Free Republic

New Mexico, Colorado and Texas are applying for federal funds to study the viability of a high-speed rail system from El Paso through New Mexico to Denver. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Tom Udall, DN.M., said Thursday the three states will submit a joint pre-application Friday for up to $5 million to pay for the study. Congress has authorized up to 11 high-speed rail corridors nationwide.

As America's largest city without rail transit, some people want San Antonio to “keep up” by building light rail. You need to know only one thing: Light rail is really expensive. I mean, really, really expensive. The average mile of light-rail line costs two to five times as much as an urban freeway lane-mile. Yet in 2007 the average light-rail line carried less than one-seventh as many people as the average freeway lane-mile in cities with light rail. Do the math: Light rail costs 14 to 35 times as much to move people as highways. The Government Accountability Office found...

A popular alternative to hybrid buses and subways gets a boost Bombardier is well-known worldwide as a manufacturer of aircraft, snowmobiles, and personal watercraft. The company has annual sales of almost $20 billion USD, and is well diversified into multiple transportation markets. One of these markets is light rail vehicles, commonly known as streetcars.Many European cities have highly developed light rail/streetcar lines that both complement and supplement subway lines. New subway lines are extremely expensive and can cost over $1 billion per kilometer to build. They also require high urban densities and heavy passenger volumes to be effective.Light rail lines...

Our building trembles, sometimes, but perceptibly. It is unmistakably a tremble, and I can't imagine what brings it about because the heavy machinery is across the river, where the paper is printed. I've worked in newspapers that house the presses, and when those babies start rolling, you have to grab a strap and hold on because the place feels like a submarine that just got the dive command. Probably, old buildings like ours occasionally settle themselves even more comfortably on their haunches and it is nothing to get worked up over. It only comes to attention, the trembling down at...

Hopping on a streetcar to get to work has a 1930s vibe to it. While streetcars continue to ride the rails in many European cities, they have largely vanished from American cities, and they have a nostalgic aura. But in spite of this, and spurred by the current economic downturn, Americans continue to use public transportation at record levels. More than 2.8 billion trips were taken on public transportation in the third quarter of 2008 -- a surge of 6.5 percent over the third quarter of 2007 and the largest year-to-year increase in 25 years. Light rail had the highest...

The Greater Toronto Area needs a gazillion dollars to fund Metrolinx, a mega mega transportation system of light rail, commuter trains, subways, highways, roads, and bicycle paths designed to reach every ward in an 8,000 square kilometre operating region approaching six million people. It will cost more than governments can afford, say its government backers. The answer, the backers say, is a toll road system that extends across the GTA and finances the transit megaproject. I have a better idea. Install the GTA-wide toll road system and scrap Metrolinx. Once roads are tolled, the population growth that is now projected...

Maryland transit officials have determined that riders on a light rail Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton would make up to 68,000 trips daily, a number that supporters said yesterday would only grow as gas prices soar. This compares with about 260,000 daily trips for Metro's Red Line and 175,000 daily trips for the Orange Line. Dulles Metrorail is projected to have about 85,700 daily boardings in the first phase. The state's more detailed estimates also show that a 16-mile east-west Purple Line would reduce travel times, particularly for people stuck on slow and unreliable buses to get to...

Second phase would include a line to airport and North Austin. By Ben Wear AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, October 25, 2007 Austin Mayor Will Wynn today will call for a November 2008 election to build a Central Austin passenger rail system connecting the airport, downtown and the University of Texas, along with the Triangle and Mueller developments in near North Austin. Unlike the current commuter rail project, which Capital Metro is building with its own, diminishing resources, Wynn will propose creating a task force of several jurisdictions to work out plans for the city and other governmental entities — and possibly...

After conducting business as though it were a private entity rather than a public trust, the Texas Department of Transportation is now trying to turn the tide of public opinion in its favor. The Keep Texas Moving campaign is a $7 million to $9 million effort designed to promote various transportation projects in the state. According to the campaign site, www.keeptexasmoving.com, Texans can learn more about such projects as the vast Trans-Texas Corridor and "its promise for Texas." Unfortunately, TxDOT has a history of not being entirely forthcoming about transportation plans. Last year, agency officials and the road-building consortium Cintra-Zachry...

OH, THE POOR, POOR LAS VEGAS MONORAIL. It's just so sad. According to the Review-Journal, the monorail's 2006 ridership was down 30 percent, with a mere 15,430 average riders in December. That's so very, very far from what monorail founder Bob Broadbent promised would be a robust 50,000 riders per day! Oh, to go back to those days, and hear those heady promises once more! To be able to turn to monorail critics who claimed Broadbent was exaggerating by at least half and tell them that, in time, even they would be proven pikers!

January 5, 2006 Policy Analysis no. 559 A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems by Randal O'Toole Randal O'Toole is director of the Thoreau Institute and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Executive Summary The nation's mass transit system is a classic example of how special interests prevail over the needs and interests of voters and taxpayers. Total inflation-adjusted subsidies to transit?buses and trains?have more than doubled since 1990, yet total ridership has increased by less than 10 percent. Train ridership has dropped dramatically while automobile use has skyrocketed. Prior to 1964, when...

Over the next 30 years, most of Harris County's remaining open space will succumb to subdivisions, office buildings and shopping centers where millions of new residents will live and work, projections by local planners show. The spread of development, particularly west and northwest of Houston, is among the more striking trends shown in preliminary population and job growth projections developed by the Houston-Gal- veston Area Council for the eight-county Houston region. The potential loss of open space alarms conservationists and others concerned about suburban sprawl. It is among the factors driving an effort by business and civic leaders to find...

Eight people were taken to hospitals Friday after a pickup and MetroRail train collided in Midtown. It was the 121st accident since light-rail operations began in late 2003 and the 54th in 2005. *** Roberts said the train was northbound on Main and had received a "vertical bar" signal to proceed into the intersection at Elgin when it and the eastbound pickup collided about 12:30 p.m *** The middle portion of the three-section train was knocked off the track

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Hannemann likes the Japanese train's speed -- to run and build NAGOYA, Japan -- Call it "The Jetsons" meet mass transit on a "maglev" carpet ride. A magnetically levitated train system that travels on air in Japan's fourth-largest city gave Mayor Mufi Hannemann and members of the City Council a look at what could be the future of rail transportation in Honolulu. "I think it's the most futuristic of all the ones that we saw, of what future transportation systems are going to look like," Hannemann said. The train cars hover above...

Undaunted by bad publicity, Metro light-rail trains continue to barge recklessly into cars and pedestrians. Equally undaunted, some cars and pedestrians continue to barge into the trains. But just how many collisions have occurred? There is some dispute. Metro's count, as of August 4, is 99. In its world, Houston is waiting breathlessly for that historic 100th crash. For a lot of Metro-crash aficionados, though, that momentous entry into triple digits is old news. John Gaver, an IT guy who runs the conservative Webzine Action America, has kept an exacting eye on the number of Metro incidents, and he has...

PHOENIX--Nationwide evidence continues to accumulate showing that light rail transit is an ineffective, inefficient, and unfair use of taxpayer dollars. In a study released today by the American Dream Coalition, Rail Disasters 2005, transportation economist Randall O’Toole finds that rail construction is usually accompanied by declines in overall transit ridership or growth in transit ridership that is slower than it would have been with a bus-only transit system. His conclusions are based upon ridership and other transit data published by the Federal Transit Administration, the American Public Transportation Association, and the Federal Highway Administration. “A close review of individual cases...

A pickup driver was killed in downtown Houston late Tuesday when his vehicle was broadsided by a Metro light rail train, the first fatality on the rail line since it opened to the public in January 2004. The accident happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. on southbound Main at Jefferson. The driver, who was killed on impact, was believed to be a man in his 30s. He was the only person in the Dodge pickup truck, police said. Veda Flores was following the pickup truck when she said the driver drove through a red light and into the path of the...

Man Struck by Light Rail A man was killed after being struck by a light rail train in the area of Hiawatha and 26th around 8:15 Monday night. The conductor says the man hesitated, then tried to cross the tracks as the train approached at speeds around 55 mph. The crossing arms were down and the train had reportedly blown its whistle to signal its approach

In the early 1970s, I rode the infamous, automated, rubber-tire Skybus as it circled an elevated demonstration track that has since been demolished in South Park. I was in the same car as Common Pleas Judge Anne X. Alpern, who wanted to experience the futuristic transit concept that was the subject of a 60-some-day trial over which she was presiding. A group of skeptical public officials opposed to Skybus had filed suit, successfully, it turned out, to stop the project. After public pressure and the court killed Skybus, the Port Authority replaced its clackety-rackety streetcars between Downtown and the South...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. HOUSTON -- People licensed to carry concealed handguns can now take their weapons aboard buses and light rail trains in Houston. The board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County yesterday repealed its long-standing ban of concealed weapons. The authority had banned such weapons on its buses and trains since 1995. That's when the Legislature allowed licensed owners to carry concealed handguns in most public places. In 2003, the state amended the concealed handgun law to prevent Texas cities from banning such weapons from city facilities, including public transit. In...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. PHOENIX - Saying the nation's sixth-largest city was "strangling on its congestion," the country's top transit official signed an agreement to free $587 million in federal money to help sprawling Phoenix build a light rail system. For Phoenix to "not plan ahead on something that is not focused on the automobile would be foolhardy," Federal Transit Administrator Jennifer Dorn said after signing the agreement Monday with the mayors of Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa and Glendale. Street construction on a segment of track near the border of Tempe and Phoenix is set to...

The Federal Transit Administration Monday officially awarded $587.2 million toward the $1.3 billion light rail system stretching from northwest Phoenix through Tempe to Mesa. FTA Administrator Jennifer Dorn traveled to Phoenix to help sign the agreement, and she was joined by Congressman Ed Pastor, who has been pushing for a light rail system since the late 1980s, when he was a Maricopa County supervisor; Congressman J.D. Hayworth; and mayors Phil Gordon of Phoenix; Hugh Hallman of Tempe; Keno Hawker of Mesa; and Elaine Scruggs of Glendale. Gordon said that except for the light rail system's first official day of operation,...

Feds hit brakes on rail moneyA federal agency questions the assumed benefits of commuter rail in the Triangle. The Federal Transit Administration has changed its rating of the Triangle's proposed commuter rail service from "recommended" to neutral, saying it cannot endorse the $695 million project until it resolves new doubts about its benefits. The Triangle Transit Authority, which hopes to start running commuter trains in 2008, is counting on federal funding to cover 61 percent of the system's cost. Without that money, the project is dead. Federal officials are not questioning how fast TTA trains will run or how many...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. The Las Vegas monorail passed a tough test during the Consumer Electronics Show last week. The oft-troubled monorail carried nearly 150,000 passengers and generated $450,000 in revenues from ticket sales during CES. That's according to monorail officials. The chairman of the company that manages the monorail says the system performed extremely well. Jim Gibson says he's pleased the monorail turned out to be a reliable and safe transit option during one of the busiest conventions in Las Vegas.

More of the cost of Charlotte's light-rail line apparently will be paid from the transit sales tax after the Federal Transit Administration said Friday it will spend no more than $192.9 million on the project. With prices up $38 million in the past few weeks because of higher steel and cement costs, Charlotte hoped the federal government would offer more help. But FTA spokesman Paul Griffo said the department would not commit more money. Increasing the federal contribution would be unfair to other cities that have also seen transit costs rise, Griffo said. The FTA will pay 50 percent of...

RIDING THE RAIL Late-night rail service's fate riding on Metro evaluation Low ridership could spell end to 'last call' trains By LUCAS WALL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Late-night bar patrons downtown might be running out of time to use the train as their designated driver. Metro is reviewing whether to continue late rail service on Friday and Saturday nights. The extended weekend hours began in June at the request of city officials and downtown businesses who hoped the availability of the rail ride might lure more customers. It hasn't happened. "Ridership has been disappointing, but Metro leadership is now working...

Bids for Charlotte's light-rail line have come in 32 percent higher than expected -- a $37-million shock wave that will force transit officials to cut construction costs and raid its reserves. Transit chief Ron Tober blamed higher steel, cement and labor costs. But he promised cuts to keep the train line within its $398.7-million budget. The Charlotte Area Transit System has $22.5 million available in its contingency funds and from savings after three other contracts that came in under budget, Tober said Monday. That means the agency still must reduce the cost to build the track and a maintenance garage...

Developers have bought the aging Hilton Inn – more recently called Hotel Santa Fe – at Mockingbird Lane and North Central Expressway and plan to turn it into a luxury hotel, shopping and condo complex. Work on the $80 million project will start before the end of the year and includes a 10-story residential high-rise. snip "We don't think there is a better location in Dallas-Fort Worth than the corner of Mockingbird and Central." Developers are hurrying to catch up with what they see as immediate demand for hotel rooms and housing. Since DART opened its light-rail station at the...

Mayor McCrory questions art proposals for the future light rail system; others question whether taxpayers should be funding art at all... Charlotte: Charlotteans can add a new phrase to the city's lexicon: "plop art". "Plop art" is Mayor Pat McCrory's not-so-affectionate term for the artwork proposed for the city's South corridor light rail project, scheduled to open in the fall of 2006. The South corridor light rail will be the first of five light rail lines built throughout the city, and will run along a ten-mile corridor from Uptown Charlotte to Interstate 485, just north of Pineville. The Charlotte Area...

11 alternative transit systems presented at event Imagine zipping to Bush Intercontinental Airport from downtown in less than 10 minutes. Sound like fantasy? It isn't fantasy for travelers in Shanghai, China, who since April have been able to take a high-speed magnetic levitation train that carries them 19 miles to the airport there in eight minutes at up to 270 mph. The developer of that system made his pitch in Houston on Wednesday during the opening of a three-day forum to examine present and future transit modes. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is holding this week's Advanced Transportation Technology Forum at...

An 87-year-old Minneapolis man died Saturday afternoon when his car collided with a light-rail train, ending three months of accident-free operations for the city's new Hiawatha Line. Service at Metro Transit's 12 rail stations was stopped for more than two hours after the crash, which killed Hilmer Arnold Iverson, who had glaucoma and trouble hearing. No injuries were reported by the train's driver or the 40 passengers on the northbound, single-car train. At the south Minneapolis home that he shared with his father, Gregg Iverson said that his father, known as Arnold, had gone to Target to pick up a...

Two people suffered minor injuries after a car ran a red light and collided with a MetroRail train Sunday in downtown Houston. The accident was the 61st involving a light rail train. The accident happened at about 4 p.m. at Main and Pierce. A northbound train collided with the car after the female driver failed to stop at a red light, said Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Chief Tom Lambert. The unidentified driver and two children, ages 5 and 9, were uninjured and declined medical treatment, said Metro spokesman Ken Connaughton. Lambert said the driver was cited for running a red...

Public Opinion Battles for November Elections Swing into Full Gear Now that the Arizona Primary is over, there is no shortage of debate on the issues to be decided in the state's general election in November. The main topics are Prop 200/Protect Arizona Now, light rail and the new county hospital board in Maricopa County. The sanctity of life is front and center, as well. During the September meeting of the Arizona Life Coalition meeting, in Phoenix, the issues of life and elections were juxtaposed by people who work on the front lines. Cathi Herrod, director of policy for the...

It was midnight and I was astonished to be stuck in a traffic jam. The good news: I was in Los Angeles, not Denver. I had missed an earlier flight and was driving south from the L.A. airport. I naively thought I'd get a break on traffic late at night. The only thing more amazing than the traffic was the size of the freeway: 12 lanes wide, bigger than anything in Colorado. I wished I could take a train or subway instead of the jammed highway, and looked forward to returning home in a few days and being free of...

MINNEAPOLIS - On Saturday, June 26, the quality of Andrew Brantingham's life took a sudden - and rather dramatic - turn for the better. On that day, the first segment of Minneapolis' long-awaited, much ballyhooed - and still controversial - Hiawatha high-speed light-rail line opened. For now, it stretches from the funky Warehouse District in downtown Minneapolis to Fort Snelling, a historic site and state park in southeast Minneapolis. But in December, the remainder of the 12-mile system will open, linking the downtown with Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America in Bloomington. And Brantingham, 23, is so...

Headline on paper front page online. Controversial Metro Rail hits Prison bus. More details to follow.

Metro should seek alternatives to light rail, he says IRVING - Houston leaders responded with enthusiasm Friday to an apparent warming of relations between U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. "I consider this to be a real positive, and perhaps a turning point, for improved mass transit in our region," Mayor Bill White said. "Metro has established a good relationship with Mr. DeLay, which is critical to getting the mass-transit funding we need." DeLay, who has opposed Metro rail plans for more than a decade and blocked federal funds for the Main Street light rail...

HOUSTON Houston's new rail line between downtown and the Astrodome is earning a few new nicknames. The list includes: "Danger Train," the "Wham Bam Tram" and "A Streetcar Named Disaster." More than 50 collisions have occurred along the seven and a-half mile route since it opened in November. Some Houston residents are keeping a running tally on Web sites. The MetroRail averages six crashes a month. The Federal Transit Administration says that's a rate 20 times worse than the U-S average for the nation's 17 light rail systems. Most of the wrecks are minor and injury-free, and usually caused by...

ChronicallyBiased.com has learned of an apparent new Houston Chronicle policy regarding light rail's notorious accident rate. The Chronicle will no provide coverage of many Metrorail collisions. News of the policy appears in an message by the Chronicle's Lucas Wall on Wednesday: From: Wall, Lucas; XXXX@XXXXX Date: Wed Aug 4, 2004 3:46 pm Subject: MetroRail Crash NumbersI’m not going to continue this debate. But FYI, the Chronicle is no longer reporting every light rail collision in the paper. This decision has to do with space constraints and the fact we do not report on every fender bender car crash. But we...

After early struggles with horrendous traffic jams, the Houston Texans hit on a solution: Use Metro's Park & Ride lots. About 4,500 fans a game parked at satellite lots around the city and were bused in to Reliant Stadium. It worked so well that the idea is being dropped. Dropped like an end-zone pass to a wide-open Jackie Smith in Super Bowl XIII (just needed to introduce some Cowboys heartache here). Metro and the Texans will now Just Say No to Park & Rides. Instead, everybody without a parking pass will have to take light rail, and fend for themselves...

A leading critic of the Hiawatha light-rail line claims the Minnesota Department of Transportation has known for years that the trains could cause traffic tie-ups along nearby Hiawatha Avenue. Rep. Phil Krinkie, R-Shoreview, contends that e-mail and other documents demonstrate that MnDOT staff knew a decision to operate the 12-mile line so its trains take precedence over local traffic would cause long delays on cross streets.

MetroLink and its light-rail cousins in other cities tend to be popular with politicians and citizens alike. Many people view the trains as a cure for all sorts of ills, including congestion, pollution and poverty. But light rail isn't an efficient solution for any of these problems, according to two researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The problem, they say, is that no one mentions the cost when we hear about the wonderful benefits. Molly D. Castelazo and Thomas A. Garrett, writing in the July edition of the bank's Regional Economist magazine, calculate that MetroLink required a...

Stranded riders complain of lack of communication A MetroRail train struck a pedestrian downtown Thursday evening, sending him to the hospital with serious injuries and stranding hundreds of commuters trying to get home from work. Witnesses said the man appeared to be intoxicated as he crossed Main between Rusk and Walker, stepped onto the landscaped esplanade in the center of the street and then into the path of the northbound train about 5:15 p.m. The man, whose name and age were not available Thursday night, was taken to Ben Taub Hospital where he was listed in serious condition. The man...

India's railway minister has come up with a novel excuse for the appalling safety record of the world's largest railway network - he blames it on Vishwakarma, the Hindu god of machines. Passengers travel on a crowded train in Calcutta "Indian Railways are the responsibility of Lord Vishwakarma," said Laloo Prasad Yadav. "So is the safety of passengers. It is his duty [to ensure safety], not mine." India's 67,000-mile rail network, on which 1.4 million people are employed, suffers from decades of chronic under-investment. Accidents - on average there are 300 every year - are a permanent hazard for the...

ALLIES.........And The Misinformed I apologize to my vast e-mail audience for misstating the operational cost of our cute little uptown trolley in last week's e-mail. New figures from the city reveal the cost will be $1.1 million per year, not $750,000. With ridership projections remaining at 100,000, the cost per ride is now projected to be $11.00! The rider will pay $1.00----you, the taxpayer will pay $10.00! Here's a very real example of how it will work: a rider from the uptown area, who chooses to have lunch in the Southend, will pay $1.00 each way and you will subsidize...

During rush hour in Shanghai, China, recently, I traveled 19 miles in 7 1/2 minutes. I wasn't flying, exactly. I was aboard a high-speed magnetic-levitation transportation system. Ever since, I can't help but ponder more efficient ways of moving people into, between, within and around American cities; especially when I am stuck in traffic jams. Let's face it, American transportation problems result from our love of private automobile ownership and the government policies that enable our oil addiction. Driving cars in cities is like using a pair of pliers to bang a nail into a wall — the wrong tool...

Over the past few years, downtown Houston has experienced a dramatic makeover. After decades of blight, the area has seen the restoration of old buildings and the return of retail, particularly restaurants and clubs. Many of these new businesses suffered through months of road construction with the hope that the arrival of light rail would turn things around. It's been almost six months since rail's launch, enough time, perhaps, for retailers to gauge whether the train will have a positive effect on their businesses. It should be noted, of course, that no two businesses have the same story to tell....

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Mass transit in San Antonio and around the nation is on a downward spiral, but technology and good sense could increase ridership during the next decade, an expert says. "I think it is possible," said Chris Bausher, who will be among about 2,000 government and private professionals attending the Intelligent Transportation Society of America's conference this week in San Antonio. The recipe calls for predictability and comfort by making buses and trains faster, more reliable and attractive, said Bausher, an engineer in the Houston office of PBS&J, an engineering company. Tools...

FROM TODAY'S HOUSTON CHRONICLE April 22, 2004, 11:55PM Metro agrees to contract for next 4 light rail lines By LUCAS WALL Metro has taken a significant step toward the construction of Houston's next four light rail lines. Directors on Thursday authorized signing a five-year contract estimated at $60 million with STV Inc. of New York, the same consortium that shepherded development of the Main Street line, which opened Jan. 1. ... Six firms competed for the project, which includes options for two two-year extensions. Dennis Hough, the Metropolitan Transit Authority's director of contracts, said STV and its 16 subcontractors stood...

April 22, 2004, 12:58AMTrains' crash rate 25 times U.S. norm MetroRail records 36th collision of year By LUCAS WALL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES Multimedia: • Metro train accidents • Take a tour of the rails(Requires Flash plug-in) Inside a rail car: Chronicle-produced Real Player video looking at the new Metro rail cars. • Metropolitan Transit Authority: Web site. The collision rate for MetroRail trains during the first quarter of this year is about 25 times the national average for light rail systems, according to data from the Federal Transit Administration. MetroRail's crash total reached 36 on Wednesday after a...