Something you neglected to include when it comes to travel time, is the weight and acceleration of the train. Rolling stock in North America is grossly overweight because of stupid FRA rules, and for being so heavy, acceleration is very slow. Replacing diesel locomotives with heavy bi-level cars with modern multiple units would greatly increase acceleration, which will have a knock-on effect at each station stop to noticeably reduce travel time. I recommend watching Christian Lenhart's video on why the Utah Transit Authority should buy Stadler FLIRT units.
Didn't the FRA reduce the rolling weight requirements about a decade ago? Hence why some of the newer sets we have (Siemens Charger, Alstom Avelia) are European derived.
@@Ven100 Honestly I have no idea what regulations the FRA has and cares about because there's always so many exceptions… but I do know that many existing rolling stock still abides by those rules (because of how old the stock is, or just by "tradition" of manufacturing things in that style)
@@intergalactic_butterfly Just did a brief search and these changes came about ~2010 or so. Considering companies like Brightline are planning on using Siemens Velaro Novo or Alstom Sets, they have weight requirements of old have been amended. Amtrak is replacing a ton of old GE stock with Siemens stock.
@@Ven100 The FRA is also now allowing alternative compliant trains with waivers (those that meet UIC standards) which is how caltrain is running stadler KISS trains.
They Torched those rules back in 18 as for the track upgrades They could in the future get proper electrification and upgrade the track speed to 95. Along with double tracking and expanding the system. I heard rumblings that New Mexico is intrested in an Albuquerque to El Paso amtrak route. So the upgrades could be emanglemeated into the plan if possible. Knowing the political environment is ripe for such improvements I suggest now is the time to strike and get them.
As someone who used to live in New Mexico, I absolutely think the Rail Runner should implement these changes. Santa Fe is a really lovely city to visit, so it's not hard to imagine that, if the service was better, you'd see it used more for day trips for any number of reasons. It's great to see new creators in the urbansim sphere, and you've earned a subscription from me.
The South Shore Line will certainly be more of a regional rail model when double track is completed. With Chicago traffic, 79mph is competitive with the atrocious traffic on the Toll Road.
@@Southern_California_Railfanner The LIRR is not a line but a SYSTEM of different branches. New Haven Line on the Metro-North (another system owned by the MTA) is the busiest single commuter line.
I might humbly suggest Australia is the model US transit agencies should look up to. Australian cities have largely spent the last few decades slowly improving and expanding their suburban rail services, and are now genuinely pretty decent in many places which are still quite similar to US cities with extensive sprawl and car-dependancy. -All lines in Australian major cities are electrified (except Adelaide, 1.5 million metro area, which still has 2 lines on diesel but planned for electrification). -All lines have downtown city-centre tunnels or viaducts and allow through-running trains across town (except Adelaide which is the smallest major city and has been planning a city centre tunnel). Sydney 5 million metro area, Melbourne 5 million metro area, and Brisbane 3 million metro area, are all building new additional tunnels for more capacity and network reach. -All lines run at least every 30 minutes all day, with lines in Sydney & Perth (2 million metro area) running at least every 15 minutes all day, and at peak times every 3-5 minutes. -Perth (2 million) Melbourne (5 million) & Adelaide trains run with only 1 staff member (the driver only) on board, Brisbane and Sydney run with a guard as well. -Bus networks in several of the cities were redesigned to run as feeder services to the trains, with significant success. -Sydney+Melbourne and to a lesser extent Brisbane have done significant Transit Oriented Development around stations along existing or extended routes. -Sydney+Melbourne are now building additional driverless suburban lines to complement the existing system and offer additional interchange and coverage with trains every 5min all day. -Perth has built extensively in Freeway medians and deep into the suburbs, with high average speeds over 60mph and trains overtaking cars as a very visual reminder that transit can be effective, competitive & attractive. -Sydney+Melbourne have achieved >20% of all trips via public transport and another 2-5% via active transit which is better than most cities in the US, beaten only by NYC.
I think you should make a video exploring reasons people might or would want to take public/mass transit to their destination. I think a lot of folks get hung up on the time when initially looking into using transit and use that as a reason. But as someone who owns a car but chooses to take the bus to work with other people who own cars and bus to work we don't use transit because it's faster. With traffic I live 10-15 minutes from the office. My bus ride is about 25-30 minutes long regardless of traffic. If I were to drive I'd have to put wear/tear on my car, use gas, risk an accident on the high way, sit in traffic, be stressed, get into the financial district, find parking and pay for it, and walk another 5-10 minutes to my office depending on where i can find parking. Then rinse and repeat at the end of the day. OR I could walk to my bus stop, catch the bus, zone out/watch TH-cam/people watch/read/decompress and the bus whisks me to about a block away from my office. Sure maybe the bus tickets for the day amount to the same as a parking pass (post pandemic rates) but I am paying for the convenience of not driving with a total of 20 extra minutes a day. But for me I end up doing exactly what I would do at home on the bus. Watching/commenting on TH-cam.
As an Aussie, I've never understood why US (and broadly North American) commuter trains are so huge and infrequent. I was surprised to learn that Chicago - a metro area roughly eight times the population as the one I live in - has worse commuter rail than mine (30 minute frequencies off-peak). I feel like North American cities would really benefit from a suburban rail approach similar to ones found in Australian cities. We have similarly sprawling, car dependent cities here in Australia like the US yet travelling by train is still fairly commonplace. I reckon ditch the gigantic, slow accelerating trains that only run like twice a day and instead run smaller (ideally electric) multiple unit trains more frequently. On another note - great video. I definitely agree that commuter rail over there is so underutilized. It's a shame since I really like how retro and industrial-looking US passenger trains (even metro stock) tend to look so it'd be great to see more.
Were slowly on that path We are going through the growing pains you went through in the 1960s and 80s Outdated loco-hauled stock is out in with EMUs and DMUS unless your metra that is
I live in Sydney which is about the same size as New York but with half the people. We have a regional rail system that is also like a subway in the inner city area, with trains running every 2 to 3 minutes in peak hours and every 6 to 12 minutes at other times. This rail system was established in 1855 and has been growing ever since. We are currently building new metro lines to provide more capacity on some of the busier routes. The thing is that the public transport systems in Australia are run by State governments. Public transport is thus a very important political issue. People here don’t see public transport as something that only the less well off use but as a system for everyone. I remember a few years ago seein the politician responsible for Public Transport, the minister for Transport, catching the train to work.
NZ takes pretty much the same approach [when systems are actually running... -sigh-]. The three main lines in my city [Auckland] have 20m off-peak frequency and 10m peak frequency and plans are within the next few years to upgrade that to 15m off-peak frequency.
I think that if the Rail Runner in particular needs increased frequency then it should have to be double tracked. Double track allows for greater capacity and less disruption. I personally think this is one of the issues with American Railroads
100% agree. The Railrunner already has logistical difficulties around the other trains that share track and platforms. Increasing service significantly may not be possible without double track.
Holy moly. Here I am sitting in Germany watching this video, and I am catching a video snippet taken on our local Stadtbahn system. See 4:14 That's Marienstrasse Station, and the camera guy is stitting in a TW6000 Stadtbahn, of which 260 were built from 1974-1992. What are the odds?! But now I have to continue watching
It's actually odd how a lot of major US cities use this as a normal way to operate. Out here in Toronto we're starting to double track some of our routes so we can have all day 2 way schedules every 15 min peak time and half an hour off peak time so you don't have to wait hours just to go home. We're also electrifying our commuter rail which will result in newer faster trains in some corridors.
It will be a huge change for Toronto and the GTA. Two-way, all day service on the Lakeshore line at 30 minute or better headways is here today. I live near a station within the city and it is very useful. I can't wait until electrification and EMUs improve acceleration & reduce noise. Add in level boarding, which reduces station dwell times, and you've dramatically improved the speed, convenience and utility of the service.
It is pretty spectacular what Metrolinx (the GTA's regional transit authority) is doing with GO trains. If you'd like to deep dive into the details I can't help but recommend www.youtube.com/@RMTransit He covers rail transit around the world but he does give a lot of attention to Toronto since he's based there.
I live in Montreal, where we have 5 commuter rail lines. Only two of them operate on weekends, and even then, very infrequently. The trains are huge though, bigger than some of our intercity trains. One of our commuter lines has been closed for a few years and is being converied to a light metro with much smaller, driverless and much more frequent trains. I think this could be a really good model for other lines in Montreal and other commuter systems in North America.
The unfortunate thing about replacing Deux-Montages with a light metro is if they implement any HSR, it would have to be a non-downtown location like Gare Parc cause it’ll be too slow to go the route to Gare Centrale and too costly to build another tunnel under Mount Royal. Though feel like GO RER could be another plan to improve EXO
@@TheRandCrews The HSR project could very well use the Vaudreuil-Dorion corridor for trains headed towards Toronto bound trains and the St-Jerome corridor for trains headed towards Quebec. Both can have their terminal stop at Lucien-L'allier, making it the perfect excuse to finally modernize the station and make it a true transportation hub. With the electrification of the St-Jerome and Vaudreuil-Dorion lines, EXO could also acquire similar rolling stock like the Stadler FLIRT trains we see in Ottawa and offer all-day, 15 to 30 minutes frequency. The loss of the Mount Royal tunnel isn't a deal breaker for HSR, in fact it can be an opportunity to create a proper regional rail network.
@@00Zy99 Exo hasn't really proven they could offer something better than the REM so far. They could easily expand service to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and St-Hyacinthe, but we've yet to see anything plans for that. More stations could also be added on the St-Jerome, like in Cote St-Luc to give the borough a major public transit link to the rest of the network and at Canora to connect with the REM. Both these stations could attract more potential ridership and yet Exo has no plans to add more stations on the line. Until we know what their future plans are for the commuter rail network, we can't really expect much as for expansions.
This video is on point, all systems both regional and intercity in North America need to make these changes. GO Transit has made a lot of progress over the years especially when it comes down to the basics of running a more efficient service. However most of these changes come about a decade and a half after they were demanded due to government bureaucracy and what not. VIA Rail in Canada is the exact same, tons of service on the corridor between Windsor and Quebec City and practically none in other areas of significance. I subscribed, great channel so far!
2:39 - Not to mention, downtown real estate comes at a massive premium, companies can slim down the amount of office space they take up and lower their overhead by giving workers some days of work from home
From what I understand, there are plans to make the rail runner hourly all day long. However, the funding that's allocated will get us just halfway to that goal by 2028. I appreciate that these improvements are expensive, but given that the nearby rebuild of I-25 along La Bajada is expensive and that the Paseo del Norte project cost nearly 180million dollars, there is definitely money available if we decided to invest it properly. I'm happy for our Rail Runner, and it definitely has the bones to be a great regional system. And New Mexico somehow already outdoes a lot of similar areas despite meager funding. Hopefully the will comes to really make it shine.
The Rail Runner also needs to have more frequency to and from the southern towns on the weekends. Belen has some nice restaurants, museums, and a winery in walking distance of its rail runner station making it almost perfect for a little weekend outing. Unfortunately if you take the Rail Runner from ABQ to Belen on Saturday you’ll have to wait 5 hours for a train back.
My favorite is when they still have a commuter pattern on weekends with an even reduced schedule. For example on Metrolink there is no way to do a day trip to Riverside from LA on weekends. Three lines run through there, but the Riverside line doesn't run on weekends, the 91 line has two departures to LA in the morning and return in the afternoon. The Inland Empire line also has this pattern and requires a connection with another line, but there is no possible connection on the weekend. I get not having money to run frequencies people really want, but I feel like it would be much more useful to have one going each direction in the mornings and afternoon rather than this.
It comes down to getting the equipment where it needs to be and having enough crews to run the trains. The governing body SCRRA handles the equipment and Amtrak supplies the crews. Naturally, two agencies collaborating is problematic on a good day. But even if trainsets were able to be made available all over the system to accommodate higher frequencies in both directions, having enough people to run the trains is another problem in and of itself.
I have proposed my own idea to get more people to ride commuter rail in the United States, and it may sound ridiculous, but I think it would be a good idea. Giving people the ability to work on the trains. Put tables in between all the seats and fit them with power outlets. Maybe even have a Wi-Fi network on the trains for people to use if they have a laptop. Also have all the stations fitted with tables, power outlets, and Wi-Fi. This would make the entire train experience feel like the commuters are already at work. It would also eliminate the problem of travel times because people would be willing to take the train over their car even if the train takes a little longer if they know they can get work done on the trains and not in their cars. This would obviously be a very expensive and difficult change, but it would be very worth it for commuter rail agencies all over the United States.
On that note, another idea to icrease ridership is to work with local transit agencies to get bus connections between the train and major employment hubs. Having frequent and comfortable service is meaniness if a worker still needs an uber for the last leg of ths route.
I don't know why you think this sounds ridiculous... For context, I'm from the UK, and nothing you've just said is new to me. Sure, we don't have tables in between EVERY seat, but we do have flip-down tables on the back of the chair in front, which can do a job if you're desperate. Power outlets are also present on literally EVERY seat. And WiFi? Well, every company "offers" it in the UK, though the EMR (East Midlands Railway) WiFi is absolute shite, and never works. But you've got companies providing WiFi on every train. Stations fitted with tables? I've seen such tables on my travels in Parisian metro and RER stations, complete with stools to sit at and power outlets to charge your device. Manchester Piccadilly also has this, minus the stools, meaning you have to stand. So, yeah, don't know why you think this is a stupid and ridiculous idea, because it frankly isn't. And, at least as far as the stations go, it wouldn't be that expensive, unless you really desperately want the power outlets. But even then, not that expensive. Likewise retro-fitting a train with all these features wouldn't be that expensive. And the additional cost of these features on top of, you know, building an entire new train would be absolutely nothing. It shouldn't be difficult, and has been proven to work, and you're right, would be very beneficial, very much worth it.
wait,,, you're telling me, american trains don't have tables and plug outlets??? All those you list are absolutely standard on british trains, the international bottom of the barrel for rail service. (that being said the train wifi never works)
SunRail has ALL OF THIS except for In-Station Wi-Fi and power. The trains have quiet zones, Power, spotless bathrooms, and Wi-Fi (if you ever try some need to go to safari and open google and youll be sent to the onboarding wifi site)
@@contrapunctusmammalia3993 Tables are not on commuter trains, and they mean fewer seats. Amtrak trains, including the Northeast regional, which is a sort-of commuter train, have them. Metro North (and I assume, the LIRR), have lots of outlets and wifi. Lots of folks work with laptops on trains. Before computers, people wrote on clipboards, or read.
I'm from Los Angeles: There are more infrequent lines on the Metrolink Orange and Ventura County routes, and i saw the fact there's more lowrider ship , and what you've said can be a good solution to All Metrolink Lines, and So as San Diego's Coaster
There's another fix to the Rail Runner, Express trains. Run one express train every hour in each direction running the local trains every half hour, this way Express trains can only stop at the main stations cutting the 11 stations into just 2 thus it would take around 40-50 minutes.
Metrolink has a great peak hour weekday schedule, especially on the orange county line, but there is still a slight lack of frequency during the day (1 train per hour per direction) and they improve ridership by having kids ride free on Saturdays, but they still need to improve much more.
me being in Germany: complaining about my village of 10,000 inhabitants being served by commuter trains only 3 times per hour per direction, and with the airport being connected only by 2 slow commuter rail lines into the capital city every 10 minutes, and an hourly express train to a smaller city an hour north of the airport Oh and wait: there isn't ANY city here where the commuter trains only go inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. The go in and out ... not quite 24-7, but throughout the day, from the early morning until late at night
A lot of your recommendations for Rail Runner have already been implemented by UTA on their Frontrunner service. It is only hourly during off peak hours, but it is at least every half hour during peak hours, service starts at 5am on weekdays and 6am on Saturday (no Sunday service, which has more to do with the fact that ostensibly they are running so close to track capacity, that they need a full day of no service to perform major maintenance, I'm not sure how much I believe that), with service running until midnight every night except Friday and Saturday when it runs until 1am. UTA also does a very good job of marketing Frontrunner, focusing on the convenience of not having to deal with finding parking during special events in downtown Salt Lake, the availability of wifi onboard the train, and the ability to connect to Green Line trains for direct service to the airport (they are really pushing people to get used to the idea of taking the train to the airport to avoid construction with the hope that even after construction is done, people will just continue to use the train to get to the airport).
When the SP ran the San Francisco peninsula from San Francisco to San Jose, they at points had a train departing SF or SJ every minute and it became one of the best commuter routes in the country
In Denver, CO, our “commuter rail” is actually regional rail. RTD is selling itself short with those four lines. Now, we actually have 7 LRT lines in addition, but those are another story.
The busiest rail corridors in the Netherlands see six long-distance trains an hour. Not commuter: intercity trains. Commuter trains would be around every 30 minutes in off-peak hours throughout most of the country. Now the Netherlands are far more densely populated than the USA, even in urban areas. It also doesn't have the dogmatic zoning laws that plague most of North America. So the comparison isn't entirely fair. And the Netherlands have by far the highest number of trains (both passenger and freight) per day per route kilometre in Europe, also owing to a large proportion of double and quadruple track routes. Things have changed a bit since the pandemic: the Netherlands are now the leading country in Europe when it comes to working from home, even enshrining it in law. Passenger numbers have not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, although the motorways (freeways/interstates) are as full as ever. In comparison: USA interstates have between 18,000 and 147,000 vehicles per day, versus between 70,000 and 200,000 in the Netherlands. So it's not just the population density, the zoning laws that basically force people into cars, because the Dutch do love their cars. If you want to run an efficient passenger rail service, the government should own the infrastructure (like it owns the roads) and let the operators pay for usage, and battle it out between themselves who offers the best service for passengers. That's how things are in Europe, and even though commuter travel is generally subsidised, long distance travel isn't. And there are several operators competing against one another on high-speed lines. Some offer a lot of luxury, others a very low price. The market could still be open more, but we have a situation where the Italians are running trains between Spain and France. In the end, it's the passenger who profits.
Incredibly, SEPTA's latest service proposal actually CUTS service on some lines-the Lansdale route is down to once an hour from pre-COVID 30 minutes. And the Paoli line was running as often as 15 minutes before COVID, but is also down to a much lower frequency.
I don't live anywhere near the Rail Runner but I think they need to add lots of sidings on that route and a possible 2nd platform or somehow make a center only platform that is accessible. The reason for sidings are so they can fit more trains onto that single tracked line and having 2 tracks going through stations will also help.
Theoretically for the initial example, you could take the MD-N to Glenview or Northbrook and uber/take a cab to the executive airport in a pinch, and then take a Pace bus back to the metra when you aren’t time-constrained. Your point is spot-on, but I’ve had to take a similar route before and it’s not *terribly* difficult to make an alternate plan if necessary. I reverse-commute from Chicago to the burbs regularly and it’s generally pretty easy depending on where you are in the city and where your workplace in the burbs is.
Actually the travel time can be turned into an advantage. For example, if passengers can have a meal on the train, then it actually SAVES them time. The train does not need a cafe car. Passengers can get their meals from any F&B outlet at the station and bring it on the train for consumption. This is what the Japanese do by buying bento boxes. Also, if there are WIFI connection and power sockets, then the passengers can also work on the train. You can't do these things while you are driving. It really depends on what are the services provided by the railway company.
One thing I think would benefit train ridership is for there to be more housing units built closer to train stations, and have these be directly marketed to commuters.
I used to take Caltrain, it comes every hour and operates every single week, even on the weekends, sometimes trains are delayed but almost no longer than 15 minutes sometimes even 5 min late, kinda rare for it to be 30-60 minutes late, it’s a useful commuter rail if you work in the San Francisco area since the train station is kinda by downtown, BART is ghetto and nasty but trains do come every 15,20 min and it’s another great way of commuting to the East Bay and it’s a Subway/Rapid Transit too, Caltrain Tickets for Ages 12-17 are $1.00 for any zone and Adults $3 to $15 depending on what zone you want to go
10:40 ; a bit late, but MINNE MENTIONED!! Yeah, Northstar is just the bottom of the barrel when it doesn't even go all the way to St Cloud(you have to transfer with a bus to get there), and other... other... issues that need to be addressed first. Maybe in a few years when Northstar saw huge ridership in late 2019, with these ideas, it can hopefully be back up & running to how it was again.
Another problem faced by the Rail Runner is poor public transportation. Most have to drive their car and park at a station where your car is as risk of vandalism or theft. Might as well drive and skip the train.
As a New Mexican I completely agree. What happens when you get off the rail runner is key. Comparing journey times needs to include all the bus times/waits which puts you into a solid 3 to 4 hour daily commute time if you live on the west side or near the mountains
Believed me, commuter rail in New England all the way to DC is non issue. In 2008, I lived in My friend's home in Leesburg, Va. Every morning, my friend drove me to bus station to commuter bus stop. Technically, i could walk 2 miles. I went all the way to Baltimore Harbor. I enjoyed the scenic. This included the time, i did research what i should then i located MARC station. I had to look for paper schedule because of my poor vision. Then i had to do research at Baltimore station. I hoped on light rail. I miissed the stop. I got confused. A nice lady gave me advice. Then i took right one n got out n wandered around n finally reached Baltimore Harbor. I enjoyed the view. I left Leesburg home at 840am n took gus at 9 am. I came back to Leesburg at 7pm. If this were LA, ibhad to plan well n cannot make mistakes . I cannot do research at LA union Station because that will take more time. I couldn't go far. I got stressed because most of the buses run infrequent. The rails are for car drivers. One time i had to go to Fullerton which is 10 miles away. Google, Fullerton all the north 20 way, everything was prosper. Lots of business n commercial activities. Lots of people., but just like no good public transportation. I decided to take trains 3 miles. There is a bus outside my house. That never goes to Train station. That's lifeline. Students use that bus to go to local college n state universities. Workers take that one to reach various factories n warehouses. However just like most US public transportation, LA public transportation is designed for car drivers. The one near my house does go to train. The train goes to downtown stop operating at 7am. I took bus to union station. I wanted hiurs to board train to Fullerton. It was fast n comfortable. At the station, i saw huge parking lots but lack of public transportation. I went to that Dr 4 times. Twice, i took bus to stop 5 minutes walking distance the other time, i walked 1 hour between train station n dr clinic. Oh 4 times Dr visit means 8 round trips.i only took bus tw8ce because it was faster to walk 3 miles. I cannot miss Dr appointment . If i miss that train, i have problems on connecting infrequent bus. I could get home late. I planned well. I left home at 10am n came back 7pm for appointment 10 mile away. Without traffic, its 15 minute driving. With terrible traffic, 45 minute. With major car accidents on freeway, 2 hour max. The 30 minute frequency bus is considered good in LA. The train was comfortable. Lack of frequency n access is the problem. It was one hour appointment. I took whole day off for this adventure. Google actually advice me to take buses instead of train. It would be faster by an hour. I decided to take train to prove how unfriendly our rail system to non car drivers. Buses or partial train to a place that is 15 minute driving distance during non peak hours. My coworkers joke it wpuld be faster to walk 10 miles. If your car breaks down, get your friends, relatives or uber, or you can't get to station even if bus stop is within 5 minute walking distance. If you cannot drive, cannot afford cars, cannot afford uber, don't have friend to hel ypu, you are not supposed to. LA is leading railvolution that you must own cars. What happens if your destination is not near train station. You got couple choices. Park your second car. Get uber or taxi. Or like some idiots said find the job near train station. In that particular cases, find the dr near train station. Of course, i had to deal insurance. Maybe i was so hurry to walk, i didn't see any clinics within 5 minute walking distance
The problem is money. Adding additional trains will cost a lot money, and if ridership is down on what service currently exists, that will be a big ask. Heck, with ridership down, they will need additional money just to continue to run the schedule they already are, to replace the missing farebox revenues due to lower ridership. Maybe they can shift some trains from commute times to off peak, if ridership is there, but that wouldn't more trains, just the same number at different times. Many transit agencies will be forced to cut service as soon as all emergency covid funding runs out. I would not expect many to run more trains-in many cases, status quo is the best case scenario.
Caltrain did just put their Stadler KISS emus into service and they will be introducing service every 30 minutes 7 days a week within the next month, I'd say that's a very big step.
On a lot of TH-cam transit channels I get the sense that there is not a lot of recognition of how Covid did/will change things in the future. Maybe going forward there will be a lot less use of baselining 2019 and pretending things will just return there someday. I appreciate the fact that you at least recognize that now a few years out the reality is different.
Here in Jakarta, Indonesia.. A third world country, We had Commuter train who had systems like metro, using gate ticketing (you can transfer whenever and wherever you want) and the train are so frequent.. The headway are about 5-10 minutes even 3 minutes in peak hours.. Watching this videos and condition in America about commuter train make my headache.. its pain that you can't freely moving without owning a car
It would also have relieved congestion along I25 if the railrunner traveled a different path since most riders go end-to-end. There is a parallel route that would still cater to the end-to-end commuter and would also capture the commuters in between, and tourists exploring the Turquoise Trail. From the beginning of this project no-one involved in this could actually explain why they wouldn't consider this alternate route. They just said that it was about I25. That said, we definitely need to increase frequency. The people who do ride it, don't seem to mind the extra time, since they get to spend the time doing something.
I firmly and strongly believe America must invest in Battery powered EMUs in order to spread train services throughout the day. Take the EMUs like from the Metra electric or RTD commuter rail and retrofit them with batteries. This will make it so locomotives aren't required for every single train. Ultimately yes it would be better to have overhead catenaries, but this will be much quicker and simpler to implement.
It's all about connectivity. People do not take they train if they can't get to the train station and from the train station to their work place. A successful commuter rail only works together with a bus system. You have to offer a car free end to end connection, otherwise people will take the car the whole route
American trains look weirdly old fashioned. I am near Wellington, NZ, a city with abut 400,000 in the greater urban area. I am 50km from the city and there are three on peak trains and two off peak trains, every hour, from 5am to midnight. There is another line up the valley and into anther province. The Valley line has the same schedule, with the regional trains at about 6 or 8 trains per day. The drive times are pretty similar to the train times at peak, because of congestion, but at peak express trains skip some stops to make the peak commutes faster than driving. The trains are similar price to driving, but the central city parking is about the same cost as the trains.
Doesn't bode well with low income service workers working in the suburbs needing a car if the bus doesn't cover and further the segregation. Rural communities in Japan, especially Hokkaido are heartbreaking with many lines being single car diesel trains running infrequently have closed down due to population loss and rise in cars.
the train is comfortable i will say, with not that many people in it, you can find tables and nice soft chairs, but getting off at a station and waiting like you said for an hour to get picked up? no mames
I agree that a more reliable schedule and greater frequency plus faster operations at each stop will help. However, we should not get away from the fact that speed is a big problem with American rail. They really need to step it up because they are competing with planes and cars two forms of transit with predictable advantages, therefore rail needs to maximise its advantages.
Tbh for an entire commuter rail service in a city like LA to have only 5 mill yearly riders is way too little. These are the things American commuter rail services need to focus on: -getting diesel multiple units (or electrical where possible) these accelerage faster than hauled trains and stop faster. (Don’t buy too long trains as well) -provide good accessibility in all stations as well as enough space for bikes on board. -don’t let the train wait for half an hour before departing in the central station -provide multiple stations closer to the city centre with park n rides and bus or streetcar links -increase frequency to twice or thrice an hour at least during peak times (it’s okay if it is only once an hour in off peak times in the beginning) -make stops outside of the side which have an immediate bus or bike parking next to it -make sure there are stations near shopping malls/stadiums/universities/airports and more. -integrate the fares in the regional bus/streetcar services
LA has come a long way. 40 years ago, it was (as it is now) the second-largest city in the US. And it relied 100% on BUSES running in mixed traffic.. The only rail vehicles were Amtrak intercity trains. No light rail, no commuter rail, not even dedicated bus lanes. LA has a long way to go, but it's a lot better than it was.
125 mph/200 kmh should be the goal of all rail lines in the USA when it comes to passenger rail. Why? This is the fastest you can cross an intersection without the need for grade separation... Just really good barriers as you see in the case of Brightline East an the Notsobrightline drivers around it... Bombardier JetTrain concept from 2001 which basically is just a diesel-electric version of the Acela/TGV design was proposed for Western markets where electrification wasn't viable financially. I think this should be revived for inter-city express services but with a hydrogen-electric twist... And same goes for commuter rail. If they aren't going to electrify, at least use hydrogen-electric trains to guarantee clean, reliable multiple unit services at a 15 minute peak, 30 minute off peak frequency...
Another critical factor in choosing between driving and riding the train is the proximity of the stations to both one's starting point and one's destination or, at the very minimum, the availability of reliable and frequent local public transit connections. Most people would still pick driving in traffic over riding the most modern, frequent, fast, relaxing, wifi- / remote work-enabled train, if they'd have to wait for longer than 10 minutes to get on some slow bus (if they're lucky!) on either end of the journey. There seems to be very little holistic planning of transportation in the US, very little concern about the bigger picture; instead, services are often funded piecemeal, with minimal coordination and cooperation between agencies.
As an example to the above, I just tried the Rio Metro District's transit planner (based on Google Maps), for a trip between two friends' addresses in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, respectively. Both addresses are within each city proper. The result, for a weekday: 3 hr 36 min one way, of which 48 min is walking, as well three bus transfers (one on the SF side, two on the ABQ side). The same trip by car, during the same day of the week and time of day, would take "55 min to 1 hr 25 min".
The main issue though with increasing frequency, is it costs money. And to run frequent trains all day every day will result inevitably in some fairly empty trains. Since this is America, you're going to get all of the "mY tAx dOlLaRs" assholes who would cry a river over funding what they see as a "useless" service. This is why these things work better in Europe because over there, folks understand that they can get what they pay for with their taxes. These transit agencies in the US have to balance their service coverage against their need to constantly justify their subsidy. Because like it or not, in America transit isn't viewed as an essential SERVICE. It is ran like a business.
As much as I love the Marc Brunswick line it is a disgrace. 9 trains in the morning and 9 in the afternoon, southbound in the morning northbound in the afternoon. No trains on the weekend too. And CSX isn't helping. Although they announced the cornerstone project for the line with extension to Cumberland and Hagerstown + weekend service and all direction service throughout the day CSX isn't in on it and wants to hog the line South of Rockville
Rail runner could pretty easily run at 90mph which is the limit for their coaches that would require a few changes to their signaling system and making the track meet FRA class 5 standard. 10 sets in service would be needed to run every 30 mins. that means they should get 4 more locos, 4 cab cars and probably 13 coaches.
Japanese, Australian, and European cities rely less on private vehicles and more on public transportation than North American cities. That is because Americans tend to live far away from city centers or where they work. Japanese and European cities are more densely populated and this makes public transportation more efficient and economical.
how well are rail ad local bus s timetables for coecion buses cordonated what good is more tais if your w home or workplace is not n with in walking distance of the tain station.
The same problems exist with Network Rail and train operating companies here in the U.K. and with Irish Rail back home in Ireland and yet they want people to leave thier cars at home - if train travel in mainland Europe is properly organised for commuters there is no valid reason nor excuse why this is not the same everywhere
lirr while yes runs every hour to many stations some stations (valley steam hicksville jamaica have multi lines so they come every 30 , 15 to 10 minutes and some stations in places like boston cant some places only have 1 line of track (u need two to go in both directions) in one city trains only stop outbound not in bound
Buy freight lines and run regional rail at subway like frequencies and build elevated lines routing some of the trains via the ELs in downtown as express service with parallel local automated metro in some places
A lot of light rail would work in American cities; small, cheap, can be automated, and can be adjusted in terms of their train lengths to match ridership. Low volume, put a single power car, and then just add cars to adjust to demand. Want to make it even cheaper? Make it narrow gauge. Automation, narrow gauge, good throughput, reliable, and efficient. Heavy rail costs a ridiculous amount of money in the US-See the 2nd ave subway in NYC for 3 stations at a cost of $1.4 billion/mile. Not worth it.
I once went on a train and took a really big poop and it smelled really bad so everyone had to evacuate the cabbin bc they thought there was a gas leak
No question a high quality frequent rail service is a pleasure to use. I've had the privilege of riding the Swiss system recently. It is amazing to see how comprehensive it is. Even the smallest communities seem to have a new line connected to the network. All the equipment seems brand new. The points about the heavy and slow diesel powered US trains are well taken. It's hard to understand the resistance to electrification. The whole So. Cal system should be electrified, particularly in view of air quality requirements.
Something you neglected to include when it comes to travel time, is the weight and acceleration of the train. Rolling stock in North America is grossly overweight because of stupid FRA rules, and for being so heavy, acceleration is very slow. Replacing diesel locomotives with heavy bi-level cars with modern multiple units would greatly increase acceleration, which will have a knock-on effect at each station stop to noticeably reduce travel time.
I recommend watching Christian Lenhart's video on why the Utah Transit Authority should buy Stadler FLIRT units.
Didn't the FRA reduce the rolling weight requirements about a decade ago? Hence why some of the newer sets we have (Siemens Charger, Alstom Avelia) are European derived.
@@Ven100 Honestly I have no idea what regulations the FRA has and cares about because there's always so many exceptions… but I do know that many existing rolling stock still abides by those rules (because of how old the stock is, or just by "tradition" of manufacturing things in that style)
@@intergalactic_butterfly Just did a brief search and these changes came about ~2010 or so. Considering companies like Brightline are planning on using Siemens Velaro Novo or Alstom Sets, they have weight requirements of old have been amended. Amtrak is replacing a ton of old GE stock with Siemens stock.
@@Ven100 The FRA is also now allowing alternative compliant trains with waivers (those that meet UIC standards) which is how caltrain is running stadler KISS trains.
They Torched those rules back in 18 as for the track upgrades They could in the future get proper electrification and upgrade the track speed to 95. Along with double tracking and expanding the system. I heard rumblings that New Mexico is intrested in an Albuquerque to El Paso amtrak route. So the upgrades could be emanglemeated into the plan if possible. Knowing the political environment is ripe for such improvements I suggest now is the time to strike and get them.
As someone who used to live in New Mexico, I absolutely think the Rail Runner should implement these changes. Santa Fe is a really lovely city to visit, so it's not hard to imagine that, if the service was better, you'd see it used more for day trips for any number of reasons.
It's great to see new creators in the urbansim sphere, and you've earned a subscription from me.
There's plenty of room to double track also which would help increase frequency.
"And for the love of God, fix whatever this thing is."
Yes PLEASE do that as soon as possible.
Wow, I haven't used Metra in several decades, and those were old THEN!
The South Shore Line will certainly be more of a regional rail model when double track is completed. With Chicago traffic, 79mph is competitive with the atrocious traffic on the Toll Road.
probably one of the more underrated rail projects going on right now
The New Haven Line is the US busiest line followed by the NEC Line of NJT. The Babylon Branch is way down the list.
And the New Haven line runs like, every 30 minutes during off peak hours
Actually the LIRR is the busiest line commuter in the US
@@Southern_California_Railfanner System, not line. It has a bunch of medium ridership branch lines at about 25,000.
@@Southern_California_Railfanner The LIRR is not a line but a SYSTEM of different branches. New Haven Line on the Metro-North (another system owned by the MTA) is the busiest single commuter line.
@@Southern_California_Railfanner LIRR is the busiest NETWORK
I might humbly suggest Australia is the model US transit agencies should look up to. Australian cities have largely spent the last few decades slowly improving and expanding their suburban rail services, and are now genuinely pretty decent in many places which are still quite similar to US cities with extensive sprawl and car-dependancy.
-All lines in Australian major cities are electrified (except Adelaide, 1.5 million metro area, which still has 2 lines on diesel but planned for electrification).
-All lines have downtown city-centre tunnels or viaducts and allow through-running trains across town (except Adelaide which is the smallest major city and has been planning a city centre tunnel). Sydney 5 million metro area, Melbourne 5 million metro area, and Brisbane 3 million metro area, are all building new additional tunnels for more capacity and network reach.
-All lines run at least every 30 minutes all day, with lines in Sydney & Perth (2 million metro area) running at least every 15 minutes all day, and at peak times every 3-5 minutes.
-Perth (2 million) Melbourne (5 million) & Adelaide trains run with only 1 staff member (the driver only) on board, Brisbane and Sydney run with a guard as well.
-Bus networks in several of the cities were redesigned to run as feeder services to the trains, with significant success.
-Sydney+Melbourne and to a lesser extent Brisbane have done significant Transit Oriented Development around stations along existing or extended routes.
-Sydney+Melbourne are now building additional driverless suburban lines to complement the existing system and offer additional interchange and coverage with trains every 5min all day.
-Perth has built extensively in Freeway medians and deep into the suburbs, with high average speeds over 60mph and trains overtaking cars as a very visual reminder that transit can be effective, competitive & attractive.
-Sydney+Melbourne have achieved >20% of all trips via public transport and another 2-5% via active transit which is better than most cities in the US, beaten only by NYC.
My local commuter rail is moving to all-day 2 way service on all the lines, every 15 minutes.
It will drastically change how the region commutes.
Toronto??
@@nanaokyere7141 yes
I think you should make a video exploring reasons people might or would want to take public/mass transit to their destination.
I think a lot of folks get hung up on the time when initially looking into using transit and use that as a reason. But as someone who owns a car but chooses to take the bus to work with other people who own cars and bus to work we don't use transit because it's faster.
With traffic I live 10-15 minutes from the office. My bus ride is about 25-30 minutes long regardless of traffic. If I were to drive I'd have to put wear/tear on my car, use gas, risk an accident on the high way, sit in traffic, be stressed, get into the financial district, find parking and pay for it, and walk another 5-10 minutes to my office depending on where i can find parking. Then rinse and repeat at the end of the day. OR I could walk to my bus stop, catch the bus, zone out/watch TH-cam/people watch/read/decompress and the bus whisks me to about a block away from my office. Sure maybe the bus tickets for the day amount to the same as a parking pass (post pandemic rates) but I am paying for the convenience of not driving with a total of 20 extra minutes a day. But for me I end up doing exactly what I would do at home on the bus. Watching/commenting on TH-cam.
As an Aussie, I've never understood why US (and broadly North American) commuter trains are so huge and infrequent. I was surprised to learn that Chicago - a metro area roughly eight times the population as the one I live in - has worse commuter rail than mine (30 minute frequencies off-peak). I feel like North American cities would really benefit from a suburban rail approach similar to ones found in Australian cities. We have similarly sprawling, car dependent cities here in Australia like the US yet travelling by train is still fairly commonplace. I reckon ditch the gigantic, slow accelerating trains that only run like twice a day and instead run smaller (ideally electric) multiple unit trains more frequently.
On another note - great video. I definitely agree that commuter rail over there is so underutilized. It's a shame since I really like how retro and industrial-looking US passenger trains (even metro stock) tend to look so it'd be great to see more.
Were slowly on that path We are going through the growing pains you went through in the 1960s and 80s Outdated loco-hauled stock is out in with EMUs and DMUS unless your metra that is
I live in Sydney which is about the same size as New York but with half the people. We have a regional rail system that is also like a subway in the inner city area, with trains running every 2 to 3 minutes in peak hours and every 6 to 12 minutes at other times. This rail system was established in 1855 and has been growing ever since. We are currently building new metro lines to provide more capacity on some of the busier routes.
The thing is that the public transport systems in Australia are run by State governments. Public transport is thus a very important political issue. People here don’t see public transport as something that only the less well off use but as a system for everyone. I remember a few years ago seein the politician responsible for Public Transport, the minister for Transport, catching the train to work.
NZ takes pretty much the same approach [when systems are actually running... -sigh-].
The three main lines in my city [Auckland] have 20m off-peak frequency and 10m peak frequency and plans are within the next few years to upgrade that to 15m off-peak frequency.
@@erikgustafson9319What about Electric Locomotive hauled trains
I think that if the Rail Runner in particular needs increased frequency then it should have to be double tracked. Double track allows for greater capacity and less disruption. I personally think this is one of the issues with American Railroads
100% agree. The Railrunner already has logistical difficulties around the other trains that share track and platforms. Increasing service significantly may not be possible without double track.
Holy moly. Here I am sitting in Germany watching this video, and I am catching a video snippet taken on our local Stadtbahn system. See 4:14
That's Marienstrasse Station, and the camera guy is stitting in a TW6000 Stadtbahn, of which 260 were built from 1974-1992.
What are the odds?! But now I have to continue watching
It's actually odd how a lot of major US cities use this as a normal way to operate. Out here in Toronto we're starting to double track some of our routes so we can have all day 2 way schedules every 15 min peak time and half an hour off peak time so you don't have to wait hours just to go home. We're also electrifying our commuter rail which will result in newer faster trains in some corridors.
It will be a huge change for Toronto and the GTA. Two-way, all day service on the Lakeshore line at 30 minute or better headways is here today. I live near a station within the city and it is very useful. I can't wait until electrification and EMUs improve acceleration & reduce noise. Add in level boarding, which reduces station dwell times, and you've dramatically improved the speed, convenience and utility of the service.
It is pretty spectacular what Metrolinx (the GTA's regional transit authority) is doing with GO trains. If you'd like to deep dive into the details I can't help but recommend www.youtube.com/@RMTransit He covers rail transit around the world but he does give a lot of attention to Toronto since he's based there.
I live in Montreal, where we have 5 commuter rail lines. Only two of them operate on weekends, and even then, very infrequently. The trains are huge though, bigger than some of our intercity trains. One of our commuter lines has been closed for a few years and is being converied to a light metro with much smaller, driverless and much more frequent trains. I think this could be a really good model for other lines in Montreal and other commuter systems in North America.
The unfortunate thing about replacing Deux-Montages with a light metro is if they implement any HSR, it would have to be a non-downtown location like Gare Parc cause it’ll be too slow to go the route to Gare Centrale and too costly to build another tunnel under Mount Royal. Though feel like GO RER could be another plan to improve EXO
definitely! Have you seen Paige Saunders' video about the REM vs. Nimbys?
@@TheRandCrews Not to mention any and all other regional service expansions.
@@TheRandCrews The HSR project could very well use the Vaudreuil-Dorion corridor for trains headed towards Toronto bound trains and the St-Jerome corridor for trains headed towards Quebec. Both can have their terminal stop at Lucien-L'allier, making it the perfect excuse to finally modernize the station and make it a true transportation hub. With the electrification of the St-Jerome and Vaudreuil-Dorion lines, EXO could also acquire similar rolling stock like the Stadler FLIRT trains we see in Ottawa and offer all-day, 15 to 30 minutes frequency. The loss of the Mount Royal tunnel isn't a deal breaker for HSR, in fact it can be an opportunity to create a proper regional rail network.
@@00Zy99 Exo hasn't really proven they could offer something better than the REM so far. They could easily expand service to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and St-Hyacinthe, but we've yet to see anything plans for that. More stations could also be added on the St-Jerome, like in Cote St-Luc to give the borough a major public transit link to the rest of the network and at Canora to connect with the REM. Both these stations could attract more potential ridership and yet Exo has no plans to add more stations on the line. Until we know what their future plans are for the commuter rail network, we can't really expect much as for expansions.
This video is on point, all systems both regional and intercity in North America need to make these changes. GO Transit has made a lot of progress over the years especially when it comes down to the basics of running a more efficient service. However most of these changes come about a decade and a half after they were demanded due to government bureaucracy and what not. VIA Rail in Canada is the exact same, tons of service on the corridor between Windsor and Quebec City and practically none in other areas of significance. I subscribed, great channel so far!
2:39 - Not to mention, downtown real estate comes at a massive premium, companies can slim down the amount of office space they take up and lower their overhead by giving workers some days of work from home
From what I understand, there are plans to make the rail runner hourly all day long. However, the funding that's allocated will get us just halfway to that goal by 2028. I appreciate that these improvements are expensive, but given that the nearby rebuild of I-25 along La Bajada is expensive and that the Paseo del Norte project cost nearly 180million dollars, there is definitely money available if we decided to invest it properly. I'm happy for our Rail Runner, and it definitely has the bones to be a great regional system. And New Mexico somehow already outdoes a lot of similar areas despite meager funding. Hopefully the will comes to really make it shine.
The Rail Runner also needs to have more frequency to and from the southern towns on the weekends. Belen has some nice restaurants, museums, and a winery in walking distance of its rail runner station making it almost perfect for a little weekend outing. Unfortunately if you take the Rail Runner from ABQ to Belen on Saturday you’ll have to wait 5 hours for a train back.
My favorite is when they still have a commuter pattern on weekends with an even reduced schedule. For example on Metrolink there is no way to do a day trip to Riverside from LA on weekends. Three lines run through there, but the Riverside line doesn't run on weekends, the 91 line has two departures to LA in the morning and return in the afternoon. The Inland Empire line also has this pattern and requires a connection with another line, but there is no possible connection on the weekend. I get not having money to run frequencies people really want, but I feel like it would be much more useful to have one going each direction in the mornings and afternoon rather than this.
It comes down to getting the equipment where it needs to be and having enough crews to run the trains. The governing body SCRRA handles the equipment and Amtrak supplies the crews. Naturally, two agencies collaborating is problematic on a good day. But even if trainsets were able to be made available all over the system to accommodate higher frequencies in both directions, having enough people to run the trains is another problem in and of itself.
I have proposed my own idea to get more people to ride commuter rail in the United States, and it may sound ridiculous, but I think it would be a good idea. Giving people the ability to work on the trains. Put tables in between all the seats and fit them with power outlets. Maybe even have a Wi-Fi network on the trains for people to use if they have a laptop. Also have all the stations fitted with tables, power outlets, and Wi-Fi. This would make the entire train experience feel like the commuters are already at work. It would also eliminate the problem of travel times because people would be willing to take the train over their car even if the train takes a little longer if they know they can get work done on the trains and not in their cars. This would obviously be a very expensive and difficult change, but it would be very worth it for commuter rail agencies all over the United States.
On that note, another idea to icrease ridership is to work with local transit agencies to get bus connections between the train and major employment hubs. Having frequent and comfortable service is meaniness if a worker still needs an uber for the last leg of ths route.
I don't know why you think this sounds ridiculous... For context, I'm from the UK, and nothing you've just said is new to me. Sure, we don't have tables in between EVERY seat, but we do have flip-down tables on the back of the chair in front, which can do a job if you're desperate. Power outlets are also present on literally EVERY seat. And WiFi? Well, every company "offers" it in the UK, though the EMR (East Midlands Railway) WiFi is absolute shite, and never works. But you've got companies providing WiFi on every train. Stations fitted with tables? I've seen such tables on my travels in Parisian metro and RER stations, complete with stools to sit at and power outlets to charge your device. Manchester Piccadilly also has this, minus the stools, meaning you have to stand.
So, yeah, don't know why you think this is a stupid and ridiculous idea, because it frankly isn't. And, at least as far as the stations go, it wouldn't be that expensive, unless you really desperately want the power outlets. But even then, not that expensive. Likewise retro-fitting a train with all these features wouldn't be that expensive. And the additional cost of these features on top of, you know, building an entire new train would be absolutely nothing. It shouldn't be difficult, and has been proven to work, and you're right, would be very beneficial, very much worth it.
wait,,, you're telling me, american trains don't have tables and plug outlets??? All those you list are absolutely standard on british trains, the international bottom of the barrel for rail service. (that being said the train wifi never works)
SunRail has ALL OF THIS except for In-Station Wi-Fi and power. The trains have quiet zones, Power, spotless bathrooms, and Wi-Fi (if you ever try some need to go to safari and open google and youll be sent to the onboarding wifi site)
@@contrapunctusmammalia3993 Tables are not on commuter trains, and they mean fewer seats. Amtrak trains, including the Northeast regional, which is a sort-of commuter train, have them. Metro North (and I assume, the LIRR), have lots of outlets and wifi. Lots of folks work with laptops on trains. Before computers, people wrote on clipboards, or read.
I'm from Los Angeles: There are more infrequent lines on the Metrolink Orange and Ventura County routes, and i saw the fact there's more lowrider ship , and what you've said can be a good solution to All Metrolink Lines, and So as San Diego's Coaster
There's another fix to the Rail Runner, Express trains. Run one express train every hour in each direction running the local trains every half hour, this way Express trains can only stop at the main stations cutting the 11 stations into just 2 thus it would take around 40-50 minutes.
What a great idea.
Metrolink has a great peak hour weekday schedule, especially on the orange county line, but there is still a slight lack of frequency during the day (1 train per hour per direction) and they improve ridership by having kids ride free on Saturdays, but they still need to improve much more.
I feel like Metrolink is very underrated, it did a pretty good job considering it's still not a very old agency.
The Babylon branch as well as many LIRR branches run every half-hour, but when GCM opened up, they split service to each terminal to once an hour.
0:16 "How do you go to work now?" Call your boss that your car is broken and can't come today.
me being in Germany: complaining about my village of 10,000 inhabitants being served by commuter trains only 3 times per hour per direction, and with the airport being connected only by 2 slow commuter rail lines into the capital city every 10 minutes, and an hourly express train to a smaller city an hour north of the airport
Oh and wait: there isn't ANY city here where the commuter trains only go inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. The go in and out ... not quite 24-7, but throughout the day, from the early morning until late at night
A lot of your recommendations for Rail Runner have already been implemented by UTA on their Frontrunner service. It is only hourly during off peak hours, but it is at least every half hour during peak hours, service starts at 5am on weekdays and 6am on Saturday (no Sunday service, which has more to do with the fact that ostensibly they are running so close to track capacity, that they need a full day of no service to perform major maintenance, I'm not sure how much I believe that), with service running until midnight every night except Friday and Saturday when it runs until 1am. UTA also does a very good job of marketing Frontrunner, focusing on the convenience of not having to deal with finding parking during special events in downtown Salt Lake, the availability of wifi onboard the train, and the ability to connect to Green Line trains for direct service to the airport (they are really pushing people to get used to the idea of taking the train to the airport to avoid construction with the hope that even after construction is done, people will just continue to use the train to get to the airport).
Tri-Rail here in South Florida, between West Palm Beach and Miami, is frequent throughout the day.
I have now watched both of your videos, great work. Keep up the videos!
When the SP ran the San Francisco peninsula from San Francisco to San Jose, they at points had a train departing SF or SJ every minute and it became one of the best commuter routes in the country
In Denver, CO, our “commuter rail” is actually regional rail. RTD is selling itself short with those four lines. Now, we actually have 7 LRT lines in addition, but those are another story.
The busiest rail corridors in the Netherlands see six long-distance trains an hour. Not commuter: intercity trains. Commuter trains would be around every 30 minutes in off-peak hours throughout most of the country.
Now the Netherlands are far more densely populated than the USA, even in urban areas. It also doesn't have the dogmatic zoning laws that plague most of North America. So the comparison isn't entirely fair. And the Netherlands have by far the highest number of trains (both passenger and freight) per day per route kilometre in Europe, also owing to a large proportion of double and quadruple track routes.
Things have changed a bit since the pandemic: the Netherlands are now the leading country in Europe when it comes to working from home, even enshrining it in law. Passenger numbers have not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, although the motorways (freeways/interstates) are as full as ever. In comparison: USA interstates have between 18,000 and 147,000 vehicles per day, versus between 70,000 and 200,000 in the Netherlands.
So it's not just the population density, the zoning laws that basically force people into cars, because the Dutch do love their cars. If you want to run an efficient passenger rail service, the government should own the infrastructure (like it owns the roads) and let the operators pay for usage, and battle it out between themselves who offers the best service for passengers.
That's how things are in Europe, and even though commuter travel is generally subsidised, long distance travel isn't. And there are several operators competing against one another on high-speed lines. Some offer a lot of luxury, others a very low price. The market could still be open more, but we have a situation where the Italians are running trains between Spain and France. In the end, it's the passenger who profits.
I totally agree with what you say. So many more people (not just commuters) would ride if schedules were better. Also, love the L themed outro!
Excellent video! Loving the channel.
As someone planning to ride every passenger line in America, I am dreading some of the worst offending commuter timetables.
Incredibly, SEPTA's latest service proposal actually CUTS service on some lines-the Lansdale route is down to once an hour from pre-COVID 30 minutes. And the Paoli line was running as often as 15 minutes before COVID, but is also down to a much lower frequency.
and its incredibly stupid the politcal climates right for the taking looks like they need to reform septa into a greater Pennsylvania Transit athority
I don't live anywhere near the Rail Runner but I think they need to add lots of sidings on that route and a possible 2nd platform or somehow make a center only platform that is accessible.
The reason for sidings are so they can fit more trains onto that single tracked line and having 2 tracks going through stations will also help.
Theoretically for the initial example, you could take the MD-N to Glenview or Northbrook and uber/take a cab to the executive airport in a pinch, and then take a Pace bus back to the metra when you aren’t time-constrained. Your point is spot-on, but I’ve had to take a similar route before and it’s not *terribly* difficult to make an alternate plan if necessary. I reverse-commute from Chicago to the burbs regularly and it’s generally pretty easy depending on where you are in the city and where your workplace in the burbs is.
Thank you for this great video. As you say, frequency is everything, and that requires shoals of money !
Actually the travel time can be turned into an advantage. For example, if passengers can have a meal on the train, then it actually SAVES them time. The train does not need a cafe car. Passengers can get their meals from any F&B outlet at the station and bring it on the train for consumption. This is what the Japanese do by buying bento boxes. Also, if there are WIFI connection and power sockets, then the passengers can also work on the train. You can't do these things while you are driving. It really depends on what are the services provided by the railway company.
The Babylon branch actually has one of the best frequencies in the LIRR system
One thing I think would benefit train ridership is for there to be more housing units built closer to train stations, and have these be directly marketed to commuters.
I agree with you... Toronto has a fantastic system but my hometown Montreal pretty much sucks.
I used to take Caltrain, it comes every hour and operates every single week, even on the weekends, sometimes trains are delayed but almost no longer than 15 minutes sometimes even 5 min late, kinda rare for it to be 30-60 minutes late, it’s a useful commuter rail if you work in the San Francisco area since the train station is kinda by downtown, BART is ghetto and nasty but trains do come every 15,20 min and it’s another great way of commuting to the East Bay and it’s a Subway/Rapid Transit too, Caltrain Tickets for Ages 12-17 are $1.00 for any zone and Adults $3 to $15 depending on what zone you want to go
10:40 ; a bit late, but MINNE MENTIONED!! Yeah, Northstar is just the bottom of the barrel when it doesn't even go all the way to St Cloud(you have to transfer with a bus to get there), and other... other... issues that need to be addressed first. Maybe in a few years when Northstar saw huge ridership in late 2019, with these ideas, it can hopefully be back up & running to how it was again.
Great video!
Another problem faced by the Rail Runner is poor public transportation. Most have to drive their car and park at a station where your car is as risk of vandalism or theft. Might as well drive and skip the train.
As a New Mexican I completely agree. What happens when you get off the rail runner is key. Comparing journey times needs to include all the bus times/waits which puts you into a solid 3 to 4 hour daily commute time if you live on the west side or near the mountains
Believed me, commuter rail in New England all the way to DC is non issue.
In 2008, I lived in My friend's home in Leesburg, Va. Every morning, my friend drove me to bus station to commuter bus stop. Technically, i could walk 2 miles. I went all the way to Baltimore Harbor. I enjoyed the scenic. This included the time, i did research what i should then i located MARC station. I had to look for paper schedule because of my poor vision. Then i had to do research at Baltimore station. I hoped on light rail. I miissed the stop. I got confused. A nice lady gave me advice. Then i took right one n got out n wandered around n finally reached Baltimore Harbor. I enjoyed the view. I left Leesburg home at 840am n took gus at 9 am. I came back to Leesburg at 7pm. If this were LA, ibhad to plan well n cannot make mistakes . I cannot do research at LA union Station because that will take more time. I couldn't go far. I got stressed because most of the buses run infrequent. The rails are for car drivers. One time i had to go to Fullerton which is 10 miles away. Google, Fullerton all the north 20 way, everything was prosper. Lots of business n commercial activities. Lots of people., but just like no good public transportation. I decided to take trains 3 miles. There is a bus outside my house. That never goes to Train station. That's lifeline. Students use that bus to go to local college n state universities. Workers take that one to reach various factories n warehouses. However just like most US public transportation, LA public transportation is designed for car drivers. The one near my house does go to train. The train goes to downtown stop operating at 7am. I took bus to union station. I wanted hiurs to board train to Fullerton. It was fast n comfortable. At the station, i saw huge parking lots but lack of public transportation. I went to that Dr 4 times. Twice, i took bus to stop 5 minutes walking distance the other time, i walked 1 hour between train station n dr clinic. Oh 4 times Dr visit means 8 round trips.i only took bus tw8ce because it was faster to walk 3 miles. I cannot miss Dr appointment . If i miss that train, i have problems on connecting infrequent bus. I could get home late. I planned well. I left home at 10am n came back 7pm for appointment 10 mile away. Without traffic, its 15 minute driving. With terrible traffic, 45 minute. With major car accidents on freeway, 2 hour max. The 30 minute frequency bus is considered good in LA. The train was comfortable. Lack of frequency n access is the problem. It was one hour appointment. I took whole day off for this adventure. Google actually advice me to take buses instead of train. It would be faster by an hour. I decided to take train to prove how unfriendly our rail system to non car drivers. Buses or partial train to a place that is 15 minute driving distance during non peak hours. My coworkers joke it wpuld be faster to walk 10 miles.
If your car breaks down, get your friends, relatives or uber, or you can't get to station even if bus stop is within 5 minute walking distance.
If you cannot drive, cannot afford cars, cannot afford uber, don't have friend to hel ypu, you are not supposed to. LA is leading railvolution that you must own cars.
What happens if your destination is not near train station. You got couple choices. Park your second car. Get uber or taxi. Or like some idiots said find the job near train station. In that particular cases, find the dr near train station. Of course, i had to deal insurance. Maybe i was so hurry to walk, i didn't see any clinics within 5 minute walking distance
There needs to be double tracking on the entire line.
railrunner long as hell, tried it to go from Los Lunas to Santa Fe one day and it too near 3+ hours on a 1.30 to 2 hour drive
The problem is money. Adding additional trains will cost a lot money, and if ridership is down on what service currently exists, that will be a big ask.
Heck, with ridership down, they will need additional money just to continue to run the schedule they already are, to replace the missing farebox revenues due to lower ridership.
Maybe they can shift some trains from commute times to off peak, if ridership is there, but that wouldn't more trains, just the same number at different times.
Many transit agencies will be forced to cut service as soon as all emergency covid funding runs out. I would not expect many to run more trains-in many cases, status quo is the best case scenario.
Caltrain did just put their Stadler KISS emus into service and they will be introducing service every 30 minutes 7 days a week within the next month, I'd say that's a very big step.
On a lot of TH-cam transit channels I get the sense that there is not a lot of recognition of how Covid did/will change things in the future. Maybe going forward there will be a lot less use of baselining 2019 and pretending things will just return there someday. I appreciate the fact that you at least recognize that now a few years out the reality is different.
caltrain is getting new stadler trains, electrifying the route between san francisco and san jose, and improving frequencies
Here in Jakarta, Indonesia.. A third world country, We had Commuter train who had systems like metro, using gate ticketing (you can transfer whenever and wherever you want) and the train are so frequent.. The headway are about 5-10 minutes even 3 minutes in peak hours.. Watching this videos and condition in America about commuter train make my headache.. its pain that you can't freely moving without owning a car
It would also have relieved congestion along I25 if the railrunner traveled a different path since most riders go end-to-end. There is a parallel route that would still cater to the end-to-end commuter and would also capture the commuters in between, and tourists exploring the Turquoise Trail. From the beginning of this project no-one involved in this could actually explain why they wouldn't consider this alternate route. They just said that it was about I25. That said, we definitely need to increase frequency. The people who do ride it, don't seem to mind the extra time, since they get to spend the time doing something.
I firmly and strongly believe America must invest in Battery powered EMUs in order to spread train services throughout the day. Take the EMUs like from the Metra electric or RTD commuter rail and retrofit them with batteries. This will make it so locomotives aren't required for every single train. Ultimately yes it would be better to have overhead catenaries, but this will be much quicker and simpler to implement.
This is sorta the idea with GO Transit’s Regional Express Rail plan in Toronto area. We’ll see if it comes to fruition!
As Not Just Bikes has said, if you have to look at a train schedule, your train system has already failed you
Of all the commuter rail networks that can be upgraded to regional rail the easiest is Philadelphia's SEPTA which IIRC is all electrifiec.
It's all about connectivity. People do not take they train if they can't get to the train station and from the train station to their work place. A successful commuter rail only works together with a bus system. You have to offer a car free end to end connection, otherwise people will take the car the whole route
Awesome video! 😎
great video bro
American trains look weirdly old fashioned. I am near Wellington, NZ, a city with abut 400,000 in the greater urban area. I am 50km from the city and there are three on peak trains and two off peak trains, every hour, from 5am to midnight. There is another line up the valley and into anther province. The Valley line has the same schedule, with the regional trains at about 6 or 8 trains per day. The drive times are pretty similar to the train times at peak, because of congestion, but at peak express trains skip some stops to make the peak commutes faster than driving. The trains are similar price to driving, but the central city parking is about the same cost as the trains.
Doesn't bode well with low income service workers working in the suburbs needing a car if the bus doesn't cover and further the segregation.
Rural communities in Japan, especially Hokkaido are heartbreaking with many lines being single car diesel trains running infrequently have closed down due to population loss and rise in cars.
the train is comfortable i will say, with not that many people in it, you can find tables and nice soft chairs, but getting off at a station and waiting like you said for an hour to get picked up? no mames
I agree that a more reliable schedule and greater frequency plus faster operations at each stop will help. However, we should not get away from the fact that speed is a big problem with American rail. They really need to step it up because they are competing with planes and cars two forms of transit with predictable advantages, therefore rail needs to maximise its advantages.
its 110mph to st louis.....
Yeah i wrote the script before they upgraded it
The 110mph line is great, but it took less time to build the pyramids of Egypt.
What if There was a perfect train and frequent?
How about making one or two of the morning rush hour trains a through express from Albuquerque to Santa Fe without any intermediate stops?
Tbh for an entire commuter rail service in a city like LA to have only 5 mill yearly riders is way too little. These are the things American commuter rail services need to focus on:
-getting diesel multiple units (or electrical where possible) these accelerage faster than hauled trains and stop faster. (Don’t buy too long trains as well)
-provide good accessibility in all stations as well as enough space for bikes on board.
-don’t let the train wait for half an hour before departing in the central station
-provide multiple stations closer to the city centre with park n rides and bus or streetcar links
-increase frequency to twice or thrice an hour at least during peak times (it’s okay if it is only once an hour in off peak times in the beginning)
-make stops outside of the side which have an immediate bus or bike parking next to it
-make sure there are stations near shopping malls/stadiums/universities/airports and more.
-integrate the fares in the regional bus/streetcar services
LA has come a long way. 40 years ago, it was (as it is now) the second-largest city in the US. And it relied 100% on BUSES running in mixed traffic.. The only rail vehicles were Amtrak intercity trains. No light rail, no commuter rail, not even dedicated bus lanes. LA has a long way to go, but it's a lot better than it was.
Yes brother preach!!!
The UTA is kinda trying to improve frequency.
They should get electrified and get Stadler trains
NJT has ~20 minute headways during the week and anywhere from 20 to 40 mins on the weekends
I see Rail Runner, I click
Gotta love the Rail Runner
It’s a gorgeous trainset.
125 mph/200 kmh should be the goal of all rail lines in the USA when it comes to passenger rail. Why? This is the fastest you can cross an intersection without the need for grade separation... Just really good barriers as you see in the case of Brightline East an the Notsobrightline drivers around it... Bombardier JetTrain concept from 2001 which basically is just a diesel-electric version of the Acela/TGV design was proposed for Western markets where electrification wasn't viable financially. I think this should be revived for inter-city express services but with a hydrogen-electric twist... And same goes for commuter rail. If they aren't going to electrify, at least use hydrogen-electric trains to guarantee clean, reliable multiple unit services at a 15 minute peak, 30 minute off peak frequency...
i wouldnt count us at RTD as commuter rail but regional rail we run at most every 30 mins each way almost 24 hours a day
Another critical factor in choosing between driving and riding the train is the proximity of the stations to both one's starting point and one's destination or, at the very minimum, the availability of reliable and frequent local public transit connections. Most people would still pick driving in traffic over riding the most modern, frequent, fast, relaxing, wifi- / remote work-enabled train, if they'd have to wait for longer than 10 minutes to get on some slow bus (if they're lucky!) on either end of the journey. There seems to be very little holistic planning of transportation in the US, very little concern about the bigger picture; instead, services are often funded piecemeal, with minimal coordination and cooperation between agencies.
As an example to the above, I just tried the Rio Metro District's transit planner (based on Google Maps), for a trip between two friends' addresses in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, respectively. Both addresses are within each city proper. The result, for a weekday: 3 hr 36 min one way, of which 48 min is walking, as well three bus transfers (one on the SF side, two on the ABQ side). The same trip by car, during the same day of the week and time of day, would take "55 min to 1 hr 25 min".
The main issue though with increasing frequency, is it costs money. And to run frequent trains all day every day will result inevitably in some fairly empty trains. Since this is America, you're going to get all of the "mY tAx dOlLaRs" assholes who would cry a river over funding what they see as a "useless" service. This is why these things work better in Europe because over there, folks understand that they can get what they pay for with their taxes. These transit agencies in the US have to balance their service coverage against their need to constantly justify their subsidy. Because like it or not, in America transit isn't viewed as an essential SERVICE. It is ran like a business.
Frontrunner really is just in frequent because it’s mostly single tracked. They are planning on double tracking ina couple years tho
As much as I love the Marc Brunswick line it is a disgrace. 9 trains in the morning and 9 in the afternoon, southbound in the morning northbound in the afternoon. No trains on the weekend too. And CSX isn't helping. Although they announced the cornerstone project for the line with extension to Cumberland and Hagerstown + weekend service and all direction service throughout the day CSX isn't in on it and wants to hog the line South of Rockville
Rail runner could pretty easily run at 90mph which is the limit for their coaches that would require a few changes to their signaling system and making the track meet FRA class 5 standard. 10 sets in service would be needed to run every 30 mins. that means they should get 4 more locos, 4 cab cars and probably 13 coaches.
Sweet outro!
Japanese, Australian, and European cities rely less on private vehicles and more on public transportation than North American cities. That is because Americans tend to live far away from city centers or where they work. Japanese and European cities are more densely populated and this makes public transportation more efficient and economical.
Cram Refugees into the American Suburbs so it becomes more dense
Babylon branch has half hourly reverse peak service with a change at Jamaica. God forbid anybody changes at Jamaica. 🤨
It has 3 trains an hour if you include the semi express trains that stop at some stops and connect to the diesels.
how well are rail ad local bus s timetables for coecion buses cordonated what good is more tais if your w home or workplace is not n with in walking distance of the tain station.
The same problems exist with Network Rail and train operating companies here in the U.K. and with Irish Rail back home in Ireland and yet they want people to leave thier cars at home - if train travel in mainland Europe is properly organised for commuters there is no valid reason nor excuse why this is not the same everywhere
lirr while yes runs every hour to many stations some stations (valley steam hicksville jamaica have multi lines so they come every 30 , 15 to 10 minutes and some stations in places like boston cant some places only have 1 line of track (u need two to go in both directions) in one city trains only stop outbound not in bound
Babylon line runs every 30 minutes during off peak
Frequency won't improve unless more rail is obtained to separate passenger from freight
Buy freight lines and run regional rail at subway like frequencies and build elevated lines routing some of the trains via the ELs in downtown as express service with parallel local automated metro in some places
How much more taxes are you willing to pay to pay for all these extra upgrades and reduce wait times?
A lot of light rail would work in American cities; small, cheap, can be automated, and can be adjusted in terms of their train lengths to match ridership. Low volume, put a single power car, and then just add cars to adjust to demand. Want to make it even cheaper? Make it narrow gauge. Automation, narrow gauge, good throughput, reliable, and efficient. Heavy rail costs a ridiculous amount of money in the US-See the 2nd ave subway in NYC for 3 stations at a cost of $1.4 billion/mile. Not worth it.
Read alon leveys aricles the blame can be directly on MTAs clownish behaviour when it comes to construction
@@erikgustafson9319 I had a fucking stroke reading this but yes. You’re correct, the MTA has a really bad history when it comes to building
I once went on a train and took a really big poop and it smelled really bad so everyone had to evacuate the cabbin bc they thought there was a gas leak
🐎
Both LIRR service and the 7 line of the New York City Subway should both be extended to New Jersey.
How about regional rail or Intercity rail?
No question a high quality frequent rail service is a pleasure to use. I've had the privilege of riding the Swiss system recently. It is amazing to see how comprehensive it is. Even the smallest communities seem to have a new line connected to the network. All the equipment seems brand new.
The points about the heavy and slow diesel powered US trains are well taken. It's hard to understand the resistance to electrification. The whole So. Cal system should be electrified, particularly in view of air quality requirements.
agreed pretty much destroyed The northstar from 6 to 2 trains a day
instantly saw the railrunner
0:30 anyone who uses private jets, wont drive with trains to the private jet