Runner which has made use of existing
north-south right-of-way.
NJ probably has townships with more population than the entire state of New Mexico.
Ummm... not really... or at least not to the extent that you might think as most of the
abandoned lines are in dead or near-dead little towns and the main routes crisscrossing
the state are still in freight and long-distance passenger use. The only inter-city
"commuter" market is the heavily subsidized Rail Runner which has made use of existing
north-south right-of-way.
NJ probably has townships with more population than the entire state of New Mexico.
That being said , i think ALQ would benefit the most form A Streetcar system in Downtown and Light Rail lines running out into the sprawled out suburbs. Light Rail and Streetcars attract alot of Development , sometimes into the 100s of billions as my state has seen. One line triggered around 20-30 billion $ in Developments. Since your area doesn't really have that many transit options yet , this could spark a revolution in the market. Sometime this decade usage of the Rail Runner should start to really rise. A small feeder system other then buses will get the Suburbanites to use it more. Maybe one day you reach our Northeast average of 15,000 ppl per line. The Average NJ Township has 7,000 people. But with Consolidation on the way , that should rise to 20,000. Less towns = lower taxes , so were trying to combine towns, but you know how ppl are.
Sometime this decade usage of the Rail Runner should start to really rise. A small feeder system other then buses will get the Suburbanites to use it more. Maybe one day you reach our Northeast average of 15,000 ppl per line.
The last numbers I saw were an average of 2,500-2,600 riders per day on the Railrunner (1,200-1,300 if you assume they're all round trips), with the state subsidizing the cost at almost $18.00 every time one of those 2,500 get on the train. We are a long way from 15,000/day.
That being said , i think ALQ would benefit the most form A Streetcar system in Downtown and Light Rail lines running out into the sprawled out suburbs.
Again, I don't think so.
The costs would be exorbitant and the ridership nil.
One; you'd have to tear up existing neighborhoods to create the rights of way.
Two; you'd have to tear up more residential areas to install stations and the parking
lots that would be required for the outer commuters.
Three: You'd have to be more convenient than driving and that wouldn't be true for
a large percentage of the potential users.
Four: You'd have to develop collector / disburser transport on either end to get the
riders to and from the stations from places they work or live.
Five: It would have to be reasonably economical and self-sustaining and it would
never reach either goal and would require massive tax subsidies.
Six... you get the picture..
Light rail works in NJ because you have the combination of dense population
largely going in a limited number of directions, long distances and humongous
traffic / parking issues. None of that is really true here.
The costs would be exorbitant and the ridership nil.
One; you'd have to tear up existing neighborhoods to create the rights of way.
Two; you'd have to tear up more residential areas to install stations and the parking
lots that would be required for the outer commuters.
Three: You'd have to be more convenient than driving and that wouldn't be true for
a large percentage of the potential users.
Four: You'd have to develop collector / disburser transport on either end to get the
riders to and from the stations from places they work or live.
Five: It would have to be reasonably economical and self-sustaining and it would
never reach either goal and would require massive tax subsidies.
Six... you get the picture..
Light rail works in NJ because you have the combination of dense population
largely going in a limited number of directions, long distances and humongous
traffic / parking issues. None of that is really true here.
1. Not for streetcars , they just share the street. which means digging up a lane or two , they also cost half that of LRT since no ROW is required.
2. Streetcar stations are usually in the center of the street. some have islands , some have people walk across a lane to get on.
I understand all that, but it still won't work here as every one of those aspects is
in itself a show-stopper. May not seem that way from Joisey, but it's true none-the-less..
The real killer is the population base.. not that many and spread over many, many
square miles.
I understand all that, but it still won't work here as every one of those aspects is
in itself a show-stopper. May not seem that way from Joisey, but it's true none-the-less..
The real killer is the population base.. not that many and spread over many, many
square miles.
Hehe , that last video was form Good ole Philly. But if Portland and Minneapolis can do it , then so can Albuquerque , both those cities are similar with slightly differences.
Hehe , that last video was form Good ole Philly. But if Portland and Minneapolis can do it , then so can Albuquerque , both those cities are similar with slightly differences.
I get the feeling half this discussion group makes their living off selling rail systems.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
-Upton Sinclair
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I understand all that, but it still won't work here as every one of those aspects is 
