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22
CILTWorld issue 9
U.S. LIGHT RAIL REVILUTION
Seattle is joining two dozen other U.S. cities
that either have built or plan to build modern
rail systems
Rail Revolution
IN CILT WORLD 07 we reported that “something
strange has been happening in the United States
… use of public transport – or transit, as
Americans call it – has risen by five per cent, year
on year.” In furtherance of this trend, several large
U.S. cities are now involved in major light-rapid
transit (LRT) or rail schemes. Some of these
projects are summarised here.
SEATTLE – This Washington state city has become
the latest to join some two dozen other U.S. cities that
either have built, or plan to build, modern light-rail
systems.
The 14-mile (22.4 km) Sound Transit line, known as
Central Link – costing $2.44 billion (£1.5bn) – will be
the largest public-works project in the city since the
construction of Interstate highway 5 in the 1960s.
After the groundbreaking on 10 November 2003
Dwight Pelz, a Sound Transit board member whose
council district includes much of the corridor,
predicted: “We're confident it will be a countywide
system within 20 years. Communities across the
county are going to be clamouring for rail.”
Sound Transit's trains will travel under downtown,
sharing a 13-year-old tunnel with buses. The 1.3-mile
(2 km) tunnel was built with rails for future light rail
use, but they weren't insulated from the ground, and
the roadbed is six inches (15cm) too high to
accommodate trains and newer buses. So Sound
Transit will close the tunnel for two years for an $82
million (£50m) retrofit that includes a new “stub
tunnel” where trains can turn around.
“World class”
Officials have said the line will help make Seattle a
“world-class city.”
When completed in 2009, the Central Link line, from
Westlake Centre to Tukwila, will serve mainly lowerincome
neighbourhoods, where public-housing
projects are being rebuilt and expanded to put
thousands within walking distance of stations.
Critics have called the line a “train to nowhere”
because it stops short of Seattle-Tacoma International
Airport (SeaTac) and serves only a few
neighbourhoods. But supporters reply that Denver,
Salt Lake City, Dallas and other cities that built an
initial line later built others. The original Seattle plan
called for a 21-mile line from the University District to
SeaTac Airport. Cost overruns forced the agency to
scale back three years ago. But as work on the project
began in November 2003, Sound Transit reiterated its
goal to get light rail to the airport by 2011.
SALT LAKE CITY – In Utah, a $500 million
(£303m) line, forming the first part of a new
commuter route north of Salt Lake City, has just
got under way. The 43-mile (69 km) stretch of
route will include nine stops from Salt Lake City to
Pleasant View in Weber County, and should be
running by 2007.
Last year, the transit authority UTA purchased a
right-of-way corridor from Union Pacific Railroad.
The100-foot-wide corridor runs parallel to
Interstate Highway 15 from Payson in Utah County
north to Weber County.
The $500 million cost will be funded from a variety
of sources. Federal U.S. transportation funds may
match as much as 50% of the project cost, with
the rest coming from voter-approved quarter-cent
sales tax revenues from Weber, Davis and Salt Lake
counties.
In Salt Lake City, construction on the city's
intermodal centre is already under way to link
together bus, light-rail, commuter rail and taxi
services. The existing Delta Centre TRAX line will
be extended south to pull up along the commuter
train platform.
A second train platform is also planned to link with
the future light-rail line to Salt Lake International
Airport.
UTA plans to eventually extend the commuter rail
system to Provo, possibly by 2012, and up into
Brigham City, but no date has been projected.
HOUSTON (Texas) – With its first light rail service
due to begin January 1 2004 – on a 7.5 mile (12
km) line, costing $300 million (£180m), which will
connect downtown Houston to Reliant Stadium –
the Metropolitan Transit Authority is planning to
make buses connect efficiently with the new rail
service, instead of duplicating it. Annual operating
savings of over $2 million (£1.2m) are forecast.
Meanwhile, the MTA (Metro) has voted to begin
immediately implementing a $7.5 billion (£4.5bn)
transit-expansion plan – narrowly endorsed by
51.7% of voters – but cautioned it will take four
years of planning, design and construction before
the next trains are running. Metro has plans to
build a total of 73 miles (117 km) of new rail routes
by 2025.
The next stage is 22 miles (35 km) of route,
financed by $640 million (£388m) in bonds. The
New rail systems are seen as a
solution to growing traffic
congestion in American cities.
first extension will be along a north corridor from
the University of Houston-Downtown, scheduled
to open in 2008. A line to the south-east comes
next in 2009, followed by one to the East End in
2010. An inner south-west line will open for
passengers in 2012.
The transit authority is preparing an application for
federal funding, which it plans to submit to the
Federal Transit Authority in 2004.
Obtaining FTA money requires four steps:
identifying the best transit option, engineering and
environmental review, and preliminary engineering
and final design. Only after this process, which often
takes four years or more, can an agency become
eligible for money.
TENESSEE – Construction has been delayed from
January until March 2004 of the first leg of a 32-mile
Nashville-Lebanon commuter route. The $37.6
million (£22.8m) rail line is set to open in 2005.
Meanwhile, rail planners are still searching for a
catchy name for the new commuter rail system,
which is planned to include five lines from area
suburbs into Nashville in the coming years. Proposed
names ''T-Rail,'' ''Tennessee Rail Express,'' or ''T-
REX'' haven't drawn much enthusiasm. Marketing
consultants are to enlist residents for focus groups to
help select a name in the coming months.
JERSEY CITY – Spring 2004 should see completion
of the next extension of the new light rail line
through Jersey City, New Jersey.
Service to Bayonne's 22nd Street Light Rail station
began in November 2003. The next extension will
be north to Lincoln Harbour, by spring 2004, and
will include stations at 2nd and 9th streets in
Hoboken. An extension farther north, to Tonnelle
Avenue in North Bergen, is to be completed by
summer 2004.
The new LRT route, built at a cost of $1 billion
(£600m) and operated by NJ Transit, runs roughly
along the Hudson River waterfront through Jersey
City. 17,000 riders already use the line daily.
HONOLULU – Out in the mid Pacific, plans are
under way for light rail transit. Following a Hawaii
State Governor's task force recommendation for a
$2.6 billion (£1.6bn) light-rail transit system for
O'ahu, the City Council has now called for a study of
a proposal that would connect West O'ahu to
downtown Honolulu.