So, the NCDOT has nine former Ringling Brothers rail cars parked on a siding near New Hope. And, now it’s not sure what to do with them since they’ve scored the $77M grant for all new equipment.
Ahem, but I know a county that might put some gently used equipment to good use. N’est-ce pas?
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article240619297.html
I was just about to post this exact article 
If the NCDOT “donates” this to GoTriangle as an in-kind contribution, I feel like that has to automatically bump up the commuter rail’s FTA ratings or something…??
I’m also worried that now the location of the equipment has been revealed there’s going to be a vandalism problem.
So, the secret’s out, and vandalism has already happened. Send the newspaper(s) a repair bill.
Options:
If we use refurbished 1950s era circus cars and rebuilt 1980s era locomotives for GoTriangle’s commuter rail line I am going to scream.
For GoTriangle, which doesn’t have an existing fleet of locomotives like NCDOT, it really should be DMUs or nothing. Their performance in suburban service, where stops average every few miles, rather than 20+ miles, is so overwhelmingly superior that buying anything less than this would be a huge mistake. A locomotive hauled train can barely hit its top speed between stations; DMUs can easily do this. This could make a difference on the order of 10 minutes over the ~16 stops between Garner and Durham. That’s a big deal.
I also think we need to be sure to get level boarding right. I think that standardizing on high platforms everywhere makes the most sense, because then, intercity trains and commuter trains could share the same platforms. In places where space is tight, such as downtown Durham, this will make a big difference in costs.
Level boarding is extremely important because it helps even able-bodied passengers board more quickly, and it completely eliminates the unpredictability from occasionally having to deploy a wheel chair lift that wrecks schedules and means extra schedule padding.
There are some issues in that:
Off the shelf European spec high floor DMUs have floors in the ~1m range, whereas US spec is ~4ft. That precludes a fully off-the-shelf procurement and means that some customization would be necessary, but a 9 inch difference seems solvable. Maybe add some sort of a spacer between the body and the bogies to account for a few of those inches, and just raise the floor in the interior of the vehicle near the doors by a few inches to make up the rest of the difference.
Freight RRs like Norfolk southern want extra lateral clearance from high platforms (on the order of 1 foot?) while at the same time ADA regs are becoming more stringent - the requirement is becoming a horizontal gap of less than 2 inches and vertical of something like 5/8 inch. This means that platforms have to be very straight, and maintenance has to be very tight - which gets harder the longer that a platform is. The conventional solution is gauntlet tracks or putting the platforms on a siding, but that’s really expensive and adds complexity. There’s a solution for that too, though: gap fillers. These could allow for curved platforms, AND enough clearance between freight trains and platforms, so that we could go all high-level.
I’m curious to know of any updates or the status of the Garner/W.Durham Commuter Rail. Just curious, 
I mean… most public transit projects (and tbh, most functions of local governments in general) are on ice right now because of COVID-19. In an ideal world, a lot of what transit planners do would be things they can work on remotely, but I’m not sure if this is really the case. (@Kevin is this correct, or are there actually things going on behind the scenes?)
The GoTriangle board of trustees apparently gave a green light to the next step of pre-planning in an online meeting two weeks ago, though.
If you want to read the full text, look here from PDF page 44 (breakdown of roles on pg. 57-59):
If you don’t feel like it, here’re the parts I found to be important:
TL/DR:
GoTriangle understands Durham-Garner or Durham-Clayton routes might be promising enough for federal grant money. Just maybe.
Transit agencies are generally cool with the commuter rail proposal, and the involved counties are starting to get on board. Now “community members, municipalities, […] railroads, and institutional partners” need to do the same. And unlike Durham’s light rail attempt, everyone actually needs to be on the same page and have skin in the game, this time.
GoTriangle will spend 18 months and $9.2M to hopefully make that happen -and figure out what their “critical project success factors” (including what kinds of construction are needed) are before they enter the federal funding pipeline
Engineering and environmental studies won’t happen until after they enter the federal pipeline. This is because our answers to “what are we building?” and “is it worth it?” still have holes that need to be filled.
We’re all working from home and for the most part, it’s business as usual!
@Kevin not sure about “business as usual” when I have three kids running around me all day long. And WCPSS wants me to play teacher too. LMAO!! I’m looking forward to getting back to the office in May/June/???
Not sure if this is where I should put this link, but I saw this on Youtube last night ( Sat. ) so I want to share this with you guys and see will it work here in NC. or at least Raleigh to Charlotte. youtube.com/watch?v=Rsend-1FbaM
What do you mean by “it”? There’s a lot of things Brightline/Virgin Trains USA is bringing to the table -and many of the key business details like land ownership and operation speeds are ideas we’ve already talked about in this thread as well as the other threads involving regional rail (1, 2, 3).
GoTriangle’s commuter rail study (Part 2) kicked off earlier this summer, but it was never really clear what that meant because their records never said anything more than “engaging with stakeholders” (translation: prying out information from the iron claws of NCRR and Norfolk Southern, probably).
The study team is presenting to planners in Durham’s MSA this Wednesday, but their slides are already uploaded. There, they’re finally being more specific about what they’re doing for the next 18-or-so months:
I think most of us on this site just assume all we need to do is to build random offshoots of rail, build a few stations, run trains along the existing tracks at reasonable times.
Did you think that, too? Guess what: you’re wrong. To make commuter rail work in downtown Durham, the team needs to do:
Keep in mind that Durham’s light rail tried to blaze through this exact process for this exact area. In doing so, they left important nearby companies in the dark including Duke and Capital Broadcasting Company, flip-flopped on their responses for protecting nationally registered historic buildings, and wasted at least three years arguing with heavy rail companies about building on their right-of-ways. These were the ammunition the General Assembly and Duke’s racist/ignorant execs used to kill that project.
Translation: last time GoTriangle tried to plan train stuff around here, their project died. So it looks like they’re finally getting their revenge…?
It will be interesting to see if any/all of those chokepoints/crossings that we’ve talked about before come up in these discussions. Specifically, anything west of Downtown Durham - Alexander, Swift, and Buchanan, as well as Downtown Durham itself - Blackwell/Corcoran, and Mangum. Get out the popcorn!
When do we no more about the Wake County portion? Still bum we lost $100+ million on the light rail project that could have gone to a real project like this one.
I have no clue -and if I had to guess, I bet GoTriangle doesn’t either because the negotiations are still very nasty. If you (or anyone else with the time) want to find out or ask them yourself, you can sign up for their Zoom meeting here.
I still feel like the light rail counts as a “real project”, though, and it could’ve worked if it was just managed properly… 
Orange County + Durham County have less people that just the City of Raleigh alone. I feel that any light rail project in this region needs to include Wake County–if Wake County says no to light rail, the Cult of Bull City needs to eat humble pie and work on enticing Wake County to get on-board.
Wait, can I make sure I’m hearing you correctly? In your mind, is Chapel Hill and Durham not allowed to something nice for itself solely because Raleigh isn’t involved (even if that project were sustainable)?
I just don’t see the logic in spending $3+ billion and skipping both the airport, major employment center (RTP), and the 1st and 3rd largest cities in the Triangle. Especially since the city of Raleigh delayed some funding and work in the commuter rail to help up the light rail project before it collapsed.
