The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[Justiceham]

CSX open to passenger rail study between Murfreesboro and Nashville. Senator Ketron proposes additional lanes on I-24.

 

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/02/08/csx-murfreesboro-nashville-passenger-rail-study-state-senator-bill-ketron/23101009/

[PruneTracy]

CSX open to passenger rail study between Murfreesboro and Nashville. Senator Ketron proposes additional lanes on I-24.

 

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/02/08/csx-murfreesboro-nashville-passenger-rail-study-state-senator-bill-ketron/23101009/

 

Having worked with CSXT (among other Class I railroads) on several projects, and also noting that this new development originates from Senator Monorail, I remain skeptical.

[smeagolsfree]

CSX open to passenger rail study between Murfreesboro and Nashville. Senator Ketron proposes additional lanes on I-24.

 

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/02/08/csx-murfreesboro-nashville-passenger-rail-study-state-senator-bill-ketron/23101009/

Wow, thats one of they few smart things Ketron has ever said.

[volsfanwill]

google maps does this in other cities. down to your phone vibrating when it is time to get off of the bus. I have not used it here but id imagine it just tells you when a bus should arrive. 

[Nathan_in_DC]

I know that the money in rail right now is in freight transportation, but I admit that I'm a little surprised that there isn't more preliminary investment and study into future passenger travel by the big rail services. Seems like in the coming years there could be opportunity there to make significant amounts of money, especially when you throw in the inevitable tax breaks and government subsidies that will go along with it, not to mention the PR goodwill you'll get if you provide a needed, and reliable, service.

[rookzie]

I know that the money in rail right now is in freight transportation, but I admit that I'm a little surprised that there isn't more preliminary investment and study into future passenger travel by the big rail services. Seems like in the coming years there could be opportunity there to make significant amounts of money, especially when you throw in the inevitable tax breaks and government subsidies that will go along with it, not to mention the PR goodwill you'll get if you provide a needed, and reliable, service.

 

Well, so far as freight rail carriers are concerned. there is one exception ─ FECI (Florida East Coast Industries) ─ and they have been "smoldering" for at least a little while now.  FECI evolved during the past 30 years as investment activities which evolved through spinoffs from the current FEC Railway (now a separate entity), once nicknamed "The Flagler Route".  Through the early-mid 1960s, some of Nashv'l's passenger trains had been handled through to Miami via the FEC (with jointly-owned named trains, the South Wind and the Dixie Flagler).

 

"Flagler Development Co, a division of FECI, has had quite a lucrative venture in office real estate within Central Florida, and reports are that it is shedding such holdings and effectively "transcending" the freight transportation to a daunting enterprise speculation into the regional high-speed passenger rail system known as "All Aboard Florida", a concept which our former moderator and eternally listening timmay143 has been eying (and perhaps "ogling" over) since he moved from Tullahoma to Florida a year ago.

 

Until now, I never got around to reviving that specific element (spun off from discussion of the stillborn AMP E-W Connector in the Mass Transit sub-topic), but in response to the question raised on innovation and investment within the private sector, this one is on the verge of catching fire.  "All Aboard Florida" by popular moniker is a proposed $2.5 billion+ Miami-to-Orlando passenger rail project, and under the auspices of its parent company FECI, it seems that Flagler is working in concert with its sibling company know by the namesake, "All Aboard Florida." to invest in and finally to acquire land for R.o.W and to commence construction of ABF.

 

The evolution of this fantasy-on-verge-of-reality missed getting full endorsement of the State Legislature, perhaps due to concurrent focus on passing a bill involving acquiring property from CSX to expand the scope of SunRail, Central Florida's commuter rail (and the state's second such system after Miami's Tri-Rail).  While FDOT has evaluated and approved stages of ABF, in time, it is expected that the state eventually will approve funding to develop a consortium with FECI.

-==-

 

FECI

http://www.feci.com/news.php

 

Bizjournals: Florida East Coast Industries Inc. (FLA)

http://www.bizjournals.com/profiles/company/us/fl/coral_gables/florida_east_coast_industries_inc/840838

 

Reinventing itself: Flagler shifts emphasis from owning office space to $2.5 billion passenger train, spinoffs

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/print-edition/2014/10/17/reinventing-itself-flagler-shifts-emphasis-from.html?page=all

 

 

On the opposite horizon, the "X-Train" (Las Vegas Railway Express), a somewhat less ambitious but promising initiative, also has been gaining traction, although as yet it has remained underfunded.  Currently, LVNV ironically has been devoid of any intercity passenger service since 1997 (between Los Angeles and Salt Lake), with LV becoming severed into more a "desert" city (similar to Nashville in 1979) except by roadway and air from any other major city.  X-Train is not a railroad or a common freight carrier (in contrast to FECI), but rather represents a private enterprise's attempt at reinstatement of existing infrastructure for revitalization of service (in agreement with the Union Pacific RR).  Prior to 1997, LVNV had been a RR mid-point between LA and SLC-Ogden, and the X-train is intent on restoring the LA portion.

 

X Train Holdings Co.

http://www.vegasxtrain.com/

-==-

[Hey_Hey]

Here's the response I got on twitter when I asked @MTA_Nashville when GPS equipped buses would provide real time locations for buses:

@Nashville_MTA: Completed install on small pilot fleet, currently in test mode. Next phase: install on entire fleet - 200+ buses & vans

[Will]

 

 

Does anyone agree that a roundabout connecting 21st, Magnolia, Fairfax and Portland would be a good solution to the nightmare of an intersection that's there now? It seems like there is enough open land to acommodate a circle of roughly 220', which is pretty close to the diameter of the Music Row roundabout.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Will

[Guest]

It can not happen soon enough. Only the government can take 2+ years to complete such a simple project...well the government and Alex Palmer.

Here's the response I got on twitter when I asked @MTA_Nashville when GPS equipped buses would provide real time locations for buses:

@Nashville_MTA: Completed install on small pilot fleet, currently in test mode. Next phase: install on entire fleet - 200+ buses & vans

[Nathan_in_DC]

That'd be awesome. That's a nightmare of an intersection, that could be helped a lot by a roundabout.  More importantly, though, I wish they'd just fix the pedestrian situation down Magnolia/Music Row.  As I've previously complained about, it's completely jacked as is.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Nathan_in_DC

[Nathan_in_DC]

If it was Palmer they'd have bought all of the mounting brackets to put them on the buses, but ran out of money before they could buy the trackers and pay someone to install them.

[MLBrumby]

It's been my assumption ever since I first saw that intersection that the whole intent is to steer traffic away from 21st for traffic control through Hillsboro Village. IIRC there is no light for traffic going to the right on Magnolia. Also, I wonder if the Village big enough to handle the inevitable increase in traffic through there.  If it were two lanes in one direction with no parking on the street, I'd expect it to be a very good solution.

[Vrtigo]

Also, I wonder if the Village big enough to handle the inevitable increase in traffic through there.  If it were two lanes in one direction with no parking on the street, I'd expect it to be a very good solution.

 

HBV currently restricts the on-street parking during the morning and evening rush-hours to help with traffic flow. It's a full two lanes in each direction for about four hours each day. (I should know--I received a hefty parking ticket for not reading those signs once while I was at Fido...)

[gannman]

HBV currently restricts the on-street parking during the morning and evening rush-hours to help with traffic flow. It's a full two lanes in each direction for about four hours each day. (I should know--I received a hefty parking ticket for not reading those signs once while I was at Fido...)

 

 

I have never witnessed the lanes actually being free of unaware parked cars during these times. It would relieve a lot of bottled up traffic if worked as intended. Do you think meters would be efficient? I'm not sure how else to enforce the lane restrictions without a parking officer there everyday.

Edited February 12, 2015 by gannman

[donNdonelson2]

Having tow trucks standing ready to clear the vehicles would be one solution! There was a time when downtown streets with rush hour parking restrictions were regularly cleared by towing companies. That seems to have been stopped and lanes intended for moving vehicles are routinely blocked by stupid, selfish A*holes (no offense intended to the fine person who admitted a mistaken violation in the village in a prior post)

Edited February 12, 2015 by donNdonelson2

[CenterHill]

 

Does anyone agree that a roundabout connecting 21st, Magnolia, Fairfax and Portland would be a good solution to the nightmare of an intersection that's there now? It seems like there is enough open land to acommodate a circle of roughly 220', which is pretty close to the diameter of the Music Row roundabout.

 

 

Yes, I do agree.     I almost think the other end of Magnolia needs a circle more - the double light where 16th and 17th intersect with Blakemore.   Belcourt Ave could even be made to tie in to it and the little Dorothy Place connector between 16-17 could be eliminated.    There is ample room for a circle there and it would be a tremendous help during peak traffic, especially now that the Music Row area is being transformed into multi-unit residential and hotel.     

[volsfanwill]

 

 

 

 

 

Does anyone agree that a roundabout connecting 21st, Magnolia, Fairfax and Portland would be a good solution to the nightmare of an intersection that's there now? It seems like there is enough open land to acommodate a circle of roughly 220', which is pretty close to the diameter of the Music Row roundabout.

 

would maybe help having to replace that stone sign every few months that people keep driving into.

[Will]

Yes, I do agree.     I almost think the other end of Magnolia needs a circle more - the double light where 16th and 17th intersect with Blakemore.   Belcourt Ave could even be made to tie in to it and the little Dorothy Place connector between 16-17 could be eliminated.    There is ample room for a circle there and it would be a tremendous help during peak traffic, especially now that the Music Row area is being transformed into multi-unit residential and hotel.     

That would be a great idea. That intersection is quite bad already with all the traffic going to the wedgeweood I-65 exit at rush hour.

[musiczealot]

As much as I hate saying this, what would really help Hillsboro Village traffic would be eliminating street parking on 21st Ave/Hillsboro Ave.  Having 2 lanes at all hours would be a godsend.  Even though there are signs saying you can't park there during rush hour, I don't think I've ever been down that road where there weren't cars parked on the "open" lanes.  It's the clusterF&#@ of all clusterF&#@$.

[chelovek]

I vote we close down hillsboro to automobile traffic between acklen and blakemore at all hours and turn the street into a ped mall. Maybe we could leave a through lane for buses and emergency vehicles and do a big roundabout at music row and wedgewood too, just to throw the luddites and their cars a bone.

[nashvillwill]

I think that permanently removing street parking in HBV would be the death of that historic neighborhood. The street parking creates a much needed buffer zone between pedestrians and traffic. Without it, people feel uncomfortable on the sidewalk, business would eventually thin out and inevitable "renewal" would replace the existing buildings with larger setbacks. I think we will need a creative solution for this in the near future. All the potentials (one way, am/pm directional flow, pedestrian only, etc) all come with obstacles, but I'm afraid that something will have to change.

The most efficient and most expensive solution would be an underground tunnel for one direction of travel. I'm aware of the cost issues for tunnels in oul geological region, but it's a short run and this may possibly be the best example of a "necessary expense" if there ever was one.

[rookzie]

One reason for already having a comprehensive transit transportation network in place (not shared- or inmixed-traffic) is that the rights-o-way of dedicated rail usually can be cleared even of moderate ice for the vehicles that run on them.  For what little it is worth, at least the MCS has been able to maintain its full timetable throughout Nashv’l’s little storm (which is bigger that what the region has had in other recent years).  Any part of any rail transit not running in a hole (underground) is subject to inclement weather, but it usually can sustain operability during light-to-medium snow.  But what good is even that, if people can't get distributed to there final destinations within the city and if the employers are not located along those local lines ─ that is being without both a regional rail and a local network?  Of course, if no bus or other rail connections are accessible in such extreme conditions, then any running rail is only as good as what it can serve directly point-to-point, which is little if any good in most cases, if no connections are available to transport riders to within reasonable walking distance in icy, snowy weather.  It has been discussed in the past that large employers are mindful of a region's mobility, as it relates to productivity and accessibility.

 

We have just been reminded first-hand how a city and it's outlying areas can be brought to the knees with even a storm of its severity, which would be considered mild compared to those of the Northeast.  This is the reason that the "little" MCS in its current "entry-level" form, affords arguably marginal value, without much more sweeping coverage to other far-reaches, just to allow riders a way into and away from the city, when I-24 and I-65 are shut down even in part, as they were Tuesday morning.  In super extreme conditions such as those in effect in Boston, and much of the northern and upper-mid-Atlantic coast, the transit agencies frequently have had gas-fired track-switch thawing apparatus installed to maintain clear movement of switch points at these critical pieces of trackwork (especially common in Chicago).  But even these have been no match for the epic storms of recent, and after buses, light-rail activity is usually the next to succumb to snow and ice, railroad commuter being the last.  Operation in snowy, icy weather works best on dedicated RoW with rails raised from a surface (away from mixed traffic), and it is most subjected to such conditions when rails are flush with a paved surface, as the flangeway grooves and switch trackwork tend to become severely clogged with ice and packed snow (especially re-frozen slush).

 

Here are pics taken early this morning from the control-cab car of the MCS, although the trains operated during Tuesday and Monday as well.


Riders waiting at Mt. Juliet platform for train Nº 152
 (view from control cab of MCS, 07:00, 2015-0218)


MCS train Nº 150 departing shop for Lebanon station
 (05:43, 2015-0218)

 

-==-
 

Edited February 18, 2015 by rookzie

[volsfanwill]

Well. It's been 21 years ('94) since it was this bad. So maybe 21 years from now, we will have a full interconnected transit network. With multiple regional rail and light rail lines.

Haha. I laughed just typing that.

Seriously though, yesterday I ventured out to green Hills and it was nice seeing people actually walking everywhere.

[rookzie]

Well. It's been 21 years ('94) since it was this bad. So maybe 21 years from now, we will have a full interconnected transit network. With multiple regional rail and light rail lines.

Haha. I laughed just typing that.

Seriously though, yesterday I ventured out to green Hills and it was nice seeing people actually walking everywhere.

 

You know, it's good to think that way to quantify comparisons of lessons learned or progress transpired.  Just as you snicker while typing that, I myself probably would not be surprised if nothing substantial materializes by the next 21 years, given the dynamics of funding and especially politics on multiple levels, although I pray that I am wrong.  While it may have no bearing on an observable pattern, generally only a handful of capital cities (Boston, Denver, Sacramento, and recently SLC and St. Paul, and to a lesser extent Trenton, which as limited LRT but is heavy on regional) have both local LRT and regional commuter rail in place ─ not even the large ones of Phoenix and Atlanta.have both as yet.

-==-

[volsfanwill]

Yet salt Lake city has both.