Orphan Road

I think I posted this a while back, but I've updated my Google maps of Link and Sounder alignments based on the proposed 15-year plan from Sound Transit.

http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=103428233658015669918&hl=en&gl=us&p...

The deal is done and the tracks stay where they are... for now.

For hard-core rail advocates, there was never a better candidate in the 2008 presidential race than Bill Richardson, who not only talked the talk as a presidential candidate, but also walked the walk by launching a passenger rail service in Albuquerque when he was governor of New Mexico.

But now that Richardson's gone, we rail junkies will have to get our fix from Barack Obama, who's the only candidate left who's still interested in rail transit as a way to reduce our dependence on oil.

(via)

The Everett Herald is intrigued:

GNP has put together what appears to be a solid business plan that includes paying for upgrading the existing tracks; constructing bare-bones passenger stations in Snohomish, Maltby, Woodinville, Kirkland and Bellevue; building a paved pedestrian/bike trail alongside, and running six trains south in the morning and six more north in the afternoon. Payne says he could have trains, with used locomotives pulling double-decker passenger cars, running as soon as next year. Acting alone, the public sector can only dream about moving that quickly.

Speaking of quick, the ride from Snohomish to Bellevue would take just 32 minutes. Try doing that in your car during rush hour.

818 miles long, top speed of 217mph, and opening in 2013.

Remind me why we can't do this in America?

So after all that, the tracks are gonna stay where they are and the Dinner Train is coming back. I sure am glad we're keeping those awesome tracks in place:

The issue of the rails themselves may be more symbolic than real: A BNSF representative has said their only value is for scrap -- Sims said the company is actually adding $2 million to the sales price for the corridor to leave them in place -- and the aging, single track would need upgrading or replacement to bring rail transit to the corridor. County officials have said a trail will be costlier to develop with the rails left in place.

I'm going to propose a theory of what may be in the heads of our civic leaders. Tell me if I'm an insane dreamer.

Observations:
* The city killed the waterfront trolley.
* The city killed the waterfront trolley again.
* The mayor may want a city tax for in-city transit.
* The city has proposed a streetcar system.
* This streetcar system oddly lacks a waterfront streetcar.
* There's been a proposal to not replace the Viaduct, but instead move people using a "thousand little fixes".
* We could really use West Seattle transit to the city.
* We could really use transit from Ballard to the city.
* They're reinforcing the highway 99 tunnel to withstand earthquakes.

Theory:
What if they replaced the viaduct... with a streetcar? Perhaps they've already made the decision to do this, but don't want to tell anyone about it until they gather support for reducing/removing car traffic on this part of 99.

It could run from scenic Alki, through the tourist filled waterfront, into the tunnel and past the Seattle Center and Queen Anne over the Aurora Bridge and down the hill to eclectic Fremont, ending in Ballard. It would connect many of the tourist-attracting areas of Seattle with one line, solve transportation issues, connect to downtown, stop at all of the cruise and ferry piers, and could even be traffic-separated for a long portion of its journey.

It wouldn't be for commuters (though it could be used as such). It would be for travelling around in our city in an enjoyable and scenic way.

The BNSF corridor deal is heading towards the finish line:

Under the deal's latest iteration, the port would grant King County the right to buy the southern, rail-banked sections before the acquisition closes. King County would contribute $2 million to the purchase price, retain right of first refusal and sponsor the trail, which would be "developed in phases after a regional determination regarding the dual use of the Corridor for transportation/trail," according to a canceled port presentation.

Yoshitani said he believed a $300,000 Sound Transit and Puget Sound Regional Council study of the rail corridor's feasibility as a commuter line would include a cost/benefit analysis.

"How that study sorts out is of great importance and relevance to us," said Yoshitani, who added that the port scheduled the public input process to begin next winter.

That's as it should be. Let's have ST and the PSRC do a feasability study and then figure out what the best use is for the corridor with respect to transit. Sound Transit seems much more open to the idea now that Prop 1's over and done with.

Old subway cars can be converted into artificial reefs:

One by one, a machine operator has been shoving hundreds of retired New York City subway cars off a barge, continuing the transformation of a barren stretch of ocean floor into a bountiful oasis, carpeted in sea grasses, walled thick with blue mussels and sponges, and teeming with black sea bass and tautog.

“They’re basically luxury condominiums for fish,” Jeff Tinsman, artificial reef program manager for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said as one of 48 of the 19-ton retirees from New York City sank toward the 666 already on the ocean floor.

NYC's MTA cars, in particular, are the primo choice:

States have experimented with other types of artificial reef materials, including abandoned automobiles, tanks, refrigerators, shopping carts and washing machines.

Mr. Tinsman particularly favors the newer subway cars with stainless steel on the outside to create reefs. “We call these the DeLoreans of the deep,” he said.

Subway cars in general, he said, are roomy enough to invite certain fish, too heavy to shift easily in storms and durable enough to avoid throwing off debris for decades.

Just one more reason trains are better than buses, folks. ;)

I'm a pretty firm believer in alternative energy research, but it sure would be a shame if a mandate to use only renewables ends up derailing the entire California High-Speed Rail project.

Granted, a $40K study is miniscule in the context of a $40B project, and even a study doesn't commit anyone to anything, so there's little harm. The danger is that these projects get larded up with everyone else's pet desires, and the whole thing collapses under its own weight.