Railfan for Life
Enjoy a rich journey across the American railroading landscape through the lens of our founder Hal Carstens!
Boston Transit Ridership Soars
IT APPEARS the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority set a record for customers in October of 2011. In that month 1.35 million rides were taken on an average weekday, which is ahead of the 1.34 million rides on record in August 2008, before the economic turndown of the Great Recession. Ridership is also up in New York and Philadelphia. The high price of gasoline and the slight but steady increase in economic activity were the likely causes of the rising tide of riders. There is no way of knowing if the trends
will continue but these times, with all the economic difficulty, are more optimistic for transit, and rail transit in particular, than they have been in a long time. All the transit trends were negative a
In this new book from Carstens, you’ll enjoy more than 100 pages of color photos selected by our editors spanning Hal’s trackside adventures from the last sixty years. From coast to coast, from steam to diesel (and trolleys, too), from main lines to short lines and everything in between!
short time after the end of World War II, and through the late 1940s; in the ’50s transit ridership sank and many rail operations were abandoned. The situation began a long slow revival with the Kennedy Administra- tion in 1961 and the passage of legislation for federal aid to transit. States and locali- ties joined in and important improvements in transit were beginning to be visible by the late 1960s. Eventually new rail projects got underway as rail lines were built in Balti- more, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Pitts- burgh, St. Louis, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Projects in Chicago, Philadelphia and other places marked the start of the renaissance of rail transit in the U.S. The aid and support programs came too late to save Pacific Electric; the Chicago, Au- rora & Elgin; and the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee and other electric lines and commuter rail services, but matters are headed in an encouraging direction these days. Thanks to Carl Edd, Fred Cole, Peter Perreault and Kent McDaniel for the infor- mation and inspiration.
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Los Angeles Expo Line Delayed Some of the delay in the debut of the Expo- sition Light Rail Line in Los Angeles is due to a debate over whether a section of the line below the surface level is a subway or a trench. The portion of the route in question is 0.6 miles in length near the University of Southern California. The problem is that the ventilation system required for a sub- way is not the same as for a trench. There are also problems in the area where the Ex- po line has a junction with the Blue Line light rail service to Long Beach. As 2011 came to an end the Metropolitan Trans- portation Authority was anxious to begin test operation to ready the new line for rev- enue service. The first phase of the line to open to the
public will be a stretch of 7.9 miles between the downtown 7th Street/Metro Center sta- tion and La Cienega Boulevard. It will be some months before completion of the 0.7 mile stretch between La Cienega Boulevard and downtown Culver City at the Venice /Robertson station. The second phase of the light rail project will take the Expo Line into Santa Monica.
When finished the light rail service will car- ry riders from downtown to Santa Monica in 46 minutes. It will be the first of two planned rail services into Santa Monica. In addition to the Expo Line, the “Subway to the sea” will extend the Purple Line subway from Wilshire and Western to a terminal close to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. Both of the rail lines are expected to be very busy. When the Expo Line is finally opened, it
will be the first rail transit line to service the western part of the region since the fabled Red Car Interurbans of the Pacific Electric. Many thanks to Frank Bauer for the infor- mation.
Pittsburgh’s North Shore Connector The rail connection between Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle and the North Shore on the other side of the Allegheny River has been under construction for a long time. Now William Fronsek sends news that cars are operating through the tunnel in test mode. As 2011 ended the new installation was un- dergoing testing, with the light rail cars op- erating at very low speed. Well over a thou- sand tests must be carried out prior to the start of revenue service. Revenue service was to begin in March 2012 if all goes well. Bill Fronzek writes that the new line from
the North Side into downtown will be subsi- dized by the Pittsburgh Parking Authority. The garages on the north side have not been fully utilized. The Parking Authority wants to encourage commuters to park in the garages and take a fare-free light rail ride into downtown to go to work. The extension to the North Shore is 1.2
miles long. The estimated final cost of the project is $523.4 million. Initially it was thought that the project would cost $435 million, but costs have mounted. The feder- al stimulus program provided $62 million, the state of Pennsylvania is to pay $77 mil- lion, and Allegheny County will proffer $15 million. When finished the new tunnel ex- tension is expected to be a boon to the Pi- rates and Steelers who both play their ball games near the north end of the tunnel un- der the Allegheny River. Again, thanks to Bill Fronsek for the in- formation.
Station Improvements in Boston and Philly South Station in Boston is about to enjoy a $200 million expansion. The reason is the growth of Amtrak service and the growth and expansion of commuter rail service by
PLEASE SEND light rail, tran- sit and commuter rail news items and correspondence di- rectly to Prof. George M. Smerk, Emeritus Suite, Kelley School of Business, 1309 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701.
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