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CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines

monsoon

By monsoon
in Charlotte

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tozmervo
tozmervo

*cracks knuckles* here's my takeaways from the MTC meeting tonight: Red Line: The staff recommendation is to keep commuter rail on the O-line as the preferred option. What this largely boils do

kermit
kermit

Remind me again why we should go easy on CATS because its tough times… (refers to the Kyiv metro)  

TGIBridays
TGIBridays

I went to the Matthews Community meeting for the Silver Line station area planning last night and I thought y'all might appreciate some of the pictures/information from the event. I meant to take

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cltbwimob Burg

cltbwimob

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Posted

I don't think Trump is going to be as unfriendly to transit as many of you think. According to an article in the Observer, Trump's transition team floated a top 50 infrastructure priority projects list and it shows 10 mass transit and rail projects as top 50 priorities including the Purple Line in DC (LRT), a Green Line expansion in Boston (LRT), an NEC project in New York (HSR), the Second Ave Subway in New York (HRT) , the Texas Central Railroad (HSR), the Dallas Cotton Belt Rail Line (Commuter Rail), the Detroit M-1 Rail Line (Streetcar), Red/Purple Line in Chicago (HRT), Chicago Union Station, and DC Union Station.

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grodney Town

grodney

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Bikeguy said:

We're # 85 & 91, .....Hey !!!  ( cheer along if you wish..) 

..and climbing. 

http://atri-online.org/2017/01/17/2017-top-100-truck-bottleneck-list/

After skimming the methodology, I surmise that truck volume at 77/485 make its overall score worse than 77/LakeNorman, even though the LakeNorman has way worse speeds

bottlenecks_zpsi3mugse4.jpg

 

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

Posted
Posted (edited)

There is some interesting discussion at railroad.net on the impact of the decline in coal on various rail networks. One poster found a map from CSX showing what lines they plan to downgrade to 'local network' status (which is translated in the post as reduced maintenance, no PTC,  25 mph speed-limits and local freight only). The entire Charlotte subdivison is in the local category.  The east-west main line through Monroe remains as part of the primary network.

If all this comes to pass it may have some implications for Charlotte transit:

  • the CSX-NS grade crossing becomes less of an obstacle for the operation of Gateway station and the (potential) Red line due to reduced traffic across the diamond. (Perhaps NCDOT lucked out with the trenching getting fubard?)
  • the CSX intermodal terminal at Pincoa may get relocated to the Monroe area (due to faster and higher capacity service being available there)
  • CSX may be very willing to listen to offers from CATS and NCDOT to allow commuter trains to use the CLT to Monroe tracks in return for upgrade (PTC) and maintenance $$$. (This is not intended to suggest the Silver line could use these tracks since they would continue to host some freight). Such a line seems redundant alongside the Silver but it could bring Union county into the transit tax umbrella.

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=161835#p1419140 

In addition and entirely separate to the above, CSX is currently undergoing a CEO transition. The most likely new guy (Hunter Harrison) is well know as a cost-cutter and proponent of 'precision railroading.' This translates to shedding lots of mediocre assets, tight scheduling of freight and focusing traffic onto a core network. If Harrison gets the job I would not be surprised to see the entire Charlotte subdivision sold to a shortline operator -- also something that could be a positive for Charlotte transit.

Edited by kermit
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Third Strike Hamlet

Third Strike

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If the CSX corridor becomes available for commuter trains, perhaps CATS should redirect the Silver Line to run directly east instead of southeast. It would be redundant for two lines to run so close to each other and in the same direction. The Silver Line could diverge onto Albemarle Road from Independence, and then run down the middle until it hits I-485. That would also eliminate the need for extending the Gold Line out to Eastland. The Charlotte/Monroe commuter line would have stops at the Gateway Station, Matthews, Indian Trial, and Monroe, along with a couple of other stops in between. 

Reversely, being able to utilize the CSX tracks in the west could open up commuter rail services to Northwest Charlotte and Mt. Holly, and possibly even Gastonia. There probably isn't enough population or growth in those areas to warrant a commuter train, but it's definitely a corridor we should keep an eye on. A commuter line to Gastonia makes more sense along the NS line, but if that is never an option, utilizing the CSX/P&N lines could serve as a viable alternative. 

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archiham04 Burg

archiham04

Posted
Posted
On 1/25/2017 at 11:36 AM, cltbwimob said:

I don't think Trump is going to be as unfriendly to transit as many of you think. According to an article in the Observer, Trump's transition team floated a top 50 infrastructure priority projects list and it shows 10 mass transit and rail projects as top 50 priorities including the Purple Line in DC (LRT), a Green Line expansion in Boston (LRT), an NEC project in New York (HSR), the Second Ave Subway in New York (HRT) , the Texas Central Railroad (HSR), the Dallas Cotton Belt Rail Line (Commuter Rail), the Detroit M-1 Rail Line (Streetcar), Red/Purple Line in Chicago (HRT), Chicago Union Station, and DC Union Station.

https://www.planetizen.com/node/90893/good-trump-bad-trump

 

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Posted (edited)

^ I think the past two weeks has given us some clarity on infrastructure and funding issues in Washington. Now that there is a progressive teapartyish dynamic in place democrats ain't gonna do anything to lend donald legitimacy (the bipartisan support for an infrastructure bill ship  sailed with the Muslim ban). The GOP congress was already disinterested in infrastructure (for budget reasons) and now that donald is the least popular president ever they have less motivation to appease him. On the bright side, donald's unlikability plus his fear of protest, means that significant cuts to transit funding are not likely. (current  FTA funding is through a four year appropriation so not big changes were likely this presidential term anyway).

There is still no telling what happens with TIGER. I would expect some noise about reducing funding and regulation designed to support walkability, bikeability and sustainability but there were never big federal dollars for that stuff.

IMO the biggest issue for expanded transit in Charlotte is still NC politics.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

Posted
Posted

So does anyone actually use the CATS realtime vehicle tracker app? Has it improved any since its initial release or can we declare it a failure?

Does anyone know if there will be real-time arrival information on the BLE platforms? The voice announcements are worse than useless IMO.

In other news, UNCC released their new contactless-enabled student, faculty and staff ID card last week. I suspect we will begin to see new fare machines rolled out in the next couple of months.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I know were talking about spending billions to throw down light rail in the suburbs but in the meantime; can we cut a few holes in the CTC in downtown? It's a miserable aircraft hanger of a building and half the problem is a lack of natural sunlight

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