Quote:
Originally Posted by M1EK
The MoKan corridor itself does not come 'into town' and never did - it always ran far to the east of Austin (continuing far to the east further south). The grey lines on this map are NOT supposed to indicate every mile of every rail corridor; they indicate proposed eventual commuter lines - in this instance, a commuter line that would run on the Mokan corridor and then switch to the Elgin/Manor corridor to go into town.
Again, if you don't know our area, how about deferring to those who do?
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I'll agree that the MKT, Katy, MoKan
main line went from Taylor to Smithfield, never-the-less a local spur had a ROW through Pflugerville. It's labeled on the map, that ROW is still visible on Google Earth or Google Map. A ROW that can be used connecting downtown Austin to Pflugerville to Round Rock to Georgetown. Keep the full wye in downtown Austin by Seaholm, and the commuter train can be steered all the way to San Antonio and beyond.
Golly. Round Rock doesn't even like the MoPac (UP) ROW. ASA wants to place their station far removed from Round Rock's destinations. They actually prefer the MoKan ROW.
Source:
http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...drockrail.html
Quote:
The people Word is referring to are those running the Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District, which hopes to build a 110-mile commuter rail line from Georgetown to San Antonio. The district has been lobbying Round Rock to join the organization, Word said, and pay the annual fee of about $50,000.
The rail district's proposed line would run on the existing Union Pacific rail as it enters Round Rock from the southwest, then go almost straight north from east Round Rock to Georgetown on newly laid track.
The problem, from the point of view of Word and his staff, is that the rail district's route would go nowhere near the beehive of economic activity in and around the junction of Interstate 35 and the Texas 45 North tollway, an area with more than 12,000 workers. And, Word said, plans show it having only one station in Round Rock, near the quaint and sleepy old downtown.
"That's not where all the action is in Round Rock," Word said. Commuter rail district officials "have never been able to give us a warm-and-fuzzy that they would consider another station in Round Rock."
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Of course, Austin wants to tear up most of the wye so the area can be re-developed. I was just pointing out another rail ROW was available to get commuter trains north to Round Rock and beyond. That they don't have to go down the center of the MoPac Freeway. Switching routes would leave more room to expand the MoPac feeway more. 60 feet of UP ROW could be another 5, possibly 6 more lanes in the narrow freeway corridor. Passengers aren't going to be using the ASA to ride from 35th Street to downtown Austin anyways.
According to your thinking, since there isn't room to add a second track, there certainly isn't room to add a station platform either, which requires more space, and concrete barriers to protect passengers from 70 mph semi-tractor trucks. At least on the MoKan ROW, there is plenty of room to double or tripled track the rail line without closing your precious freeway lanes.