Quote:
Originally Posted by eskimo33
I think it was more along the lines of the train running into the bats.
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Do buses and cars running on Congress Street Bridge run into bats? Are there dead bats every morning lying in the street? The trains will be in stop and go traffic approaching downtown before entering the tunnels. What speed do you think they will be going approaching the river? If you answered anything over 30 mph, you would be wrong. Check out the speeds of the MetroRail trains under I-35 approaching downtown Austin. You might be surprised how slow it is going. Even light rail trains do not do jack rabbit starts, they gain speed slowly.
I think many posters replying to this thread need to make a trip to either Houston or Dallas and ride some real light rail trains running in the street environment. For Dallas, the Orange Line from either DFW or a short bus ride from Love Field will make a great choice. When in dedicated tracks above streets on a viaduct, or running in dedicated corridor on the surface, it reaches speeds as high as 65 mph. But when operating at grade within streets, max speeds maybe reach 30 mph. You can feel the difference without looking at a speedometer. I'm sure the street environment in Houston will reflect the same speeds.
Guess what the maximum speeds of CapMetro's light rail trains within the street environment speeds will be? I'll bet it will be no faster than the posted speed limits for every other vehicle using the same street.
Light rail routes approaching downtown:
Riverside Drive: 35 mph from South First Street to Vargas Road, 40 mph east of Vargas Road.
South Congress: 30 mph to Riverside, then 35 mph further south.
Guadalupe: 30 mph to 30th, 35 mph to 45th, 40 mph further north.
The light rail trains will not be going 50 or 60 mph as it crosses the river.
If a bat can not avoid a huge train going 30 mph or less on the bridge, it does not deserve to live.
