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There is little transit expansion that would be as transformation as modern suburban rail across the United States. And you don’t need to look internationally to find all the constituent elements of great suburban rail!
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Ever wondered why your city’s transit just doesn’t seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!
Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.
24 Comments
Will you ever make videos on Metra?
Never hear of Chicago! Metra has many lines and hourly service on most outside of rush hours
FRA needs more funding and power to actually do its job
You can get from Union Station on the MARC train to the BWI airport on an express train that makes only 1 stop between them in 25 min. For $8, I believe. Hard to beat
my brother in law worked in Boeing in 2002. I told him, why rhey don’t build trains also, that should be a huge market in the US. He did not pay to much attention to my idea.
This is absolutely true. However, there should be lots of healthy private rail companies like Brightline leading the expansion instead. You will never get the suburban vote with big government rail agencies. Freight rail has the same healthy distrust of large government bureaucracies even though too many mergers are hurting the industry.
Sir this is a Wendy’s
I liked the line about combining the more modern trainsets and staffing models employed by Caltrain and (Dallas) DART with the signaling and such found in the NEC, but I'm curious about the staffing part. Is this a more general comment about simply stepping out of the quagmire of unionized employees into purportedly more flexible non-union staffing, or is there something more sophisticated going on?
F cars
Long live Amtrak
Why is Denver insisting on older train designs? I noticed the Denver trainset from the Airport to Union station seemed to be of an older design; I think they are made by Hyundai Heavy Industries. What alternative trainsets should they have considered at the time? Were there other designs available at the time of them ordering those trains? I know for a long time the only choice for a lot of commuter lines were those double decker Bombardier cars that everyone got.
These rail stations your proposing have nothing to do with the Ukraine so just forget about it. Maybe if you made a video about making train stations in the Ukraine then our government would listen.
Wait wait wait.. Cargotrains have the right of way in North America? That's bonkers.. who would establish that as a policy? 😂😂
Giving Septa it's flowers? I'm here for it.
Everything you said makes sense, until you have to ride the subway at night.
Would make sense but one thin you may not know, most people in the suburbs don't want their serenity broken up but trains, probably bc it could bring unwanted guest to their quiet neighborhoods. Also, the cost to create these new lines, would be more then expected.
Some of your comments seem to conflict with each other namely about adopting new technology and longer-lived rolling stock. In regards to the latter point, NJ Transit continues to run Arrow III self-propelled trains that date back to 1977 with the last cars entering service in 1983. It exemplifies the longevity of electric train sets. Those trains did receive an upgrade in the mid-1990s and remain in service today. However, NJT ordered replacements in 2018 from Bombardier, but the pandemic may have delayed delivery.
That said, NJT is encouraging the transit village concept along many of its rail lines. I stopped commuting into NYC in 2017, but recently rode the train to MSG for the first time post-pandemic, and was amazed to see all the apartments/condos surrounding all the stations that cropped up in the last 5 years. This concept really could reduce car dependence especially if certain stations encourage offices instead of or in addition to apartments. For NJ such locations already exist in Newark, New Brunswick, Metro Park and Morristown.
Boston has a newish commuter line serving the South Shore coast, operating out of South Station. The special events line to the Gillette Stadium has been connected to an existing commuter line offering some trips daily out of South Station, and free parking to stimulate ridership. The Boston Providence commuter line [paralleling the Amtrak line, both out of South Station] has a new offshoot [or modification of the previous Stoughton line]. I wish that the Commonwealth's government and the MBTA administration were listening to and taking hints from this channel.
Short-sighted penny-pinching seems to be in full force. The Big Dig put the decaying overhead highway underground, way over budget of course, and costs were cut by abandoning a rail link between South Station and North Station, and a rail line connecting the South Shore to the airport via the new tunnels was not even given serious consideration. Instead the Silver Line [buses in tunnels] connected South Station to the airport. There are now 4 Silver Lines, not confined to tunnels just competing for street space with city buses, though with fewer stops.
I've never heard of the idea of requiring freight companies to allow parallel construction in their right-of-ways. That would be such a smart policy to implement, rather than wrestling with them for track capacity.
I wish the commuter tax funds would be used to fund useful service extensions into NJ, like overnight service.
The Marc Penn line does a really great job so far. They’re focusing on extending their services to Philly via Wilmington and 30th St station but they should focus on extending service on the Brunswick line, and Camden lines and adding a line line or two to service southern Maryland
Headways on SEPTA's regional rail service is absurd. Hourly or half-hourly trains from the airport to down town (20 min ride) is such a waste.
I live in tampa, public infrastructure here is a joke. Suburban rail would be awesome
Sadly in my home town of Saint Louis all transit is seen as a sort of welfare mobility program for the poor & minorities. The suburban areas fight tooth & nail against any expansion of the LRT system MetroLink for fear it will bring criminals into their suburbs. The last time the built a new line (2006) one suburb (Maplewood) even went so far as to tear down apartments within walking distance of the new stop for fear that lower-income folks would move in & bring crime & lower property values in their town.