Quote:
Originally Posted by llamaorama
Maybe people and politicians like the "idea" of rail between Austin and San Antonio rather than the reality of it. There are very few realistic options that would perform well and be worth it.
To me its a lousy idea. Infrequent slow diesel trains that skirt the edges of suburbia, dropping off passengers in the middle of nowhere. It would be a failure and create more negative feelings about transit spending.
It would be very different if there was a way to obtain the UP line and have trains stopping right at the doorstep of many area destinations. But even then, low frequency suburban commuter lines in comparable US cities tend to get, what, maybe 10-20,000 daily riders on a good day? When you divide that number by the price tag of ANY option being presented, it just doesn't seem worth it.
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I'm generally in agreement with your points. While I understand why folks would want to repurpose freight lines, it would be so much better (as with metro rail also) to pick the ideal station locations and see about routing rail to them...which would mean brand new construction of everything, and therefore more money, but it would still be better.