Quote:
Originally Posted by bobg
I know they attempt to factor those things into the ridership models, but I have had the same thoughts about ridership on the North line being underestimated due to where people in thornton/northglenn tend to work and the traffic they have to endure. Not necessarily that the north will be the most heavily used line, but that it could be utilized more than anticipated.
On the other hand working against the north metro corridor ridership is the current developed environment in the North metro seems to be centered around I25 so a lot of the population is further west. Additionally, there's that long stretch between 88th and DUS where it is more industrial than residential.
I guess we will see in 5 years.
|
The proposal to build to 124th Ave would be for a line approximately 13 miles line long, with 5 stops between 124Ave and Union Station- Eastlake/124th, 112th, 104th, 88th, 72nd, and the National Western Station.
The line, will not be electrified, and, propulsion will be via either separate diesel engine units, or distributed in some fashion by rail car.
Disadvantages of Diesel propulsion along route as planned
1. Diesel power trains accelerate far slower than electricity motored units. Diesel units work best with longer distances between stops than do emu's.
There are 5 stops, between 124th and Union Station, for a total of 7 distance intervals between terminating ends, at an average distance of approximately 1.85 miles apart.
While there are numerous variables such as weight, horsepower, grade, curve radii etc., a good figure might be that it would take 3 minutes to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph for diesel pulled commuter trains on this line, and 2 minutes to accelerate to 40 mph.
Commuter trains operating anywhere where freight rail traffic MIGHT occur, have intense, old school, FRA safety standards that end up making units very heavy. Diesel engine locomotives routinely weigh almost 120 tons and passenger rail cars on such lines 50 to 60 tons without passengers or fuel. Stopping distances (as well as acceleration distances) take far longer than do lighter vehicles.
If the average time including station stop time for passenger egress at stations + acceleration time + breaking time, were 5 minutes per interval, the net time between 124th and Union Station would be 35 minutes.
Current Services
North-South Bus service currently extends from the Market Street Station in downtown Denver to 120th Ave, via the excellent 120x. When the Underground (bus) Station is completed, the south terminal will be move into that facility.
Per RTD schedule, depending on time of day and whether the 120x stops at the DUS light rail station and the 88th Ave dedicated Bus station, trips take between 21 and 25 minutes. While weather and traffic levels can reduce trip time, dedicated bus/car pool lanes that switch in the direction of rush hour flow, reduce this risk some what between the DUS area and the Boulder Turnpike.
This bus, based upon ticket price, speed, and, distance, IMO, is the best bus in the Metro area.
What likely will happen when the North Line opens
A. The efficiency of the 120x will have be lowered to get users to switch from the 120x to the train. This will involve a combination of adding off I-25 coverage to lengthen the current transit time from 120Ave to downtown from 25 minutes to 35/40 minutes, and, by reducing the frequency of the bus.
B. Local buses which currently serve the Wagon Road 120th Ave station will be rerouted, in particular those which travel east of I-25 to funnel traffic to either the 112thAve or 124Ave Train Stations before Wagon Road, adding 10 minutes or more transit time to Wagon Road.
C. The net effect will be to increase the transit time for those who live west of I-25 who use the 120x now, while providing good commuting service (within 1 to 1.5 miles of stations and 10 minutes by car) for those that need 20 minutes currently to get to Wagon Road from east of I-25.
Solution
This, regrettably, will not occur, but, would make the line very busy.
A. Provide express service. While this requires that station users be provided access to platforms without having to cross any rail tracks on foot, the payoffs are immense. Do this and triple tracking a couple of stations could provide true express service, with the efficiency increasing the further north the line extends.
B. How to skip stations
There are two end points, 124th and Union Station- stations 1, and 7. 2 through 6 are through stations.
Stop (or start) at stations
1,3,5,7; 1,2,4,7; 1,2,5,7; 1,7 etc.,
7,5,3,1; 7,4,2,1; 7,5,2,1; 7,1 etc.
13 miles at an average speed of 60 mph is 13 minutes
13 miles at an average speed of 30 mph is 26 minutes.
C. Provide connections between the North and East lines, east of Union Station, perhaps at the 38th and Blake Station and coordinate with East line schedules. The ROW exists. Make this a big platform to platform station designed for north and east side users that do not need to go downtown.
If express services are not instituted
Extend the 120x Ave to at least E470 and provide car pool/bus lanes further north (aren't people talking about extending the car pool lanes to 104th Ave, now?)
Expect low level ridership, and, few commuters using the North line to go to work at the airport.
Prev
Linear Mode
