[PRCo] Re: Fwd: The Virgina-Pilot (Saturday, July 2, 2011): As trains roll, downtowners adjust to sharing road

[Dwight Long]

Fred

I wonder if once regular service starts if there will be a rash of autos running into trams as there was in Denver and Houston?

Dwight

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Fred Schneider 
  To: peter folger ; Pittsburgh-Railways at Dementia.Org 
  Sent: Saturday, 02 July, 2011 15:06
  Subject: [PRCo] Fwd: The Virgina-Pilot (Saturday, July 2, 2011): As trains roll, downtowners adjust to sharing road



  Begin forwarded message:

  > From: Phil Craig <philgcraig204 at yahoo.com>
  > Date: July 2, 2011 1:35:37 PM EDT
  > To: Bruce Bente <bbente at bellsouth.net>, Fred W Schneider III <fwschneider at comcast.net>
  > Cc: Jack May <jack.may at americomm.net>
  > Subject: The Virgina-Pilot (Saturday, July 2, 2011): As trains roll, downtowners adjust to sharing road
  > 
  > 
  >  
  > As trains roll, downtowners adjust to sharing road 
  >  
  > By Debbie Messina
  > The Virginian-Pilot
  > © July 2, 2011
  > NORFOLK
  >  
  > 
  > 1 of 3 photos:
  >  
  > Pedestrians and cars encountered light-rail trains on Monticello Avenue near the Monticello station on Friday, July 1, 2011. Light-rail trains started running through town last week with increasingly frequent practice runs. (Amanda Lucier | The Virginian-Pilot)
  >  
  > View all 3 photos
  >  
  > Janene Smith has walked across Monticello Avenue hundreds of times before, but this week for the first time she stopped abruptly for a 90-foot, 100,000-pound light-rail train to pass.
  >  
  > "We're not used to just stopping - the light takes too long sometimes, so I sneak across because I want to get home," said the downtown worker who was excited and overwhelmed by her first encounter with The Tide. "Now with this here, we're going to have to be more cautionary."
  >  
  > Since the trains started running through town last week with increasingly frequent practice runs, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and train operators are adjusting to sharing the roads.
  >  
  > Or not. During a recent rush hour at the same intersection, Monticello and City Hall avenues, cars stopped on tracks for a red light, a trio of women chose to walk on the rails instead of a crosswalk, and a cyclist used the guideway like a bike path.
  >  
  > "I did what I was taught in elementary school - I looked both ways," one of the women said.
  >  
  > Soon, police will start issuing warnings for unsafe behaviors. Later, they'll begin ticketing.
  >  
  > "All of us need to be more alert and more aware ofour surroundings," said Cathy Coleman, Downtown Norfolk Council president and CEO. "The safety message has been out there a while, but it took trains running before people realize this is a responsibility of theirs."
  >  
  > The first and only accident so far occurred last week when a bicyclist hit the side of a moving train at a crossing near the corner of York and Botetourt streets. The biker, who was wearing headphones, was not injured and the train was not damaged.
  >  
  > Hampton Roads Transit is working on modifications to that crossing, using railings and other barriers to force pedestrians and cyclists to slow down and pay attention before proceeding across the tracks.
  > Along with new awareness, th
  > ere's also new excitement on the streets. It's not uncommon to see onlookers pull out cameras to snap pictures or take videos as trains pass.
  >  
  > "I have high hopes for it," said Chris Chenery of Norfolk. "I'm hoping this gives us a boost, gives us some credibility from a metropolitan standpoint so we're not doomed to small-city status."
  >  
  > Norfolk is the smallest city in the country to build light rail.
  >  
  > Chenery said he wished he lived near a station so he could ride the train to work downtown every day: "It doesn't seem to go quite far enough."
  >  
  > Trains started running with increasing frequency last week as HRT prepares for an Aug. 19 opening.
  >  
  > "We're very pleased with the way the equipment is performing," said Jim Price, HRT rail operations officer. "In a lot of respects, it's performing better than expected."
  >  
  > Price has helped open three other light-rail systems in Seattle, Baltimore and Salt Lake City and said The Tide is in better shape than the others with less than two months before the opening date.
  >  
  > "I can't imagine anything happening that will prevent us from opening," he said.
  >  
  > With time, trains will run more regularly and begin to simulate a regular operating schedule with 10-minute intervals at peak hours. But from Monday through Saturday, they will run far less frequently downtown as HRT completes fixes at some of the stations. Trains will stop running east of downtown for a week starting today.
  >  
  > At seven of the 11 stations, either the rail heights or platform heights need to be adjusted so that the stations comply with federal law for people with disabilities. Currently, the train floor and the station platforms don't align in some spots for a smooth transition for people in wheelchairs or who are sight-impaired.
  >  
  > HRT President and CEO Philip Shucet said the work will be done within the $338 million light-rail budget and will not delay The Tide's opening.
  >  
  > Still, he said there's more work to be done before the system is ready for a free three-day preview starting Aug. 19 and revenue service on Aug. 22:
  >  
  > -- HRT and the city continue to adjust and coordinate traffic-signal timing downtown to achieve an optimum flow of vehicles and trains.
  >  
  > At times, some signals are not responding in proper sequence - either the signals freeze in one position, they all turn red or they flash. Shucet said there's been no consistent cause for the problem.
  >  
  > "Keep in mind we're taking a brand new train-signal system and plugging it into the city's traffic-signaling system of various ages as you go from intersection to intersection," he said.
  >  
  > HRT is also making sure that train operators do not contribute to the problem by failing to hit the proper speeds or stop at the correct spots, which trigger signal changes.
  >  
  > -- Practice runs will continue for operator training and for setting an operating schedule. Currently, the train trip on the 7.4-mile route between Newtown Road and the Eastern Virginia Medical Center is running over 30 minutes. With tweaks to the signaling system, the trip could be reduced to 25 minutes or less, Shucet said.
  >  
  > -- Automated lubricating systems are being installed at 11 curves along the embedded track downtown. The in-ground system injects grease upward through holes in the rails to reduce the squealing noise now heard as trains round the curves and to reduce wear and tear on the train's wheels.
  >  
  > -- Rumble strips and speed bumps were recently installed in key areas to keep vehicles from crossing into the train's guideway. However, the rumble strips are peeling up and will be replaced with more speed bumps.
  > -- Construction continues on the three Park and Ride lots at Newtown Road, Military Highway and Ballentine Boulevard.
  >  
  > -- Other adjustments may be necessary once HRT receives recommendations from light-rail operations experts from systems in Denver, Houston, Dallas and Minneapolis who were in town this week conducting a peer review. Officials from Salt Lake City will come later in July.
  > Shucet said the issues and adjustments are not unusual in a startup system: "They're the very reason we do these pre-revenue operations."
  >  
  > Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina at pilotonline.com
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