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Re: SMART Likely to approve "Heavy Rail" for commuter train
Author: synonymouse
Date: 07-15-2009 - 20:56
Mouse here.
Of course Bob2 is entirely correct. The Budd RDC is a handsome vehicle, but the voters were promised new. Too bad there is no car builder left in the States to produce an all-new iteration of the Budd.
That said, I still feel SMART would have done better to stay with loco hauled. SMART is a very small outfit to take on the job of rolling out an altogether new vehicle. Especially a type of vehicle that has not been that successful historically in the U.S. I suggest that something similar to the Road Runner operation in New Mexico would have been prudent for SMART.
It is going to take years for all of SMART's conceptual problems to bubble to the surface. I hope that someone in a position of power recognizes that turning the whole project over to Golden Gate Transit will produce the best chance of SMART having some modicum of success.
I have been spending some time on the hsr blog site. But it's fanatical and depressing - most of the posters come on like Bechtel groupies.
Of course Bob2 is entirely correct. The Budd RDC is a handsome vehicle, but the voters were promised new. Too bad there is no car builder left in the States to produce an all-new iteration of the Budd.
That said, I still feel SMART would have done better to stay with loco hauled. SMART is a very small outfit to take on the job of rolling out an altogether new vehicle. Especially a type of vehicle that has not been that successful historically in the U.S. I suggest that something similar to the Road Runner operation in New Mexico would have been prudent for SMART.
It is going to take years for all of SMART's conceptual problems to bubble to the surface. I hope that someone in a position of power recognizes that turning the whole project over to Golden Gate Transit will produce the best chance of SMART having some modicum of success.
I have been spending some time on the hsr blog site. But it's fanatical and depressing - most of the posters come on like Bechtel groupies.
