Thanks, Shilli, for making me take the last few minutes of my work day on this!
BAD KXAN, BAD!! Particularly disappointing given you got it right in 2004 when nobody else on TV did.
Austin’s commuter rail has attracted attention from other major cities because of budget. Other rail systems can run about $100 million a mile. Capital Metro’s rail system runs for about $4 million a mile.
Yeah, because we’re not building any new track, geniuses.
“The kind of DMU units that the agency here is using are becoming basically the product of choice for this kind of application,” said Marvin Snow of Bay Area Rail Transit.
Yes, for shitty rail service which has to run on existing tracks and operate with time-separation from freight use and that will never be able to run where it needs to go, DMU fits the bill! – BART is indeed thinking about DMU, on some existing tracks, by the way. They, unlike us, would be able to transfer from the DMU to a good rail system for the final leg – i.e. DMUBart running up/down the east bay to RegularBart running into San Francisco.
And the headline, saved for last:
Other cities say Austin commuter rail is cutting edge
The inside of the vehicles are, sure. The service? NOT SO MUCH. Tri-Rail showed in 1989 that shuttle buses aren’t cutting edge.
Shuttle buses. Capital Metro’s idea of “cutting-edge”.
