January 28, 20241 yr run, forest, run! Â đ Â Â https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2jBMdGgJny/?igsh=Z3E0NXRoanA0dG8= Â
January 28, 20241 yr  no light rail and now no brt for you indy â đ https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2aQqGuRjW7/?igsh=MTYwenZiNmFvcjA5bw==
February 29, 20241 yr Update from St. Louis where a street-running LRT (aka streetcar!) is advancing.... Â Good news! The Gateway Council of Governments has approved the Jefferson avenue alignment for the North/South MetroLink!!! Now we're waiting on engineering work to finish (soon, hopefully!) so we can get accurate the cost estimates and begin applying for federal funding! Â "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 3, 20241 yr ^ crosstown service, always the missing milk carton step child link of rail. đ  i keep hearing about that extension, very good to see its moving along.
March 4, 20241 yr The amount of walkable development along this line has been stunning. Native Clevelander and former GCRTA GM Ron Tober, who was banished to Charlotte, has done well there. Â Â "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 10, 20241 yr ^ i see on his linked in tober still lives there, but had been doing consulting for awhile and now works for wsp fka parsons brinckerhoff engineering. that means among other things he probably worked on east side access/gcm here in ny too. heâs still a train daddy for sure.Â
March 10, 20241 yr mpls blue line extension news â    EARLY RIDERSHIP AND COST DATA SIGNALS BLUE LINE EXTENSION COMPETITIVE FOR FEDERAL FUNDING  Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2024   Early estimated ridership and cost ranges for the METRO Blue Line Extension indicate this proposed light rail project will continue to be eligible and highly competitive for federal funding through the Federal Transit Administrationâs New Starts program.  The METRO Blue Line Extension will extend the existing Blue Line light rail 13.4 miles north, connecting communities in North Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Crystal, and Brooklyn Park to the regional light rail network.  Ridership data reflects steady return to transit  The Blue Line Extension project is expected to bring total daily ridership on the METRO Blue Line to more than 30,000 by adding 11,500 to 13,000 daily rides. As much as 50% of these new riders are expected to come from households that do not own a car and rely on transit to move freely every day.   more: https://metrocouncil.org/News-Events/Transportation/Newsletters/Blue-Line-Extension-ridership-and-cost-Feb-2024.aspx Â
April 19, 20241 yr strasbourg â Â Â https://www.instagram.com/reel/C58k2cBsyeG/?igsh=azM5ejB5Y2w4ajNu Â
May 1, 20241 yr Quote Link Light Rail's Line 2 starter line is now open:  So in big coincidence news, yours truly was up there last week riding the test line. I actually just accepted a new position with Sound Transit as Deputy Director of Real Estate beginning May 20th! The current/ongoing expansion plan is truly amazing and epic in scope, I am really stoked to be a part of it and take on the challenge!  Info on the plan can be found here:  https://www.soundtransit.org/system-expansion Edited May 2, 20241 yr by The_Cincinnati_Kid
May 27, 20241 yr driverless lrv testing in moscow â     First driverless tram in Russia in testing on Moscow streets  24 May 2024   Moscow has begun testing an autonomous tram. In the initial phase, a driver is still present at the controls on the road. Within the depot, the tram operates completely autonomously. During the test phase, it will run on the 10th tram route without passengers.  In the next phase, by the end of 2024, the tram will begin fully controlling the driving process in test mode, with the driver serving as a backup. In the third and final phase, by the end of 2025, the plan is to launch a fully unmanned tram without a driver at the controls for passenger trips.   more: https://www.greencarcongress.com/2024/05/20240524.html   Â
May 27, 20241 yr new station design for liverpool â more planned â    New images of 100m station for Liverpool  21st May 2024  ⌠The new station is one of four planned by the Mayor. The others are at Daresbury in Halton, Woodchurch on the Wirral and Carr Mill in St Helens. Work to develop all three should be underway by the end of this decade.  more: https://railnews.mobi/news/2024/05/21-new-images-of-100m-station.html  Â
May 28, 20241 yr The Portland Streetcar is expanding again! They will also be switching over to new rolling stock with batteries, so the new section will have no overhead catenary wire. Â Â
May 30, 20241 yr Urn & ashes left on DC streetcar: https://nypost.com/2024/05/30/us-news/washington-dc-widow-cherise-wells-pleads-for-help-locating-husbands-ashes-on-street-car/
June 17, 2024Jun 17 On 5/27/2024 at 8:03 PM, taestell said: The Portland Streetcar is expanding again! They will also be switching over to new rolling stock with batteries, so the new section will have no overhead catenary wire. I wonder what the long-term RoI is for using batteries instead of wires is. Eventually, the cost of replacing the batteries will outpace the savings from having paid for the wires upfront. It's also notable that CAF makes a version of the Cincinnati streetcar that uses capacitors to go wireless for short segments as well.
June 17, 2024Jun 17 One of the great things about catenary powered transit is that you can have one vehicle that's decelerating and using regenerative breaking to put power into the overhead wire, which is immediately being used by a different vehicle on the system. So you get the efficiency of an electric or hybrid vehicle with regenerative breaking, but without the need for batteries that wear out and eventually need to be replaced (and the environmental cost of producing and properly disposing of those batteries). Â I occasionally see conversations about Seattle potentially building new overhead wire to allow diesel bus routes to be electrified or existing electric bus routes to be extended or rerouted. Interesting to see Portland going the other way here, choosing the cheaper option for a wireless streetcar system that will surely cost them more in the long term with battery replacement costs.
June 17, 2024Jun 17 2 hours ago, taestell said: Interesting to see Portland going the other way here, choosing the cheaper option for a wireless streetcar system that will surely cost them more in the long term with battery replacement costs. On their website, they do list Highway 30 as a physical constraint that could possibly prevent wires from being installed. It might be a convenient excuse but it's possible Oregon DOT won't want them to touch the highway there.
June 18, 2024Jun 18 9 hours ago, taestell said: I occasionally see conversations about Seattle potentially building new overhead wire to allow diesel bus routes to be electrified or existing electric bus routes to be extended or rerouted.  Yes, I read some of those reports about 10 years ago. One of the strategies was to create new all-electric routes by building short new sections of overhead wire between existing radial routes. The cost of building 1-2 miles of overhead wire to create a new 10+ mile all-electric line seemed outrageous. I suspect that they were purposefully exaggerating the cost to make the suggestion go away, since they knew the technology was on its way, AND correctly surmised that federal grants would be structured in such a way as to supply them with electric hybrid buses for free.Â
June 21, 2024Jun 21 sound transit grows and grows â    Light rail opens on the Eastside Link 2 Line brings light rail to Bellevue and Redmond for the first time  Publish Date April 27, 2024   Starting this morning, passengers on the Eastside will be able to use Link light rail to travel quickly and safely to destinations throughout Bellevue and Redmond. The 6.6-mile initial segment of the 2 Line includes eight stations, with service every 10 minutes, 16 hours a day, seven days a week.  This is the first opening in a year of exciting transit expansions. In August the 1 Line will extend into Snohomish County to Lynnwood, and in spring 2025, the 2 Line is expected to add two more stations in Redmond.  âThis is a historic occasion for our region and the hundreds of thousands of people on the Eastside who will be able to use Link light rail to quickly and safely get to school, work, games, concerts, and more, without the hassles of traffic and parking,â said King County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair Dow Constantine. âWe are well on our way to a more connected Puget Sound region with the 1 Line extension to Lynnwood opening in August, and the 2 Line further expanding next year.â   more: https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/news-events/news-releases/light-rail-opens-eastside  Â
June 21, 2024Jun 21 Unfortunately daily ridership has only been 4,000 since it opened in April. It was designed before the pandemic to, among other things, serve downtown commuting which of course has taken a hit with remote working. Â "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 21, 2024Jun 21 1 hour ago, KJP said: Unfortunately daily ridership has only been 4,000 since it opened in April. It was designed before the pandemic to, among other things, serve downtown commuting which of course has taken a hit with remote working. Â Maybe I'm wrong, but those numbers seem pretty good for only 1/3rd of the line running so far. Especially when it's not connected to Seattle or Downtown Redmond yet. It's basically only serving Bellevue at this point.Â
June 21, 2024Jun 21 yes this is just bellevue and redmond. eight stations.  the seattle link will open in 2025. they have been having some problems with that section.   Â
June 21, 2024Jun 21 fyi -- Â there is also another sound transit extension north to lynnwood opening soon (Aug. 30): Â https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/04/04/lynnwood-link-light-rail-will-open-august-30/ Â Â Lynnwood City Center will be the northern terminus of the 1 Line starting this fall. (Sound Transit) Â Â
July 23, 2024Jul 23 RMTransit recently posted a video on how Portland MAX would benefit from putting light rail in a tunnel through Downtown Portland: Â Â The idea of a tunnel was studied but I think is on hold until some funding source is found. One interesting side effect of building a tunnel is that the existing surface light rail tracks could be repurposed for streetcars without having to build too much extra track. Perhaps the current NS route could be kept on the existing streetcar tracks while the A/B loops could be moved to the current yellow/green light rail tracks through downtown (or vice versa). That would also add some flexibility into the system, where if one set of tracks needed to shut down for maintenance, a car crash, etc., the affected routes could temporarily divert to the other set of north-south tracks. Â (Here's the current streetcar route map for reference.)
August 29, 2024Aug 29 On 6/21/2024 at 10:44 AM, mrnyc said: fyi -- Â there is also another sound transit extension north to lynnwood opening soon (Aug. 30): Â https://www.theurbanist.org/2024/04/04/lynnwood-link-light-rail-will-open-august-30/ Â Â Lynnwood City Center will be the northern terminus of the 1 Line starting this fall. (Sound Transit) Â Â Lynwood Link opens tomorrow, extending Line 1 north to four new stations, âShoreline South/148thâ, âShoreline North/185thâ, âMountlake Terraceâ, and âLynnwood City Center.â (Another station at 130th Street will be built later.) Â Eventually all of these stations will be served by Line 2 as well, enabling riders in Lynwood to get to the Airport (and points south) on Line 1, or to Redmond on Line 2.
October 10, 2024Oct 10 boston streetcars & maverick station 1949 â đ   https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA6yBXfuQyW/?igsh=MTRobW10MnVlZjdiMg==
November 15, 2024Nov 15 all the staten island light rail/brt plans (that afaik have gone nowhere to date) --   Staten Island light rail  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island_light_rail
December 7, 2024Dec 7 I was thinking the Kansas City St. car extension was several years in the future, but it looks like itâs actually opening next year. This service is a great model for other transportation projects. With this, downtown will be connected to the plaza and UMKC. This will have great ridership! Â When is the last time I-71 turned a profit?
January 30Jan 30 On 6/21/2024 at 8:17 AM, mrnyc said: sound transit grows and grows â    Light rail opens on the Eastside Link 2 Line brings light rail to Bellevue and Redmond for the first time  Publish Date April 27, 2024   Starting this morning, passengers on the Eastside will be able to use Link light rail to travel quickly and safely to destinations throughout Bellevue and Redmond. The 6.6-mile initial segment of the 2 Line includes eight stations, with service every 10 minutes, 16 hours a day, seven days a week.  This is the first opening in a year of exciting transit expansions. In August the 1 Line will extend into Snohomish County to Lynnwood, and in spring 2025, the 2 Line is expected to add two more stations in Redmond.  âThis is a historic occasion for our region and the hundreds of thousands of people on the Eastside who will be able to use Link light rail to quickly and safely get to school, work, games, concerts, and more, without the hassles of traffic and parking,â said King County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair Dow Constantine. âWe are well on our way to a more connected Puget Sound region with the 1 Line extension to Lynnwood opening in August, and the 2 Line further expanding next year.â   more: https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/news-events/news-releases/light-rail-opens-eastside    An extension of Line 2 will be opening on May 10, providing service to two new stations â Marymoor Village Station and Downtown Redmond.  The current "starter line" is getting around 6,000 daily boardings.  The section of track connecting Line 2 to Seattle is still under construction and expected to open later this year, which will allow the full U-shaped route (Lynwood to Redmond) to operate.
January 30Jan 30 On 12/7/2024 at 11:44 AM, Boomerang_Brian said: I was thinking the Kansas City St. car extension was several years in the future, but it looks like itâs actually opening next year. This service is a great model for other transportation projects. With this, downtown will be connected to the plaza and UMKC. This will have great ridership!  There is also a short northward extension under construction. When both are operational, KC will have, by far, the longest modern streetcar line in the United States outside Portland, OR, at six miles end-to-end.  Per wikipedia, Portland's total network is 7.2 route miles, so KC will soon be almost as large. Â
January 30Jan 30 18 minutes ago, Lazarus said: When both are operational, KC will have, by far, the longest modern streetcar line in the United States outside Portland, OR, at six miles end-to-end. Â Â Amazing to see what KC has pulled off in relatively the same amount of time as Cincinnati. Extensions aside, the operation and support are well beyond what SORTA or the City has ever offered here in the Queen City.Â
February 1Feb 1 Well, KC is relatively flat where Cincy has uneven terrain that makes expanding the streetcar difficult. The next extension for Cincy would almost certainly go up a hill.
February 1Feb 1 On 1/30/2025 at 5:59 PM, taestell said:  An extension of Line 2 will be opening on May 10, providing service to two new stations â Marymoor Village Station and Downtown Redmond.  The current "starter line" is getting around 6,000 daily boardings.  The section of track connecting Line 2 to Seattle is still under construction and expected to open later this year, which will allow the full U-shaped route (Lynwood to Redmond) to operate. Seattle really should've chosen a Vancouver-like system in the beginning, or not reject the 1970's federally funded metro plan.
February 1Feb 1 2 hours ago, Philly215jawns said: Well, KC is relatively flat where Cincy has uneven terrain that makes expanding the streetcar difficult. The next extension for Cincy would almost certainly go up a hill.  Actually the extension involves two major hills. Not quite as high (maybe 200 feet in elevation change versus 300 feet) but each slope is a grade similar to Gilbert Ave. Not as steep as Vine St. but not nothing.Â
February 1Feb 1 On 1/30/2025 at 6:29 PM, Lazarus said:  There is also a short northward extension under construction. When both are operational, KC will have, by far, the longest modern streetcar line in the United States outside Portland, OR, at six miles end-to-end.  Per wikipedia, Portland's total network is 7.2 route miles, so KC will soon be almost as large.  Crazy to think that 7 miles is our largest streetcar line.  I had to look up other cities in the world and it's astounding.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tram_systems_by_gauge_and_electrification
April 29Apr 29 Kansas City! "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
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