downtown rail mostly elevated, some at-grade

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Gantz

There is already light rail in NYC suburbs. I think that light rail even goes through downtown Jersey City at grade level.

For a small section, yes. Most of the Hudson-Bergen rail is elevated or on an embankment, but there's a street-running section. Also a subway tunnel section.

Newark City Subway is all subway or trench, though.

I believe the BQX would have extensive at-grade, street-running sections, though, so this could soon change on the NY side. The HBLR expansion north to Tenafly, NJ won't have anything at-grade.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Buckman821

Great viewing from Pizza Art over a Spinaci pizza.

I think we're going to Pizza Art tonight. Love that place.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

They would love Tokyo. The at-grade train crossings through dense urbanity are certainly foreign to most North Americans (cool though, albeit a bit inconvenient).



2018-04-28 11.49.46 2 by Eric H, on Flickr


2018-04-25 05.28.08 1 by Eric H, on Flickr

Weird. There aren't any level crossings in central Shanghai - the only level crossings in Shanghai municipality are way out in the suburbs, and they're all lightly used freight lines. All passenger rail is fully grade separated.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Buckman821

Great viewing from Pizza Art over a Spinaci pizza.

yep, Pizza Art makes a great traditional brick oven pie.

also, Art of Pizza over by ashland/belmont/lincoln makes a high quality deep dish.

[dubu]

nicer one

[Minato Ku]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Weird. There aren't any level crossings in central Shanghai - the only level crossings in Shanghai municipality are way out in the suburbs, and they're all lightly used freight lines. All passenger rail is fully grade separated.

Rail and urban development in Japan are older than in China.
Lots of infrastructures have been built from scratch in the last decade.
The huge size of Chinese metro networks can be explained by the fact that other suburban rails are almost inexistent while those cover thousand of km just in Tokyo

Japan is spending billion to rebuilt its old urban/suburbain railway lines.
Note that upgrating infrastructures often require more difficult and longer work than building new ones.

[dubu]

building a whole new city would be nice because you could have fiber optic internet and have new tech for green power. at grade trains cost a lot more because they are built like tanks so if they hit a car the train wont get damaged, heavier trains wear down the rail more too. if its a new city at grade trains would be easy to build though, its way cheaper then a subway system. people arnt buying cars as much now, just because people are more poor now, I wonder if there will be a new city some day. all these old cities are slowly falling apart.

[tayser]

This viaduct was the first connection between the two main stations in Melbourne (Flinders Street and Spencer Street [now known as Southern Cross])

• Video Link

^ those four tracks now take the four different city loop services (left to right: Caulfield Loop, Northern Loop, Burnley Loop, Clifton Hill Loop).

Another viaduct was built in the 70s/80s to add capacity at the same time as the three underground city loop stations were built, the new concrete section in this video:

• Video Link

^ Takes mainly through services (Werribee/Frankston, regional services and freight trains).

[10023]

London has the Overground in addition to the Underground. For the most part it is a “suburban” (in the British sense) system, but in some places enters central London, like at Shoreditch High Street.

Berlin similarly has the U-bahn (subway) and S-bahn (largely above ground and often elevated suburban trains which also cover some parts of the city center.

There are even a few elevated trains in Paris, like up around La Villette (Jaures, etc).

[yaletown_fella]

Toronto made the mistake of building the Eglinton Crosstown at grade in some sections when it should have been elevated. Now one bad car or truck driver who gets in an accident on Eglin ton could jam the whole line. The problem with Toronto politicians is they seem to be unaware that elevated is an option - in their minds it's at grade or underground - two extremes.

[nito]

Due to the age of most of the UK's railway network, most elevated railways were constructed using brick and not in steel-above-street style. There was once a steel-fabricated elevated railway in Liverpool; the Liverpool Overhead Railway which was opened in 1893, but that closed in 1956.

Due to the historic nature of brick elevated railways, they didn’t lend themselves to running above roads. Instead the arches beneath were converted into commercial and industrial uses (offices, breweries, restaurants, bakeries, clubs, and a whole host of other uses) which are in high demand; I’ll have to do a photo tour, because you can stumble upon interesting and unique environments.

Focusing on London, there are numerous elevated sections throughout the city due to the hilly topography, with most found on the commuter routes into Central London. The approaches into London Bridge, London Fenchurch Street and London Waterloo are the most notable examples, constructed from untold millions of bricks. The most impressive elevated railway is the London & Greenwich Railway, which now forms the backbone of the South Eastern Main Line and Chatham Main Line. Opened back in 1836, it is the oldest elevated railway and oldest commuter line. It is impressive not just for its age, but its sheer size, the number of tracks and length. It is probably to this day one of the largest elevated lines on the planet. The section above Borough Market is particularly interesting as it weaves between buildings.

South Eastern Main Line/Chatham Main Line

Image taken by Alex-397 on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lought...576267/sizes/l

Image taken by parkgateparker on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/442082...197146/sizes/l

Image taken by electricfoto on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tewalk...521241/sizes/l

Bonus video:
• Video Link

South West Main Line

Image taken by Jon Bowers on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/288501...714538/sizes/l

London, Tilbury & Southend Line

Image taken by Doolallyally on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/levett...136699/sizes/l

Thameslink

Image taken by mattbuck4950 on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbu...190627/sizes/l

Great Eastern Main Line

Image taken by Always Santa Fe on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tunnel...934962/sizes/l

West Anglia Main Line

Image taken by London Less Travelled on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/london...869587/sizes/l

Image taken by terencechisholm on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/224865...215864/sizes/l

[dubu]

brick might be scary but not as scary as this.

• Video Link

final city pic from a few days ago