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CandO says Progress is Slow on Light Rail in USA. We have to wait to 2035 to ride in Seattle?

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CandO says Progress is Slow on Light Rail in USA. We have to wait to 2035 to ride in Seattle?
Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Friday, April 20, 2018 9:19 AM

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/Sound-Transit-to-hold-hearings-for-West-Seattle-Ballard-light-rail-extensions--53863-

"Planning for both projects is expected to wrap up by 2022, according to Sound Transit's community engagement guide. The West Seattle project would open to passengers in 2030, while the Ballard project would open in 2035."

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Posted by Electroliner 1935 on Saturday, April 21, 2018 4:07 PM

Plan

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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Sunday, April 22, 2018 2:41 PM

From Buffalo News-

He asks: Wouldn’t continuing the bus shuttle serving UB’s campuses make more sense?

Penner, a Long Island transit analyst, predicts costs and construction timetables will only increase.

“If you are lucky, odds are any completion date will be 2030"

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Sunday, April 22, 2018 9:10 PM

For the Buffalo project, one of the local Congressmen wants to see the existing line and stations fixed up first.  He's one of the few who favors the unglamorous maintenance of what's already there as opposed to the glitz of building a new extension. 

A mile of tunnel isn't cheap or fast - plus 5+/- miles of surface line.  The now-in-process South Central Line in Phoenix is ~$625M for 5 miles, which includes rebuilding a bridge over a medium-size river (Salt River), ducking under the UP line at 2 places, and part of the I-10 interchange reconstruction (plus some downtown junctions), to be done by 2023. 

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, April 29, 2018 10:30 AM

Seattle already has an important light rail line, which has an extension under construction now.  And is one of the few North American cities to run troilleybuses.  The Ballard line was converted from diesel to electric bus about seven eyars ago with a big jump in ridership.  It was an economical conversion because most of the route was already under wire for other lines.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 2:32 PM

Let's see, I rode on Sound Transit's light rail line in the downtown transit tunnel in the summer of 2016 and that was between intermediate points, not end to end.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by CandOforprogress2 on Friday, May 11, 2018 12:30 PM

China is the last 10 years has built thousands of miles of a world class high speed rail system and it takes us 10 years to build 10 miles.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Saturday, May 12, 2018 6:42 AM

CandOforprogress2

China is the last 10 years has built thousands of miles of a world class high speed rail system and it takes us 10 years to build 10 miles.

 
That's one of the prices we pay for not living in an authoritarian state.
The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul

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