Portland, Oregon: TriMet Westside Express Service

Photos are now on my flickr page at the following address:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkstarpd ... 817397520/

Enjoy!

Thanks for the photos.

I talked to a friend who is with UP here in town. He told me heard via the grapvine Tri-Met/PNWR did apply for a waiver to the FRA in August, but is not 100% sure on that.

The company that purchased the CRC DMU design is no more: American Railcar kills passenger venture

Does this have any potential impact on WES fleet maintenance?

No - Colorado Railcar has been out of business and US Railcar has had no ability to provide much in the way of maintenance or technical expertise, so there's no concern there. TriMet has pretty much had to figure out all the bugs themselves.

For most things, fortunately, Colorado Railcar has used tested-and-proven components, and in fact the WES maintenance crew is made of up BUS - not rail - mechanics (since there is actually more in common between an DMU and a bus - diesel engines, transmissions, than a DMU and a LRV whose only commonality is that they both run on rails, but one requires electrical knowledge and the other not).

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/n ... ers--25693

WES weekday trips rose 14 percent last year to 1,325 and weekly trips jumped 14 percent to 6,625 compared with 2009.

photos at Wilsonville taken Sept 3, 2010

You know, I do have to say about the increase in WES ridership, I do now take WES down to Wilsonville and use SMART for free over to Frys in the evenings more often.

Portland, Oregon has made some nice progress recently in rail construction and plans.

The Portland Streetcar Loop Project

Construction Overview | Portland Streetcar

It currently runs roughly north-south in the downtown area west of the Willamette River.

An extension is being built on the east side of that river, also running north-south. The north ends of the existing line and the extension will be connected by a line across the Broadway Bridge over that river. Much of the construction should be done by the end of this year, and the line should open September next year.

The Portland-Milwaukie light-rail line

Portland Tribune: TriMet begins work on first new Willamette bridge in 40 years
Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project: About the Project
Some nice image and video simulation of the route. It will start at the south end of the existing north-south downtown loop at Portland State University and continue southward to Milwaukie, crossing the Willamette River.

It will have a bridge over that river, a bridge with wide pedestrian and bike lanes on its sides, and two lanes for buses and light-rail trains. Cars and trucks will not be allowed on it. That bridge will be a cable-stayed bridge, with a tower near each riverbank.

Some of the Portland Tribune's commenters grumbled about how worthless this bridge is, because one won't be allowed to drive across it. But not allowing cars makes for a cheaper bridge -- 2 lanes and not 4 or more.

Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project: Construction
The construction of that bridge will start on July 1, and the project should be done by by 2015. It will be the 6th line outward.

The Lake Oswego Streetcar

Metro: Lake Oswego to Portland Transit Project
Railway Gazette: Lake Oswego streetcar

The Portland and Lake Oswego city councils have voted to move ahead with a $458m streetcar route linking the two communities, which includes a junction with Portland’s existing streetcar network on the South Waterfront.

They expect to stay in planning mode for a few more years, perhaps starting construction in 2015.

The Columbia River Crossing

Columbia River Crossing: Home
Metro: Columbia River Crossing

A planned replacement bridge for I-5 that is to include a light-rail bridge for bring light-rail service to Vancouver, WA. The planning has gotten as far as including a route and stations in Vancouver itself, however.

Admin Note: Retitled thread to include "TriMet". Let me know if I've confused the services.

Update: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/p ... p?id=28369

The Federal Transit Administration has awarded the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) the 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award for excellence in environmental document presentation. The federal agency recognized an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) produced for TriMet’s Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail project.

...

The FTA also recognized the 7.3-mile project’s overall “comprehensive public involvement approach” and detailed web site, they said.

The $1.5 billion light-rail project is scheduled to open in September 2015.

BTW, Also Tri-Met put in service those ex-Alaska Budd RDCs back in January...

AgentSkelly wrote:BTW, Also Tri-Met put in service those ex-Alaska Budd RDCs back in January...

Are the RDCs used daily? I though Tri-Met bought them for back-up, to be used in case the DMUs required servicing.

electricron wrote:

AgentSkelly wrote:BTW, Also Tri-Met put in service those ex-Alaska Budd RDCs back in January...

Are the RDCs used daily? I though Tri-Met bought them for back-up, to be used in case the DMUs required servicing.

They seem to be in rotation regularly: I see them in service at least once or twice a week.

Columbia River Crossing gets critical OK from federal transportation to proceed | OregonLive.com

The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration signed the ROD, which finalizes the environmental review process and formally recognizes the project's preferred alternative – a replacement Interstate 5 bridge with light rail.

ROD = Record of Decision

Building a light-rail bridge along with that planned freeway bridge will be important for extending the Portland light-rail system into Vancouver, WA. The freeway bridge's advocates want it because the existing crossing is rather congested, with a vertical-lift bridge that presents a choice between obstructing road traffic and obstructing river ship traffic.

Checking on the Portland Streetcar, it is in the final stages of construction proper, with installation of its overhead wires and warnings that the wires should be treated as electrified. It should open in Sept 2012.

Also checking on Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project, the bridge construction is well underway. The construction teams have finished the cofferdams for the tower foundations and work bridges for accessing them, completing them in the yearly Jul 31 - Oct 1 water work window. By now, they should have started drilling holes for concrete shafts on the west-side one. They expect to do so for the east-side shafts a few months from now, and also for the shafts for both abutments about then. Boats now have a slow / no-wake zone 500' up and downstream of the construction for safety.

Elsewhere on the line, construction has started in SW Lincoln St. The existing line ends near the west end, and the new route will go in it to its end, then across Naito Pkwy. and south on an elevated trackway paralleling Harbor Pkwy. and then east to the new bridge. Construction should be starting on that "aerial structure".

The CRC has been extremely controversial in Portland/Vancouver. Car-advocates (mostly Vancouverites) don't like it because of the transit component. Transit-advocates (mostly Portlanders) don't like it because of the highway component. And both parties would rather see neither get built than both get built because both see the bridge as unnecessarily expensive.