Trains seem to move relatively slowly through Raleigh. It is hard to see any substantial risk to railbus passengers in a collision protected bus designed to highway standards which can stop in less than 100 feet. Busses routinely travel highways and pass within 3 feet of fully loaded 18 wheelers at 120 mph closing speeds. Slow trains seem much less risky. Perhaps it is time to update the standards and regulations to the 21st century to enable these valuable transit lines beside existing rail lines.
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Yes, FRA requires separation – whether horizontal, vertical, or temporal. Freight trains move slowly, but they’re HEAVY, and momentum = mass x velocity^2.
Vertical separation has usually been easier, but as the Boring Company has found out, vertical separation is much easier said than done.
As I mentioned upthread, Pittsburgh runs bus-sized vehicles in a rail ROW because they… built a busway next to the freight line. The really big advantage of that is that the buses run on regular roads off the busway, too.
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If this indeed the case, let’s use “emanate domain” and take the land!
Done and Done! 
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I hate to be that guy, but I’m fresh outta school so I gotta do it.
Momentum is linear. p = mv
You’re thinking kinetic energy. That’s got the v^2.
Rest of your point stands though.
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I couldn’t see that happening way to many moving parts.Also how do you know when a Frieght train is slow. Do trains have a command center?
i sure thought they did. my califonia zeyphyr was stopped to allow for passing freight in colorado.
Even a slow-moving train takes the length of a football field to stop. I wouldn’t want to be on a glorified bus built to ‘highway standards’ and not ‘railroad car standards’ in that collision - I would assume there is a very high risk of loss of life in that scenario.
If they are on separate tracks it would take a derailment to even get the chance of a collision. The derailment would have to be at the same spot occupied by the transit rail bus. There is no perfect safety. The risks need to be carefully evaluated. A collision between a freight train and a transit rail bus on a separate track seems pretty unlikely.
Well, if we’re now building a completely separate track, then why not put a proper train on it?
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The motivation for a separate track is to avoid the expense of cars and track built to full railroad standards. Lighter cars can run on less expensive track. The system would be a significant benefit to the region if the cost can be kept below about $200 million. The proposed $3.2 billion conventional railroad it would be a permanent tax money sink depriving higher priority needs of financial resources.
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There are few greater priorities in this region than reliable, affordable public transportation.
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It seems so simple as long as you handwave away:
-The basics of railroad infrastructure and operations (eg track circuits, PTC, fixed block signals, etc)
-The very real differences in operational and safety characteristics between freight equipment and the bus-like rolling stock you want to run
-The ability of Norfolk Southern (who lease the NCRR) to veto anything from running on these tracks that they don’t approve of
-FRA regulations
-etc, etc
If you assume that a railroad is a highway except with steel rails instead of concrete roadway, and trains are trucks and buses except with steel wheels instead of rubber tires, but everything else is substantially the same - then yes, what you say is trivial. Meanwhile, here in reality, things are far more complicated.
By the way, amtrak trains go up to 80mph and freight trains do 60 in our area. They look “slow” because of how big they are, but stand at a crossing as one goes by - listen to how loud it is, and literally feel the wind it generates - and then tell me if you think they are slow and the risk of injury in a collision would be small.
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An update from the Mayor of Cary’s recent blog post, looks like “Central” phase is the top choice with CAMPO Executive Board:
Tuesday I participated in a subcommittee meeting of Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Executive Board to discuss the future commuter rail in this area. Three phases of commuter rail were presented to the committee with the Central phase, Garner to RTP, being the highest priority.
Due to the lack of density and other criteria, the commuter rail project didn’t qualify for federal funds. Part of the job of the committee is to make recommendations on how to proceed without those funds. It is believed that by the time the second phase is ready to be implemented we will qualify for federal funding.
The committee expressed interest in meeting with a similar subcommittee from the Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC) before the end of the month to discuss their possible participation.
A recommendation on how to proceed will be made to CAMPO by GoTriangle on March 29th.
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It’ll be interesting to see if the DCHC folks agree going through Wake County first. Plus, if I’m remembering correctly, the most complex and probably costly section of all this is the Durham portion?
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Meaning the Raleigh to Morrisville segment?
Can we proceed without fed funding?
There are nearly 1.2M people in Wake County, and the growth of Wake alone continues to lead the entire combined metropolitan area. Wake is also more than half of the entire region’s population. With all due respect & IMO, it’s a false equivalency to think that what DCHC thinks should carry the same weight or represent an equivalent need for transit in the Triangle. Start with the very core of the population & need in Wake and establish a system that will allow it to expand from that core in the subsequent years.
It makes zero sense to not start from the center and let the system work its way outward, and Raleigh/Wake is the gravitational center of the Triangle. Raleigh+Cary alone have as many people as the entire Durham-Chapel hill MSA, and Wake alone has 80% more people than the D/CH MSA.
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Not disagreeing with you on the population aspect, Wake will always carry that over Durham in this area. Especially after the Durham/Orange light rail fiasco, I’m hoping all these multiple cities/towns/counties/municipalities/businesses/etc. are singing from the same hymn sheet this time.
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I worry about the tail wagging the dog. Durham/Chapel Hill should not carry the same weight in the decision making.
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So, as far as I can tell, the next GoTriangle Board of Commissioners meeting will be the 29th (Wednesday) at noon – so, it seems like that is potentially when we will find it if this project moves forward or not. 
Also, if it does – getting a little geeky here – I am increasingly hopeful for some nice Stadler trainsets, particularly after watching this video. Just seems like a no-brainer for the intended service.
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