Gettin' Ready to Roll!

The Music City Star website went live recently. Looks like we'll be rolling in early 2006. www.musiccitystar.com

Leprearse, that is good news, as to Nashville.

BTW, are you Chattanooga-related? I was born there and grew up there...just curious. Do you ever visit TVRM?

I have been following this system for quite a while. Surprised to see so little here. This first line is Nashville to Lebanon, approximately following I-40 east from Nashville for 32 miles. This is the starter line for several reasons, among them, the railroad is already state owned. freight traffic is low, and it does appear to have fairly good passenger demand. There are four other lines planned, on which there has been some talk but no real work. These are:

1. Nashville to MYrfreesboro, 31 miles on CSX, formerly NC&StL toward Chatanooga, generally parallel to I-24 southeast;

2. Nashville to Franklin, 20 miles on CSX, original L&N line toward Birmingham, 20 miles roughly parallel to I-65 south;

3. Nashville to Kingston Springs, 24 miles on CSX, formerly NC&StL Memphis line generally parallel to I-40 west; and

4. Nashville to Gallatin, 28 miles on CSX northeast, originally L&N line to Louisville, roughtly parallel to I-40 north and US-31E north.

Nashville to Kingston Springs would probably require the least work to implement, but it also appears to have the least traffic potential.

Back to the Lebanon line: The current opening date given on the www.musiccitystar.org web site is "Late Summer 2006" This seems do-able as most the work appears to be done. Generally, equipment for this line was bought cheap. All used equipment, ex-Chicago gallery coaches and Amtrak diesels; however, due to the lifetime low density branchline nature of the track, A LOT of work was done on the track, This included about 4 miles of line changes in three segments and 15 track-miles of new 136RE rail otherwise, lots of new ties, ballast cleaning, replacement of a couple of bridges, and installation of a signal system on a railroad that has NEVER had one. Even with all this new rail, there is still about 7 miles of under 115 lb rail left in track, 112 down to 100 lb.

The latest construction update in the March 28 informationfound on the website says, "As of 2/25/06, $23547,101 (83%) worth of work has been completed of the currently $28,267,187 that has been obligated." It was estimated that the breakdown was about "Signals 90%, Stations 75%, Trackwork 90%." Not sure what is left to be done on the track as other data tells us that all major trackwork is done, included all rail installed, all ties installed, and ballast cleaning completed. It appears that there is some grade crossing work left, and that should be about it. At least one, and possibly all the line changes have been cut in. I think it is all.

There has been an operator chosen, Transit Solutions Group, whoever that is, which is somewhat of a surprise becuase earlier it was stated that the trains would be operated by the Nashville and Eastern itself.

George

A new set of Oversight Committee minutes has appeared on their web site. The latest construction update in the April 11 information found on the website says, "As of 3/25/06, $24,826,299 (87%) worth of work has been completed of the currently $28,410,755 that has been obligated." Most of the work left appears to be related to stations and parking. There is a little track and signal work still outstanding, as well.

The main problem the system appears to be facing is insurance and the ability to have cash for a Self Insured Retention Fund of $2 million. At this point, to obtain $50 million coverage will cost over $1 million for the first year, and the NERR want there to be $200 million coverage. The inability to obtain insurance may result in a delay in start up, because there can be no test running without insurance.

George

I think I heard that the insurance problem was resolved a few weeks ago, but I may need to recheck that to make sure I heard correctly.

I happened to be in Nashville last week and I drove down to look at the new station in Riverfront Park. Not only is this a right pretty station, you can see how smoothly it's going to operate. The train pulls in one end, then the city buses pull right off into a ramp to pick up/drop off train passengers, then take a circular drive that puts them right back on Broadway. This should make it remarkably easy to go from train to bus and then back again.

Just paid the musiccitystar web site a visit. After having none added since September 05, they now have monthly progress reports for all months except December up through May 06. The picutures on them are nice. Looks like all construction work is just about done.

Agenda for June 13 board meeting just published. Among the items there is this one on opening date:

Friday, September 15, 2006, Grand Opening Event

Monday, September 18, 2006, Revenue Operations Date

It also says that the N&E will begin operating under the GCOR from June 11, and that operting staff training will begin July 19. "Over the road testing of the trains and training of the crews is expected to begin in late July."

Item 7 includes, among other things, "As of 5/25/06, $26,145,049 (92%) worth of work has been completed of the currently $28,442,582 that has been obligated."

Because my computer access has been limited the last few weeks, I did not post the April construction update, which was $25,588,361 (90%) of $28,437,695 obligated.

George

Nice to see at least a few of the F-40s are getting a new lease on life.

Don

June monthly report can now be found at musiccitystar.org

The construction phase is rapidly drawing to a close. It notes such things as "Riverfront Station has reached substantial completion." and "Six grade crossing signlas in Lebanon have been activated."

Under critical Issues is only one item: "The miscellaneous trackwork items that are being requested by the FRA need to be funded quickly to insure work can be complete prior to startup."

This operation begins Monday, 9/18/06. The schedule is here.

As far as being a major news item in Nashville, the first few days of operation appear to have approached invisibility. The few news articles on the subject included statements by a few politicians and the road builders lobbying group to the effect that this would do nothing for congestion on I-40 and it was doubtful that it was really worth doing.

The musiccitystar web site has nothing about the first days whatsoever.

Is everybody that is pro-transit in Nashville asleep or dead? - including those in the agency itself.

Did the September 15 "Grand opening event" actually occur or was it cancelled? Again dead silence in web land.

Can anybody point me to some positive publicity on this system.

George

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...EWS01/609190334

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ga...0810&Ref=PH

http://www.wsmv.com/news/9873659/detail.html

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...D=2006609150402

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...D=2006609170430

Rider's Guide: http://www.tennessean.com/assets/pdf/DN41801917.PDF

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...EWS01/609170433

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...EWS09/609170431

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=5433530

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=5429191

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=5429129

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=5429054

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...EWS01/608080343

http://www.tennessean.com/assets/mov/DN41923918.MOV

That's a few links from before and after full launch. That's all I had time to research. From some other Boards, there was apparently a LOT of local media ( mostly TV ) coverage of the launch. I think it carried 372 paid pax on the first day.

I checked out the Star's website, especially the photo galleries, and have a question: why did they choose rolling stock which has an interior that resembles an awkwardly-laid-out prison train?

Well the cars were bought second hand from Metra in Chicago. The cars are known as "Gallery Cars." At the time they were designed and built they were among the (if not THE) first bi-level cars built. Metra and other agencies like the layout of the cars because the Conductor can collect tickets by just walking the lower level of the train. The Gallery car lives on and is still being manufactured for Metra today.

CalTrain is still using those "gallery cars".

Cal Train, Metra, VRE, MARC, and Music City Star are the only operators I'm aware of that are using these bi-levels. The vast majority of Commuter outfits outside the NEC use the Bombardier Bi-Levels.

When I rode Metra for the first time, I too wondered about the galley cars.

But after seeing the conductor in action, I understood.

The Gallery cars do indeed make things nice and easy for the conductor, but that's hardly justification for a design that probably eliminates at least 20 or more seats and potentially forces commuters to stand for long distances.

It's high time that Chicago get's over what's easy for the conductor and starts worrying about capacity. I'm not advocating throwing away the old cars before their time, but they should not be ordering new gallery cars.

While I cannot argue that point Alan, I do look at operations like Tri-Rail and MARC where they essentially have to double sweep the train to get tickets from everyone. If your operation is set up and capable of doing that then go for it, but it seems like things are doing just fine for Metra. Besides which with the number of cars and length of consists that they have I don't think it's that much of an issue, at least from what I've seen.

Many of Metra's lines have stations that are 3-5 minutes apart. During busy periods, it's hard enough for Metra conductors to check everyone's ticket. If they had to walk up and down the stairs to do so, you'd likely have to increase the manpower requirements to ensure fares are collected. The long-term cost of doing that is more than likely much higher than the cost of putting an extra car or two in the consist. However, outside of the rush hours, the extra capacity that might be provided by a different design (such as the Bombardier "tri-level") isn't really needed.

The major benefit to Metra switching to the Bombardier bi-levels would be that station dwell times would be reduced since each car has two sets of doors, not just one, and it appears the Bombardier Cab Car is setup much better and is more comfortable than a Metra cab car.

battalion51 said:

The major benefit to Metra switching to the Bombardier bi-levels would be that station dwell times would be reduced since each car has two sets of doors, not just one, and it appears the Bombardier Cab Car is setup much better and is more comfortable than a Metra cab car.

Click to expand...

Not much extra benefit from the extra door on a Bom when compared to the Gallery, since the Gallery has double wide doors. So technically dwell times should be the same since either car can board or detrain 2 pax at the same time. One would need high-level plats to see any advantage to the Bom cars.

As for the cab, I'm sure that would be more comfortable on the Bom car than it is on the Gallery. On the other hand, the engineer's might prefer the extra height that they get in the Gallery cab, which puts them above any car that they might hit and possibly above many trucks.

Discussion of the relative ease of ticket collection in gallery cars vs. the Bombardier's leaves me curious as to how many commuter agencies have conductors actually collect tickets, how many are merely punched (tickets that is, not conductors!), & how many are on the "honor system".

On the Metrolink system in southern Calif., it's the honor system & random ticket checks are done by the conductor, sheriff's deputies, or uniformed civilian sheriff's employees. If a passenger doesn't have a valid ticket, a citation is usually issued & the fines are heavy.

1702 said:

Discussion of the relative ease of ticket collection in gallery cars vs. the Bombardier's leaves me curious as to how many commuter agencies have conductors actually collect tickets, how many are merely punched (tickets that is, not conductors!), & how many are on the "honor system".
On the Metrolink system in southern Calif., it's the honor system & random ticket checks are done by the conductor, sheriff's deputies, or uniformed civilian sheriff's employees. If a passenger doesn't have a valid ticket, a citation is usually issued & the fines are heavy.

Click to expand...

The light rail system in Calgary, Canada is honor system I saw a "conductor" get real nasty with an un-ticketed passenger one time. Called to the next stop and had the police waiting to escort the fellow from the train. Glad I had bought a ticket!!!

I do not know much about Nashville--I know more about how things "look" in the downtown area than actual street names.

I saw the post Superliner Diner provided and note that the downtown station is across the Shelby Avenue Bridge. My question---Is that the bridge that orignates very near the Union Station Hotel?

If so, seems like it would be a breeze just to walk over there and get on board.

I note from the schedules Superliner Diner posted one could only ride part of the way out to be assured of getting a train right back in iin a few minutes. Otherwise you would get stuck at the end of the line. .