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Originally Posted by M II A II R II K
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1) The South Shore Railroad has been running trains down the line for about a century, I would suspect.
2) The train Station certainly does not cost much to operate.
3) No one argues with a 9 car train. People wait for this train to cross the street.
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I do believe, however, that with all the safety legislation and other types of government involvement, that we here in NA have lost the ability to make rail systems cheaply.
One reads on various transportation centric websites about why US and, to a lesser extent, Canadian transit system tend to cost so much to make per km.
If this station and rail line were built today, additional costs would include:
A) Relocating and improving fresh and brown water lines that cross the rail line right-of-way.
B) Burying all power lines within 1 or 2 blocks of the rail line, if any power lines were to cross the right of way.
C) Digging an underpass, or putting in an overpass at the stop light intersection.
D) Putting in wide sidewalks, fencing off the rail line track, and, purchasing a strip (at a high price) of land paralleling the train line for a bike lane.
E) Making a stop that would provide no step access for the physically challenged to a full train long platform.
F) The platform needs to have a weather shelter that is sufficient for future user needs.
G) The station needs some art, preferably large and colorful.
H) Local politicians and their property developer friends see the potential of the location, and, have purchased parallel properties during the time the idea of putting the rail line in was discussed.
I) The houses on these properties, being blighted, are placed in a tax exemption status for 5 years, then torn town to put in a transportation Oriented Development.
J) This TOD requires that a parking lot be put in on one side of the line as the there is parking space to square foot retail + residential ordinance requirement.
In the old days they would put in a cheap mile of line in a week or two, and, over the next 3 or 4 years improve portions of the new line during weekends.
The station would be a "shack" that would be put up in a couple of days, particularly if preassembled and shipped to the site on the new railroad.
I think we have lost something "in translation."
Back when railroads were powerful and government was weak, train versus car/bike/pedestrian accidents would be reduced by a combination of continuous horn blasts and running expresses down the street (after the line has been improved) at 100 km/h!