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Valley Metro Rail
You can smell the new paint.
Just last week, Phoenix began interurban light rail service, Valley Metro Rail. This 20-mile catenary service connects many areas of the valley in a very logical way. My understanding is this is the longest light rail service ever opened all at once!
VMR 145 at the western terminal of the system. These are beautifully done cars, and run in two or three cars sets. Twelve wheels and two diaphrams per car. They stop at traffic signals, and have incorporated a new set of park and ride lots.
Being brand new, everything is sparkly clean. When they roll by at 35MPH, you can barely hear them.
The couplers are hidden behind faux bumpers that are moved out of the way. I wonder how long this will be so clean?
I shot this door test before the public could ride. When the doors whooshed open, it smelled just like a new automobile.
The city did a great job of putting this system together in just a few years. There were major swaths of old retail buildings demolished. Most of them were pretty trashy really, and everything along the route is much improved, including the streets. I live a quarter mile from the route, and enjoyed watching them build the whole thing from the ground up.
System map:
When I fly to Chicago in a couple of months, I'm planning to walk down the street, hop the rail, and take it to the airport. I don't even need to take my car out of the garage!
Just last week, Phoenix began interurban light rail service, Valley Metro Rail. This 20-mile catenary service connects many areas of the valley in a very logical way. My understanding is this is the longest light rail service ever opened all at once!
VMR 145 at the western terminal of the system. These are beautifully done cars, and run in two or three cars sets. Twelve wheels and two diaphrams per car. They stop at traffic signals, and have incorporated a new set of park and ride lots.
Being brand new, everything is sparkly clean. When they roll by at 35MPH, you can barely hear them.
The couplers are hidden behind faux bumpers that are moved out of the way. I wonder how long this will be so clean?
I shot this door test before the public could ride. When the doors whooshed open, it smelled just like a new automobile.
The city did a great job of putting this system together in just a few years. There were major swaths of old retail buildings demolished. Most of them were pretty trashy really, and everything along the route is much improved, including the streets. I live a quarter mile from the route, and enjoyed watching them build the whole thing from the ground up.
System map:
When I fly to Chicago in a couple of months, I'm planning to walk down the street, hop the rail, and take it to the airport. I don't even need to take my car out of the garage!
Total Comments 2
Comments
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It's a great start and they have only had six accidents in the first week. Each car has 16 (?) cameras and watching the video of the latest accident on the news has been interesting.
Expand the system to Glendale and out to East Mesa and/or Gilbert ASAP.Posted January 10th, 2009 at 03:56 PM by PacRail 
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I didn't even know about the cameras, but that makes sense. Interesting!Posted January 11th, 2009 at 01:42 PM by campp
