What do we call the new rail line? (Dallas, Austin: new house, buying)

[eepstein]

Yes I completely agree. And I don't know who calls the city of Austin "progressive"!! Progressive as compared to what?

Originally Posted by twange

Cap Metro also used steel railroad ties (instead of wood) for much of the line which is known to interfere with electronic signals. There is some speculation that this was the reason the crossing arms were malfunctioning, hence the ridiculous delay in getting the thing up and running. These are also significantly more expensive than wooden ones. In this case CM spent 4.5 million on them and then sold leftovers to another company, resulting in a 400K loss.

Cap Metro's steel rail ties cause problems

I'm a PT enthusiast but this Redline thing bums me out. Cap metro is just a poorly run organization. They should concentrate on improving their limited bus service before dabbling in rail. That's why I am putting my hopes on the urban rail project that the city is putting together independent of Cap Metro. It will not be on the ballot this November because they want more time to get all the details right (as opposed to the 2000 plan, which was fatally rushed to the ballot prematurely). In particular, the best solution for crossing the river to the south without having to close one of the bridges.

I agree with the other poster about this being embarrassing for a city that calls itself "progressive".

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by chickenfry

i would love to see mass tran here in austin. the red line is ridiculous. it cost a fortune and it goes no where. they expect some stupid thing like "2000" riders/day. but they are counting the round trip to leander as two trips, so it really is at best 1,000 riders/day. then it doesn't run at night or weekends, so that takes away any hope of the far northwest folk using it to "party' in town! and you are right, it takes just as long as to travel by private vehicle............government at it's best

I voted against it, but I am hoping they are successful. It isnt that they are a bunch of idiots, but that they had a lot of constraints. Think of it more as a prototype.

1) The value of rail is like a park, it creates an improved quality of life for the types of people that it attracts. Like a park it does NOT pay for itself and not everyone will use it. Like a park it will attract the creative class type of people who are educated intellectuals.

2) It isnt running during nights and weekends because of the freight schedule. Not because they are too dumb to figure out that those would be great times to run the rail

3) It is running on the freight lines because voters would not approve the "real" plan. The cost, in the millions, seems high but is incredibly cheap for a rail system. How much is zilker park worth if we sold it, how much revenue does it generate directly and how much does it cost to maintain? Same with the golf course.

4) Because it is running on freight lines there were only two choices, down mopac or the line they did use. They could not get the mopac line because that one is so heavily used for freight. so yes the service areas are weird. I fully expect areas around the stations to grow though.

I will always vote against any rail system, but I do understand the value that it brings and the constraints that they were operating under. Im excited to see it and will definitely try it out.

[jobert]

Originally Posted by Austin97

Like a park it will attract the creative class type of people who are educated intellectuals.

[bgrn198]

The line down Mopac is being looked at for the commuter rail between Austin and San Antonio

Lone Star Rail District | Home

[atxcio]

FWIW, it looks like the Red Death Machine had a pretty good second day yesterday: News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | TOP STORIES

And who says you need riders for rail to generate revenue?
MetroRail Day 2: 42 drivers ticketed | KXAN.com

[love roses]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

Well, in Hutto they are revamping the rails here and it's lookin goood.

Personally I love the trains and I don't care how they start out with the projects because it's better than what was being done with trains before....nothing. And I can guess the new water park is going to bring in people on the trains.

We need to go full blown transit system with trains and get rid of all the cars. It would be awesome if we could catch the rail here in Hutto to go downtown for the day. Really awesome!

I really wish they would.

[mimimomx3]

It's a waste of money- money we don't have. Watch for the bond package coming for the orange, pink, purple and blue line in an election coming soon.

[twange]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

It was at first soundly defeated by Austin voters about 10 years ago if I remember correctly.

Sorry Steve, that is incorrect - it was not soundly defeated. The city of Austin actually voted for it by a VERY slim margin:

While a majority – 50.6% – of voters within the City of Austin actually voted in favor of Capital Metro's light rail plan on 7 November 2000, the proposal was defeated by an extremely slim margin of about 2000 votes within the service area as a whole. That apparently reflected opposition from some residents in outlying suburban areas, who may in general exhibit less support for mass transit than inner-city residents.

The quote was from the following site (posted back in 2001, shortly after the vote)but is pretty well documented on others:

Campaign continues for Austin light rail

Also, the 2000 plan was vastly different, the most important distinction being that it was light rail (electric, lower speed good for denser urban areas) while the new redline is commuter (diesel, faster, bigger tracks, better for traveling longer distances).

Cap Metro was desperate to get any sort of rail up and running, so they put this plan together cheaply (i.e. using existing tracks) even though it doesn't hit any major areas of need.

While very expensive, the 2000 plan would be 100% superior to what we have now.

[SeaToby]

I recently rode this train, CapMetro Rail. The Stadler trainsets are wonderful. Using diesel light rail cars was a smart decision. The Stadlers are much, much more silent than noisey freight locomotives pulling or pushing heavier bi-level commuter rail cars. Using current railroad track saved tons of money building new tracks and buying right of way. Simply put, this commuter rail setup is about as cheap a rail system that could be built....

Sure, I would like to see these Stadlers on newly built track. Unfortunately, that would cost at least another one billion dollars. Add another billion for a route south of the Colorado River. At least this railroad curves about running north to the suburbs.

However, I noticed this railroad doesn't run anywhere near heavy density, mostly single family homes and a few shopping centers. Hopefully, some new condos and apartments will be built near some of the stations. There is plenty of vacant real estate along this line. From what I saw of Austin, the heaviest density is downtown. Period.

And yes, some of the railroad crossings could have been avoided by building overpasses or underpasses. But that would cost hundreds of millions as well. Forget the MoPac line. UP will never allow any passenger commuter rail to run down that line. UP might allow CapMetro to build a new line adjacent to their line, but then again that would cost another half billion at least.

As I said before, using this line is the only cheap solution. Buying DMUs another wise cheap solution. Unfortunately, Austin railroads don't provide for a excellent rail system. Hopefully this starter line is a success, which will eventually lead to new lines being built in a better location. But Austin will have to grow considerably, with much higher density.

The only good thing about this commuter line, is that in the long run it will be cheaper to operate than more park and ride express buses. The problem with buses has always been they are stuck in the same traffic hickups as automobiles are. The best part of my train ride was seeing all of those cars parked in long lines waiting for my train to pass the crossings. Nothing like thumbing motorists... Hee!Hee!

[austin-steve]

Simply put, this commuter rail setup is about as cheap a rail system that could be built....

Define cheap. Against what measurement is "cheap" defined?