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The problem in Baltimore is that it didn't have its act completely together when it applied for Federal assistance with its first subway line.
By the time it was ready to build another, the Feds had soured on heavy-rail rapid transit routes for all but a very few (Los Angeles) cities. And even in LA, most of what's gotten built since the initial Red/Purple subway lines is light rail.
The problem was just pure racism, culminating in the Anne Arundel County Council passing a resolution prohibiting the subway from coming into the county. When the U.S. Congress found out that the subway wouldn't be serving the city's airport (located in Anne Arundel County), they withheld funding for the complete system, and forced the subway to be built one little piece at a time, starting with Phase I, from Charles Center to Reisterstown Road Plaza (approx 6 miles), adding Phase II, Reisterstown Road Plaza to Owings Mills (8 miles), a few years later, and ending with the Phase III "fishhook" from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins (3 miles). The whole rest of the planned system was written off.
Some time later, when the new stadiums south of downtown were approved, the same people who had opposed the subway grudgingly approved the Light Rail, in order to have easy access to the stadiums.
It still got plenty of opposition, though. I clearly remember opponents saying "It will bring crime out of the city." when they had to be polite about it, but revealing their true feelings when they thought they were around like-minded people, saying "It will bring n*****s out of the city.", which is what they had said when the original subway was proposed.
The trouble with sprawling cities like Dallas and Atlanta is that the jobs, factories, etc. are not along the heavy rail lines. They're spread out all over.
And homes are spread out to where there's no way people can walk to the rail stations.
Mass transit continues to be for the poor people, and even they don't use it much in mass in cities of sprawl.
Older heavy rail lines, those built to Interborough Rapid Transit dimensions (i.e., everything built before Boston's Red Line in 1909-12), have shorter, narrower cars, about 7' wide by 40' long: numbered subway lines in New York, Boston's Orange Line (the first rapid-transit subway in the country, running through the trolley subway from 1901-09) and Blue Line (a former trolley subway), Philadelphia's Market-Frankford Line, all of Chicago's 'L' lines.
True. I should've said commonly 10' wide, but there are exceptions like the above that are too numerous to count. I need some other collection of metrics to define heavy rail. Heck, Norristown might be heavy rail.
NY's MTA intracity is slow as molasses underground or topside. Trains stop on the el, and the whole line sways back and forth--colinearly--to absorb the stop; it can be seen.
The trouble with sprawling cities like Dallas and Atlanta is that the jobs, factories, etc. are not along the heavy rail lines. They're spread out all over.
True of any region. People walk for 20 or 30 minutes to get to their workplaces even in older cities.
True. I should've said commonly 10' wide, but there are exceptions like the above that are too numerous to count. I need some other collection of metrics to define heavy rail. Heck, Norristown might be heavy rail.
NY's MTA intracity is slow as molasses underground or topside. Trains stop on the el, and the whole line sways back and forth--colinearly--to absorb the stop; it can be seen.
Actually, I class the NHSL as "light metro."
Usually operated with single cars that seat 40ish; two-car trains, some express, at peak hours.
The problem was just pure racism, culminating in the Anne Arundel County Council passing a resolution prohibiting the subway from coming into the county. When the U.S. Congress found out that the subway wouldn't be serving the city's airport (located in Anne Arundel County), they withheld funding for the complete system, and forced the subway to be built one little piece at a time, starting with Phase I, from Charles Center to Reisterstown Road Plaza (approx 6 miles), adding Phase II, Reisterstown Road Plaza to Owings Mills (8 miles), a few years later, and ending with the Phase III "fishhook" from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins (3 miles). The whole rest of the planned system was written off.
Some time later, when the new stadiums south of downtown were approved, the same people who had opposed the subway grudgingly approved the Light Rail, in order to have easy access to the stadiums.
It still got plenty of opposition, though. I clearly remember opponents saying "It will bring crime out of the city." when they had to be polite about it, but revealing their true feelings when they thought they were around like-minded people, saying "It will bring n*****s out of the city.", which is what they had said when the original subway was proposed.
Gotcha, and roger that.
One thing I've always wondered about those who make that argument: Someone's gonna break into their house, steal stuff, then try to haul it home on the light rail?
(Assaults at or near stations, or crime on the train itself, I might excuse. But I've been a crime victim only once in the nearly 40 years I've spent riding SEPTA.)
Usually operated with single cars that seat 40ish; two-car trains, some express, at peak hours.
Officially, the Norristown line is classified as an "interurban," probably the only one of its kind left in the United States. Light metro is probably as good a modern classification as any. It's truly a unique line.
The problem was just pure racism, culminating in the Anne Arundel County Council passing a resolution prohibiting the subway from coming into the county. When the U.S. Congress found out that the subway wouldn't be serving the city's airport (located in Anne Arundel County), they withheld funding for the complete system, and forced the subway to be built one little piece at a time, starting with Phase I, from Charles Center to Reisterstown Road Plaza (approx 6 miles), adding Phase II, Reisterstown Road Plaza to Owings Mills (8 miles), a few years later, and ending with the Phase III "fishhook" from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins (3 miles). The whole rest of the planned system was written off.
Some time later, when the new stadiums south of downtown were approved, the same people who had opposed the subway grudgingly approved the Light Rail, in order to have easy access to the stadiums.
It still got plenty of opposition, though. I clearly remember opponents saying "It will bring crime out of the city." when they had to be polite about it, but revealing their true feelings when they thought they were around like-minded people, saying "It will bring n*****s out of the city.", which is what they had said when the original subway was proposed.
Racism? Probably true, at least to an extent. Unwarranted racism? Not if you believe the anecdotal evidence that crime has indeed increased in proximity to the Light Rail line, and that this crime is being perpetrated by inner city black people who use the "barrier-free" (read: "I don't have to pay") Light Rail system to gain access to the suburban neighborhoods. It is a known fact that the current Light Rail line, as well as the proposed heavy rail line, serves Cherry Hill, one of Baltimore's most impoverished, crime-ridden neighborhoods. Personally, I can't blame people for not wanting to provide easy access from that place to their own home neighborhoods.
If the people of Anne Arundel County didn't want black people to come to their neighborhoods, then yes, that's racist. If they didn't want criminals (who happen to be black) to come to their neighborhoods, maybe you could call that racist, but that doesn't mean it's not justified.
As to the whole issue about funding and the airport, I can't imagine why the Baltimore officials didn't use the same strategy that they ended up using later on, when Ruxton objected to the Light Rail coming to their neighborhood. Simply build the line through, without any stations. They could have built a heavy rail line along the routing of the current Light Rail, but with no stops south of Baltimore Highlands until you get to the airport. Once the system was up and running, the people of Anne Arundel County could have re-evaluated and decided if they wanted service after all. If so, just add the intermediate stations. If not, let the trains keep on bypassing them on their way between Baltimore and the airport . . . just like the trains continue to bypass Ruxton on their way between Baltimore and Hunt Valley.
Officially, the Norristown line is classified as an "interurban," probably the only one of its kind left in the United States. Light metro is probably as good a modern classification as any. It's truly a unique line.
You're right about the NHSL. Up until the current fleet of cars entered service ca. 1998, the line used cars built by the J.G. Brill Co. (Philadelphia's hometown trolley-car builder) in 1927 (the "Strafford" cars) and streamlined Brill cars built ca. 1935 (the "Brill Bullets") to provide service.
Both car fleets had top speeds of 80 mph. I think the current ABB-built "N5" fleet has a top speed of 70.
But the funny thing is, the line that gets the moniker "the last interurban" is Chicago's South Shore Line (the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend), and that may be because it actually still runs between cities (the Philadelphia and Western ceased to be an "interurban" in fact once Lehigh Valley Transit ceased to operate over it in the late 1940s); the line runs 90 miles from downtown Chicago to the South Bend airport, and at least for two more years, it even still runs in the middle of the street in Michigan City, Ind. (many interurbans ran in the street in the towns they stopped in).
However, the South Shore Line uses commuter-rail cars in MU trains.
Last edited by MarketStEl; 07-24-2020 at 06:33 PM..
DART and LINK (Seattle) are very different - LINK is light rail but will be largely grade-separated, with subway and elevated stops in the heart of urban neighborhoods. It already has a subway going through Downtown to the University and will continue another 5 miles and 4 stops underground to the North End of the city when Northgate Link opens in 2021. Then that will be extended further North elevated by 2024. They are also building a grade-separated light rail to Belluvue and Redmond (including a Downtown Bellevue tunnel) and a second Downtown Seattle Subway Tunnel that will cut through various other inner neighborhoods. It's a $54 Billion project.
DART is largely commuter oriented and hits a lot of lower density areas. Even when they go underground through Downtown (which is a ways away from happening) it will still be at grade for much of the rest of it.
My take is MARTA will always be better than DART, but LINK will be better than MARTA by the time the Tacoma Dome extension opens within the next 10 years, and that gap will only grow as new planned extensions come on line.
I was able to ride Link last Fall and I rode DART about 8 years ago. I don't think that they are as different as you think. Seattle's current grade separation is pretty impressive in many aspects. It's grade separated (elevated) even when it doesn't really need to be, presumably in case of future roads or growth. But the average speeds are probably similar, even accounting for station spacing.
I'll highlight your "mostly grade separated" part. It's not completely and sometimes seems so because it also travels through some areas that are lightly populated and has large bits with no road crossings even when at grade. I was surprised one trip when we stopped at lights twice.
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