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Old 03-23-2010, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Austin,Tx
1,694 posts, read 3,604,509 times
Reputation: 709

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Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve View Post
Will it relieve traffic? No
Will it make traffic worse? Yes, near the crossings.
Will it pay for itself? No
Will someone be killed? Yes (in the first 30 days I predict)
Will mass chaos ensue in a week when payment is required? Yes
Must you have exact change? No, but you don't get change if you don't have exact.
Is there enough room for bikes? No
Is it faster than driving before 7AM? No, way slower. Return trip may be about the same though.
Is it faster and cheaper to ride the Leander bus? Yes

Steve

How could it make traffic worse at the crossings compared to when a freight train is going through? some of those are even longer and i've seen traffic backed up on certain roads (Duval) when a freight train is crossing.
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Old 03-23-2010, 12:42 PM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,976,190 times
Reputation: 5531
Quote:
Originally Posted by bgrn198 View Post
How could it make traffic worse at the crossings compared to when a freight train is going through? some of those are even longer and i've seen traffic backed up on certain roads (Duval) when a freight train is crossing.
The crossings near Northcross station, for example, drop the guard arms way before the train comes whereas that wasn't the case with freight trains. Airport Blvd is going to be a problem also with crossings close together near 51st.

Wait and see. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think there are going to be major snafus because the regulations governing passenger trains and the warning/crossing requirements, are different than with freight trains because the safety of passengers, not just motorists, in introduced into the equation.

Steve
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Old 03-23-2010, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Broomfield, CO
1,445 posts, read 3,252,414 times
Reputation: 913
You are quite right sir. Actually Capital Metro is known throughout many parts of the country as "the total failure of a transportation system". I used to work with RTD in Denver/Peaks Transit in Colorado Springs, and briefly Metro in KC. Before I moved to Austin I knew nothing about the city except for it's complete failure of a bus system and transit agency. Yes, Capmetro is the butt of many jokes throughout the country. Trust me, many of my former buddies are laughing quite heavily right about now!!! Several of them originally suggested that all Cap Metro buses were operated by junior high school students!!! I thought that was funny!!!


Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
I don't understand why Austin , San Antonio , Fort Worth haven't gotten on the Light Rail / Commuter Rail band wagon like Dallas and Houston have. And for a progressive city like Austin this embarrassing. Now Austin is the butt of jokes in the Transit / Rail communities. As for what this is , its a commuter line.
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Old 03-23-2010, 01:01 PM
 
Location: Austin,Tx
1,694 posts, read 3,604,509 times
Reputation: 709
Quote:
Originally Posted by austin-steve View Post
The crossings near Northcross station, for example, drop the guard arms way before the train comes whereas that wasn't the case with freight trains. Airport Blvd is going to be a problem also with crossings close together near 51st.

Wait and see. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think there are going to be major snafus because the regulations governing passenger trains and the warning/crossing requirements, are different than with freight trains because the safety of passengers, not just motorists, in introduced into the equation.

Steve

Yeah i'm not in the Northcross area as much as NW Austin
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Old 03-23-2010, 01:07 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
2,357 posts, read 7,869,324 times
Reputation: 1013
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".
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Old 03-23-2010, 11:10 PM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
12,380 posts, read 26,748,155 times
Reputation: 4580
Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
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".
Most US Transit , some Freight , and heavily used Commuter lines are upgrading to concrete ties and Electrifying. It still boggles my mind on how badly run this agency is. Take some pointers form your largest Metro and there Nice expanding system.
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Old 03-24-2010, 12:08 AM
 
Location: Massachusetts
9,484 posts, read 16,372,680 times
Reputation: 14482
I gather there is not much respect for this new train in Austin or the Transit Agency. Well at least on this forum it seems that way. There must be some segment of the population that wanted this train and the route that was chosen. Im thankful when any city in America, especially in the auto dependent sunbelt decides to build a rail system. But I don't live there so who knows, maybe it wasn't the right thing to build. Good Luck hope it works out.
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Old 03-24-2010, 06:28 AM
 
Location: Hutto, Tx
9,249 posts, read 26,581,981 times
Reputation: 2851
The problem with it is that it only serves a narrow segment of the population. Austin is spread out in many different directions, and some of those areas are more densely populated and it just seems that this rail line would be more successful if it started in a different area.
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Old 03-24-2010, 07:23 AM
 
3,787 posts, read 6,961,740 times
Reputation: 1761
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!
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Old 03-24-2010, 07:26 AM
 
Location: SW Austin & Wimberley
6,330 posts, read 17,976,190 times
Reputation: 5531
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimrob1 View Post
I gather there is not much respect for this new train in Austin or the Transit Agency. Well at least on this forum it seems that way. There must be some segment of the population that wanted this train and the route that was chosen. Im thankful when any city in America, especially in the auto dependent sunbelt decides to build a rail system. But I don't live there so who knows, maybe it wasn't the right thing to build. Good Luck hope it works out.
It was at first soundly defeated by Austin voters about 10 years ago if I remember correctly.

Then it was repackaged, trimmed down, and sold to the public with phony projections and promises. It was approved by 54% of voters.

Then it took longer and cost way more than promised.

It never, at any point, made financial sense. We were told to ignore the astronomical "cost per rider trip" calculations, and instead told to think of it as an investment in future transportation and congestion relief. Mostly it was a "feel good" project to pad the resumes of politicians.

A week before the launch, while I was attending SXSW, the City pulled a train up at the convention center downtown and left it parked there to show it off. As I walked from the Hilton to Marriott Courtyard, past the train, I breathed in its diesel fumes as it sat there idling, and actually had to put my hand over my mouth and walk faster to hurry past the smell. Nice. We've banned smoking but this belching monstrosity can sit there polluting the air, and it's to be admired?

And in 10 or 20 years it's suppose to make sense, and we'll be happy then.

Sound familiar?

Steve
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