61 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Austin, TX American-Statesman, 3/25/12:

Lyndon Henry, a former Capital Metro board member, has been pushing for passenger rail in Austin since 1973.

Article continues here.

[KevinKorell]

Austin, TX American-Statesman, 5/22/12:

With urban rail’s first piece likely to cost $550 million, and no more than half of that coming from federal grants, the City of Austin could need to ask voters to OK as much as $275 million in bonds, officials said this morning.

The full story

[Sloan]

Mayor Lee Leffingwell decided against putting it on the November ballot, but members on at a panel discussion at today's forum say there aren't any other expansion options other than urban rail.

http://www.kxan.com/...ebate-continues

If the city goes for LRT, I'd like to see a proposed routing. Extensive street running will not be appealing to riders as LRVs will creep. Far better to have boulevard or private right-of-way routing for better service.

One endpoint must be the airport.


Sloan

[KevinKorell]

Extensive street running will not be appealing to riders as LRVs will creep.

Agreed. But it depends on how much money they are willing to spend. Take a city like Baltimore, which has its light rail trunk line running right through the middle of the city and stopping at every red light. Lesson learned is that signal preemption is a must. And if possible, avoid as much interaction with traffic on the street as possible, whether it means running in the median on along one side of the street with one or both directions diverted off the street. It can work.

Of note in Austin is the existing MetroRail Red Line, which is referred to as commuter rail, but the debate continues whether this is really a diesel LRT system like NJT's RiverLINE or the Sprinter in California. There is some street running on the downtown end of it where it approaches its terminus. So perhaps the model for what street running light rail might look like in Austin is right around the corner.

[Sloan]

Transit leaders continue to stress that Central Texas cannot pave its way out of congestion, which is why the focus continues to be on rail.

http://austin.ynn.co...ht-rail-options

[KevinKorell]

I think they're on the money with this story. The current Austin-Leander MetroRail, also known as the Red Line, uses DMU's. They have talked about a potential Green Line, which I believe would use the same technology. And of course there's L-Star, a more regional commuter line that would run from north of Austin all the way to south of San Antonio. It seems to me that what is being proposed here may be a hybid of some of the aspects of the Green and L-Star lines. They could be interlined on the same tracks if they serve different markets.

[Sloan]

Austin Voters To Decide Financing Light Rail

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The Austin City Council has unanimously decided to ask voters in November to authorize the city to borrow $600 million toward the cost of a $1.4 billion, 9.5-mile light rail line in central and southeast Austin.

http://wtaw.com/2014...ing-light-rail/

[Sloan]

Clogged Austin Rejects $1.4 Billion Light-Railway Project

Voters in Austin, the Texas capital whose population has climbed by more than a third since 2000, aren’t persuaded that a $1.4 billion light-rail project is the antidote to its traffic-snarled roads.

A plan to sell $600 million of general-obligation bonds to finance a new rail system linking downtown, the state capitol, the University of Texas and other areas failed in Nov. 4 elections amid concern that it would further jam streets in the city with the nation’s fourth-worst traffic. Opponents garnered 57 percent of the vote to supporters’ 43 percent, according to Travis County election returns.

http://www.bloomberg...ay-project.html

[Sloan]

 

 

Mobility report recommends Guadalupe-Lamar light rail proposal

AUSTIN, Texas — An urban light rail proposal was voted down by Austin voters in November 2014, but the idea is not dead.

 

http://keyetv.com/ne...t-rail-proposal

[Sloan]

 

 

Wear: Austin light rail, after 2014 drubbing, remains off the agenda

Lee Leffingwell, looking simultaneously at the (voluntary) end of his time as Austin mayor and at a crushing defeat for a light rail proposalhe had championed, had a gloomy prediction on a Tuesday night in November 2014.

“It’s dead until somebody revives it,” Leffingwell said of rail in Austin. “And that will be a long period of time.”

Note the reference to the Lone Star commuter rail project which is very much under study.

 

http://www.mystatesm...ins-off-/npjJ7/