[CPVLIVE]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

The problem with a many light rail systems is that they are really commuter rail. Take Denver's FasTracks plan, for example. Most of the lines only have one stop downtown, at Union Station, with very few anywhere in the central neighborhoods. They mostly just shuttle commuters from the suburbs into a single central depot. Meanwhile, the densest and most urban parts of Denver (Colfax, Cherry Creek, Broadway) don't have lines at all.

That's OK as far as it goes. There's nothing wrong with shuttling commuters into downtown. The thing is that when that's what you're doing, light rail is the wrong technology. You can do the same thing cheaper and better using traditional rail or DMUs. And since you're saving money, you can turn those savings into more lines elsewhere in the region. Use the right technology and you can cover your whole city. use the wrong technology and you're stuck with a handful of corridors.

If you're hauling people over fairly long distances into one central point, use commuter rail.

To be clear the majority of Denver's FasTracks is EMU heavy rail. The East, Gold, and part of the Northwest are all EMU with the remainder of the NW being DMU at the moment.