AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[Scottolini]

It was all planned from the beginning. Bwahahaha!

[SecretAgentMan]

Originally Posted by priller

Wow, two 6-million dollar trains, kept around for parts. Awesome!

And they say they can't afford to keep the Dillos running because they cost too much to run.

Stupid.

I don't want to sound like an apologist for Cap Metro because I think their handling of this situation has been absolutely deplorable. However, I do feel compelled to clarify the above statement. The reserve vehicles will not be used for spare parts. They are fully functioning vehicles that will be rotated into the regular fleet to allow all vehicles to receive routine maintenance and repairs (the latter hopefully will be minimal since they are all new). It is standard practice to reserve about 10% or a minimum of one vehicle in any fleet for this purpose.

That doesn't mean the reserve vehicles aren't used, it just means that the operating schedule is based on the availability of one (or more) fewer vehicles than the full fleet. Cap Metro had planned on reserving one vehicle of six (the minimum recommended) or 17% of the fleet. Now they will be reserving two or 33% of the fleet. This is not very efficient, but it is not catastrophic. If anything it should mean the vehicles will last longer and require fewer repairs as they age because they will be lower mileage vehicles.

If anything, this is a good argument to proceed with double tracking sooner rather than later. If the majority of the line is double-tracked, they could operate respectable headways of 20-25 minutes if five vehicles were operated continuously in both directions. As currently designed, ridership is limited by idling vehicles outside of rush hours and limited mid-day travel. It remains to be seen if there is sufficient ridership demand for additional service, but at this point it is physically limited by the reliance on single-track for most of the line.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMan

I don't want to sound like an apologist for Cap Metro because I think their handling of this situation has been absolutely deplorable. However, I do feel compelled to clarify the above statement. The reserve vehicles will not be used for spare parts. They are fully functioning vehicles that will be rotated into the regular fleet to allow all vehicles to receive routine maintenance and repairs (the latter hopefully will be minimal since they are all new). It is standard practice to reserve about 10% or a minimum of one vehicle in any fleet for this purpose.

That doesn't mean the reserve vehicles aren't used, it just means that the operating schedule is based on the availability of one (or more) fewer vehicles than the full fleet. Cap Metro had planned on reserving one vehicle of six (the minimum recommended) or 17% of the fleet. Now they will be reserving two or 33% of the fleet. This is not very efficient, but it is not catastrophic. If anything it should mean the vehicles will last longer and require fewer repairs as they age because they will be lower mileage vehicles.

If anything, this is a good argument to proceed with double tracking sooner rather than later. If the majority of the line is double-tracked, they could operate respectable headways of 20-25 minutes if five vehicles were operated continuously in both directions. As currently designed, ridership is limited by idling vehicles outside of rush hours and limited mid-day travel. It remains to be seen if there is sufficient ridership demand for additional service, but at this point it is physically limited by the reliance on single-track for most of the line.

Come on. I think we all know that the ridership projections must be abysmal.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMan

If anything, this is a good argument to proceed with double tracking sooner rather than later. If the majority of the line is double-tracked, they could operate respectable headways of 20-25 minutes if five vehicles were operated continuously in both directions. As currently designed, ridership is limited by idling vehicles outside of rush hours and limited mid-day travel. It remains to be seen if there is sufficient ridership demand for additional service, but at this point it is physically limited by the reliance on single-track for most of the line.

And, just like with Tri-Rail, double-tracking can take ten years and keep a lot of employees there employed for a long time - without having to deal with pesky issues like actual riders. Awesome.

And at the end of it, you have trains running more often where nobody wants to go. Awesomer.

[ATXboom]

^^ funny stuff.

See it for yourself in the austin business journal

Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 1:58pm CDT
Second 'nerd bird' flight added by AlaskaAustin Business Journal - by David

A second flight between San Jose, Calif. and Austin on Alaska Airlines will be added in March.

Alaska revived the so-called "nerd bird" flights between the two tech capitals after American Airlines announced earlier this year it was discontinuing its two daily flights this summer.

The first flight from Mineta San Jose International Airport to Austin will begin Sept. 2, with the second daily flight being added March 14, 2010.

"We're pleased to respond to demand from the business community for more service between these two high-tech hubs," Steve Jarvis, Alaska Airlines' vice president of marketing, sales and customer experience, said in a statement.

[NThomas]

Originally Posted by M1EK

I'm late on this due to family and work constraints.

My coverage at the crackplog

and Ben Wear's article here, excerpted below.

Why doesn't CapMetro just couple the 5th (unused) train to the 4th on a single route? DCTA will run at least 2 coupled Stadler GTWs at a time during peak hours. I don't see why CapMetro won't do the same. It get use out of it plus increase the capacity they're so worried about.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by NThomas

Why doesn't CapMetro just couple the 5th (unused) train to the 4th on a single route? DCTA will run at least 2 coupled Stadler GTWs at a time during peak hours. I don't see why CapMetro won't do the same. It get use out of it plus increase the capacity they're so worried about.

There's no guarantee the station platforms would support loading/unloading such a beast, but more importantly, they know they're not really going to have so many people wanting to ride or they'd accept occasional passing delays as the price for 5 trains worth of capacity.

[Jdawgboy]

Thats what I don't understand... We all know the ridership is not going to be that high. Why are they saying they are going to skip stops in order to make sure the train is not filled up by the time it gets into Austin??? Seems stupid to me and a waste especially for those who may live near Lake Line Mall who might actually try to use it.

[M1EK]

Think excuse-building. Run with only 4 trains so each train appears more full; skip some stops so you have a built-in excuse if they're not.

[Scottolini]

GETTING THERE: BEN WEAR
City taking lead on downtown rail
Bids near for engineering study of downtown line; bonds-for-rail vote might follow in 2010.
Monday, August 31, 2009

The future of downtown rail — for right or wrong, better or worse, for whatever it turns out to be — is now firmly in the City of Austin's hands.

The city, meanwhile, in three weeks will seek bids for preliminary engineering on a proposed streetcar-light rail line running from the Mueller development in Northeast Austin, through the University of Texas and downtown, then southeast along Riverside Boulevard to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The goal is to have a "15 to 20 percent plan" and a solid cost estimate by spring, according to Gordon Derr, the city's assistant transportation director.

Which would then lead to asking voters next year to approve bonds for a first phase of the line (along with bonds for road and bike-pedestrian projects around the city) from just east of Interstate 35 (on Manor Road) to the Seaholm tract downtown.



http://www.statesman.com/news/conten.../0831wear.html

[M1EK]

Notice, folks, what I said a long time ago about the city doing this without Capital Metro is now verified. The next time an anonymous poster here attacks my credibility and past service without being willing to identify themselves in turn, keep this in mind.

This handoff of rail responsibility has been in the works for a while. Former City Council Member Brewster McCracken was the first person I heard talk about it. The idea didn't gain traction at first. But McCracken, joined by then-Mayor Will Wynn, started pushing hard for it in late 2007.

[the Genral]

I never questioned the accuracy of your posts. Good job!!

[nixcity]

Thank god, now maybe we can get the ball rolling on this. I don't have a lot of faith in the current makeup of the council though and am not sure people are willing to increase taxes in the current economic climate.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by M1EK

Notice, folks, what I said a long time ago about the city doing this without Capital Metro is now verified.

Did you read.....?

The goal is to have a "15 to 20 percent plan" and a solid cost estimate by spring, according to Gordon Derr, the city's assistant transportation director. Which would then lead to asking voters next year to approve bonds for a first phase of the line (along with bonds for road and bike-pedestrian projects around the city) from just east of Interstate 35 (on Manor Road) to the Seaholm tract downtown.

Seaholm to just east of I-35 comes up short to the plan redevelopment at the old airport, and nonexistent to the new airport, as shown on maps posted earlier. And that assumes the Austin bond package passes.............

[M1EK]

electricron, that was always viewed as phase 1 of three (third and final phase being the new airport).

[NThomas]

Commuter rail faces further delays
Austin American-Statesman
September 1, 2009
By Ben Wear
Full Article

Capital Metro's beleaguered commuter rail project will face further delays after federal regulators turned up a defect in the "vital logic" of the signals used to tell trains to slow down and stop when there is trouble ahead.

In addition, the Federal Railroad Administration officials, during a visit to Austin last week, "strongly urged" Capital Metro to compile a "systems integration" document on running both freight and passenger trains along the same 32-mile track from Leander to downtown Austin. Capital Metro, because it plans to operate the freight trains at night and the passenger trains during the day, had not previously put together the report, board member Mike Martinez said...

...Officials could not say how much the new signal and documentation work might further delay the long-awaited project, but it represents the latest in a series of setbacks that have pushed back the start date.

When voters approved the rail line, Capital Metro said it would launch in spring 2008.

"We just don't know how long it will take," said Doug Allen, Capital Metro's executive vice president and chief development officer. "We have to really dig into it."

Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the railroad administration, said that after the regulators visited last week, Capital Metro agreed to make changes in the traffic control system "to prevent freight trains from entering shared track..."

...As for the systems integration report, "apparently we never turned it in," said Martinez, who is also an Austin City Council member.

Asked why the report wasn't done a year or two ago — Capital Metro has been working on the passenger rail system since before the November 2004 referendum that authorized it — LeJeune said, "I'm not exactly sure it's required."

But, the railroad administration officials in Austin last week "strongly urged us to do it," LeJeune said...

[M1EK]

Again, what you see here is the result of Capital Metro inexplicably believing the hype they fed the public about how cheap and easy it would be to run commuter rail instead of light rail. I can't believe they're really this stupid, but here we are.

[NormalgeNyus]

Originally Posted by M1EK

Again, what you see here is the result of Capital Metro inexplicably believing the hype they fed the public about how cheap and easy it would be to run commuter rail instead of light rail. I can't believe they're really this stupid, but here we are.

are they really that stupid or are we (the public) really that stupid for allowing them to waste our tax dollars on failing plans.

[Mopacs]

From the new edition of the Austin Business Journal...

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2009/09/07/story1.html?b=1252296000^2042611

Downtown trolley idea back on track

First stop: City will issue RFQ to engineers
Austin Business Journal - by Kate Harrington ABJ Staff

It seems like a hazy memory to many — weekly meetings, fanfare and public forums for a Central Austin rail system began in late 2007 and then quietly faded in 2008. But city of Austin officials, as part of a larger strategic mobility plan, have dusted off work done on the proposed urban rail and are preparing to resurrect the concept.

A request for qualifications is expected to be issued later this month for preliminary engineering. It follows an RFQ for a consultant the city has already issued for the larger strategic mobility plan, said Rob Spillar, director of the city’s transportation department.


“We’ve committed to accelerate the process and get going as fast as possible … so the community and policy makers can make a decision,” Spillar said of the strategic mobility plan and its rail component. “That’s why you suddenly see us scrambling right now. We have been waiting to secure the funding to allow us to start this process.”


That funding came through a bond program the city had used to support its toll road program, he said. The city ended up with leftover money from that bond, dedicated toward transportation projects, which it is now using for the mobility plan and proposed urban rail.


Answers to the big questions about a potential downtown rail system — who would run it, how much it would cost and what route it would run — likely won’t come until at least next spring, though, he said.


Spillar said Austin residents ultimately will vote on a transportation bond — after a consultant and engineer are on board and after the city re-examines the alternatives analysis Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority started three years ago and starts an environmental review. That vote could take place in November 2010, although Spillar said the city won’t know a true time line nor more specifics about what would be in that bond package until next spring.....................

^^^ Interesting they would include a referenced image of New Orleans' Canal Street streetcar. Would our potential vehicles in any way resemble this (not the same historic style, of course)?

[M1EK]

No, we'd be using modern streetcar vehicles or small light rail trains (still not determined; I would bet on streetcars though).

This is all a huge IF - IF Leffingwell really gets behind it in an election (he seems lukewarm); IF the voters will vote for it despite "light rail" being tagged with the failure of the Red Line despite yours truly's best efforts; etc.