Bus Rapid Transit vs. Commuter Rail II

[Metro Jacksonville]

Bus Rapid Transit vs. Commuter Rail II

<BR /><BR />WHAT IS COMMUTER RAIL?  Bus Rapid Transit vs. Commuter Rail - Part 2 of a 5 part series The 82 mile Sounder opened in 2000, with a $456 million cost overrun.  Including the overrun, that comes out to about $14.6 million/mile.  JTA's BRT initial 2004 estimate for BRT is $21 million/mile.<BR /><BR />Full Article<BR />http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/72

[Ocklawaha]

Several "Historic Trolley" systems have come together for less then $5 million dollars, TOTAL COST (Ft.Smith AR., Ft.Collins CO, El Reno OK.) Others have cost similar small amounts (Memphis, Detroit, Dallas) Since the old Trolley Cars are just Light Rail Vehicles under the skin their maintence costs needn´t be any more then any other LRV. In fact many of the Historic Trolleys (Tampa, Galveston TX, Portland) are really brand new LRV´s built with the body and seating of a historic car. Check out Tampa´s wheel chair lift, 1920 this is not!
On the subject of speed, that is subject to the track and right-of-way. Way back in the 1920´s, the "Cincinnati and Lake Erie Ry," a massive, historic interurban style trolley line, raced a Ford Tri Motor airplane and WON! The little Trolley that everyone wants to hold to 20 miles per hour, broke 100mph without much effort. This Interurban Trolley line not only provided local streetcar service, but also linked many of the towns and cities with what today is hailed as "HIGH SPEED RAIL". Under the skin, a historic trolley, modern LRV, Heavy Rail or any other electric powered train are all about the same. So is the Historic Trolley able to keep up with a bullet train? Well it hasn´t been done but as the C&LE proved in the 1920´s, it could happen.

Simply put, Trolley cars, historic or modern LRV´s DO NOT have to operate in the street, they are simply another type of train. The LRV´s can and DO mix with freight railroads daily (Portland, San Diego).