Comments on: HSR Planning Done Right

By: Samsonian

Samsonian — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:11:38 +0000

I realize SMART hasn’t even started operations, and won’t for some years, but humor me:

What if SMART expanded across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (using the emergency/break-down lane) and made it to Richmond Amtrak/BART, or points further south?

What if the North Coast rail line (NCRA/NWP) up to Eureka/Arcata was fully revived, and Amtrak California started running intercity passenger service?

The line would get more ridership and be more than just a basic commuter service, and might need 2 tracks.

By: adirondacker12800

adirondacker12800 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:12:08 +0000

Just because it’s cheap and convenient for them to leave trains lolling about the station now doesn’t mean that it should be the way they operate in a rebuild station. If they want to store trains in San Jose they don’t have to do that at very expensive platforms.

By: Joey

Joey — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:39:06 +0000

So I guess the question is how much room they need for the Capital Corridor trains.

By: jimsf

jimsf — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:22:48 +0000

again, they dwell the train sets at the platform, they usually dwell for an hour or more. They don’t go back out because the sked is based on crew hours etc. Might be 2 per hour in and 2 out, but the trainsets sit there up to 3 hours. Where they dwell is up to the agencies. Perhaps the various agencies have made it clear that they want “x” amount of space.

By: Joey

Joey — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:37:09 +0000

SMART will likely be condemned to low service volumes for the larger part of its career. It’s more comparable to, say, San Diego County’s SPRINTER than to BART (but with the additional handicap of FRA compliance). It doesn’t serve any city centers or high-density employment areas (where commute trips come from), but rather it serves those who work in suburban downtowns and those transferring to other modes of transportation.

By: dejv

dejv — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:46:41 +0000

SMART’s budget is so screwed that locals are calling for a rethink of loco hauled instead of doodlebugs to save money.

FRA and FTA mission of killing regional rail is then successful, if loco-hauled trains are indeed cheaper in long run than self-propelled railcars.

(wow, my captcha is gov- expanse :))

By: Joey

Joey — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:32:39 +0000

UPRR+Amtrak only need one track. CalTrain needs a bit more.

By: adirondacker12800

adirondacker12800 — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:47:37 +0000

Caltrain, if they rub three brain cells together, won’t have any FRA compliant trains so they don’t need to use the track for FRA compliant trains. Even if they did, they won’t be stopping for long in San Jose.
Amtrak and ACE, when great big stampeding herds of passengers start to arrive they might have 2 trains per hour in each direction. Means if you want to turn the train around you have to do it in 15 minutes.
If they can’t manage to turn the train around in 15 minutes there’s no reason why it can’t go someplace else and get turned around.

By: synonymouse

synonymouse — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:22:27 +0000

This is supposed to be our future rapid transit route. Would you run BART on single track? NCRA-NWP will be on permanent taxpayer lifeline as the freight traffic isn’t there anymore.

SMART’s budget is so screwed that locals are calling for a rethink of loco hauled instead of doodlebugs to save money.

By: jimsf

jimsf — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:07:45 +0000

How do you figure amtrak and caltrain only need one track? The trains dwell there.