I am not talking anout interurban here. Millwakies system would quilify.
I am looking for 40 mile plus per hour at grade operations in Blv. Meduim Strips that would be on par with todays rapid transit
Try Calgary. I think they have a system like that, built in a highway median. I think it was constructed in the late 1980’s.
Does it need to be in the US? If not try Karlsruhe in Germany, It looks odd to see an ICE going down one track passing a Light Rail Vehicle going the other way on the adjacent track
There are many examples of modern light rail that do an excellent job in the USA today. Some have been around for a long time, like Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, and Shaker Heights serving that community into downtown Cleveland and now the waterfront area, run as the blue and green lines of the Cleveland Transit System. Others are new like San Diego, Portland OR, St. Louis, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Baltimore. Nearly all seem to have combinations of street tracks, usually shared with private autos and/or buses and/or emergency vehicles, tunnels or subways (the distinction should be if a station is included), landscaped reservations in the middle or the side of highways and streets, and bridges and viaducts and regular railroad-like rights-of-way. One may ask, why does heavy rail have a capacity of 80,000 on one track in one direction past a single point and light rail only 20,000? The answer is the adaptabiility of light rail for street or reservation running. This means a train cannot be longer than a city block, or stopped at one traffic light, it will not clear the cross-street behind. This limits train length, usually to three cars, 90-feet long each, single or double articulated, at the maximum, while a New York City subway train can have eight 70 foot long cars. Or ten 56-foot cars. The width of a B-Division New York subway car is ten feet, like a typical commuter or Amtrak coach, while a light rail car is usually only eight feet, or 8-1/2, so it can fit into auto traffic. Obviously, the speed of a light rail train on a street shared with traffic will be the same as a bus, but the bus usually has to fit into traffic for the length of its run, where most of today’s light rail systems included substantial private right of way or reservation. Schedule speed also depends on the frequency of stops and the question of whether they are mandated on each run or requested by boarding or alighting passengers. A range of overall speeds of 12 mph to about 40 would cover about al
I’ll go with Calgary because it’s local - It’s not all built on a median strip, but the section between University and Dalhousie stations is. The main part was constructed in the late 80s, just in time for the Olympics, but it is still under construction, with extensions from 40th ave. to 89th street (it does turn a bit) in the NW in 6 years. (Including the next 2!)
Dave’s right, it is a mic of street running (shared with other CT vehicles) runnels (mostly short and under a single road, although one goes under 2 roads and the CPR line) and sections along/on the median of major roads.
BTW, now that I’ve ranted a bit, what exactly is the question?[:I]
Daveklepper:
The SEPTA Norristown line is all suburban and the entire route follows a dedicated ROW with absolutely no street running. If you knew about these SEPTA, I am surprised you didnot mention SEPTA’s Subway Surface system. This has it all, even if it does not occur on every line. The route 13 trolley is the only line that goes into a Philadelphia suburb (Yeadon) but the Route 36 trolley runs along a dedicated ROW along street level in the middle of Island Road. All of the lines converge into a tunnel that not only goes under ground but under the Schulkill River. Since these lines all turn around at City Hall in Philadelphia, anyone attending the NMRA Convention in Philly can ride these cars by taking a short walk to 13th and Market Streets.
What about those citys had them but no longer have rapid transit streetcars on “In Street Resevations” Did Kansas City have that?
Leon, of course I knew that the ex Philadlephia and Western Line is all PRW without grade crossings, but it is the fastest line I know of. The Philalphia subway surface lines are excellent examples of what they are, but of course, there is little PRW outside of the subway, where they operate as conventional streetcars, just like most of the still existing fine Toronto system (which now does have some limited subway and PRW operation). My own experience with Philly’s on-street operation is that I usually (not always) held my desire to ask the operator why he wasn’t running faster in check. On the other hand, the three lines out of 69th Street Upper Darby never gave me that feeling. I always felt I was enjoying good performance from whatever equipment I rode. All the way from the Jewett railroad roof interuban car “40” in 1947 to the modern Kawasaki cars. Has the situation in Philly’s City Division improved? Are the subway surface lines being run smartly these days? The equipment is capable of good performance, so are they showing it off? How about the revived PCC’s on all-street Garrad?