Portland's TriMet First In Country for DMU's?

We're getting heavy rail trains to go with the light rail "MAX" service here in Portland. Not only is it being billed as the first suburb-to-suburb commuter line in the country (the 13.5 mile line originates at a transit center about 5 miles outside the city) but they are also saying that it will be the first to use those DMU railsets. I thought I had read that a few other outfits in the country also were using those. Can anyone confirm this, are we the first?

Given that there used to be RDCs all around the USA (the odd SPV2000 as well) and that TRE (Dallas TX) and OnTrak (Syracuse NY) apparently still use their RDCs, the answer would be "no", tehcnically. (Some people would add NJ Transit's "River Line" diesel LRVs to the list.)

The last functioning DMU trainset in Portland (i.e. in revenue service) was the Flexliner, correct? Amtrak tested them on the Cascades service, going with the Talgo instead.

As far as Colorado Railcar goes, their prototype DMU has been destroyed in a fire; CRC delivered some double-deck DMUs to Tri-Rail down in Florida, but news of what's happening with them is sketchy (last I heard, Tri-Rail was iffy about the performance and were going to put them in revenue service as trailer cars behind the locomotives as a temporary measure—this is anecdotal, BTW). I don't see anything on CRC's website about them having any orders for DMUs from Tri-Met. (As far as the project goes, it looks very odd to me; I'd hope that a branch bound for Portland proper via Lake Oswego would also be in the offing…)

The picture in the paper definitely shows an artist's rendition of a CRC DMU in TriMet colors.

As far as the Lake Oswego connection, it is on the TriMet agenda but not an immediate concern. Right now they are concentrating on the heavy rail project and the "Green Line" expansion of the MAX line (I-205 at Clackamas Mall to downtown transit mall loop/Amtrak Station). The Portland Streetcar has been extended to John's landing and TriMet is doing a feasibility study to continue it on the ex-SP line to Lake Oswego, currently being used by a trolley museum for excursions. It's a very scenic route, right on the river and through a large tunnel. The problem they will have is that the line has been completely encroached by very expensive houses and condominiums, and the NIMBY factor will be through the roof...the line literally runs through front yards and resident parking lots.

SteelWheels21 wrote:they are also saying that it will be the first to use those DMU railsets. I thought I had read that a few other outfits in the country also were using those. Can anyone confirm this, are we the first?

Well, it all depends on semantics, but generally that is an incorrect statement.

TriMet is the first entity to have ordered the Colorado Railcar DMU that was not part of a FTA demonstration grant.

TriMet is not the first operator of the Colorado Railcar DMU, it'll be the second. South Florida Regional Transportation Agency (SFRTA, a.k.a. Tri-Rail) - as Irish Chieftain stated - already has a small fleet of the CRC cars. But, again, as Irish Chieftain stated, the performance of the cars in revenue service is, well, less than satisfactory.

There are several other operators of "DMU"s in the U.S.; most notably the Budd RDC, the NJ Transit River Line's vehicle (manufactured by Siemens, it's similar to a TriMet 200 or 300 series LRV but diesel powered), and the North County Transit District (San Diego County, California)'s SPRINTER system which uses a European design, non-FRA compliant, DMU, also manufactured by Siemens (not yet in service). In Canada, Ottawa's O-Train uses the Bombardier Talent, also known as the Die Bahn class 643 trainset. Of course, VIA Rail also uses the Budd RDC on several long-distance routes.

As for the Flexiliner, ODOT demonstrated the trainset for a few weeks, and also ran it on a few branchlines as well outside the Portland-Eugene corridor. Yes, it was in revenue service, but for a very short period of time, and only as a demonstration. Those trainsets are back at home in Israel. ODOT sponsored the "Lewis & Clark Excursion Train" which used a trio of former BC Rail RDCs between Portland and Astoria on a four-times-weekly schedule in the summers of 2003 through 2005. And the Port of Tillamook Bay owns two RDC-1s formerly of NJ Transit, of which one is operable. The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the NRHS owns two former Boston & Maine RDC-9s (coachs, no cab controls), but both were long de-motored and today are cannot operate self-propelled.

Irish Chieftain wrote:I'd hope that a branch bound for Portland proper via Lake Oswego would also be in the offing…)

Sir,

I would highly recommend that if you are ever out this way, that you take the opportunity to ride on the Willamette Shores Trolley, which currently operates a former Portland "Broadway" car on this former Southern Pacific branchline.

You will quickly discover that this route is simply unsuitable for further use as a transit route, except maybe as a low-speed extension (no faster than 30 MPH top speed) of the Portland Streetcar. As SteelWheels21 wrote, this line has been severely encroached by a number of (expensive) homes, who are occupied by homeowners who have no shortage of funds to fight such a "renewal" of this route. There is at least one home, where within a matter of 10-15 feet one can go from the front door of the house, past a hedge (along the front wall of the home), to the railroad, to a street. And, the pathway from the front door actually is built over the railroad tracks. Imagine a Baldwin AS-616 at your front door; that was the "power of the day" in the 1950s and 1960s. The line is located at the base of cliffs which result in very poor sight-lines at a number of grade crossings; the trolleys make mandatory stops at all grade crossings. Three crossings are protected by wig-wag signals; even so the trolleys stop.

The best bet would be for the Streetcar to extend as far south as Willamette Park, just south of John's Landing and north of the Sellwood bridge. An extension further south would have little potential for en-route ridership, and a bus on parallelling Highway 43 would beat the streetcar easily. As for a commuter rail route serving the southwest suburbs of Lake Oswego, Tualatin and Sherwood - the best bet would be to cross the Willamette River to Milwaukee, and provide a suburb-suburb "shuttle" route that would offer connections with MAX at Milwaukie, busses in Lake Oswego, and Commuter Rail (and busses) in Tualatin.

SEPTA's Red Arrow division trolley lines: 100, 101, and 102 are all suburb-to-suburb light rail lines, and NJT's River LINE is both DMU and all suburban.

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in north Jersey and even the NYC-MTA G subway line in New York also sort of function as suburban to suburban routes, or at least as routes that don't go to or through the region's core downtown area (midtown/lower Manhattan in both cases). The examples Lucius Kwok cited are even truer representatives of suburban to suburban routes (or more accurately intercity routes that don't go into Center City Philadelphia in the case of the SEPTA Route 100 and NJ Transit RiverLINE).

Not exactly. The G train and HBLRT both operate in the NY metro area. That's like saying that trains operating to/from Hoboken Terminal operate "suburb-to-suburb", which is not the case.

Irish Chieftain wrote:Not exactly. The G train and HBLRT both operate in the NY metro area. That's like saying that trains operating to/from Hoboken Terminal operate "suburb-to-suburb", which is not the case.

I agree there is some difference between the examples I cited and what Portland is doing, but the concept - local heavy or light rail that doesn't directly travel to the primary downtown CBD in an area - is similar. Yeah, I know places like Jersey City and downtown Brooklyn aren't true suburbs, but they aren't really primary core commercial districts in the NYC metro area either (secondary cores yes, primary cores no).

At any rate, what Portland is doing (in terms of route location) is occurring in a few but very limited number of locations.