Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[Scribe]

21 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

EXCLUSIVE: Serious Design Flaw On Lynx Blue Line Extension

How is that a design flaw? That is more like an implementation/installation flaw.

[KJHburg]

^^ Hey I just copied the tweet.  Remember if it bleeds it leads on WSOC-TV  LOL 

[kermit]

^ Ugh. This is neither a big, complicated or expensive repair. Finding this stuff is why they have months of testing. Why is this news?

[LKN704]

Can anyone find any pictures of the evacuation drill? It would be interesting to see.

After watching all of the "ride along" videos one thing that surprised me was the apparent lack of emergency phones/blue light stations/emergency trip stations alongside the track areas, especially in the tunnel area and in the more "rural areas" of the line (such as the area after the tunnel but before UNCC Main station). Although I suppose they are somewhat unnecessary with the proliferation of cell phones and the lack of long stretches of tunnel underground. 

[jednc]

18 hours ago, kermit said:

^ Ugh. This is neither a big, complicated or expensive repair. Finding this stuff is why they have months of testing. Why is this news?

We sometimes lack discretion on what gets posted on here. This is def not news.

[kermit]

1 hour ago, jednc said:

We sometimes lack discretion on what gets posted on here. This is def not news.

I dunno, I like the nerdy comprehensiveness of our site and I am glad to hear about issues like that here. I was really just asking why WSOC considered it to be news (and its a rhetorical question, I understand the politics involved)

Edited January 12, 2018 by kermit

[KJHburg]

I do think it is news not major news but information of importance.  Who is paying for these repairs? The contractor or CATS or engineer?  I was not trying to bring any politics into this but this is taxpayer money and it deserves scrutiny just like the concrete tie repairs did.  

[Scribe]

7 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I do think it is news not major news but information of importance.  Who is paying for these repairs? The contractor or CATS or engineer?

Completely agree! The only thing I disagree with is how all news sensationalizes every damn thing these days!

[kermit]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

I do think it is news not major news but information of importance.  Who is paying for these repairs? The contractor or CATS or engineer?  I was not trying to bring any politics into this but this is taxpayer money and it deserves scrutiny just like the concrete tie repairs did.  

So did WSOC answer that question? If not then what is the point of the story?

Every construction project will have punch list items remaining at initial completion, this is one of those things. They caught it before opening, assuming the contractor paid for the fix,  the process is working properly — thus it is not news.

Edited January 12, 2018 by kermit

[tozmervo]

Unless design documents incorrectly located the ADA pads, it's almost certainly a contractor issue to fix (and pay for). 

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

So did WSOC answer that question?

The reason it is not news, is because in the article they state that it is already being fixed:

Quote

Construction crews are ripping up freshly poured concrete along the Lynx Blue Line extension nine weeks before opening day.

If you want to put yourself through their miserable reporting, here is the link http://www.wsoctv.com/news/9-investigates/whistleblower-9-exclusive-serious-design-flaw-on-lynx-blue-line-extension/682277810

[KJHburg]

CK Rider the Cabarrus County public transit system will now connect to the LYNX JW Clay Blvd station replacing the express bus from Concord.  

Here it is from the report:
The Charlotte Area Transit System currently provides express bus service (80X Concord Express) from Cabarrus County into Uptown Charlotte. The existing service operates Monday through Friday with four morning trips traveling from Concord to Charlotte, and four afternoon trips traveling from Charlotte to Concord. The annual net cost of the service is $230,952. CATS and the City of Concord share this cost. Concord pays 50% of the cost ($115,476) to CATS on an annual basis. The CATS cost is $115,476, representing 50% of the operating cost. With the extension of the LYNX Blue Line, there is a desire to replace the existing 80X Concord Express with improved rush hour and mid-day service that connects to light rail at the JW Clay Station. Citizens from both Cabarrus and Mecklenburg Counties will be able to connect to the LYNX Blue Line to continue travel into Uptown Charlotte. The proposed service would be operated by CK Rider, the Concord-Kannapolis bus system. Service would be expanded to seven days per week. The number of bus trips operated would increase to fourteen weekday round trips, and eleven round trips on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the bus stops in Cabarrus County, the new service would include stops in Mecklenburg County to allow Mecklenburg residents to connect to light rail, or to connect from Mecklenburg County to destinations in Cabarrus County. Fare for the new service would be $2.20, and a free transfer would be provided between the CATS system and the CK Rider system. The net annual cost of the new service is $329,745. CATS would maintain its current level of funding by agreeing to an annual payment of $115,476 to the City of Concord. The cities of Concord and Kannapolis would pay for the remainder of the cost of service, $184,414. The recommended cost-sharing plan has been unanimously approved by the ConcordKannapolis Area Transit Commission, the City of Kannapolis, and the City of Concord.

it will begin in March when the extension opens.  http://charlottenc.gov/cats/about/boards/MTC Agenda Package/MTC-Agenda-Package-170927.pdf#[{"num"%3A70%2C"gen"%3A0}%2C{"name"%3A"FitH"}%2C796]

[CLTranspo]

56 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

The number of bus trips operated would increase to fourteen weekday round trips, and eleven round trips on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the bus stops in Cabarrus County, the new service would include stops in Mecklenburg County to allow Mecklenburg residents to connect to light rail, or to connect from Mecklenburg County to destinations in Cabarrus County. Fare for the new service would be $2.20, and a free transfer would be provided between the CATS system and the CK Rider system. ..

The cities of Concord and Kannapolis would pay for the remainder of the cost of service, $184,414. The recommended cost-sharing plan has been unanimously approved by the ConcordKannapolis Area Transit Commission, the City of Kannapolis, and the City of Concord.

This is awesome! (One small step for Charlotte, one giant leap for Cab Co)

[tozmervo]

CATS is beginning their push for huge changes to the bus network along the BLE.  A map of the changed routes can be found here: http://charlottenc.gov/cats/transit-planning/envisionmyride/Documents/Proposed-Scenario.pdf

 

[Nolan]

I saw a 3 cars train today passing by the Parkwood station, too bad we won't actually get to see one when the BLE opens 

[Cadi40]

2 hours ago, Nolan said:

I saw a 3 cars train today passing by the Parkwood station, too bad we won't actually get to see one when the BLE opens 

Are they not using the 3 car trains anymore? I thought that was the plan.

[15895]

29 minutes ago, Cadi40 said:

Are they not using the 3 car trains anymore? I thought that was the plan.

All of The stations in the original blue line aren’t fitted to handle 3 cars. The plans fell through with funding or whatever and now they’ll just run more frequent services instead of 3 car trains. 

Not sure when the time table for longer stTions is but I bet it’s far out 

[southslider]

If the local news were up for some serious reporting, they'd investigate why CATS stopped plans to upgrade all remaining stations for three-car trains.   It may be tied to the quick and quiet ouster of the long-serving CFO last year.

[kermit]

Regardless the cause of the decision to drop the platform extension on the blue line:

increased frequency > longer trains

(longer trains would have been run less frequently)

Edited January 19, 2018 by kermit

[Scribe]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Regardless the cuase of the decision to drop the platform extension on the blue line

I applaud your positive - CATS can do no wrong - attitude, but this is just complete BS.

Nothing would stop CATS from running the trains more frequently with the 3 car trains. The fact that the platform are inconsistent across the entire line, makes it impossible to increase capacity any further at this time. 3 car platforms give CATS the ability to tweak 2 parameters instead of one, when dealing with demand spikes. They could increase or decrease number of train cars and they can tweak the frequency.

9 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

The plans fell through with funding or whatever and now they’ll just run more frequent services instead of 3 car trains.

It was most definitely no because they ran out of money. I posted the article somewhere up-thread, Lewis sent the letter to the feds stating that CATS is withdrawing from the "free money" program to "focus on other projects".

Edited January 19, 2018 by Scribe

[navigator319]

Why would the inconsistency stop them from running longer trains?   I have been on more trains than I can count in multiple locations around the world where there are announcements that say only cars X stop at the platform and make sure your in the correct one if you want to get off/on/.

[Scribe]

11 minutes ago, navigator319 said:

Why would the inconsistency stop them from running longer trains?   I have been on more trains than I can count in multiple locations around the world where there are announcements that say only cars X stop at the platform

One, most trains allow you to pass from one car to the next, not on the Lynx.

Two, this still does not allow you to utilize the entire line with ease, simplicity.

CATS has mentioned it in the past that this is a possibility, but we are talking about CATS here, they have not shown promise in how they operate the transit system.

 

[AP3]

I actually prefer higher frequency, at least right now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kermit]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

I applaud your positive - CATS can do no wrong - attitude, but this is just complete BS.

I didn't say anything positive (or negative) about CATS in my post. 

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

Nothing would stop CATS from running the trains more frequently with the 3 car trains.

The laws of physics suggest that the availability of rolling stock would prevent both high-frequencies and 3 car trains.  But I do take your point. 

Edited January 19, 2018 by kermit

[Scribe]

The problem with the platform expansion project is that it was planned, designed and had funding. The fact that CATS cancelled the project should be audited by an independent auditor.  How much money did we  "give up" that we do not know (with the current administration) if we can get again. This was a medium sized project (no where near mega size of BLE or Gold Line).

If CATS saying they cannot handle this project after it's already gone through so much of the process, something is wrong with internal management of work, this should not have been planed, funded, scheduled and announced to the public if you cannot complete it.

On Capacity vs Frequency:

From a convenience standpoint, frequency wins.

From a systems view, a blend of the two is more efficient/practical/useful.

Systems view includes:

• trains (and their maintenance)
• track (and their maintenance)
• power systems (and its maintenance)
• support systems/personel

Just increasing frequency increases wear on other systems (track, power and subsystems of trains).

Just increasing train capacity means more capex for more trains, power systems need to handle longer train sets, and problem of under-utilization.

Statistically, there is a middle ground that provides longest life of the system and best convenience for its customers.