Quote:
Originally Posted by jmecklenborg
There is a lot of political pressure to have these trains stop at suburban locations and in small towns (i.e. one stop per county). If there are only going to be three trains per day in each direction, there aren't going to be any expresses that skip these intermediate stations.
There is also a lot of pressure to have no train horns at grade crossings, increasing the need for grade separations.
The speed limit on I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus is 70mph, meaning many drive 80mph. A worst-case scenario train won't get to Columbus before a lead foot driver makes it to Cleveland.
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If the train is going to stop every 20-30 miles at every town along the way, that's meets the definition of a local or all stop train and not an express train when discussing intercity travel. Few local trains in the entire world go much faster than 80 mph in local services. With a top end of 80 mph or so, in rural areas few grade separations are needed, they will only be built where there is heavy highway traffic.
Quite zones do not need grade separations in and of itself, but gates across the forward inlet and outlet in both directions of the tracks so highway vehicles can not drive around them, or a median curve doing the same thing.
DART is building the silver line today between DFW airport and Plano using Stadler FLIRT DMU trains on the ex-Cotton Belt rail corridor. With station stops averaging every 4 miles or so, the maximum speed of the train will be 75 mph, which it will rarely go faster than 60 mph. It averages a sole station at every city long the route. except Richardson and Plano, which gets two stations. But it is a local regional train, not an intercity train with statewide service. Note, since construction has begun, two grade separations have been dropped with at grade crossings instead. The quiet zones will still be maintained.
Ohio would probably desire a different trains, such as the Siemens trains Amtrak is buying elsewhere for an intercity train service. Never-the;less, DART is laying brand new Class 4 tracks for that corridor, and all Ohio would need between Cincinnati and Columbus. Costs for the 20 or so mile long corridor with new trains, approaching $2 billion.
Now take that $2 billion for 20 miles and prorate that to 130 miles. we are discussing costs 6-7 times more, over $12 billion for a brand new Class 4 rail corridor between Cincinnati and Columbus. If the politicians are suggesting far less money to initiate this train service, they will be running on old, beat-up freight tracks with a terrible ride.