the newsletter of tbd consultants - edition 16, 4th qtr 2009
						Printable PDF version Subscribe to our newsletter In this Edition Rainhill Trials' 180th Heavy & Light Rail Cal High Speed Rail Light at End of Tunnel
		Construction Management Specialists 111 Pine Street, Suite 1315 San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 981-9430 4361 35th Street San Diego, CA 92104 (619) 550-1187 www.TBDconsultants.com
		Rainhill Trials' 180th Geoff Canham, Editor It will be 180th anniversary in October of the Rainhill Trials, and in this article we take a quick look at this landmark event in the history of the railroads.
		Heavy & Light Rail Concern for the planet’s ecology, along with recent experience of the way fuel costs can go, has resulted in public transit staging a come-back around the world, largely in the form of light rail and heavy rail transit systems. Rail transit systems are continuing to reshape many of our cities, and new commercial and residential developments frequently emerge around new stations. But what makes light rail light? Do heavy rail transit systems use heavier track or weightier vehicles than light rail systems? Not necessarily, is the answer to the second question, which makes the first question even more of a puzzle. Basically, the difference between heavy rail (metro systems) and light rail is one of philosophy, not technology. Heavy rail systems are descendants of systems such as the Boston Metro and the London Underground, whereas light rail traces its history back to the trolleys that used to ferry people around our city streets (and still do in places like San Francisco). The two types of rail systems may use virtually identical technology: for instance, Chicago’s “L” is one of the oldest metro (heavy rail) networks, but the portion of the same network known as the Skokie Swift (now called the Yellow Line) is considered to be one of the first modern light rail systems. Light rail systems usually run trains of not more than 2 or 3 carriages (which may be articulated) and which often have overhead pick-up for the power supply. They also frequently, but not necessarily, utilize city streets for part of their route. They may use elevated structures to support the track, but seldom use tunnels (although some do, such as San Francisco’s Muni). Stations are frequently little more than raised platforms or sometimes non-existent except for a sign. In some ways light rail is a descendant of Novelty, the people’s favorite at the Rainhill Trials. Heavy rail trains usually have 4 or more carriages (although the above mentioned ‘L’ sometimes runs two car trains), and usually have pick-up from a third rail. The closest they come to running on streets is sometimes having their track on the median strip of a freeway, and in city centers they normally run in tunnels. Stations are normally significant structures. These differences can often result in costs per mile of metro systems being around 50% higher than for equivalent light rail. Where do people-movers fit into these classifications? They are light (often ultra-light) rail systems that ferry people around a limited area, such as a city center (in Detroit), an airport (in Atlanta for instance) or a theme park (as in Disneyland). Some of the transit projects benefiting from the stimulus package include: Central Phoenix/East Valley Light Rail, Phoenix Dulles Corridor Metrorail Extension to Wiehle Aveune, Northern Virginia Long Island Rail Road East Side Access, New York Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension, Los Angeles Mid Jordan Light Rail Transit, Salt Lake City Northwest/Southeast Light Rail Transit, Dallas Pioneer Parkway EmX BRT, Springfield Second Avenue Subway Phase I, New York South Corridor I-205/Portland Mall LRT, Portland University Link Light Rail Transit Extension, Seattle West Corridor Light Rail Transit, Denver
		California High Speed Rail High Speed Rail is coming to California at last! In this article we take a look at where we are in the project, and at what is planned.
		Light at the End of the Tunnel? Ben Bernanke says, and we agree with him, that the recession is probably technically over. So can we heave a collective sigh of relief and expect the construction industry to recover as fast as it collapsed? We look back at the recession of the 1990's to see how that recovery progressed, to try and get a feel for how things might go this time.
		Design consultant: Katie Levine of Vallance, Inc.