It makes me wonder if any American city that doesn't already have a rail transit system will ever vote to build a new one. Given the 2-1 loss in Nashville, the 2-1 loss of Metromoves in Cincinnati 15 years ago, etc., I would say no. Meanwhile in cities that already have light rail or subways, citizens are regularly approving expansions, or in many cases, the transit authorities have the...authority...to build expansions without having to go to the voters to approve them.

 

Many cities that have rail transit didn't get the money for their first line via a public vote. Those that have tried to get the money via a public vote have often failed, including cities like Cincinnati, Denver, San Diego, Seattle and probably others I'm not aware of.

NC By Train Offering Additional, Daily Round Trip Starting June 4

Tuesday, May 01, 2018

 

RALEIGH – Starting June 4, those using NC By Train’s passenger rail service to travel between Raleigh and Charlotte will have additional schedule options to choose from, with a fourth daily round trip. Tickets are on sale now at NCByTrain.org.

 

This new trip will allow passengers to customize their travel with a schedule that works best for them.

 

Beginning June 4, the additional, daily round trip schedule is as follows:

 

Piedmont Train 77 will depart Raleigh at 3 p.m., and arrive in Charlotte at 6:10 p.m.

Piedmont Train 78 will depart Charlotte at 7 p.m., and arrive in Raleigh at 10:11 p.m.

“Demand for passenger rail service continues to grow along the Raleigh to Charlotte corridor,” said Allan Paul, N.C. Department of Transportation Deputy Rail Division Director. “Providing this additional trip gives people more options to get where they need to, when they need to, on board the train.”

 

For passengers departing from or arriving in Raleigh, beginning in late May/early June, all NC By Train service will move from the current station on Cabarrus Street to Raleigh Union Station located at 510 W. Martin St.

 

The Piedmont and Carolinian trains are sponsored by NCDOT and operated by Amtrak. Daily round trips from Raleigh to Charlotte are available, with stops in Cary, Durham, Burlington, Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury and Kannapolis.

 

To purchase tickets, view schedules for all trains (including the upcoming, additional daily round trip) and more, visit NCByTrain.org or call 800-BY-TRAIN.

 

***NCDOT***

 

https://apps.ncdot.gov/newsreleases/details.aspx?r=15135

Chicago is apparently considering a transit route (likely light rail) that would serve its booming river corridor—a good idea in the abstract given the number of new projects proposed there, but difficult to execute effectively. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ori/ct-biz-north-side-light-rail-ryan-ori-20180501-story.html

 

The biggest problem is that it isn't linked to the city's most-heavily used L routes: The Brown and Red Lines running north from downtown. If the goal is actually getting people to these jobs, this proposal would do little for people on the north side of the city.

 

 

 

Yeah I'm struggling to really see the point in this.  The El stations are already relatively close. 

I think it should be at the Union Station site, then move the Amtrak station to Union Station. Transpo (SB's transit system) already has its South Street Station hub a half-block east of Union Station...

 

Group starts online petition to move South Shore rail line to downtown South Bend

http://wsbt.com/news/local/group-starts-online-petition-to-move-south-shore-rail-line-to-downtown-south-bend

Microsoft pledges $300K to study high-speed train linking Seattle-Vancouver, B.C. in under an hour

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/microsoft-pledges-300k-study-high-speed-train-connecting-seattle-vancouver-b-c-hour/

'Welcome to the 305!' celebrations mark the launch of @GoBrightline inter-city trains between Miami and Fort Lauderdale http://bit.ly/2LirAW0

 

 

More on the above.... A friend is in Miami right now on business. He took a quick trip up to Fort Lauderdale on Brightline. The scale of the new Miami Central station is something to behold. This is a transportation project that is cross-subsidized by the station-area real estate (in this case, built on top of the elevated station that's next to the MetroMover APM) whose value and utility was enhanced by the transportation project. Pretty much the way we used to build railroads and interurbans and subways in this country until the trust busters came-a-knocking in the 1930s....

Charlotte to study downtown subway tunnel for its contemplated east-west light rail line:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article215031055.html

California high speed rail article:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/us/california-high-speed-rail.amp.html

 

It’s funny- people will say they supported spending unfathomable-sum-of-money-that-they-have-no-intuitive-concept-of $X for a project but then they say they don’t support it when they are told the cost has increased to unfathomable-sum-of-money-that-they-have-no-intuitive-concept-of $Y. For maintaining suppport for projects like these, it seems it’s more about managing expectations than the real world cost.

^That total cost figure is simply not applicable to what is actually going on.  They *do* have the funding in place via cap & trade + federal grants to build the initial HSR segment between San Francisco and Bakersfield.  That sum *does not* include the tunnel to connect the upgraded and electrified Caltrans approach from Gilroy to the newly completed Transbay Terminal, so unless funding appears for that, HSR trains will temporarily terminate at the surface 4th & King station amid traditional Amtrak and Caltrans commuter trains.

 

The big unknown, and possible deal-breaker for the this initial operating segment is the 13~-mile Pacheco Pass tunnel between Gilroy and Madera.  The 2008 bond issue stipulated a 2 hour 40 minute transit time between SF and LA...to make up for the inclusion of the Palmdale route, which adds 30 miles, plus slower-than-expected speeds on the Caltrans approach to SF, they are being forced to build somewhat wider tunnels in order to enable very high speed, specifically 200mph.  Apparently the cost difference between building a 180mph tunnel versus 200mph is quite profound because the tunnel bores must be a few feet wider, and therefore there is much more excavation + concrete & steel.

 

I anticipate that they'll get this section operating by 2030 or so and then return to the voters to change the 2:40 requirement to 2:50 or 3 hours.  That will enable them to dig the gigantic 20+ mile tunnel between Palmdale and Burbank at a somewhat narrower bore diameter to save billions but operate at 150mph or slower.  Originally there wasn't going to need to be a giant tunnel in that area but the ranchers in that area successfully forced the tunnel on the grounds that the surface trains paralleling a state route were going to scare their horses. 

     

Oh, so I didn't clarify that getting HSR going between SF King station and Bakersfield, a distance of about 300 route miles, is going to likely cost under $20 billion.  Getting from Bakersfield to LA, a distance of 110 miles, is likely to cost at least $20 billion due to the huge tunnel, easily the longest in the United States. 

 

That giant $100 billion figure is all of that plus branches to Sacramento, Anaheim, and San Diego, plus wild cost overruns.  The 2008 bond issue never hoped to fund any of that, just the SF to LA portion, which was completely sensible at the time because much less tunneling was required then and should be necessary now, if not for the scared horses.   

Speaking of California high speed rail, it's future station in downtown San Francisco opens this week, sans the trains (BTW, what was the biggest -- in inflation-adjusted dollars -- all-new intercity & commuter railroad station to open in the USA before this one? Cleveland Union Terminal in 1930, valued at $2 billion in 2018 dollars)....

 

 

 

 

On the other side of the continent is the new Miami Central Station.....

 

 

^Actually KJP do you know the status of the trains someday going into the Transit Center?  I was chatting with a guy from SF this past weekend and he indicated that the final one mile or so from the current Cal Tran Station at 4th and King to the Transit Center will cost 6 billion dollars (more than the whole center itself) and is not currently funded.  He said the news media in SF keeps calling Transbay the worlds most expensive bus station.

^Actually KJP do you know the status of the trains someday going into the Transit Center?  I was chatting with a guy from SF this past weekend and he indicated that the final one mile or so from the current Cal Tran Station at 4th and King to the Transit Center will cost 6 billion dollars (more than the whole center itself) and is not currently funded.  He said the news media in SF keeps calling Transbay the worlds most expensive bus station.

 

I believe he's correct. I'm not aware of any funding for the last mile into Transbay.

 

Ditto for running Brightline into Orlando's airport station, which was built for $200+ million (mostly state funds). Just doesn't have any trains (or tracks) yet.

That's correct. In June, we passed a ballot measure increasing all of the bridge tolls in the region (except the Golden Gate) by $3, and the tolls will fund a bunch of transit projects, including new trains for BART. It includes $325 million for the Caltrain extension to downtown, but that's only a small portion of the total funding needed. They're still researching different alignments, some of which can open up a significant amount of land for new transit-oriented development.

 

^Actually KJP do you know the status of the trains someday going into the Transit Center?  I was chatting with a guy from SF this past weekend and he indicated that the final one mile or so from the current Cal Tran Station at 4th and King to the Transit Center will cost 6 billion dollars (more than the whole center itself) and is not currently funded.  He said the news media in SF keeps calling Transbay the worlds most expensive bus station.

 

I believe he's correct. I'm not aware of any funding for the last mile into Transbay.

 

Ditto for running Brightline into Orlando's airport station, which was built for $200+ million (mostly state funds). Just doesn't have any trains (or tracks) yet.

There is some uncertainty surrounding the abandonment and redevelopment of the current 4th & King station.  The irony of the Transbay is that for all of its expense, it will have a very low capacity.  Two platforms will be dedicated to Caltrans commuter rail and six will be dedicated to HSR.  There won't be room for other types of trains during peak hours, aside from the fact that it will be electrified.  So any diesel passenger train wishing to serve San Fransisco will not be able to use Transbay. 

 

Also, part of the reason why the connection will be so expensive is because it will require a 3-track tunnel.  Both Penn Station and Grand Central have 4-track approaches, but that was back before TBM's.  Building the 3-track approach to Transbay will require a very expensive large bore TBM like Bertha in Seattle. 

 

The Caltrans line between Gilroy and SF is going to be widened from two to three tracks.  HSR is going to get the middle track but will use the Caltrans commuter tracks as passing sidings when necessary.  It's going to be pretty complicated.  They wanted to do four tracks with two dedicated to HSR but Silicon Valley is now some of the most expensive and NIMBY real estate in the world so it isn't going to happen. 

 

Obviously the CA Republican candidate for governor is going to continue use these costs and challenges to try and shoot down HSR. He won't likely win the election, but if the issue damages Newsom politically it will be interesting to see how he proceeds.

 

https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2017/sep/29/antonio-villaraigosa/has-gavin-newsom-flip-flopped-californias-high-spe/

^The wild cost estimates aren't correct.  They 1. include costs paid for by other agencies like the Transbay Terminal, which is now in operation and the Caltrans conversion, which is being paid for in part by funds other than HSR 2. include spurs to Sacramento, Anaheim, and San Diego, which aren't part of Phase 1 and aren't necessary to justify the high expense of building the SF-LA section. 

 

Also, the LA approach hasn't been built yet, so no big money has been spent.  If the ranchers and other NIMBYs can be defeated, the route between Palmdale and Burbank can be built mostly on the surface and so cost much less than the tunnel plan.  Instead, estimated costs have ballooned because a very small number of people have been able to shift the plan from at-grade routing through a sparsely populated area with a few small tunnels to a gigantic 20-mile tunnel.

 

Step back and think about that again -- they're being forced to build a 20-mile tunnel under mountains where nobody lives, ostensibly so horses won't be spooked, but there is no magic money to improve operations on Caltrans to full HSR, i.e. a 2-track dedicated HSR tunnel under Silicon Valley. 

 

On the other side of the continent is the new Miami Central Station.....

 

How long before it's under water?  :P

thankfully penn is getting many more new entrances. also the iconic glass dome ceilings are going up now on the farley main post office/moynihan station extention building and its on time to open in 2020. lastly of course there is plenty of talk, but no movement on increasing capacity or getting msg out of the way.

 

https://www.amny.com/transit/penn-station-cuomo-lirr-1.20864637

Albany's take on the above.....

 

Empire Corridor rail improvements in the works

By Eric Anderson Updated 12:15 pm EDT, Friday, September 7, 2018

 

Commuters along the Empire Corridor will see some improvements as work progresses on improvements at Penn Station, the new Schenectady rail station nears completion, and Amtrak prepares to update its diesel locomotive fleet.

 

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans for new entrances to Penn Station intended to ease crowding. Amtrak's Empire Service returned to Penn at the beginning of the week, following a summer-long diversion to Grand Central Terminal so that tracks and a bridge could be repaired and upgraded.

 

MORE:

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Empire-Corridor-rail-improvements-in-the-works-13210427.php?platform=hootsuite

Las Vegas High-Speed Rail Venture Gets New Owner

Brightline Trains, operator of high-speed train network in Florida, will take over troubled project

https://www.wsj.com/articles/las-vegas-high-speed-rail-venture-gets-new-owner-1537243260

The Koch Bros. rumored to be behind planned 2020 ballot issue to halt California HSR project:

 

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-new-gas-tax-initiative-20180925-story.html#

I love connectivity stuff like this...

 

Take MARC To Philadelphia, Today?

$21.75 Commuter Train trip from Washington to Philadelphia and New York?

https://mdrail.org/news/take-marc-penn-line-to-philadelphia-today/?platform=hootsuite

HSR official videos getting almost zero views.  Like just 250 views versus millions for the Hyperloop. 

 

At 49:30 through 53:00 the matter of Los Angeles Metrorail commuter rail shared use and electrification is discussed:

 

The lady affirms that everything from Burbank Airport to Anaheim is being designed to optimize commuter rail service as part of HSR construction. Diesel will enjoy full grade separation between Burbank and LA Union and 30 miles between LA Union and Anaheim. Metrorail will be able to use electric locomotives should they ever switch over.

 

What other commuter system in the United States has 40 miles of fully grade separated track?  That is pretty incredible.  There are only two intermediate stations between LA Union and Anaheim, 30 miles away.  So with electric running at 110mph, those could be very fast commuter trains.  As-is, diesel commuter rail on this corridor is relatively slow and infrequent. 

 

Also, the San Diego route via the Inland Empire will be designed to accept future high speed rail to Phoenix. There is also a mention that a future HSR connection to Las Vegas was a motivation for the Palmdale routing.

 

What other commuter system in the United States has 40 miles of fully grade separated track?  That is pretty incredible. 

 

Every commuter rail service operating on the Northeast Corridor, the Keystone Corridor as well as Chicagoland's IC Metra Electric.

Maryland's MARC system is extensive. Unfortunately it doesn't support 2-way day trips on all the lines.  The western lines run into Washington in the morning and out at night

 

It will be interesting to see if this turns more public opinion against the HSR project.

 

2nd crack at SF Transbay Transit Center — to stay closed through next week

Kurtis Alexander and Evan Sernoffsky Sep. 27, 2018

 

San Francisco’s new Transbay Transit Center will remain closed at least through the end of next week, officials said Wednesday, after yet another cracked beam was discovered during an overnight safety inspection.

 

The $2.2 billion hub for buses and eventually trains, which opened just last month as the flashy centerpiece of city infrastructure, was closed abruptly Tuesday afternoon after a fissure was spotted in a beam that helps hold up the sprawling complex.

 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SF-Transbay-Transit-Center-remains-closed-after-13260131.php

It will be interesting to see if this turns more public opinion against the HSR project.

 

 

Only among people who want to be opposed to HSR. They're not being carried out by the same sponsors/oversight agencies.

It will be interesting to see if this turns more public opinion against the HSR project.

 

 

Only among people who want to be opposed to HSR. They're not being carried out by the same sponsors/oversight agencies.

 

Most people I talk with in CA aren't very knowledgeable of the HSR specifics. But with virtually everyone I talk with there is a growing fatigue against large projects and taxes in general. Just watch the Republican gov candidate paint this Transbay debacle as a prime reason to put the brakes on further construction.

Most people I talk with in CA aren't very knowledgeable of the HSR specifics. But with virtually everyone I talk with there is a growing fatigue against large projects and taxes in general. Just watch the Republican gov candidate paint this Transbay debacle as a prime reason to put the brakes on further construction.

 

 

Seemingly nobody knows anything, and it's obvious from the videos that nobody is going to the innumerable neighborhood meetings.  Nobody watches the videos.  Meanwhile, billions are being spent actually building the thing.  I think at this point they've spent around $4 billion of the original allotted $9 billion.  There are around 20 construction sites and 2,000 people physically working on it.  Yet the public doesn't think it has started yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seemingly nobody knows anything, and it's obvious from the videos that nobody is going to the innumerable neighborhood meetings.  Nobody watches the videos.  Meanwhile, billions are being spent actually building the thing.  I think at this point they've spent around $4 billion of the original allotted $9 billion.  There are around 20 construction sites and 2,000 people physically working on it.  Yet the public doesn't think it has started yet. 

 

 

And that's the greatest danger of all. The media has done this project no favors by not revealing how much has already been built, chief among them the LA Times.

 

Seemingly nobody knows anything, and it's obvious from the videos that nobody is going to the innumerable neighborhood meetings.  Nobody watches the videos.  Meanwhile, billions are being spent actually building the thing.  I think at this point they've spent around $4 billion of the original allotted $9 billion.  There are around 20 construction sites and 2,000 people physically working on it.  Yet the public doesn't think it has started yet. 

 

 

And that's the greatest danger of all. The media has done this project no favors by not revealing how much has already been built, chief among them the LA Times.

 

For as much as people complain about traffic you would think they would be all over it. But I think it's simply timeframe required for something of this magnitude. They're not paying attention because it's years away from happening.

 

Anyhow the bellwether isn't really what the Rep candidate says about HSR but whether Dem heir apparent Gavin Newsom stays "on board." (sorry)

I am really amazed by the hostility LA and SF people have for the Central Valley.  They think it's all about them.  But if they actually did the math, they'd realize that the Central Valley has a current combined population of 6 million stretching from Sacramento down to Bakersfield.  That's basically how many people live in the Bay Area, depending on how you define it. 

 

So if they had built the shorter I-5 alignment, they would have saved about 50 miles of track and the cost of building about 6 stations.  At 200mph, 50 miles of track blows by in just 15 minutes.  So all this whining over the I-5 alignment over 15 goddamn minutes of additional travel time by express trains.  They still have to build the same 10~ mile tunnel either way east of Gilroy, and the I-5 routing would have precluded the planned Las Vegas link at Palmdale. 

 

More new news:

 

Looks like the preferred alternative for the 38-mile Palmdale-Burbank HSR segment will be the "modified SR 14", which is the combination of about seven tunnels, the longest being 13 miles and second-longest 7 miles.  The shortest will be just 1/2 mile. 

 

This will happen in large part because the rock conditions in that area are preferable to the more southerly alignment, which would have involved a single monster 20+ mile tunnel. 

 

Also, they will negotiate to fill several open mines in the region with spoil from the tunneling. 

 

They anticipate a final design will be ready in 2021. 

 

^Jesus.  Around the 55th minute, old hippies start harassing the professionals with obnoxious questions.  Around 1:03 somebody wastes everyone's time with "concern" about how much water the tunnel boring machines will use.

 

Really?  Do these morons think that you dig tunnels through solid rock with water jets or something?

 

Nobody -- not a single person -- asks a good question.  Here is mine -- what were the estimated transit times for each of the alternatives?  How much money could be saved by building tunnels that permit a slower operating speed; how much would it cost to enable a full 200mph speed? 

October 2018 California HSR construction update video:

 

florida brightline has funding locked in and construction bids finalized for its route to orlando:

 

https://www.thenextmiami.com/done-deal-brightline-finalizes-construction-bids-for-miami-to-orlando-route-financing-in-place/

 

i believe some of florida's fed money for this originally came from the 3C ohio rail plan money that kasich gave back.

 

 

Some of Ohio's $400 million went to Florida to increase their funding for Tampa-Orlando which Gov. Scott, like Gov. Kasich, also gave away and went to other states and to Amtrak/NEC. 

Google Earth recently updated its imagery in and around Fresno.  They're obviously holding off on building the easy sections between the small central valley cities since the viaducts and trenches in the cities are pretty complex and labor-intensive. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's another bit of clear, unmistakable evidence of California High Speed Rail.......

 

 

November 2018 CAHSR aerial photos:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hsrcagov/45505216742/in/album-72157701281646291/

 

Edited November 19, 20186 yr by jmecklenborg

While rail and real estate were in bed together until the New Deal trust busters, it is starting to make a big comeback. Brightline in Florida took it to a new level. Now the Texas high-speed rail project. And now this -- which is the first privately led urban/regional transit initiative that I can recall in modern times....

 

By the way, 70% of the $1.4 billion is for real estate development. The remaining $420 million is for the start-up of a 55-mile network. That's roughly what it would cost today to start up Lorain-Cleveland-Aurora (the recommended starter line for NEOrail in 2000), which is about 48 miles.

 

Group seeking $1.4 billion for private commuter rail project

Most of funds would be used for real estate development

https://www.biztimes.com/2018/industries/banking-finance/group-seeking-1-4-billion-for-private-commuter-rail-project/

 

^Hedge funds got big into NYC real estate in the 2010s and now they have expanded out into the hinterlands.  These characters are looking for alternatives to bonds and so aren't expecting quick returns. 

To be more broad-based for Ohio, Milwaukee's start-up commuter rail route is 55 miles with 70% of the investment for station-area real estate. Ohio route length comparables:

 

> Cincinnati-Dayton

> Delaware-Columbus-Newark

> Cleveland-Akron-Canton

> Lorain-Cleveland-Aurora

 

Just sayin'...

Edited December 12, 20186 yr by KJP

Idk. Is commuter rail enough to support ToD in a Midwest city? (I assume Milwaukee has experienced some “job sprawl” like Cincinnati has?) As opposed to light rail that goes in both directions at all times of the day? 

Some commuter rail is very frequent, such as in Toronto which started out with one line and infrequent service.

 

One commuter train can carry several hundred people. A typical starter commuter rail service has about 4-6 trains inbound in the morning and the reverse in the afternoon/evening. A typical commuter rail service carries 1,000 to 10,000 riders per day. That's substantial enough to support TOD (especially with feeder/connecting buses at all stations).

Editorial: Stopping High-Speed Rail Would Betray California’s Future. It’s the most expensive public works project in the history of California. Years behind schedule, it cost more than 25 times what was originally promised. I’m talking, of course, of the replacement of the Eastern Span of the Oakland Bay Bridge, which opened in 2013–six years behind schedule, for a whopping $6.5 billion. It was supposed to cost $250 million. Rightfully, people complained and criticized, yet nobody talked about abandoning a partially built bridge….In reality, the audit merely identified everything that is wrong with how large public-works projects are funded in California and the United States. The takeaway should be that we need to reform “environmental” laws that allow NIMBYs to tie up projects in pointless lawsuits, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The state also needs to stop outsourcing management and oversight. And most of all, we need to return to a political system where two sides debate the merits of a project such as HSR and, if a majority decision is made to move forward, even those on the losing side act like adults and help build it. Or at least stop trying to sabotage it, as Jeff Denham and others in California’s Republican delegation did last year in Washington–despite the fact that HSR is still supported by the majority of the people of California.

MORE

https://sf.streetsblog.org/2018/12/18/editorial-stopping-high-speed-rail-would-betray-californias-future/

 

On 12/11/2018 at 7:31 PM, KJP said:

To be more broad-based for Ohio, Milwaukee's start-up commuter rail route is 55 miles with 70% of the investment for station-area real estate. Ohio route length comparables:

 

> Cincinnati-Dayton

> Delaware-Columbus-Newark

> Cleveland-Akron-Canton

> Lorain-Cleveland-Aurora

 

Just sayin'...

 

 

KJP, would you be more in favor of commuter rail lines connecting these areas or light rail? Would commuter rail lines would have more potential for additional capacity? I guess I am just not certain the complete difference.

 

For example, is Barta considering commuter rail line between Oakland and San Francisco?