The Aging of Light Rail

Newness fades. The future of light rail is easy to predict.

It's a list of "nobody told me it would be like this."

The accidents: "How could I know deaf people can't here the bell?!?"
The lack of maintenance: "Sweeeeeak," says the train as it rounds the bend.
The crime rate near certain stations effecting the real estate appeal of all stations: "'Close to train,' that's real estate code for troubled neighborhood."

Look at Chicago or New York L trains. Look at the apartment buildings near the trains. A great many still date to the time when the trains were first built, when they were new. When the tracks were new and the trains were new, over one hundred years ago, the L trains were relatively quiet. The tracks got rusty. The trains got rusty. The axles and wheels got rusty. Parts became obsolete. This year, Chicago will be starting a seven month rehab of half of the loop. Now... 115 years later.

Over time, apartment buildings parked right next to L stations lost their charm, their newness. People found better places to live.

The first Minnesota light rail transit (LRT) line was put in between the Mall of America, the airport, and downtown Minneapolis. That's the Hiawatha Line, soon to be known as the Blue line, and the foundation of the Twin Cities Metro system of buses (and light rail). The Hiawatha Line travels from prime destinations to prime destinations, and has exceeded ridership expectations.

Light rail planners use that route as the standard for other light rail lines in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, instead of the exception.

Construction of a light rail route between downtown Minneapolis and downtown Saint Paul is currently in full swing. That route, the Central Corridor is compared to the Hiawatha Line, even though it goes to Saint Paul.

No offense to Saint Paul, but nobody goes to Saint Paul. There is hardly any crime, because the sidewalks are rolled up at dusk. The last one out shuts off the lights. It is not a destination like the airport or the Mall of America. The Central Corridor route is not like the Hiawatha Line, except by trying to repeat what was done before.

The Central Corridor is a repeat. It wants to repeat the Hiawatha Line. And it wants to repeat the slicing of the Rondo Neighborhood by Interstate 94 in the mid-1960s. Rondo had just been reemerging, forty years later.

And it will come back, in another forty years.

Minneapolis - Saint Paul Light Rail links & news

Metro Transit http://metrotransit.org/light-rail.aspx
Metro Transit cost, fares and ridership data http://metrotransit.org/Data/Sites/1/media/lightrail/hlrtstats10.pdf
Metropolitan Council - Hiawatha Line, Central Corridor and plans
          http://www.metrocouncil.org/transportation/lrt/lrt.htm
          http://www.metrocouncil.org/transportation/ccorridor/centralcorridor.asp
          http://www.metrocouncil.org/planning/transportation/TPP/2008/index.htm
MN DOT  http://www.dot.state.mn.us/passengerrail/lightrail.html
MSP Airport http://mspairport.com/GroundTransportation/light-rail-transit-service.aspx
Minneapolis and Saint Paul
          http://www.minneapolis.org/visitor/map-transportation/lightrail-bus-schedules
          http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?nid=85
MN Legislature http://www.leg.state.mn.us/lrl/issues/issues.aspx?issue=rail
University of Minnesota http://lightrail.umn.edu/


Contractors
Bombardier http://www.bombardier.com/en/transportation/products-services/rail-vehicles
Simens - S70 http://www.mobility.siemens.com/usa/en/pub/products/vehicles/low_floor.htm
Walsh http://www.walshgroup.com/news/met-council-awards-205.1-million-contract.html
Granite & the settlement
          http://www.graniteconstruction.com/Projects#pid%2831%29
          http://investor.graniteconstruction.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=601261
McCrossan & their contract
          http://www.mccrossan.com/project_portfolio.aspx
          http://csmccrossan.pegasus.webaloo.com/portfolio_cclrt.aspx
Parsons http://www.parsons.com/projects/Pages/default.aspx#pageState=-1


News
MN Public Radio http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/01/23/central-corridor/

MPR filed this story in January 2012:

The first year of major construction on a future light-rail line in St. Paul suffered from communication lapses, haphazard planning, and inattention to community concerns — and that's according to the government agency that manages the project.

Hundreds of documents examined by MPR News show the magnitude of performance problems associated with building the St. Paul portion of the massive Central Corridor transit system connecting to Minneapolis.

Community members have complained about treacherous sidewalks and blocked access to businesses. The records reveal just how systemic some of the glitches were.

In some cases, project staff with the Met Council urged the general contractor to fix a problem — only to have Chicago-based Walsh Construction repeat the mistake again and again. At one point, an exasperated project official questioned whether Walsh had control of its own crews.

The Met Council is ultimately responsible for the $957 million Central Corridor endeavor, billed as the largest and arguably one of the most complex public-works projects in state history. It's scheduled to start service in 2014...

From July to mid-December [2011], the [Met] Council issued more than 100 "nonconformance" reports, which project officials say pertained to more serious issues in which Walsh did not comply with the contract...

The most striking example was a spot near the facility for the State Services for the Blind, where the sidewalk narrowed by more than two feet and then abruptly dropped off by a foot. There were also uncovered holes up to six feet deep near the pedestrian detours, records say. Employee John Hess, who is blind, relies on his fast-trotting service dog, Barclay, to use judgment when approaching dangerous situations that Hess cannot see. But the experience of walking from the bus stop to his office left a lot to chance, he said.

"Terrified," Hess said. "Sometimes it was just hit or miss — 'Let's go for it and see what happens.' And there were times where cars would turn, and I didn't know about it, and Barclay would have to execute some nice little maneuvers to get out of their way."

When [Mark] Fuhrmann, of the project office, showed pictures of the walkways to the Walsh executives in Chicago, "their eyes bulged out," he said.

Problems with inaccessible sidewalks and pedestrian detours led to the only fines against Walsh, totaling $50,000 over the summer.
Although Fuhrmann and other top officials have helped steer other large rail projects to completion, this is the Met Council's first stab as an agency at building light-rail. The Minnesota Department of Transportation led construction of the Hiawatha line in Minneapolis, although Met Council planners were heavily involved.


The Met Council issued multiple reports against Walsh for mishandling asbestos. Excavation crews uncovered transite pipes, which are often used to protect electrical wiring. Instead of stopping work immediately and reporting the presence of asbestos-containing materials, construction crews went ahead with removing them with no special oversight staff present, the documents say.

"Walsh has proven time and again that they are incapable of following environmental laws when they are in close proximity to existing asbestos," a project staff member wrote in July...

{Much more to the story and documents at MPR}