Leaders: Light rail could happen by 2019 (Atlanta, Buckhead: university, live, dangerous)

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

I do , but i would be going way to off topic , if i decided to post them in here. I have a question for your map , 1. why no EMU lines? 2. How much of this is true?

All of it is true, though at various levels of readiness.

The green line in the northwest section of the map is the line being discussed on this thread.

Two others ready to go are:

The Atlanta Streetcar - The red line in the center of the map.

chtree Corridor Partnership - Home

Just need funding and the line is ready to be built. All of the necessary studies have been completed.

The Beltline - Circular LRT in the center of the map.

Atlanta BeltLine > Home

It is currently undergoing ROW clearance which will take several years. Once that is complete, the funds will be available to start building the LRT.

Most of the rest of the lines on the map will using existing freight ROW, which in an odd twist of history, used to also be passenger lines that CSX and Norfolk Southern killed in the 70s and 80s.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

All of it is true, though at various levels of readiness.

The green line in the northwest section of the map is the line being discussed on this thread.

Two others ready to go are:

The Atlanta Streetcar - The red line in the center of the map.

chtree Corridor Partnership - Home

Just need funding and the line is ready to be built. All of the necessary studies have been completed.

The Beltline - Circular LRT in the center of the map.

Atlanta BeltLine > Home

It is currently undergoing ROW clearance which will take several years. Once that is complete, the funds will be available to start building the LRT.

Most of the rest of the lines on the map will using existing freight ROW, which in an odd twist of history, used to also be passenger lines that CSX and Norfolk Southern killed in the 70s and 80s.

Several Years for a study how complex is this line? Here it takes 2-3 years for a study and 1-4 to build. CSX is a bully , NS isn't so much anymore.....they realized that they can get more federal funding if they make some of there corridors Passenger aswell. I don't get how everything down there takes 2-3x longer then it does up here. Even with all the Northern Transplants.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Several Years for a study how complex is this line? Here it takes 2-3 years for a study and 1-4 to build. CSX is a bully , NS isn't so much anymore.....they realized that they can get more federal funding if they make some of there corridors Passenger aswell.

Not study, clearance. The Beltline was abandoned 50 years ago. As you can imagine, if something hasn't been used for 50 years (and has 50 years of accumulated junk), it's going to take a little while to get it up to where it needs to be.

CSX and NS lines are separate plan, and that is more about working out the schedules as Atlanta has a higher than normal amount of freight traffic due to not have a port.

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

I don't get how everything down there takes 2-3x longer then it does up here. Even with all the Northern Transplants.

You should really get off of this the North is superior kick. It doesn't make you look very good and it misses the point about the complex circumstances that go into plannig such things in Georgia.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

All of it is true, though at various levels of readiness.

The green line in the northwest section of the map is the line being discussed on this thread.

Two others ready to go are:

The Atlanta Streetcar - The red line in the center of the map.

chtree Corridor Partnership - Home

Just need funding and the line is ready to be built. All of the necessary studies have been completed.

The Beltline - Circular LRT in the center of the map.

Atlanta BeltLine > Home

It is currently undergoing ROW clearance which will take several years. Once that is complete, the funds will be available to start building the LRT.

Most of the rest of the lines on the map will using existing freight ROW, which in an odd twist of history, used to also be passenger lines that CSX and Norfolk Southern killed in the 70s and 80s.

This is the first detail of the proposed Peachtree streetcar system that I've seen. At first glance, I really like it. I think its major opportunity will be the Buckhead area, as MARTA rail doesn't go anywhere near that central Buckhead intersection of Peachtree-Roswell-W Paces Ferry.

Just imagine, if it were allowed to run late enough, how many drunk partiers the streetcar could take off of Buckhead (and Midtown) streets.

[K-SawDude]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Several Years for a study how complex is this line? Here it takes 2-3 years for a study and 1-4 to build. CSX is a bully , NS isn't so much anymore.....they realized that they can get more federal funding if they make some of there corridors Passenger aswell. I don't get how everything down there takes 2-3x longer then it does up here. Even with all the Northern Transplants.

Interestingly, I was just on the Beltline bus tour yesterday (which, btw, I highly recommend to everyone in this forum. You learn a TON about the past and potential futures of various Atlanta neighborhoods.) It turns out that the Northwest corridor of the Beltline seems to be the biggest obstacle at present. For whatever reason, they seem to think the CSX lines will be easier to work with than Norfolk Southern. IMO it would be really smart to use that Norfolk Southern line since it will connect Atlantic Station up with several other neighborhoods and commercial spots (including, for example, White Provision and Westside Urban Market). But it's hard to know what's really going on behind the scenes during these negotiations.

One specific problem is that light rail and heavy rail are really completely different animals. They can share corridors but not rail lines. So, if they want to build new light rail on these corrridors--which they'll have to do on the Westside--they will also have to put in protective barriers between the light and heavy rail. Or at least that was my understanding.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by K-SawDude

Interestingly, I was just on the Beltline bus tour yesterday (which, btw, I highly recommend to everyone in this forum. You learn a TON about the past and potential futures of various Atlanta neighborhoods.) It turns out that the Northwest corridor of the Beltline seems to be the biggest obstacle at present. For whatever reason, they seem to think the CSX lines will be easier to work with than Norfolk Southern. IMO it would be really smart to use that Norfolk Southern line since it will connect Atlantic Station up with several other neighborhoods and commercial spots (including, for example, White Provision and Westside Urban Market). But it's hard to know what's really going on behind the scenes during these negotiations.

One specific problem is that light rail and heavy rail are really completely different animals. They can share corridors but not rail lines. So, if they want to build new light rail on these corrridors--which they'll have to do on the Westside--they will also have to put in protective barriers between the light and heavy rail. Or at least that was my understanding.

They can share routes the Newark light rail used to share with a freight line , the Freight trains must run at night.......we will build 4 more sharing light rail routes over the next 10 years....

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by K-SawDude

Interestingly, I was just on the Beltline bus tour yesterday (which, btw, I highly recommend to everyone in this forum. You learn a TON about the past and potential futures of various Atlanta neighborhoods.) It turns out that the Northwest corridor of the Beltline seems to be the biggest obstacle at present. For whatever reason, they seem to think the CSX lines will be easier to work with than Norfolk Southern. IMO it would be really smart to use that Norfolk Southern line since it will connect Atlantic Station up with several other neighborhoods and commercial spots (including, for example, White Provision and Westside Urban Market). But it's hard to know what's really going on behind the scenes during these negotiations.

Interesting. I should look into this and consider taking that tour bus route.

One specific problem is that light rail and heavy rail are really completely different animals. They can share corridors but not rail lines. So, if they want to build new light rail on these corrridors--which they'll have to do on the Westside--they will also have to put in protective barriers between the light and heavy rail. Or at least that was my understanding.

Right. And that's where some of the commuter rail-vs-light rail debate occurs on suburban routes: Commuter rail can share freight rail lines, but light rail can't. But for <10-mile or so lines, light rail is definitely the way to go.

Anyway, from what I hear about the Beltline, it's going to be light rail and not heavy rail. I think this is good, because the capital investment for light rail is considerably less.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

This is the first detail of the proposed Peachtree streetcar system that I've seen. At first glance, I really like it. I think its major opportunity will be the Buckhead area, as MARTA rail doesn't go anywhere near that central Buckhead intersection of Peachtree-Roswell-W Paces Ferry.

Just imagine, if it were allowed to run late enough, how many drunk partiers the streetcar could take off of Buckhead (and Midtown) streets.

I totally agree. Midtown north of 10th st, SoBu, Peachtree Battle, the Village, NoBu, and Brookhaven are going to benefit greatly from the streetcars.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

They can share routes the Newark light rail used to share with a freight line , the Freight trains must run at night.......we will build 4 more sharing light rail routes over the next 10 years....

That's not really an option for Atlanta. Since we don't have a water port, trains take the place of that. Freight trains run all day, every day with great frequency. Just check out the size of our train yards:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...36178&t=h&z=15

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...18089&t=h&z=16

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...18089&t=k&z=16

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=3...09044&t=k&z=17

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Interesting. I should look into this and consider taking that tour bus route.



Right. And that's where some of the commuter rail-vs-light rail debate occurs on suburban routes: Commuter rail can share freight rail lines, but light rail can't. But for <10-mile or so lines, light rail is definitely the way to go.

Anyway, from what I hear about the Beltline, it's going to be light rail and not heavy rail. I think this is good, because the capital investment for light rail is considerably less.

I'm not even sure that the Beltline is a good idea for it's far northwest portions in Buckhead. Outside of the Collier road/Howell mill area after the train yard, it's an extremely low density area filled with mansions and the type of people that wouldn't take public transportation even if it stopped right underneath their building.

I think a better plan would be for the beltline to go on surface streets at Howell Mill and go through Atlantic Station over the bridge to Arts Center.