to Transit Oriented Development plans. Also a new downtown station along 11th Street will be built between Franklin Street and Spring Street. Fall 2013 was a time of pressure for finally
moving ahead on the West Lake Corridor ex- pansion project that has been hanging fire for years. Congressman Peter Viscloskey is demanding that state and local governments step up to the plate and help fund the local share of the money needed to expand South Shore service to Valparaiso and Lowell. The congressman says he will do his part in help- ing to obtain federal money. It will not be easy to get Indiana government to move, even for projects with important implications for economic development. Progress and leader- ship in the Hoosier Holyland often appears to be implemented by doing nothing and then preening over the money saved. Better connections to Chicago would be
helpful to Indiana. Wages are 30-40 per cent higher in Chicago than in Indiana. Hoosiers need better access to good-paying Chicago employment. The South Shore is and can be a much better link between Chicago and In- diana. This is not bean bag; Chicago has a larger economy than Sweden.
ment of antiquated electrical substations will have to wait. SEPTA is in the process of paying for the
new Silverliner V cars for commuter service, and must soon be ready to buy another batch of cars to replaced the 230 1970s-vin- tage Silverliner IV cars. Massive replace- ment of buses had to be part of the capital undertaking, and during the next four years SEPTA will purchase 155 articulated buses and 90 conventional buses. Another $34 mil- lion is needed to improve subway and com- muter rail stations; the 100-year-old Wayne Junction station will soon be rehabilitated. In addition, debt service in the budget totals $53 million. SEPTA has a lot on its plate. Thanks to David Harris for the information.
Honolulu Authority Rapid Transit HART is what the rapid transit service in Honolulu will be called. The rail line will op- erate from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Cen- ter. The 20-mile line is expected to be com- pleted by 2018. The project is in the hands of Ansoldo Breda as a $1.33 billion Design- Build-Operate-Maintain effort. The trains are to be driverless. The first 16 cars are ex- pected to be delivered before 2015. Each of the two-car sets will be about 100 feet long and will hold about 400 riders. Many thanks to Charlie Bogart for the information. If Honolulu gets rapid transit, when can we expect such service in Indianapolis?
New York City Projects Starting in 2014, several rail projects will be ready for revenue service. The 7 Line exten- sion of subway service from Times Square to the Hudson yards redevelopment project and the Javits Convention Center on the west side of Manhattan is expected to open in the summer or early fall of 2014. Another 2014 opening is expected to be the Fulton Center, which will improve access to eleven subway lines and six stations. A pedestrian tunnel will connect the Fulton Center to the World Trade Center site and the station for PATH and rail service to New Jersey. The East Side Access Project connecting
The Rechargeable Streetcar Kinkisharyo, a Japanese manufacturer, has been working on the development of a streetcar that can operate for a lengthy pe- riod without the need for wires. In other words, it is a hybrid streetcar. The rechargeable streetcar has been un- dergoing tests in Charlotte, N.C., and a pub- lic announcement was made about the new transit vehicle toward the end of January 2011. The ameriTRAM, as it has been dubbed, is powered by lithium-ion batteries that hold a charge sufficient to propel the car for five miles. The trolley pole can then go up once again to recharge the batteries. Regenera- tive braking is also employed for recharging. Cutting down on overhead wire through-
out a transit system might be a plus. Over- head wire is expensive to install and main- tain. Some people don’t like its appearance. Where might this design be put to work?
The Loop Trolley Company in St. Louis is in- terested in the idea. It has plans for a return of streetcars to what was once part of the Delmar trolley that was operated years ago with PCC cars by St. Louis Public Service. The proposed new loop in Delmar would use Gomaco double-track Birneys, such as are operated in Tampa and Little Rock on stan- dard gauge trackage (St. Louis used a gauge of four feet, ten inches). Thanks to David Neubauer (Neubie) for the information.
Long Island Rail Road commuter trains with Grand Central Terminal will probably open in 2019 or early 2020. This is an im- mense undertaking that includes building a new terminal beneath Grand Central. This project is expected to cost almost $10 billion. Another big and long awaited project is the Second Avenue Subway. I have written about this project in the past. The subway was discussed more than 80 years ago and became an important project around 1940 when the Second Avenue Elevated was dis- mantled and there was expectation that the Third Avenue Elevated would soon be gone. There was a delay because of World War II and the Third Avenue Elevated was finally gone by the 1960s. The Lexington Avenue Subway, which handles the trains of the 4, 5, and 6 Lines is the busiest subway in the U.S., is overcrowded, and suffers many de-
Flashes The LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD has big plans for its 2010-’14 capital program, ex- pecting to spend $2.8 billion for a host of pro- jects. LIRR proposes buying more rail cars, including diesel as well as electric multiple- unit equipment. New storage yards are planned on the Ronkonkoma and Port Jef- ferson branches, along with starting double tracking of the Ronkonkoma branch to Cen- tral Islip. A major effort will be rebuilding the Atlantic Avenue viaduct and changing the layout at Jamaica to help speed up trains. Steps are planned to expand capaci- ty at Massapequa and Great Neck. Thanks to Randy Glucksman for the information. Readers will recall that Dallas citizens
were originally very reluctant to commit to the construction of light rail. That attitude has changed radically. At present, Dallas neighborhoods and suburban communities are anxious to build more rail lines and want DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT. Now David Cosgrove sends news that Dallas is open to the idea of a downtown streetcar similar to the one Portland, Ore., developed over the last decade. The Oak Cliff area in Dallas is also contemplating a streetcar ser- vice. The downtown plan calls for the line to
lays. This has sparked interest in finally building the Second Avenue Subway. The project got started in the 1970s, only
to come to a halt because of New York City’s money problems. Plans are now in place to have the first section of the Second Avenue Line open between 63rd Street and 96th Street by 2017. Eventually the south end of the Second Avenue Subway will reach Hamilton Square in the vicinity of the Bat- tery. Thanks to David Harris, Fred Cole, Doug Barron, and Ted Hudson for the news.
Refurbished Cars for PATCO The PATCO rail service between downtown Philadelphia and Lindenwold, N.J., is in the process of refurbishing its fleet of cars. Two remodeled cars were delivered in December 2013 as the first of the 120-car fleet to be up- graded. There will be eight upgraded cars to go into service in the spring of 2014. The re- hab project is expected to cost about $194 million, with about $70 million dollars in federal money to help pay for the work. The upgrade work is being carried out by
operate from the vicinity of Union Station, past the Convention Center, and then to zig and zag in the downtown commercial dis- trict before ending up near the arts district and the independent McKinney Avenue trol- ley. The downtown streetcar would take some of the burden off the DART light rail line. By the way, as DART expands its light rail services out into surrounding communi- ties, more trackage will be needed down- town to serve the growing reach of the sys- tem. It is not unlike downtown Washington, D.C., where another subway downtown would help to relieve the crush of the pre- sent lines. Thanks to David Cosgrove for the news. He notes that finding the money for the downtown streetcar and significant DART expansion will be a challenge. The Federal Transit Administration has
Alstom at Hornell, N.Y. The plan is to send four cars a month to Alstom and get back four refurbished cars. The work on the exist- ing car fleet is the largest capital investment in rolling stock since the PATCO line was started in 1969. The cars were built by the Budd Company, and the upgrade is to make the cars safer, more reliable, and more com- fortable. There are now security cameras, and a parking area for wheelchairs and bicy- cles on each car. The cars now have new heat- ing and air conditioning systems, an inter- com system, two television screens, and LED signs with information on the next stop. The cabs in the rehabbed cars will be locked off for safety and sanitary reasons. All in all, the PATCO rolling stock project is very good news for the passengers and the community. The Philadelphia region remains the
been encouraging the idea of transit-oriented development for some years. In the summer of 2009, a TOD opened at the Purple Line rapid transit’s Wilshire and Western station in Los Angeles. Called SOLAIR, the project includes 186 residences and a 40,000- square-foot retail plaza. Other places locat- ed along rapid transit lines long in existence — such as the south side elevated in Chica- go in an area where most of the buildings have been cleared away — look like spots that would benefit from large-scale develop- ment, or groups of large projects. John Allen Lee provided the information on Solair. As expected, the vote on a tax for transit
most stagnant of any major city when it comes to rail transit expansion. In contrast to other cities, the streetcar lines have con- tracted, and the rapid transit lines of the Broad Street Subway and Market-Frank- ford Subway-Elevated have not expanded since the 1960s. Everyone seems to agree that PATCO needs to be extended to Glass- boro, N.J., but the idea never moves beyond the talking stage. The good news on the rolling stock was supplied by N.R. Seidelman. Thank you!
The Return of the Streetcar At the end of World War II, the U.S. was served by streetcars several large cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Pitts- burgh, and San Francisco. A small number of streetcar operations persisted in modest sized communities, such as Allentown, Beth- lehem, and Johnstown, Penn., and Marion, Ind. Today there are a growing number of streetcar operations in places such as Port- land, Ore., and Kenosha Wis. Plans are also in process for streetcars in downtown Los Angeles and a major expansion of the Port- land streetcar across the Willamette River to Milwaukie is underway. Museums are busy restoring historic cars. Indeed, the Chautauqua Lake Re- gional Antique Automobile Club of Ameri- ca donated funds to the Jamestown Street Railway Trolley Car No. 93 Restoration Project Fund. The car is vintage 1926.
and information.
in NORTHWEST INDIANA went down to major defeat in the November 3, 2009, elec- tion. At issue was a tax aimed at supporting local bus services in Lake, Porter, La Porte, and St. Joseph counties. A portion of the funds would also have been used to expand NICTD/South Shore service to Lowell and Valparaiso. Business leaders in the region supported the effort, making a point of the jobs to be stimulated by new construction along the new lines and the increased taxes that would be collected. Opponents simply pointed to the costs involved, with no men- tion of the benefits. Opposition to the tax was 18 to one in St. Joseph County and four to one in Porter County. Thanks to Bill War- rick for the information. Chicago’s METRA commuter rail service continues its progress of maintenance and rebuilding. In October 2009 Metra broke ground for work on the Union Pacific North Line station at Winnetka. This $5 million ef- fort is funded by the stimulus package of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The station building is to be re- stored, along with the pedestrian bridge and six stairways, and new elevators and vestibules are scheduled over the next year. Thanks to Steve Scalzo for the information. In mid-2009, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick requested a review of the MASSACHUSETTS BAY TRANS- PORTATION AUTHORITY, including a look at its financial condition, operations, and organization. Over the years the MBTA has put off paying for such things as de- ferred maintenance, which is common at large, old rail transit properties. MBTA’s deficits are expected to rise as the years pass, with the authority well over a billion dollars in the hole by 2014. On the matter of safety, the aim of most transit properties is to reach a state of good repair (SGR). The governor’s study showed a total of 186 un- funded SGR projects added up to $3 billion. Thanks to George Pricskett for the news
to Peter Perrault for the news.
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