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Old 03-20-2017, 09:02 PM
 
Location: Prescott, AZ
5,559 posts, read 4,660,916 times
Reputation: 2284

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Quote:
Originally Posted by R1070 View Post
Is the commuter rail lines (TRE & A Train) in DFW slower than MARTA? I'm curious about the difference in speed there.

Also, the light rail trains are in dedicated spaces and probably go 55 to 60 mph once you get out of downtown Dallas with many sections being elevated and there's roughly 3-4 miles of subway. The light rail system is different than the Dallas Streetcar which goes much slower like the Atlanta Streetcar does. Houston's "light rail" is set up more like a streetcar system than DART light rail is in Dallas.
Trinity Railway Express is scheduled to take 60 minutes to travel the ~34 miles between Dallas and Fort Worth end of line stations. That's an average speed of 34 miles per hour. The line has 10 stations for an average of 0.2 stations per mile.

DART's Green Line is scheduled to take 75 minutes to travel the ~29 miles between its two termini. That's an average speed of 23.2 miles per hour. The line has 23 stations for an average of 1 station per mile.

MARTA's Red Line is scheduled to take 43 minutes to travel the ~24 miles between its two termini. That's an average speed of 33.5 miles per hour. The line has 19 stations for an average of 0.8 stations per mile.
MARTA's Red Line nearly matches TRE in terms of speed, while having four times the average stations per mile. I'm not familiar enough with TRE to offer any analysis as to why this is, though.

MARTA's Red Line beats DART's Green Line in speed by more than 10 miles per hour, though the Green Line does average slightly more stations per mile. The primary difference, as you somewhat mentioned, is in the Downtown areas. DART uses separate right of way for its light rail, unlike the streetcars, but still interacts quite a bit with traffic in the core. MARTA's advantage comes from not needing to deal with the intersections or cross-traffic at all, allowing it to speed through the core where as DART is greatly slowed.

Even looking outside of the core area, DART's Green Line is still slower than MARTA's Red Line's whole average. Just looking from the northern terminus (Frankford Station), to just before downtown (Bachman Station), 10.3 miles in a scheduled 22 minutes, the average speed is only 28 miles per hour. This stretch also only has 0.7 stations per mile, lower than MARTA's Red Line total average.
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Old 03-21-2017, 08:02 AM
 
Location: Kirkwood
23,726 posts, read 24,715,762 times
Reputation: 5702
Quote:
Originally Posted by R1070 View Post
Is the commuter rail lines (TRE & A Train) in DFW slower than MARTA? I'm curious about the difference in speed there.

Also, the light rail trains are in dedicated spaces and probably go 55 to 60 mph once you get out of downtown Dallas with many sections being elevated and there's roughly 3-4 miles of subway. The light rail system is different than the Dallas Streetcar which goes much slower like the Atlanta Streetcar does. Houston's "light rail" is set up more like a streetcar system than DART light rail is in Dallas.
MARTA trains have top operating speeds of 65 mph in several sections.
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Old 03-21-2017, 08:24 AM
 
4,010 posts, read 3,726,256 times
Reputation: 1967
Its disrespectful to compare light rail to heavy rail
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Old 03-21-2017, 09:05 AM
bu2
 
23,873 posts, read 14,662,617 times
Reputation: 12658
Quote:
Originally Posted by fourthwarden View Post
Trinity Railway Express is scheduled to take 60 minutes to travel the ~34 miles between Dallas and Fort Worth end of line stations. That's an average speed of 34 miles per hour. The line has 10 stations for an average of 0.2 stations per mile.

DART's Green Line is scheduled to take 75 minutes to travel the ~29 miles between its two termini. That's an average speed of 23.2 miles per hour. The line has 23 stations for an average of 1 station per mile.

MARTA's Red Line is scheduled to take 43 minutes to travel the ~24 miles between its two termini. That's an average speed of 33.5 miles per hour. The line has 19 stations for an average of 0.8 stations per mile.
MARTA's Red Line nearly matches TRE in terms of speed, while having four times the average stations per mile. I'm not familiar enough with TRE to offer any analysis as to why this is, though.

MARTA's Red Line beats DART's Green Line in speed by more than 10 miles per hour, though the Green Line does average slightly more stations per mile. The primary difference, as you somewhat mentioned, is in the Downtown areas. DART uses separate right of way for its light rail, unlike the streetcars, but still interacts quite a bit with traffic in the core. MARTA's advantage comes from not needing to deal with the intersections or cross-traffic at all, allowing it to speed through the core where as DART is greatly slowed.

Even looking outside of the core area, DART's Green Line is still slower than MARTA's Red Line's whole average. Just looking from the northern terminus (Frankford Station), to just before downtown (Bachman Station), 10.3 miles in a scheduled 22 minutes, the average speed is only 28 miles per hour. This stretch also only has 0.7 stations per mile, lower than MARTA's Red Line total average.
And that downtown stretch is why Dallas is planning on building a 2nd route through downtown and make it mostly subway.
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Old 03-21-2017, 09:06 AM
bu2
 
23,873 posts, read 14,662,617 times
Reputation: 12658
Quote:
Originally Posted by fieldm View Post
Its disrespectful to compare light rail to heavy rail
Will their feelings get hurt?
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Old 03-21-2017, 10:31 AM
 
4,010 posts, read 3,726,256 times
Reputation: 1967
Quote:
Originally Posted by bu2 View Post
Will their feelings get hurt?
U ?
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Old 03-21-2017, 10:43 AM
 
31,994 posts, read 36,548,100 times
Reputation: 13254
Quote:
Originally Posted by R1070 View Post
Is the commuter rail lines (TRE & A Train) in DFW slower than MARTA? I'm curious about the difference in speed there.

Also, the light rail trains are in dedicated spaces and probably go 55 to 60 mph once you get out of downtown Dallas with many sections being elevated and there's roughly 3-4 miles of subway. The light rail system is different than the Dallas Streetcar which goes much slower like the Atlanta Streetcar does. Houston's "light rail" is set up more like a streetcar system than DART light rail is in Dallas.
I don't think the speed of the trains is that big a deal. Nobody is taking public transit because it's faster.
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Old 03-21-2017, 10:50 AM
 
4,010 posts, read 3,726,256 times
Reputation: 1967
Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
I don't think the speed of the trains is that big a deal. Nobody is taking public transit because it's faster.
What lol???

This might be the craziest post of the day
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Old 03-21-2017, 11:44 AM
 
31,994 posts, read 36,548,100 times
Reputation: 13254
Quote:
Originally Posted by fieldm View Post
What lol???

This might be the craziest post of the day
I'm just saying that if somebody is trying to get somewhere fast they're not going to be taking public transit.
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Old 03-21-2017, 11:48 AM
 
Location: Prescott, AZ
5,559 posts, read 4,660,916 times
Reputation: 2284
Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
I'm just saying that if somebody is trying to get somewhere fast they're not going to be taking public transit.
That depends on what traffic is like, where they're coming from, and where they're going. In New York or Chicago or London or any other large city, the train is likely your fastest way of getting through town.
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