Hi,
One of my duties at Trains is to edit the City Rail column. What would you like to see covered? Do you like to read stories about new or improved service? If so, am I lacking coverage in a certain geographical area? Am I lacking coverage of a certain type of commuter or transit service? Are you interested in learning what transit systems in other countries are like? Or, do you prefer to read broader topics? Let me know what you think!
Thanks!
I would like to learn more about how passenger trains of various kinds get dispatched on freight railroads. How does Metra thread their commuter trains over UP, BNSF and IC tracks? How does that one ex Milwaukee Road line from Chicago to Milwaukee handle all of that commuter traffic along with 7 roundtrip Hiawathas plus the daily Empire Builder along with whatever freight uses that route?
What is Metra doing to more or less keep their commuter trains on time while Amtrak is having serious trouble keeping many of its trains on schedule? What does a commuter agency have to bring to the table in terms of extra track, sidings, signals, or whatever to work integrate that large amount of passenger traffic with their host railroads? What would Amtrak have to provide (such as on the Illinois corridor trains which are said to have schedule keeping problems) to get the same result?
I’d like to see the occasional commuter’s-eye-view of suburban service, especially if it’s new. (A thread above re: MBTA’s new rail line I found quite informative.)
Also is there time to unpack some of the “tech talk” about later-generation LRV’s? I’m not saying waste time dumbing it down, but I bet I’m not the only railfan who is boggled by recent descriptions of motors near the wheels and why.
I like the coverage you’ve provided so far on specific lines, and if you could add maps that would be great. I would like a little more about the history of the line if the transit route is running on a former steam- or electric- freight or passenger line.
I am a big NJ Transit fan so I would like to see more of that. I read somewhere that they were going to get new M.U. cars, if this is true I would like to see that covered. Also do you know anything about NJT’s order for second generation ALP-46s?
Light rail, the new term for the modern trolley car, is now growing. Could Trains please publish a definite graph showing the whole mileage history of all electrified railway track USED FOR PASSENGER SERVICE in the USA and Canada? Irregardless of gauge, characteristics (interuruban, subway, streetcar. commuter rail, etc.), year by year basis? Starting with Spragues Richmond electrification in 1887, Boston’s West End Street Railway the year after, and the B&O Baltimore Tunnel?
Me!!! Flanked by 2 Amtrak passegner trains(joking). Everytime I pick up a railroad book, there is something about freights and steam. Don’t get me wrong, I know there the backbone of railroad industry but people forgot about the passegner trains of then and now. Do a cover base on communter trains and Amtrak and how they help shape the big cities then and now.
Just me speaking from the intercom of the Acela…[:-^]
I would like to see more articles on developing rail transit programs, such as the Tucson, Arizona Modern Streetcar Project and the Phoenix Light Rail. Tucson’s Modern Streetcar should be operational by 2012 but is already in the advanced planning stages.
To say in different words some of what I said before, and I hope most people above will agree with me, is that City Rail needs to be more than “spot news”: We hear about when an LRV a line is funded, when it’s about to open, possibly shortly after it opens, and perhaps major crises of funding enroute to development or accidents once the line is in operation. I’d like to see more about system development, why one brand of LRV is chosen for a project rather than another. I also think that talking to people who are new to LRV is a useful thing because they have – if not none – than different preconceptions of what LRV or streetcar ought to be. Perhaps the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER is talking to LYNX riders, but I’m not hearing about that in TRAINS. That part reiterates the commuter’s-eye-view I mentioned above.
Also, I keep meaning to say: Wouldn’t it be great if one or more of TRAINS’ maps-of-the-month were to show all LRV systems in the USA (or just the post-1980 ones if space forbids).
Or all the commuter-rail lines?
Or all the RT?
(with the understanding that big cities or urban areas with many and complex lines could not fit them all into the Map of the Month [NJT, Metrolink, NY Subways]).
I agree with AWalker, I would like to see more articles on transit systems in my part of the country,The SW USA… New Mexico’s Railrunner,Utaha’s FrontRange and Az,Tx,granted theres only so much you can say about one commuter or light rail system but still,it is always nice to see articles on places in our area of the world and not always the NORTEAST…Take Dallas Tx. for instance,DART is growing by leaps and bounds and No one ever says anything about it…Also the NRHS is holding its convention in FT.Worth,Tx.next month and Trains has not said a thing about it or had a railfanning article on the area yet !
Thanks for letting me vent…
Sincerly,
[#ditto] [#ditto]. Just call us the Scoot Coalition! - a.s.
Reading posts for the last year maybe someone needs to start a transit mag (very expensive) or at least a section every month in trains on transit and how it is affecting RRs. Unfortunally there is underlap when transit covers bus operations.
Clevelands RTAs Busway and Shaker Rapid and Red Airport Line and Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway
Angela,
What can WE do to help you expand the coverage?
Do you need “field reporters & photograpers?” Since the main focus of “Trains” is Freight railroading and Amtrak/VIA, could we submit relatively short overviews of our local systems with relevant “news-y” photos of recently opened lines, renovated stations, newly acquired equipment, etc?
How about historical photos along with a current image in the same location (sort of a “Then and Now” comparison)?
Paul F.
For people very very seriously interested in light rail, you must visit the website:
TRAINS is a general railroad magazine. The Light Railway Transport Association puts out a members magazine Tramways and Urban Transit that keeps readers up to date on the news of every planned and operating light railway system everywhere in the world, has technical articles, explores specific cities and systems in depth. It does not cover commuter railroads adequately nor heavy rapid transit and doesn’t claim to do so. And its editorial coverage is definitely slanted to that Kingdom wherefrom most of American culture originated. I recommend it. Following after TRAINS and CLASSIC TRAINS, it is tops in railroad reading for me. For me some of its most interesting articles are on some of the most scenic Swiss mountain interurban lines.
For similar intensive coverage of New Jersey Transit, the LIRR, Metro North, all SEPTA’s rail operations, and the New York subways, the New York Division Bulletin of the Electric Railroaders Association, HQ at GCT in NYC, cannot be beat.
Hi, Paul:
I want to thank you and everyone else who replied to my question. Sorry it took so long to write back. I’ve peeked in and taken a look at replies here and there though. Yes! Please do write me with article proposals and photos. I’m currently putting together a list of topics for 2009 City Rail topics. I’ve taken some of your suggestions, too, I might add. [:D]
My e-mail address is apusztai@trainsmag.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Photos may be uploaded and directed to me as the editor at www.contribute.kalmbach.com. Don’t forget to include detailed captions. Remember to answer the question: Why should readers care about your topic?
I hope you like what you see for the remaining issues this year and what’s to come in '09. Keep in mind that everyone likes to read about their respective neighborhoods, which is precisely why I try to throw in an overarching topic that may appeal to more people in a given month.
Thanks again for your replies. I’ll check back with you soon.
Take care!
I live in Oklahoma City, where we have no rail transit service. The fight to begin light rail or commuter rail service here seems to be an uphill struggle, with no support for (make that hostility towards) rail transit from the city government. This issue is intertwined with the effort to prevent our Union Station rail yard from being destroyed to re-route Interstate 40, currently running about four blocks to the north. The Union Station yard is at the center of a network of track and right-of-way that would be a great asset to jump-start any rail transit system.
I would like to see coverage of these issues, and I would like to see an article or series on how to build support for and implement a rail transit system in cities which currently have no service.
Doug Vincent
I am glad to see that TRAINS is gaining a balance of old/new, freight/passenger, domestic/foreign, and incorporating rapid transit as a part of “railroading”. I grew up in the NYC metropolitan area and a subway was as much a train as any LIRR, DL&W, ERIE, or PRR movement. Often,however, when I have mentioned commuter rail and rapid transit being “railroading” as much as the EL or CR or NS freight operations seen here (Bingahmton, NY) some 200 miles from New York City, I get funny looks and comments. But the logistics are the same just more complicated and faster on the same 4ft 8 1/2 inch wide paths. Those close to me have found how fascinating these systems are by riding them with me. Riding historic (or parts of historic) routes, single track lines, 6 track lines, electic or diesel locmotives, multiple unit cars, subways and elevated subways, light rail lines (diesel and electric, street and private rights of way), and heavy commuter lines, seeing how they interconnect, opens a new understanding and appreciation of railroading. (I am for hire in escorting these trips, by the way.) With new light rail and commuter operations coming on line yearly, sometimes over former or existing rights of way, history is relearned as is the value of mass transit. I appreciate that TRAINS has opened this page in the magazine to explore and reveal how much railroading is done under the guise of “mass transit”. These mass tansit lines can give the railfan an inexpensive ride and learning experience.
I am really interested in subway service and commuter rail service.
The recent coverage is great and getting better.
The subtle differences between commuter rail and passenger rail, and the fact that they’re wholly separated in Eastern USA, has always perplexed me. Covering the different history of commuter rail and how it evolved as a state-subsidized form of passenger service, and how Amtrak specifically avoided commuter rail, and finally the divestiture of commuter rail from Conrail to state agencies.
I would also like to find out the economic reasons why we believe that commuter and passenger rail cannot and should not be completely paid for by its users.
Thanks for soliciting our thoughts!