you can visit the oldest train station in the usa for free — 👍

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFnlUA-xyV3/?igsh=dGV5OTNuOTVlZndx

not too happy in boston — 🙀😂

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFvE4CSuj70/?igsh=MXQ4dDZ1ajZvYnZsYg==

‘memba the old elevated green line downtown in boston?

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGJMfOzOiH3/?igsh=NDJpcWw3MWtnM2hr

Great video on the Kansas City streetcar extension and maintenance facility

 

Being from Cincinnati it's so difficult to listen to this.  They have proactive people getting problems solved and advocates from the business community for the streetcar.  We don't respond to any of the quick fixes that would help reduce variance in headways.

 

The quote that absolutely floored me (because it would be impossible here) is that they "ELIMINATED street parking in areas where cars were parking across the line into the streetcar lane."  Here in Cincinnati, we blame the streetcar for being in the way of the cars.

Edited April 2Apr 2 by 10albersa

I was just in KC for a day back in March, but was able to see progress on the Riverfront extension. 

 

 

Here is the view from the top of the hill looking north towards the Grand Blvd. Bridge which will carry the tracks down towards the river. 

 

The entire northern extension is to service this new terminal station. 

 

There isn't a lot of trackage in its own dedicated ROW, but what little they do have is looking pretty good. 

 

 

The existing development along the River isn't too extensive, a few average looking new build apartment complexes and a hotel. 

 

The new development just east of the station (which broke ground just recently - KC Current breaks ground Wednesday on new mixed-use development along Berkley Riverfront) will help bring a lot more riders to the extension when fully built out. 

 

 

CPKC Stadium at the far end of this redevelopment project is only about a 5 minute walk from the new streetcar station. 

 

The three existing KC major league venues are all outside of the urban core, so its also cool to see the Current embrace the streetcar and the city in a way other teams haven't. 

 

Progress on the Main Street Extension is a little slower than I would have initially anticipated. I was in KC back in early 2023 and a lot of the route already had tracks imbedded in concrete back then. 

 

But its good to see that they are finally close to opening

Also just while we are briefly on the topic of KC, I think its worth mentioning that although they've made great progress on their streetcar system, there bus system is facing drastic cuts. It looks like they've come to a temporary solution, however there is still a missing long term funding source for busses in the metro area. 

 

Kansas City passes $2.5 billion budget, future of KCATA buses still up in the air

Isabella Ledonne - Mar. 20, 2025 - KSHB

 

"With an anticipated budget shortfall of nearly $32 million according to KCATA leaders, the transit authority proposed to cut 13 bus routes, reduce weekend and nighttime operating hours, reduce fleet numbers, suspend the IRIS microtransit program and lay off 171 transit workers. ... Council submitted a last-minute proposal to give the KCATA $46 million from the 2025-2026 budget to keep buses fully running with routes intact until October 31, 2025. But there are no current plans as to what may happen after that."

 

Right now it looks like serive would be reduced to:

 

KCATA to reduce route frequency, reinstate fares to help reduce costs

MassTransitMag - Apr. 8, 2025

 

"service will begin at 5:00 a.m. and end at 11:00 p.m. The Main Max, Troost Max, Prospect Max and #24 will see frequency changed to every 15 to 20 minutes between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Outside of those hours, frequency will be reduced to every 30 minutes and all other routes will be switched to 60-minute headways."

 

 

You can't just have a very good streetcar (by new build, mid-sized American cities standards), you also need a dedicated funding source for the cities pubic transit system. Hopefully the streetcars success could help build support for a dedicated regional funding source, perhaps at the Jackson County level. St. Louis on the other end of the state was able to expand its regional funding to help pay for continuing service and a new crosstown light rail line. 

 

Here's an interesting article on Wash DC Metro train automation.  The system's original automation was reinstituted in December and there have been problems with overshooting stations - but zero problems with running through red semaphore signals.  Anyway of 221 instances of station overshoots, 38% of which involved three or more cars. (Most Metro trains are 8 cars.) 72 of the instances happened at just two stations, which sounds as if it should be easily fixable. But when is any 60 year old IT system easily fixable?

 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/04/09/metro-automation-red-line-safety/

new redmond stations open this weekend —

KIRO 7 News Seattle

New light rail stations open this weekend in Redmond

Marymoor Village and Downtown Redmond stations will open on May 10.

Edited May 8May 8 by mrnyc

orange county streetcar arrives —

LAist

Orange County’s first light rail streetcar is here with s...

The light rail project, which had been planned for 2021, could see its first riders early next year.