Let's talk about a different form of politics...Transportation...
A Rail Line May Soon Head To Alta
Quote:
|
The idea for a cog railway serving a busy Utah recreation destination came into sharper focus this week when proponents unveiled possible alignments and cost estimates that suggest rail could help solve the growing transportation quagmire in Little Cottonwood Canyon. A nine-mile rail line to Alta is the latest high-capacity transit option under consideration for the canyon that sees up to 3 million visitors a year coming to enjoy two world-renowned ski areas and year-round recreation in an alpine setting just outside Salt Lake City. Proponents say rail could do a better job with fewer impacts than the other options being explored by the Utah Department of Transportation, which include expanded bus service, a gondola and road improvements. As an added benefit, a cog rail system, if it’s electrified, could be integrated with existing light-rail transit in the Salt Lake Valley, according to Mike Allegra, a consultant with the Swiss railway design firm Stadler and former president and CEO of the Utah Transit Authority. With 10-minute headways, the system could move 3,000 passengers an hour up the canyon. The run would take 19 minutes to Snowbird and another six minutes to reach Alta. Trains could easily move more passengers than cars, considering only 1,000 vehicles can travel up the canyon per hour even in the best of circumstances, Allegra told the Central Wasatch Commission Monday.
|
Quote:
|
The nine-mile line would run from a terminal below the mouth of the canyon near the famed La Caille restaurant to Alta’s Wildcat base area, rising about 3,000 vertical feet. During off-peak times, trains could make “whistle stops” at recreational destinations other than the Snowbird and Alta, such as the White Pine trailhead and Lisa Falls. The Stadler team outlined two potential alignments. One travels along the north edge — or uphill side — of the highway and the other along the south side, closer to the creek. The cost of installing a single track with sidings would be $345 million for the north-side alignment, and $267 million for south side of the road, according to Stadler’s consultant Newell Jensen. The north-side option would be more costly because it passes through various avalanche paths, necessitating the need to construct sheds to keep the track free of slide debris, Jensen said. The southern alignment, by contrast, would skirt around all but the White Pine slide path. “There’s a possibility that there would be an avalanche shed in that particular location,” Jensen told the commission. “Other than that, this line can stay relatively free of avalanche sheds.”
|
I wanted to call attention to this:
$345 million for the north-side alignment, and $267 million for south side of the road.
The current cost for the Gondola is around $450 Million to $600 Million depending on the path chosen. The current cost for enhanced bus is $350 Million. Even just adding another lane to the road is estimated at nearly $250 Million.
As we are looking at having transfers between any transit option and the canyon transit choices, a cog rail could be built now for the same cost or less than the bus option. It would also be nearly 45% faster to travel from end to end.
Once in place, there would be a big push to have Trax extended the cog line transfer point.
I agree with Hatman that Trax should extend from Fashion Place to the LCC transfer. This would increase usage not just for the canyons but also commuters going to the Fort Union area as well as Cottonwood Heights (6200 South 3000 East area). This has so much more potential ridership than a Trax extension from 9400 South.
The cog line would be cheaper than other options, move more people, reduce traffic, and best of all, support and create local jobs at an expanded Stadler Rail plant.
Because the manufacturing plant for Stadler is in SLC, I think that this can be discussed here as opposed to just the Transit thread.
Lastly, as I posted on the Reddit thread, the line could be extended to Park City. This could spur the speed of a future Park City to Tooele FrontRunner line. And we know that the line would benefit greatly from a restored and enhanced Rio Grande station as the gateway for commuter and long distance rail to SLC.
So hopefully this political thread helps entice conversation...
Prev
Linear Mode
