Today’s Headlines

People are clearly fixated on the idea of a Slauson light rail to the airport but there are other alternatives and I believe a much simpler solution. I have no idea of the engineering feasibility or ROW conflicts in the area but you could build a short segment of elevated track from Blue line in Watts to the “Harbor Gateway North” where it could connect to the green line and head to an unfinished pylon near the airport, I don’t know if that rail line is a fragment of an old inter-urban ROW or a currently used freight line, but it seems to me, from a very lay perspective, to be the simplest solution.

That said I dread the thought it schlepping around luggage in a light rail train. It was bad enough getting lugging on and off a regular transit bus and then holding onto it on Portland’s less crowded light rail trains. Metro’s light rail trains seem to be the narrowest and most cramped, certainly the most crowded light rail trains I’ve ever used. Metro seems to have used the old PCC streetcar as a model when specifying the dimensions of their first light rail trains – probably to limit its impact on automobile traffic and limit lane loss.

The old PE interurban trains, known as blimps were a good deal wider. I’d compare then to a German S-Bahn train. Speaking of S-bahn, when I lived in Germany (and had acress to 18 rapid rail transit lines in my smaller city) I rarely used the train to get to an airport. None of the people I knew did. People who didn’t drive and relied mostly on transit and cycling thought it was strange to take the train to the airport. Most of us don’t fly on a regular basis and most don’t enjoy stuggling with the luggage in tight public spaces. The idea that the rail to airport connection is of great importance reflects the values and experiences of a small group of people – politicians, journalists, CEOs and other frequent fliers – who have more access to media in which to express their ideas about transportation.