Every time someone speculates about an opening date it gets pushed back a month. I have wanted to ride the d*** rail since I was in 6th grade, I graduate college next month.

The President provided his FY24 budget request yesterday, which includes nearly $4.5B for various transit projects. Of course, this is just a request and Congress needs to enact a budget.

FTA: $4.45B for Major Transit Projects

By Carolina Worrell
Railway Age
March 9, 2023

"The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on March 9 announced that 18 large transit projects in 11 states across the U.S. were recommended to receive $4.45 billion for construction by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

According to the FTA, these large rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) projects were recommended to receive federal support in President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget Request to Congress. Nine of those projects would receive funding recommendations for the first time while others on the list are already under construction or far along in the planning process.

In addition to recommendations for FY 2024 funding, FTA has allocated $1.1 billion in FY 2022 and 2023 funding to 31 transit projects nationwide. This funding, the agency says, will “help improve transit access to the millions of Americans who depend on it every day, help reduce emissions, and create good-paying construction jobs across the country..."

https://www.railwayage.com/regulator...nsit-projects/

L.A’s regional connector opens today. Definitely going to check it out this weekend!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...nnector-01.svg

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...or-downtown-la

Congrats to LA on opening its regional connector today! That is moved to complete.

Honolulu's HART (Skyline, now) opened its first phase on June 30th.

Railway Age: 'Skyline' Opens in Honolulu

The 16km (10 mile) first phase of Montreal's Réseau Express Métropolitain ("REM") will open from Gare Centrale to Brossard on July 31:

https://rem.info/fr/communiques/mise-en-service-du-rem

REM is a modern, fully automated light-metro with platform screen doors which will ultimately reach 67km in length and roughly double the size of Montreal's metro network.

The first phase, which crossing the new Champlain Bridge, will traverse the 16km route in about 18 minutes - representing an average speed of over 50km/h.

https://rem.info/sites/default/files...0221021_EN.jpg

• Video Link

Congrats Honolulu! 11 miles of its light metro have been moved to complete. 9 miles remain on the construction list.

Will update Montreal after it opens.

If anyone could post photos and/or updates of the Santa Ana - Garden Grove streetcar, it would be greatly appreciated.

Some more REM videos

• Video Link

Congrats Montreal!

The front-page list has been updated to reflect the 10-mile (17 km) Brossard branch of the REM being complete, with 32 miles (50 km) still under construction on the other 3 branches.

Website says completion anticipated in 2024. Christof Spieler posted this drone photo on Twitter today:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F2Or6T-awAAPN7o?format=jpg

^Is that track deviating closer to the station/stop curb? I know it's relatively minor and 99.9% percent of people wouldn't care or even notice but I really don't like it when these new streetcar lines do that. It messes up the whole grace of the fixed guideway by making the streetcar move like a bus. I know why they think they need to do it - to bring the loading point closer to the doors without infringing on auto lane space - but I can't be the only one that cringes when I see it. They did that in Cincinnati and along with the unbelievably over-engineering catenary for a simple tram I remember saying "you've got to be kidding..." Stop trying to reinvent the wheel.

Doesn't look like it to me. The track looks straight, but the curb bends to extend over to the tracks at stops.

^ I was going off the double yellow center line.

Thank you! That is looking good!

Tacoma's Hilltop Link expansion opens today. It's 2.4 miles of "light rail" that's really a streetcar. The route is basically a giant switchback due to the big hill. This extends a current short line that runs from Tacoma Dome Station (a commuter rail, express bus, and Amtrak station) through Downtown proper.

The regional light rail system (bigger trains) will connect to Tacoma Dome Station in 2030 or so, extending from the Federal Way station that will open in 2025. The big link trains won't extend into the heart of Tacoma under current plans.

Project page for Hilltop Link: https://www.soundtransit.org/system-...line-extension

Tacoma News Tribune going off on the reduction to 12-minute frequencies, which is related to operational difficulties with the old 10-minute scenario: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/...ainstage_card6

Drone flyover from May: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFen...AgbGluaw%3D%3D

I'm glad it got built but that drone video exemplifies one of my biggest pet peeves with American streetcar projects and that is the trackway tends to accommodate the auto instead of the auto accommodating the trackway. I can't stand the zig-zaginess. You've got tracks following the car turn lane at one point. It just does not seem like the proper way to build fixed transit infrastructure. Seeing the telephoto view down the new Honolulu viaduct structures gives me the same pain in my stomach - they should be arrow straight not a lazy river.

2¢

Interesting, I had no idea about this project.

Brightline's higher speed service to Orlando opened today.