Light Rail Boom

[manrush]

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

Alstom is on the North American market, it even has factories here.

Alstom is, hopefully, getting the contract to overhaul the Green Line Type 7 trams.

I say hopefully, because I know in my heart of hearts that the T will find a way to mess this up.

[mousquet]

This led me to further informations, looks like there's more overhaul to come to Boston, whichever manufacturers finally take the contracts. If that deal is finalized, Boston's Green Line vehicles would be US Alstom Transport's only light rail award so far. I guess their American machines wouldn't be exactly like those they build in Europe, since there must be various specifications depending on market local traits. They're in Hornell, NY by the way, where they own a historic manufacture, working with a supplier from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
They've had a hard time for the last years, losing a couple of big things to Bombardier in SF and NYC, but the contract they've got with PATCO in Philadelphia is helping them to recover. They would also have won another MBTA contract for some double-decker coaches, this is all heavier rail I think.

[Cirrus]

Lots of cities use grass track beds for light rail, but Houston uses *water*. This is insanely cool and creative.


Houston Main Street Square water track bed, from Google Street View


Houston water track bed, with the fountain turned on. Image from Greater Houston CVB


Houston water track bed, with train. Image from Greater Houston CVB


Paris grass track bed, by colinchurcher3 on flickr

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Lots of cities use grass track beds for light rail, but Houston uses *water*. This is insanely cool and creative.
[/url]

I'll leave the debate about water usage/wastage out of this. But this is a great way to keep pedestrians off the right of way and out of harms way.

[mousquet]

Um yes, but as a born Parisian, I would honestly admit that Paris is far from the only reference to compare to, though...
Houston had a lovely idea, but could they do that on a long section of a track?

I personally like some nice pavement much better than grass, like this in downtown Portland for instance:

http://usgreentechnology.com/wp-cont...2/portland.jpg


But I guess grass is cheaper, so it's more used in less exposed/less urban areas.

[Chef]

Good news for the Twin Cities:

Obama speeds review for Southwest light-rail line
Article by: PAT DOYLE , Star Tribune
Updated: October 1, 2012 - 7:24 PM

The Southwest Corridor light-rail project got some support from the White House Monday when President Obama pledged to speed up federal reviews needed to build the line between Minneapolis and major suburbs.

Obama instructed agencies to streamline environmental review for permits needed to build Southwest and transit projects in Ohio.

The decision could help Southwest make up for delays stemming from a dispute over awarding an engineering contract. Engineering work is now expected to start by the beginning of next year, about six months behind schedule.

The White House said speeding up federal permitting is "expected to shave several months off" work.

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/172203441.html

[M II A II R II K]

Kansas City’s Squabble-Proof Streetcar Plan

Read More: http://dc.streetsblog.org/2012/10/11...treetcar-plan/

If everything goes according to plan this election, Kansas City will be on track to build its first streetcar in under five years, from conceptual planning to first boarding. Maybe more impressive still, this relatively sprawling Midwestern town is this close to getting its first rail transportation without even a mild political dustup.

- This month some 700 voters — members of a downtown special taxing district surrounding the planned line — will determine the fate of this project. They will decide whether to tax themselves and district shoppers — through a combination of sales and property taxes — a collective $10 million per year for 25 years. That amount, plus $18 million in funding the Kansas City Streetcar won from its metropolitan planning organization, will be enough to cover construction and operating costs for this two-mile downtown circulator. Project sponsors applied for a TIGER IV grant earlier this year, but were passed over. That didn’t stop them, or even slow them down much. The special taxing district will bring in 74 percent of the project’s $100 million cost. Since the project will not rely on direct taxation from the general public, no larger community-wide vote will be necessary.

.....

[Cirrus]

Squabble proof perhaps, but at 2 miles it's also not going to be much of a line.

You have to start somewhere, so good for KC, but it's hardly a model for the rest of the country.

[Kingofthehill]

Hard any scary to believe that there are cities in the US with over 460,000 (with a metro of 2,000,000!) people and not a single rail line. I have visited German cities of 130,000 with tramways and mass transit networks/usage that put even American cities of 1,000,000+ people to shame. Some "first-world nation" we have. Really, there are no excuses for this kind of stuff..

[natiboy]

Nice article.

I wish our streetcar project could have gone this smoothly. In fact, just today, the streetcar opponents announced they will file yet another lawsuit to try to stop the project.

[You Need A Thneed]

Update photos from Calgary's West LRT - Likely opening on December 10th.

Originally Posted by frinkprof

New construction photos just posted on westlrt.ca.

Lots of interior photos of the stations.

Westbrook Station Light Cannons




Westbrook Station South Entrance




Westbrook Station Looking North




Westbrook Station Platform Level




Westbrook Station Interior Looking South




Westbrook Station Interior Looking North




Sunalta Station Entrance




Sunalta Station at Night




Sunalta Station Aerial




Sunalta Station Interior Upper Level




Sunalta Station Plaza




Sunalta Station Platform Level




Sunalta Station Interior Second Level




69th Street Station East Head




69th Street Station Tunnel




69th Street Station East Entrance




69th Street Station East Entrance




69th Street Station East Plaza




69th Street Station Interior Looking East




69th Street Station Interior Looking West




69th Street Station and Bus Terminal Aerial




Sirocco Station Looking East




45th Street Station Tracks




45th Street Station Platform Level




24th Street Pedestrian Bridge

[BrennanW]

Two miles is going to be awesome for K.C. - You've got to understand how the city is built. Three massive cores are completely disconnected, downtown, with lots of development, an awesome grocery market, and centralized employment - separated from the primary core shopping areas at Crowne Plaza, also home to KC's Union Station, and "the Plaza," a very large upscale shopping area. The streetcar line will connect two cores, and historically having large anchors at both ends of a line (instead of a core-suburb line) will make it very successful. An extension to the Plaza along the current Main Street MAX line will be a logical next step.

[Centropolis]

KCs urban core is very linear which is nice.

[initiald]

The next leg of Charlotte's light rail line is now fully funded. It's expected to break ground this winter.

CATS to announce federal funding of light-rail extension

The Charlotte Area Transit System is scheduled to announce Tuesday morning that is has an official deal with the federal government to pay for half of the $1.16 billion light-rail extension to University City — the last hurdle before construction can begin.

The 9.2-mile Blue Line extension will connect uptown to NoDa, then run along North Tryon Street before it terminates at UNC-Charlotte, which has long been a dream of university leaders.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/201...#storylink=cpy

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by natiboy

Nice article.

I wish our streetcar project could have gone this smoothly. In fact, just today, the streetcar opponents announced they will file yet another lawsuit to try to stop the project.

If this project is stopped, then the next time they're stuck in traffic in Cincinnati's core, they should SHUT THE HELL UP!

If this project is built, how about someone run over these protesters with a trolley...

I did want to mention this tho, that Houston LRT system is pretty sweet with its water bed tracks. It looks way better than gravel or concrete. Grass is cool, too, tho...

[M II A II R II K]

Transit plan meets public eye

Read More: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2012/1...ublic-eye.html

CHAPEL HILL - By 2035, the Triangle will be home to more than 2.1 million people trying to get to work, school and other destinations using crowded highways and byways. A two-part bus and light rail transportation plan – and a half-cent sales tax to help fund it – is the key to controlling and directing the effects of future growth, regional leaders say.

At its heart, the plan is an economic one, laying the foundation for a network of dense residential and commercial corridors. A side benefit is giving residents and visitors another way to go places – potentially with less congestion and air pollution. “We’ve got growth coming,” says Wib Gulley, general counsel for Triangle Transit, a former state senator and Durham mayor. “The real question is how we accommodate those folks – either through sprawl or high-density corridors.” While most experts agree the economic goals are central to the plan, not everyone thinks it will have a significant effect on congestion and pollution.

Chapel Hill transportation planner David Bonk said there aren’t any definite numbers yet – or a method for evaluating the plan’s potential. But even if it doesn’t directly cut congestion, the light rail could have an indirect effect by freeing up other heavily-traveled corridors. Many Chapel Hill area drivers use alternate routes now to avoid N.C. 54, he said. “The benefit may not be in the end that actual congestion is reduced, but that it gives people other options to avoid the congestion,” Bonk said.

The plan’s costs are extraordinary – $1.4 billion for a 17.3-mile light-rail line that in 2026 could link UNC and its hospitals in Chapel Hill to Duke University, the medical center and Alston Avenue in Durham – and roughly $14.44 million each year to pay for operating and maintaining it.

The local leg is part of a planned 57-mile light and commuter rail network connecting Orange and Durham counties to Research Triangle Park, Raleigh, Cary, Apex and Wake Forest. The plan doesn’t include Carrboro, or Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The second part of the plan – expanded bus service – will be more immediate. In Orange County, the capital cost is estimated at nearly $50 million, with annual operating and maintenance costs of roughly $4.6 million.

.....

New poll suggests Va. Beach residents support expanding light rail

Read More: http://www.wvec.com/news/politics/Ri...174630521.html

Virginia Beach residents appear ready to Ride the Tide. A new poll indicates Virginia Beach residents would support extending light rail to the Beach. The poll was conducted Oct. 2 through 8 by 13News, Christopher Newport University and The Virginian-Pilot. The results are based on 766 telephone interviews in the Second District with people who said they were registered and “very likely” to vote.

For this question, results are based only on answers from 471 Virginia Beach residents who were polled. Residents were asked, "If the light rail referendum were held today, how would you vote?" Of the 471 respondents, 68 percent said yes, 29 percent said no, with 8 percent undecided. The 7.4 mile starter line in Norfolk called the Tide recently surpassed its one-year anniversary. Hampton Roads Transit said more than 1.6 million passenger trips have been taken aboard the passenger train since it began.

.....

[natiboy]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

If this project is stopped, then the next time they're stuck in traffic in Cincinnati's core, they should SHUT THE HELL UP!

If this project is built, how about someone run over these protesters with a trolley...

That's impossible!!!

I don't think the people trying to stop the streetcar have actually been within city limits in 20+ years

[M II A II R II K]

KC streetcar plan: pricey transit or economic magnet?

Read More: http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles...onomic-magnet/

Many skeptics of Kansas City's streetcar plan have one big question: Does the city really need expensive trolleys to move people through downtown when buses already do that? But as downtown prepares for an election to help pay for a $100 million streetcar system, supporters say that's missing the point.

The proposal isn't primarily about transit. It's about creating a magnet for more apartments, condos, retail and high-tech -- doing what progressive cities already have done to lure the next generation of young entrepreneurs, workers and hipsters to their downtowns. Streetcars get credit for bringing thousands of new residents to downtown Portland, luring Amazon to a blighted Seattle neighborhood and spurring new condo complexes in Tampa.

Now Kansas City is poised to get into the act, with a proposed 2-mile starter line from River Market to Union Station. If all goes as planned, it could open in 2015 with a daily ridership of about 2,700. "The strongest argument is that we need to be building a city for the next 25 years," Mayor Sly James said. "We're going to have millennials, those people who believe that having an Internet connection is much more important than having a car."

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Central Corridor: Businesses borrow $2M to survive light-rail construction

Read More: http://www.twincities.com/stpaul/ci_...ive-light-rail

From the Acadia bar in Minneapolis to Senor Wong's in downtown St. Paul, a long list of businesses have borrowed more than $2 million from a "forgivable" loan fund to survive construction of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line. Nearly 150 small businesses have received loans from the fund, which is set up to support restaurants and retailers along the future route of the 11-mile light rail line.

The train will connect downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis in 2014. The "Ready for Rail" loan principal is forgiven at a rate of 20 percent per year and does not have to be paid back at all if a business remains in operation near the corridor for five years. The loans are administered by the city of St. Paul with funding help from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, a coalition of foundations and rail supporters. The bulk of the money, though, comes from the city and Met Council.

To date, $2.25 million has been lent to 143 small businesses. In some cases, businesses have been approved for more than one loan, with the maximum payout being $20,000. The average loan is $15,700. So far, 77 businesses have received the maximum loan after documenting at least $20,000 in reduced sales. An additional 66 businesses received loans for less than the maximum after showing less than $20,000 in a documented decline in sales.

.....

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Are they? I meant their transport branch. I saw no line in the US fitted with their machines, it all seems Siemens or Bombardier so far. Quite a lack when mass transit is booming all over there and their transit systems are yet beyond competitive. I guess they need a US tram manufacture to conquer American hearts. An Alstom Transport plant in a traditionally industrial state like Michigan could be great to both sides.

Bombardier is the de facto 'domestic' manufacturer. The parent firm is headquartered in Montreal, and they have plants in both Canada and the United States.

Alsthom Transport? They don't need a US location to access that market. Why not set up in an industrial province like Quebec or Ontario where there is already a light rail industry? Canada, Mexico, and the United States represent one trading zone.