Quote:
Originally Posted by plutonicpanda
Just a couple notes. First time visiting Colorado and in Denver I rode a couple LRT lines just for shits and gigs and wow. what. a. joke.
If anyone follows my posting they will know I have a disdain for at grade train crossings and Denver takes the cake. The train moved soooooo slooooow. Denver should stop all expansions and focus on grade separation now!
I-70 also needs to be heavily expanded into the mountains and they need to work on light-rail through the mountains as well to Breckenridge. I used the tolls lanes but the amount of traffic on this corridor warrants 8 laning well past the Eisenhower tunnel. Colorado's roads were also horribly marked and woefully under-served in terms of capacity.
Other than Colorado had to be one of my favorite states and I reckon it isn't long until I get a place here. Denver is such a cool city and the skyline impressed me much more than I thought it would. Absolutely beautiful state!
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I'm curious, which light rail lines did you ride?
-The SE Corridor is entirely grade-separated and travels at close to the maximum velocity for a light rail train, which is 65 mph.
-The SW Corridor is probably 90% grade-separated and travels at 55 mph.
-The West Corridor runs a good portion of its length down an old at-grade streetcar ROW and only travels at 35 mph on that stretch, but the western most third of that line is grade-separated and travels at 55 mph.
-Then of course as these lines go into downtown, they are at-grade. But the ones that go to Union Station have minimum street crossings and maintain solid speed. The ones that go into the downtown street grid are slow but are funtioning as more of a streetcar at this point.
That's how Light Rail was designed to be used, in a multitude of environments as both grade-separate commuter rail and urban street running rail.
Did you only ride the West Corridor Light Rail?
Another question...
Why would Light Rail ever be used on a long haul, commuter rail, mountain corridor? Obviously that would be the realm for a commuter rail or high-speed rail transportation technology.
Also, did you try any of Denver's EMU Commuter Rail corridors? These have a maximum speed of 85 mph. If so, what are your thoughts on those?
There is the A-Line to the Airport
The B-Line to Westminster (a spur)
The G-Line west to Arvada.