October 8, 2008

In the News:
Magazine writers get a ride on the rail, The Arizona Republic, October 6, 2008
State calls for study of Tucson-Phoenix rail line, The Arizona Republic, October 6, 2008
Commuter rail link for Valley, Tucson? Tribune, October 6, 2008
Q&A with light-rail designer John Swanson, The Arizona Republic, October 8, 2008

Don’t forget to visit Friends of Transit on the web at www.friendsoftransit.org!

 

Magazine writers get a ride on the rail
by William Hermann 
Oct. 6, 2008 09:08 AM
The Arizona Republic

The magazine writers and editors who rode the new Metro Light Rail system Friday from Tempe to Mesa and back were a giddy group, gawking at the sights, grinning and clearly delighted to be among the first to try the new train.

The 20-mile, $1.4 billion line has about a five-mile segment in Tempe and one mile in Mesa. Tempe is paying $143 million for its stretch; Mesa, $20.5 million.

"When I called and invited the magazine folks to ride the light rail, invariably they were all giggly and thrilled and said they couldn't wait," Tempe Marketing Director Kris Baxter said. "This thing is just fun, and it's new and everyone can't wait to get on it."

Sue Berliner publishes Sweat Magazine and she couldn't stop smiling as the light rail cars quietly, smoothly, slipped out of the Tempe station at the new transit building.

"This is awesome, great, I love it!" Berliner said as the train swept by Tempe Butte and Sun Devil Stadium and everyone aboard stared at the sights as if for the first time.

"We know that when people come to big athletic events in this part of the Valley - like the Rock N' Roll Marathon - they'll be glad to ride the light rail. These are runners, bike riders, people who appreciate the idea of not driving, of using mass transit. It will be big with them."

Phoenix Magazine Managing Editor Stephanie Paterik said she was thoroughly enjoying her light-rail ride.

"We're planning our light-rail coverage for December-we know it's going to be a huge thing for the city," Paterik said as the train traveled across Rural Road and turned southeast on Terrace Road, passing apartments and a strip mall. "This is really a quiet, smooth ride, and feels like we're traveling in a very big, safe train, which I guess we are."

The train cars are big indeed - each is 90 feet long and weighs 100,000 pounds - and they glide smoothly down the tracks.

Phoenix Magazine Associate Editor Adam Klawonn said, "I've been eager to see this thing in action."

"I've been thinking of (the transit systems) in San Francisco and Portland and I wanted to see if we'd be on the same level. Would we be a cheap copy or something sleek? But this is nice! And we're on it before there's any chewing gun under the seats . . . "

Not everyone on the train was a magazine type. Eugene Marchese, President of Constellation Property Group was along because he is developing a property that will be right next to the line.

"It's brilliant! It's fantastic!" Marchese said, eagerly looking out the window. "This is going to be a momentous, wonderful thing for the whole Valley, and people just can't guess how good it will be."

"And we get to ride it first!"

The light rail line opens to the public Dec. 27.

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State calls for study of Tucson-Phoenix rail line
Oct. 6, 2008 06:16 AM
Associated Press
The Arizona Republic

TUCSON- With money tight, state officials want to study whether a rail line between Phoenix and Tucson is really needed.

The state was recently handed $1 million from the federal government to determine how a rail line would affect people and animals along the desert route.

The state has to match the $1 million in federal funds and officials say the state doesn't have it.

Any transportation project that uses federal funds, which the state hopes would help pay for a passenger rail line, has to go through an environmental impact study.

Even if the study shows there's a good reason to build a rail line or light-rail system between Phoenix and Tucson, there's currently no money to build it, officials said.

State transportation director Victor Mendez has said that by 2015 the state will only have enough cash on hand for maintenance projects.

That means no rail, no new roads, no widening projects.

Earlier this year, an initiative to raise the state sales tax to fund transportation was on its way to the ballot. But the initiative was disqualified because supporters failed to gather the required number of signatures.

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Commuter rail link for Valley, Tucson? 
Mike Branom
Tribune
October 6, 2008 

Might a train one day replace crowded Interstate 10 as people’s preferred connection between Phoenix and Tucson? 

Last week, the federal government awarded the Arizona Department of Transportation a grant of $1 million to help fund a study for a new intercity passenger rail service linking the two cities. 

(This announcement came from the office of Rep. Ed Pastor, D-Tucson, on Tuesday — the day after the House scuttled the first Wall Street bailout bill. No point to be made here, but I found the timing to be interesting.) 

According to the release from Pastor’s office: “The funding will be used by ADOT to conduct the first year of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the “Sun Corridor” linking Phoenix and Tucson. 

“The service would generally follow the Union Pacific Railroad line using Federal Railroad Administration-compliant diesel powered trains. As many as 15 stations are planned over the 140-mile length.” 
There’s quite a bit to digest here, but let’s not lose sight of the big picture: Someone thinks passenger rail can connect Arizona’s two largest cities. And I think they’re right. 

As mentioned before, I was The Associated Press’ bullet-train writer in Florida — and I thought that could work. It made sense, using rail to get people off the freeways. Had there been an Orlando-to-Miami line when I was living near the House of the Mouse, I would’ve been on that once a month. 

In Arizona, this seems like a no-brainer. The right-of-way is already there (a massive expense in getting any new transportation corridor built) and between the two cities is an obvious ridership base (projections of 1.2 million passengers annually). 

The part about 15 stations I did find troublesome, as the key to making a train an attractive alternative is to slice time off the trip. Add that many stops to a 140-mile trip, and you’re topping two hours. 

Now, a study is just the first of many steps before a rail line becomes a reality. But it’s a start, and one worth keeping an eye on. 

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Q&A with light-rail designer John Swanson
Oct. 8, 2008 08:20 AM
The Arizona Republic

John Swanson, vehicle program manager for Metro light rail, oversaw the design of the light-rail train. Before coming to Phoenix, he developed light-rail vehicles in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. He spoke to Ron Sanzone of The Republic about his first North American design. He talked about how the cars were designed for safety, the Valley's extreme heat and the unique challenges of designing trains in America.

Q: What effect did the Valley's climate have on the train's design?

A: Phoenix's climate is like nowhere else light rail is running. If there was nothing else people had to be, it was cool. While a lot of other vehicles put 13 or 14 tons of air conditioning in a car, we put 25. . . . We also have tinted glass, reflective film in the windows, and insulation in the car. There are a lot of steps taken to keep it as cool as possible. The light color schemes, the light reflective paint -- it's a metallic paint -- so we get a lot of heat reflected back off.

We actually had a full climate chamber test done in Japan. Normally this is done in extreme cold conditions, but in our case it's the opposite. We had to bring the vehicle into the climate chamber test where the temperatures could reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Some things were difficult to do because electronic component don't like it above 120 degrees.

Question: What safety features are on the vehicles?

Answer: The very first thing we did was close in the front-end of the car . . . We put a shock- absorbing bumper (on the front-end of the car). When you do have an impact, the bumper distributes the impact force over a larger area which, overall, makes it less damaging. Secondly, because it's slightly curved, it has a tendency to push things out of the path of the vehicle rather than into the path of the vehicle. For example, if a pedestrian gets in front of a train, it would tend to push him out of the way of the car.

In addition, we put skirts along the sides so that the wheels of the truck and the underframe of the car are closed. These skirts have two functions. First of all, they keep people and things from coming into contact with the wheels directly. The second one is it reduces noise. Wheel rail noise is the primary noise factor that you have, so any place that you can block that is beneficial.

When you compare this to any other car in North America, this is the sleekest car in North America by any means.

Q: What was most challenging about designing the train?

A: There was a lot of education. When you sit down with a client and people who have been doing this in the industry a long time, a lot of people are bringing the baggage of what they've done before with them. . . . In North America, design has not exactly been what you'd call state of the art or progressive. It has always been 10 years behind what Europe has been doing. North American design is real conservative and often based on traditional heavy rail experience and not on light rail experience. People bring to the table what they've seen in the past, so they're starting with a system that they commissioned 10 years ago which was already 10 years out of date when they commissioned it.

You have to bring them along and say 'This is fine, but you can do this now. The technology is here to do it now.' . . . I spent an awful lot of time showing them what's possible and convincing them that it's practical . . . . To my great astonishment, I actually managed to get almost everything I wanted to get done.. I'm quite optimistic that we'll be setting a new standard for North American light-rail vehicles. It certainly incorporates a lot of things that nobody else is doing yet.

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