Looking at my news feeds today, I was sent into fits of laughter by the "Shocking" and "Amazing" news out of the UK! Something they are calling a TRAM-TRAIN is taking to the rails. A true streetcar and a true train all in one vehicle, really radical stuff. Is Jacksonville listening or watching? here is the report:QuoteRadical New Public Transport to be Tried in Yorkshire Region
Yorkshire Post
An innovative form of public transport is to be trialled for the first time in Britain on a Yorkshire rail route.
Tram-trains, which are able to run both on traditional heavy rail lines and on tram tracks on city streets, have been a proven method of beating congestion in many European cities.
Now a £30m-plus project will see the Penistone line between Huddersfield, Barnsley and Sheffield - which takes 4,000 passengers a day - converted to take the new tram-trains, ready for a two-year trial beginning at the end of 2010.
Journey times will be cut from 75 to 70 minutes, with faster acceleration and deceleration. Five new vehicles will be built to replace the old trains now in use, though the narrower tram-trains will have less seating than traditional trains.
While the route allows for the potential of continuing the new tram-train route into Sheffield city centre on the lines used by Supertram, that will not happen until the end of 2012, if at all, as it would necessitate building an expensive link from Sheffield station on to the tram lines.
The Department for Transport, which will run the project with Northern Rail and Network Rail, said yesterday the trial was designed to test whether the lighter, more energy-efficient vehicles were suitable for use on commuter lines around the UK.
(http://www.trolleystop.com/images/spokaneinterurban.jpg)
Spokane International Interurban, Washington State, early 1900's.
Now not to muck up the boasts from across the pond, but tram-trains are NOT NEW! Damn people, we had them back in 1890! We called them INTERURBANS. This is the exact prototype I have been pushing in Jacksonville, with great confusion from the media to Metro-Jacksonville itself. This idea is one which is back from the dead, it's now official. We are perhaps the Worlds best spot to try the "Tram-Train" idea, only I'll still call it "The Interurban". The FTA, DOT and FRA be damned, this is now open pioneer technology and the UK is telling us how to reinvent our own transit. You must understand the AUTOMOBILE is NOT AMERICAN, we didn't invent it. We DID INVENT THE STREETCAR and the INTERURBAN!
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Suburban Indiana (Chicago) back in the day... above
Suburban Indiana (Chicago) today... below
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So, what the hell is an INTERURBAN?
Historically it was usually a streetcar company that grew beyond the immediate City Limits. Expansion into surrounding farm land and smaller towns often grew into a system of several streetcar companies. All of the little operations were strung together by a lines of track, usually on private right-of-way and often alongside major roads or railroads. Interurban cars have the unique ability (see the article above) to run as a trolley or bus in the street, then switch to the railroad outside of town to sprint to the next stop. The streetcar you visualize in your mind was often stretched out to 50-80 feet in length, likewise it's weight went up, and it's speeds increased. As the interurban network expanded in the early 1900's, it was possible to board a streetcar in Chicago and by making the proper connections, step off in New York with only a 16 mile gap in the whole trip! The systems in Indiana and Ohio grew until they were the true forerunners of today's high-speed-EURO-rail trains. Electric, clean, quiet, systems that became the largest network of electric railroads in the World. Imagine boarding a large modern type vehicle on Water Street and stepping off at Gateway Plaza? Cool, but an old style trolley could do that right? Okay, now imagine the same vehicle takes you to the Airport, Yulee and Fernandina Beach... Oh! Oh indeed, this is INTERURBAN COUNTRY. We should keep a close eye on this and watch for the FRA or FTA to put the crack in the door. Pressure is mounting for them to liberalize the equipment rules as they now stand and get us more in line with the EU. In Europe, Trams and Trains mix in regular service, in the USA they don't. Yet that window is changing as I write, the RIVER LINE in NJ is experimenting with joint access to freight track with NORFOLK SOUTHERN. If it succeeds, the door will fly open to doing more of this. Guess who owns a portion of the old F&J? Yeah, NORFOLK SOUTHERN, right here in Jacksonville.
(http://static.flickr.com/104/259678625_e4a542e34c.jpg)
A peek into the future? Yes, Mi Desiro...or call it a TRAM-TRAIN if you must.
I say, let's get on the INTERURBAN band wagon. LEAD ON YORKSHIRE... LEAD ON!!Ocklawaha