505Alive Wrote:
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> The Northwest Pacific Railroad (NWP) has an
> existing track that now has a running freight
> railroad. The refurbishment effort for freight to
> FRA Class 3(?) standard was less than $70 million.
> Why does SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit)
> have to spend over $400 Million to make the same
> track suitable for passenger traffic? SMART spent
> about $70 million for passenger cars, and needs to
> spend another $300 million before they roll a
> passenger car. Do federal or FRA regulations
> force the expenditure of huge amounts of money to
> enable passenger traffic? Or is it a desire by
> the SMART board to make a 'beautiful' railroad
> instead of a functional one?
> If they required an immediate passenger
> railroad, could they put in a sidewalk about 3
> feet away from the tracks at each each stop, put
> some step stools out, and tolerate a 3 minute
> boarding time (or less). Add ramps for
> handicapped access and call it good until more
> money is available.
> I'm hoping someone in this knowledgeable
> railroad forum can enlighten me on why there is
> this huge monetary difference between freight
> needs and passenger needs.

The NWP is Class 2 (25 freight, 30 passenger) but with a very good margin as a lot of it is close to class 3. However to make it a real class 3 would require a lot of work which would not be of value to the freight operation.