DART new downtown Dallas Line proposed

[CMStPnP]

Interesting, so according to the story in Trains Newswire they are going to attempt to take the second DART downtown line and connect it to the future HSR Terminal for Texas Central in Dallas.     That was the missing part when Texas Central announced the future location of the Dallas Terminal.      No real Light Rail access.   So now it looks like DART Light Rail is moving to fill the space.

[daveklepper]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought it better to reactivate this old one:

 

The "mass transit magazine" site has posted an article about the attention being paid to a Brookville Equipment Corp. of western Pennsylvania rail transit product -- the dual-mode, off-wire "Liberty" model streetcar ordered by Dallas, Detroit, Oklahoma City and Milwaukee: 

<http://tinyurl.com/zow7spt>

Dallas Streetcar Off the Wire

by Maile Bucher 

On Jun 22, 2016   

At the 2016 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Rail Conference, John Rhone, AP capital design and construction for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) spoke to the upcoming developments in the Dallas Streetcar during the session "Streetcars with a Different Twist." The streetcar debuted in April of 2015 and the current system runs on a 3.2 round-trip line. The streetcar also connects with DART’s light rail.

“The bar had been set, we had identified that we wanted to build a streetcar to go alongside the largest light rail system in North America,” said Rhone.

Rhone explained that DART utilized innovative off-wire technology for its Oak Cliff line. Like other agencies have mentioned, they did face challenges when moving forward with a combined service with the light rail and the streetcar.

"We operate from our central rail facility. We had to work on training mechanics and operators and determine where they put the vehicles and where the parts would be stored,” explained Rhone.

Another challenge was installing the streetcar line across the Houston Viaduct Bridge. The bridge is around 100 years old and there were certain considerations when it came to the rail installation.

“One of the restrictions we had, we could not install any overhead catenary poles,” Rhone said.

Streetcar with a Twist

Making the streetcar innovative, and a first in America, is that it operates as a hybrid. To make it across the Houston Viaduct Bridge the streetcar runs on batteries. The streetcar was designed and manufactured by Brookville Equipment Corp. in Pennsylvania — which Rhone said was also something that was very important to DART. They wanted to have an American-designed streetcar. Being a hybrid it has the ability to switch from catenary lines to electricity.

With the heat in Dallas, Rhone said that they were also concerned about what that would do to the vehicle. “That brings challenges. The battery generates heat and that can affect the lifecycle of the battery so we had to wonder how long it would operate and would it get stuck? So each streetcar contains 15-sub-packs.”

The streetcars also feature a train operators display (TOD) which is integrated with the vehicle control, this allows it to alert operators of how much remaining power there is. “We wanted to have the display provide instant insights so they is also a real time remote monitoring system,” explained Rhone.

Developing for the Future

“Currently we have a southern extension that is under construction and is .75 miles,” said Rhone. “Union Station to Omni is an upcoming streetcar extension for the future.”

With the plan to extend the lines, DART has two new vehicles arriving this year, also designed by Brookville.

“The first will arrive next month and the second the following month. They will be going into operator in August of this year,” explained Rhone.

Rhone said that DART has been able to adapt and develop a successful maintenance program and can account for time between standard maitnance and in the event of a failure.

“Innovating our technology for the Dallas Streetcar is something that we are very proud of,” said Rhone. “The battery technology is something that is really a new innovative idea and we’ve really stepped up and have been successful in our street car design.”

[end text]

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Edward B. Havens

Tucson, Ariz. 

 

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Posted by: Edward Havens <[e-mail]>

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[CSSHEGEWISCH]

It has "the ability to switch from catenary lines to electricity".

[daveklepper]

I emjoyed that gaffe too.   And resisted the temptation to correct it to "battery power."

[Overmod]

CSSHEGEWISCH

It has "the ability to switch from catenary lines to electricity".

Must be designed by Tommyknockers!

[cefinkjr]

"Being a hybrid it has the ability to switch from catenary lines to electricity."

Magic smoke in those catenary lines?  Magic smoke is the stuff that fuels all electronic devices.  If you ever see it coming out of your cell phone, laptop, etc., that device will never run again.

[Paul of Covington]

cefinkjr

"Being a hybrid it has the ability to switch from catenary lines to electricity."

Magic smoke in those catenary lines?  Magic smoke is the stuff that fuels all electronic devices.  If you ever see it coming out of your cell phone, laptop, etc., that device will never run again.

 

   Unless you can put the smoke back in.

[daveklepper]

Jerusalem's best computer lab, Litel, may be able to do that for you, depending on how much smoke and where in the device it was discharged.

[CandOforprogress2]

Except that the new line gets very little ridership. Every online vid that i see the train has almost no riders

[PJS1]

CandOforprogress2

Except that the new line gets very little ridership. Every online vid that i see the train has almost no riders 

Your are correct.  It has very few riders.  I travel to Dallas once a month for a variety of business and personal reasons.  I have ridden the streetcar over to Oak Cliff on several occasions.  More often than not I was the only one on the car.  

The line is being extended to the Bishop Arts District, which is a burgeoning entertainment district in Oak Cliff.  Also, it is becoming a popular upscale residential area.  This may increase ridership.

Ultimately, DART plans to connect the streetcar line with the McKinney Avenue Trolley.  However, at this point, it has not been able to find money to do so.

DART has its hands full planning and funding a second light rail line through downtown Dallas, which is the subect that the original post was addressing, I believe. 

[wanswheel]

https://twitter.com/dartmedia/status/751310085213741056

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/08/newly-married-transit-officer-brent-thompson-mourned-after-shooting-in-dallas/?utm_term=.f489cd6c8d68

[CandOforprogress2]

This is going to hurt transit ridership,, people are going to be afraid to go to places where they are going to be crowds like downtown festivls and sporting events for fear of being sitting ducks.

[CMStPnP]

I don't think the other shoe has dropped yet in regards to the Dallas shootings.   FBI is still investigating and has not released it's findings to the public (if it ever does completely).    I would wait and see what happens or develops over the next week.

In regards to being vulnerable in a downtown city area.   Just the reverse is true, even with the elevated positions.

[schlimm]

CMStPnP

Interesting, so according to the story in Trains Newswire they are going to attempt to take the second DART downtown line and connect it to the future HSR Terminal for Texas Central in Dallas.     That was the missing part when Texas Central announced the future location of the Dallas Terminal.      No real Light Rail access.   So now it looks like DART Light Rail is moving to fill the space.

 

Perhaps that will permit DART to be as successful as Denver's light rail (see thread).

[daveklepper]

TDoes Race Play a Role When Police Kill Civilians? (Elliot Burlingham/Dreamstime)  July 11, 2016 4:00 AM @RAVERBRUGGEN

 

 

The crime data say no, not likely. Last week saw two black men killed by police in highly troubling circumstances. These incidents deserve the scrutiny they are receiving, and they also repeat a deeper question that Americans have asked frequently of late: In general, when police kill civilians, how much of a factor is race? It may make a difference sometimes. But discrimination probably isn’t driving much of the overall racial disparity in police shootings. Let’s start with a fact everyone should be able to agree on: There is a disparity. Blacks are about 13 percent of the American population, yet according to data collected by the Washington Post in 2015 and 2016 thus far, they are about 27 percent of those killed by police. (For all the numbers in this article, I exclude any cases for which the race is “unknown.”) But this isn’t the end of the discussion. Police are allowed, indeed often expected, to kill in certain circumstances — namely, when they reasonably think it is necessary to stop a threat to life or limb. People who pose such a threat are not necessarily representative of the entire population. So the question is, if not 13 percent, what baseline should we be comparing that 27 percent against?

 

One possible comparison group is murderers: According to the FBI, about half are black. Another is cop-killers, i.e., those who demonstrably presented a lethal threat to police: Again according to the FBI, about 43 percent are black. Still another is violent criminals in general: Most of these commit relatively minor offenses (such as simple assault, where there is no weapon or serious injury), but according to victimization surveys, about 24 percent are black. In other words, violent-crime rates roughly explain the gap — indeed, they over-explain it in the case of murderers and cop-killers, who are far more likely to be black than police-shooting victims are.

 

While highly suggestive, these data aren’t definitive. For one thing, I find the over-explaining curious. One theory I’ve floated is that whites might be more likely to commit “suicide-by-cop,” which would inflate the number of them shot by police without much affecting the comparison groups. Far more detailed research is needed, with a careful accounting of the numerous factors that can legitimately influence an officer’s decision to pull the trigger. No, it’s not as simple as focusing on cases where the victim was unarmed, because unarmed doesn’t mean not dangerous. But several academics have already taken a look at the issue and have struggled to find evidence of racial bias. Realistic crime-scene simulations have suggested that officers avoid shooting black suspects. Roland Fryer — among the nation’s leading economists studying racial matters — dug deeply into data from the NYPD and other sources, finding no evidence of bias when it came to lethal force. In fact, blacks were slightly less likely to be killed, which Fryer called “the most surprising result I have found in my entire career.” Sendhil Mullainathan, another leading racial-bias researcher, has noted — similar to the analysis above — that the percentage of arrestees who are black, as well as the percentage of offenders reported to police who are black, roughly matches the percentage of police-shooting victims who are black. (One thing I don’t want to minimize, though it’s beyond the scope of this article, is that Fryer did find evidence of bias when it came to nonlethal force. A new report from the Center for Policing Equity suggests the same thing, though the results are weak at best when benchmarked to violent-crime arrests, as opposed to population numbers or total arrests

 

 Researchers have also conducted experiments to see whether, in simulations, officers are more inclined to shoot black suspects than to shoot white suspects, perhaps out of a subtle, “implicit” bias. Early research suggested yes. But some newer, more realistic simulations have suggested the opposite: that officers avoid shooting black suspects. If these studies are correct, one possibility is that officers fear the fallout of shooting a black person more than that of shooting a white person, a theory buttressed by officer surveys. This could also help explain the fact that serious-violent-crime rates overpredict the racial gap in police shootings, as noted above. This is a complicated topic, the nuances of which have not been fully explored.

 

Shamefully, 2015 is the first year for which we even have a comprehensive count of these incidents, and those data come from media outlets such as the Post, not the government. The Centers for Disease Control and the FBI collect numbers on police shootings, but both efforts are embarrassingly incomplete. The data we do have, though, strongly indicate that racial bias plays a minor role at best in this phenomenon.

 

 — Robert VerBruggen is managing editor of The American Conservative.

[CMStPnP]

Davekeeper, in my view it is NOT so much racism or discrimination because as you saw with three of the five deceased cops, they are former Veterans and in the Armed Forces it is not only not tolerated but in most cases folks work as a team in a race neutral environment.....especially with the wars going on.    I think it has more to do with profiling based on past Police Department experience.    

The problem with the shooter is he became radicalized by both BLM material as well as the banned Black Muslim Group he was hanging out with.    Interestingly the Army Reserve unit suspected he had mental issues based on a incident in Afghanistan (he was never in combat there), he made very strong overatures there to a Female and she filed a sexual harrassment case against him.    Another interesting fact about the shooter is he never rose in rank in 6 years time (discharged a PFC).   Then we hear his home has signs of being broken.   Father remarried, Mother single, Crystal Meth found in the house, Mother says she had no idea this was going despite the fact the guy obtained the services of an experienced Military Lawyer on PFC's pay (yeah right), and the other fact of course is he had so much bomb making materials in his room at his Mothers home that the ATF had to call back to HQ and consult what to do with it all.     Definitely, all points to broken home and unconcerned Parents.

Problems I have with Media or BLM collecting stats is they have no clue what they are doing and are not trained in how to do it.   For example, the basis of BLM stats is a DB that was just started to be put together this year called "the Counted" the stats are "crowd sourced" vs collected by statisticians.     Washington Post stats do not include deaths in Police custody, only deaths where the LEO used a gun, well BLM frequently states that the death in police custody more likely to happen to a black than a white person and they point errorneously to the Washington Post stats which do not track that.     Also Washington Post stats do not say how the LEO killed the person with a gun.    Was it struggle for control of the gun?    Was it a stray bullet?   Accidental discharge?   What?        Yet again BLM uses those stats by WP to say that Police are shooting people indiscrimantly......no basis again for that conclusion.     Just looking at the MN shooting where the guy was shot in the arm using the cell phone video.    Look how close the cop is with the weapon if he meant to kill vs disable he could have shot him in the head vs the arm.     So to me the MN incident looks like an accident or miscommunication, investigation not complete but it didn't stop BLM from forming a conclusion prior.     The media said the guy was pulled over for a broken tail light and then the Democratic Governor being the guy looking to score political points buys into it without consulting his Chief of Police.    The guy in MN was pulled over because he resembled a robbery suspect per the tapes, nothing to do with a broken tail light.    The broken tail light story came from his girlfriend holding the cell phone.......no idea where she heard it from.

Agree with you the stats are a mess, even the FBI's have been shown to be less than half of the deaths happening with police shootings.    However until they get three years of comprehenisve stats people need to be very, very careful at forming conclusions and also need to wait for the shooting investigations proceed or complete before they jump to conclusions.

[schlimm]

Dave Klepper and CMStPnP:  Can we please keep ideological articles and race out of the forum?   Both are inflammatory topics.  Thank you in advance.

[daveklepper]

Good poin,Schlimm.   I was reacting to material in the posted references in the previous posting (Wanswheel)  on the "off-topic."

[CandOforprogress2]

This could be a false flag attack. The purp seemed to come right out of central casting with a script that fits too well.

[daveklepper]

Brookville ships 4th off-wire capable streetcar to Dallas

Posted on August 1, 2016

 

 

Brookville

Brookville Equipment Corp.'s fourth off-wire capable Liberty Streetcar departed for Dallas six months ahead of contractual delivery during the week of July 25, concluding manufacturing on an order of two option vehicles initiated in July 2015, which followed a base order of two vehicles delivered during the Spring of 2015.

Next in line for Brookville are six off-wire capable Liberty Streetcars for Detroit-based M-1 Rail's Q-Line. All six vehicles are currently in various stages of production at Brookville’s Pennsylvania facility, with deliveries to Detroit currently scheduled to start in the Fall of 2016.

The Liberty Streetcar gained recognition in Dallas and around the world last year upon becoming the first off-wire capable streetcar to operate in the U.S. In October 2015, the Liberty Streetcar with OESS was awarded the Light Rail Transit Association’s Global Light Rail Award for ‘Technical Innovation of the Year.’

The streetcar manufacturer is also currently under contract with the City of Oklahoma City, and the City of Milwaukee for the production of six and five Liberty Streetcar vehicles, respectively.

[daveklepper]

 

Dallas Area Rapid Transit board members approved a proposal Tuesday to build both the downtown Dallas subway and the Cotton Belt Line, running from Plano to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

The proposals were approved in a 12-to-3 vote.

Each project would cost more than $1 billion, and DART is counting on federal assistance to get them both completed before the end of 2024.

"What we have maintained is that we're able to do both a second alignment downtown as a full subway, and accelerate the Cotton Belt project and bring it up to 2022," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons. "We have sufficient debt capacity. There's also additional federal programs that we believe we can successfully compete for that will allow us to do both of those projects."

A number of elected leaders from Richardson, Addison and Plano spoke in favor of building both projects.

"My hope – and the hope of others that are here tonight, and the many, many others that aren't here tonight – is that DART board will do the right thing," said Addison Mayor Pro-Tem Bruce Arfsten.

But Dallas City Council members spoke against building the Cotton Belt, warning it could jeopardize federal funding for the downtown Dallas subway, known as D-2.

"The Cotton Belt is a regional priority, but it's not the regional priority," said Dallas City Councilwoman Sandy Greyson.

[CMStPnP]

daveklepper

 

Dallas Area Rapid Transit board members approved a proposal Tuesday to build both the downtown Dallas subway and the Cotton Belt Line, running from Plano to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

The proposals were approved in a 12-to-3 vote.

Each project would cost more than $1 billion, and DART is counting on federal assistance to get them both completed before the end of 2024.

"What we have maintained is that we're able to do both a second alignment downtown as a full subway, and accelerate the Cotton Belt project and bring it up to 2022," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons. "We have sufficient debt capacity. There's also additional federal programs that we believe we can successfully compete for that will allow us to do both of those projects."

A number of elected leaders from Richardson, Addison and Plano spoke in favor of building both projects.

"My hope – and the hope of others that are here tonight, and the many, many others that aren't here tonight – is that DART board will do the right thing," said Addison Mayor Pro-Tem Bruce Arfsten.

But Dallas City Council members spoke against building the Cotton Belt, warning it could jeopardize federal funding for the downtown Dallas subway, known as D-2.

"The Cotton Belt is a regional priority, but it's not the regional priority," said Dallas City Councilwoman Sandy Greyson.

It was a smart move to do both and Dallas should quit trying to project construction budgets based on just it's ability to raise funds, they have the State and they have the Feds.   Heck the Feds have contributed $3 Billion already to DART Construction.    They should get Federal money for the Cotton Belt line as well as the second downtown line.

[PJS1]

Per Page 65 of the March 2016 DART Reference Book, DART has received $1,356 million from the federal government for its capital projects.  Most of the monies were for the light rail and commuter rail systems.  In addition, it received a TIFIA loan for approximately $120 million, thereby bringing the total federal outlay for capital projects to $1,476 million.   

It received $160 million for the 20 mile Starter System – dedicated for the South Oak Cliff portion of the starter line; $333 million for the North Central Corridor extension; $700 million for the Green Line; $63 million of ARRA stimulus funds for the Orange Line; and $100 million for various TRE projects.  It also received a TIFIA loan in the amount of $119,972,259, with an interest rate of 2.91% for the I-3 project. 

[schlimm]

DART rail stations attract $7 bil. in new TOD construction within 1/2 mile.

Also 43,000 jobs and ~$3 bil. in wages, etc. 2014-15.