Quote:
Originally Posted by SFBruin
The fact that a lot of commuter rail lines in the US were former freight ROW I think is part of the problem. I don't know the solution, though.
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^ A return to prioritizing ground up electrified suburban heavy rail like BART and DC Metro but that costs a lot more $ coin $ .
Part of the appeal of traditional loco hauled commuter rail on freight tracks (outside of historic hub/spoke operations like Chicago's Metra) is that it has a relatively low start up cost as compared to a much more involved intentional routing using S-Bahn or metro style electric equipment. The trade off of that less desirable routing is of course lower utility and thus lower ridership.