Phoenix METRO Light Rail - ride from Priest Dr. to Mill Ave.

[sideslide23]

this light rail will be in service in December of this year, and every one gets to ride on it for free until the begining of January of 2009 and every one willhave to buy the pass.

[wn676]

Running wrong main...that's pretty neat. This might be kind of a dumb question, but is the system dispatched via CTC?

[cosmoflanker]

Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, but it's actually called a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system in light rail transit parlance. There is a central control center monitoring all trains but no block signals or cab signals. Switches have position indicator signals. Closest thing to block signals are the "Bridge Clear" signals, which you can see as we enter the 2nd(Center Pkwy) sta., it's lit up lunar white, and indicates the track is clear across Town Lake Bridge.

[wawonas]

Seattle light rail doesn't stop at the intersections and it's scheduled for opening on July 2009. I guess they have different company that operates the light rail trains differently.

[wawonas]

Interesting that it has to stop at the intersections. The Sound Transit's link light rail don't stop at the intersections as it has the priority over the cars.

[cosmoflanker]

Remember, it's still not actually in service. Not all signals are functioning in their final configuration. It will have to stop sometimes however, depending on the intersection and the priority established between the train and the cross street. A lot of extra "safety stops" are still being made during testing and initial operator training. We were also running "wrong track" for this special trip, and that may have something to do with having to wait for signals as well.