urbanMSP

Why do they even have seats? Would some type of bench make more sense?

Seriously? The Minnesota safe distance bubble would be in serious violation with benches.

Does anybody know if Series III will be electronically compatible with Series II? Recall that Series I and Series II are mechanically compatible, so a II can haul a I into the maintenance yard if needed, but they can't run together in service. My guess is that II and III would be able to interoperate since they're both Siemens S70 designs, but it would be a good thing to confirm.

Series I are Bombardier, Series II are Siemens - which is why the trains do not work together. Series III, because they are also Siemens, shouldn't have any issues with connectivity. The Series III cars look identical to the Series II cars in the presentation.

That's what I would expect, but has anybody stated this? Note that there's no inherent reason Bombardier and Siemens cars couldn't work together, but they don't. My guess is that interoperability with existing rolling stock was a requirement this time, and that's why only Siemens responded to the bid; but I would like to confirm that.

Note that there's no inherent reason Bombardier and Siemens cars couldn't work together, but they don't.

I'll take issue with that statement. It's likely there is all kinds of proprietary communication going on over those links and even if the protocols were open, adapting one manufacturer's protocol to another is not a simple task. There's little benefit (to Siemens and Bombardier) to paying that cost. In fact it's likely a negative benefit, as Siemens probably just sold a bunch more vehicles to MT because they don't work with Bombardier's.

Again, no *inherent* reason. Those are extrinsic business reasons, but not inherent. They both chose not to follow a compatible standard, and nobody required either of them to do so or to license the other's methods in order to ensure compatibility. Given that the physical layer is compatible, the communications layers are completely solvable - but nobody was paid to solve that problem, and neither company wanted to do it just because.

Has anyone seen any info on if the new layout will include more bike racks? The type II's decreased the number of bike racks from 4 to 2 when they reconfigured the handicap seating areas.

Again, no *inherent* reason. Those are extrinsic business reasons, but not inherent.

Just like there's no inherent reason for multiple cell providers, no inherent reason for multiple microprocessor architectures and no inherent reason for multiple search engines.

All of these things, including LRT incompatibilities, are inherent because we live in a capitalist society. Half the battle of being an engineer is internalizing that and approaching things you want to get done from that angle.

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That's what I would expect, but has anybody stated this? Note that there's no inherent reason Bombardier and Siemens cars couldn't work together, but they don't. My guess is that interoperability with existing rolling stock was a requirement this time, and that's why only Siemens responded to the bid; but I would like to confirm that.

Confirmation:
"Production of the light rail vehicles will begin in early spring 2018 after the Met Council awards the second stage of the contract to build the cars, which will be able to be paired with cars currently in service on the Green Line."

Met Council approves $118 million contract for SWLRT vehicles
http://www.startribune.com/met-council- ... 398846511/

Well that's good news. They're not really a Type III, it seems - more like a Type IIA. But I guess that distinction isn't worth making.

To answer the question about bike racks:

"They will provide level boarding with room for four wheelchairs and two bicycles per vehicle."

https://content.govdelivery.com/account ... ns/16e0baf

To answer the question about bike racks:

"They will provide level boarding with room for four wheelchairs and two bicycles per vehicle."

https://content.govdelivery.com/account ... ns/16e0baf

Lame.

I have been reading a lot about the Southwest light rail. I have also been looking at the engineering documents. When they start construction on the light rail, will they also be rebuilding the bike path next to it. Do they have to reconstruct the bike path as well?


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First bid package about to be released, and there's a contractors meeting on Dec 5:

http://politicsinminnesota.com/2016/11/ ... ail-route/

Full Alignment

Contracting Open House Presentation

Man, is it too late to change "W 21st Street Station" to "Kenwood Station" or even "Hidden Beach Station"?

Cool (big) files!

I can't garner at this point how likely it is that this project and/or Bottineau be sidetracked/cancelled due to imminent GOP opposition and eventual takeover. I mean, there are some major players with a stake in the game that typically saddle up to the GOP (e.g. UnitedHealth Group) that would want to see this thing through, yet all I ever hear from the GOP is how they're going to disinvest in rail, disinvest in sustainable transit/design, and block current DFL efforts in doing so.

It is amazing to think about how many more daily riders this line would have had if it continues up the Greenway through the Uptown and Lyn-Lake and up Nicollet... I sat in on a lot of the Whittier meetings about alignment (Blaisdell, Nicollet, 1St) and there were really a mess. Even the hyper pro transit resident can be NUMBY's... Very disappointing.

It's funny how people didn't want blocks long open rail cuts as permanent defining neighborhood features.

The goofy half baked Nicollet alignment will live forever in the hearts of people who wouldn't have had to fund, build or operate it.

I would submit that all alignments between downtown and West Lake station are bad. They're just bad in different ways. People that say that one is perfect while the other has all these flaws just have blinders on. They're all bad! But for better or worse we should really have some kind of transit out to the SW suburbs, if we could just teleport the train from West Lake to Target Field Station that would be ideal.