Houston Light Rail Transit

[bigtown]

Still won't give Texans better personalities.

[bigtown]

Still won't give Texans better personalities.

[8v71buses]

Man those LRTs look real nice :-)

[Baron2yahoo]

Dude this is so much better than BRT.

[texasboy5680]

I am surprised to see a light rail running thro a residential neighborhood.... in the middle of the road too.#2 the stations are in the median of a 6 lane road so that seems like horrible planning since the passengers will have to cross in mass to get 2 the other side.#3 Why it it not elevated....seems like alot of traffic will be stopped for a train, in Dallas every major road crossing the train is elevated...& last why are they not making transit oriented developments 2 utilze the terminals?

[keithutexas]

@texasboy5680 The Dallas LRT avoids everything, notably the major destinations. It doesn't matter if it's at grade or elevated... it has to go where people want to go. One 7.5 mile line in Houston carries almost as many people as the entire DART rail system... just because it hits the major employment centers (DART doesn't quite take you there).

[texasboy5680]

@keithutexas Dallas light rail avoids everything??...........hmm...A­merican airlines center home of 2outta4 Dallas teams....BOTH airports.....all of downtown and uptown... Fair Park...The Asian trade district...2 Convention centers.....runs parallel to ALL but 1 major freeway in the city limits....UNT at Denton and University of Dallas..Your right dart avoids everything....lol...what exact "major destination" were you referring to, cause that's about 99.9% of them?

[keithutexas]

@texasboy5680 Sorry... DART doesn't quite make it to either airport... Try taking the train to DFW on a Sunday. How about those destinations where people actually work? The Medical Center (doesn't quite get you there)? Any office building in North Dallas (not even close). It's not the fault of the rail system; it's poor land use planning. The real question is whether 99% of people can ride rail to their jobs...not even close (not in Houston, either, but it it does serve a higher # of jobs).

[keithutexas]

@keithutexas PS... if you do try to take the train to DFW on a day other than Sunday, it still involves 2 buses from the DFW rail station... one to take you to the south parking area where you then transfer to another bus that takes you to the actual airport. That's insanity! Then try taking the train from UNT to DFW (4 hours on 3 trains and 2 buses for what takes 30 minutes in a car).

[Florinel83]

Please create a game.....

[Florinel83]

Please create a game!!!!!!

[folks3000]

Lol I love how normally light rail produces efficient and dense redevelopments along it's line, but since Texans are so loving of sprawl, the new developments along the line in the animation are all sprawling and suburban like developments.

[minitrueful]

Stupid waste of money. Busses would have been cheaper. Screw Houston.

[mfastx]

@minitrueful lol we already have buses. that's why we have such low ridership, buses are too slow, and unreliable.

[StylistecS]

@minitrueful Screw buses. Nobody likes those things that still fight the same traffic as cars and they run on rubber wheels.

[mailxxxxxx]

If they should build it elevated, they could also build a monorail. A monorail doesn't have all these ugly cables. To me monorails just look better too. The monorail can also drive independently from normal traffic.

And i'm sure that a monorail could be build much faster and easier than light rail.

[keithutexas]

@mailxxxxxx Sure,... monorail at $100m a kilometre. Get rid of the ugly 20cm cables in the air and replace them with attractive 1m concrete beams supported by 1m concrete structures (with cables attached). Yes, monorail is clearly superior.

[1994jerydiaz]

to me METRO should had made all th line elevated so that while makeing the new line they didn't have to remove some of the lane of some roads like i nthe frist part.plus most of yall who are not from houston should know that a subway in houston,would not be a good choice,becuz houston tends to flood a lot when it rain.also its really messup how many drivers get hit by a train all the time.but will it to late to say anything about it

[danielday36]

if only Houston Rail was this safe. LOL. I wish they put it here in San Antonio, for we have the same idiot drivers around and removing them off the street thru light Rail would be a savor to this bicycle Commuter. And Plus I would ride it everyday.

[franklingladson]

very good!.

[spliffgame]

id rather have a subway system than a light rail system with all those ugly cable lines hanging above the street just saying..

[micjozz]

that better..in my country they are building a kind of this way of trasnport but is with buses check video "metropolitano de lima"

[david40686]

light rail is what all the cool kids have.

[jeffsandychelsea]

@david40686 Hell YEAH! PORTLAND FTW!!! >:3

[batemanjo9]

Look at DART in Dallas, a lot of the stations on the red line north of downtown are elevated platforms because the rail cuts into dense population and businesses, so instead of going under them they just go over them.

[jkeelsnc]

What is wrong with light rail. Many cities are using it it very successfully. Someone mentioned phoenix but there is also Portland and of course Dallas has the DART rail system. Charlotte just opened a light rail line in 2007 and plans to expend it through their city.

[cheerwine01]

@jkeelsnc Having ridden the LYNX Blue Line in Charlotte, I can tell you that it has revitalized development in economic disaster zones, branded the image of the future on a Southern city, improved mobility, and increased public transit usage by 20-30%

Anyone who says lightrail is a failure or a waste isn't a fact-checker

[TheMoshiDUDE]

cool

[StylistecS]

That said, this is half doing it. All metro in Houston is building is a 21st century of a streetcar/trolly system. The Houston region needs trains with a higher capacity and that is heavy rail. The density in Houston is increasing especially inside the loop. Light rail is fine for already dense areas like inside the loop. You can't run a light rail system out to the burbs like DC or San Francisco does and expect to have the same results. Sorry. Get some heavy rail Houston.

[drewdog1496]

Yes, they do need heavy rail. They spent years debating it, but they said that it HAD to be underground. But, of course, that is not viable because a hurricane would destroy the system. So they spent a few years more arguing and selected light rail as a compromise.

[StylistecS]

Well then make it elevated. That's just an excuse on why they didn't want to build it. There are plenty of cities that face extreme natural disasters and they have heavy rail not only underground, but elevated. It's a copout.

[drewdog1496]

I can't make it elevated. I'm not the mayor of Houston. I agree that they need to get off their asses and build heavy rail, but I just don't think that its going to happen with gas prices lower than $8/gallon.

[sideslide23]

they probably can, but they should be electrifide and make it into high speed train, like what going on with California, and the northeast

[sideslide23]

Underground are too expensive, and too dangerous because when they diged tunnes for the red line metro in L.A. they had bunch of avalanch which street broke down, and tunnels collaped, and when they try widing up the tunnels, then the street and tunnel collaped, and lots of the worker has been injured or killed during the insident so its safer to built it like this or put in Monorails

[sideslide23]

I don't know, Ask Jeff and Ashley Schill, I'm shure my eX GF Ashley Jolley knows because they live there now.

[sega31098]

How can a hurricane destroy an underground system?

[drewdog1496]

The entire system would fill up with water and flood because Houston is at sea level.

[sega31098]

How much money is it to create waterproof walls?

[drewdog1496]

Rain would go over the walls still if there was a hurricane. You'd need enormous pumps.

[sega31098]

Well, even though they're going to build it at surface level, they should at least make one station underground. It will be expensive, but for a city the size of Houston, one underground station is needed.

For example, Amsterdam is below sea level, yet they, the government of the city, made several canals and managed to build a fully underground rapid transit system in the city.

Fully underground systems are too much trouble for Houston, but they need at least one station underground.

[drewdog1496]

I don't understand why the need only one underground station. If it was determined that these above ground stations were best, then so be it.

Plus, Houston doesn't have the political will for anything that isn't super simple.

[sega31098]

I didn't say only one, I said AT LEAST ONE.

[drewdog1496]

Splitting hairs much?

My basic question remains yet unanswered: If underground stations are deemed unnecessary, then what is the point of spending money on an underground station? That can only be deemed as wasteful; above ground stations can be just as good and in some cases better than their underground counterparts.

[sega31098]

I know, for the meantime. As Houston grows, so will the density. Then they will need a few of them. For the meantime, a skytrain will do. At the moment it's more like a trolley than a true LRT. Perhaps a tram-train will work.

[sega31098]

@drewdog1496

Also, is it dangerous to put elevated systems directly on top of city streets?

If so, an extensive SkyBus system (like Wuppertal, Germany) will do the trick. It takes up little space and is basically like a heavy-rail cable car system. It's also not very expensive now.

[sega31098]

Will Houston ever construct any underground stations for the light rail?

[drewdog1496]

... ok

[amtrc]

the times is now gas and auto cost too much lightrail now. texas bus fleet in the years to come may be glad they made an investment for light rail. bus fueal cost much money and can could bankrupt the bus system buying potrollium

[sideslide23]

Phoenix Arizona now has a light rail similar to this, I'm shure you texan will get this in your area, because we have that in our area.

[drewdog1496]

I'm a Texan (unfortunately) and I realize that there is way to much sprawl for there to be any real public transit...

[kennyc05]

You really dont know what you are talking about.

[drewdog1496]

are you a texan? have you been to houston or san antonio? there is no way those two cities will ever have public transit equal to that of new york city or paris. its to little to late.

[kennyc05]

Yes I live in Sugar Land a suburb of Houston

[drewdog1496]

Then you should realize that there is not nearly enough population density in Texas to have viable transit systems.

[kennyc05]

You cannot compare Houston with any other city in Texas Houston has a dense enough inner city core inside the loop for light rail to be effective and then you run commuter rail from outer areas its not a Texas thing man.

[drewdog1496]

Even if Houston did have a dense enough urban core, its suburb are way too spread out for public transit. Harris County has a population density of 2000/sqmi, which is way below the 15000/sqmi that many European cities with great public transit have. Also, Texas is the heart of the car-culture. The people wouldn't be too happy about their tax money being spent on something they most likely wouldn't use.

[Tubes12AX7k]

As time goes on, the price of gas will continue to increase, even if other oil reserves are opened up. There is still a limited supply. And China, India, Indonesia, and other emerging markets are only just beginning to suck down larger and larger quantities of it. The future is electric, whether it is hybrid cars, or electric trolleys. The era of cheap gas is gone. Take your pick.

[drewdog1496]

I agree with you on that, put right now there is now nearly enough political will power in Houston for real investment in public transit, and there won't be for years to come.

[refresh967]

weirdo

[refresh967]

your an idoit drewdog. People use thier cars because there is no option and you cant compare a city with a another country. Houston is the Damn 4th largest city in america. Washington D.C isn't as populous and dense as houston yet it has many monorails. It is very possible for houston to have a new york style mass transit system.

[drewdog1496]

You're (not your) stupid. Washington, D.C. is well over TWICE as dense as Houston (look it up.) You know, it helps when you are calling someone else an idiot if you yourself don't look like an idiot. Houston has not the political will, density, nor government funds for a D.C. or New York style mass transit system, and it is stil very far away. Please try and to at least LOOK smart for a change.

[refresh967]

its the internet fatass i can spell anyway i want.

[drewdog1496]

@refresh967 you're just insulting me because you know that you lost the argument.

[refresh967]

dude u just lost. what u said is a total fail. I cant belive ur still talking to me loser. get a life.

[drewdog1496]

@refresh967 Fine. I'll stop talking. One last message, though: you know nothing. Done. Bye Bye.

[StylistecS]

Washington DC has a population of around 600,000 in 68 sq miles. THERE IS NOTHING like that in Houston. Washington DC is approaching 10,000 per sq mile. Houston is only around 4000 per sq mile. Washington is way more dense than Houston.

[timosha21]

@StylistecS but nyc is even more dense than DC... lol

[StylistecS]

@timosha21 yeah but that's a given.

[gibb1991]

@StylistecS Houston is 579 square miles. 4000 square miles is more than Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Galveston put together!

[StylistecS]

@gibb1991 No no. You misread it. We were talking about density. Not the size of the city. Houston only has 4000 people per sq. mile. Also, you also are miscalculating. Houston metro covers nearly 9000 sq. miles. Houston and Dallas metros together cover nearly 20,000 sq. miles.

[gibb1991]

@StylistecS Ok. That makes sense. Although 4,000 people per sq. mile is pretty dense. But according to city-data, wikipedia (not the best source), The City of Houston Government Website, and the United States Census, the city does indeed cover only 579.4 square miles of land area.

[StylistecS]

@gibb1991 Houston's density honestly is actually very average. Look at Chicago. It's above 12000. New York is above 23000. San Francisco is above 16000. Houston is actually not in the top 20 for densest major cities in the nation.

[gibb1991]

@StylistecS But it is one of the largest cities in the nation.

[StylistecS]

@gibb1991 It's one of the largest cities in the country due to them having a large sq. miles. Houston is 579 sq. miles. Now imagine Boston or San Francisco was that large? Boston is only 48 sq miles and San Francisco is not that much different.

[gibb1991]

@StylistecS But isn't that part of the point? Giving people an alternative to driving?

[StylistecS]

@gibb1991 I do. But some other people argue for not getting them for different reasons.

[MrEiriku]

@drewdog1496 cum

[StylistecS]

Ok but Houston and Texas cities cannot sit on their ass and pave their way out of problems once the density in these cities increase. The inner loop of Houston is approaching 6000 per sq mile which is sufficient for a viable transit system and it as well as the rest of the major urban areas will get even more dense. The citizens of Houston are screaming for rail transit. Like another person said, You can make your future or in the future, you'll get what you deserve.

[refresh967]

he's just some crazy drunk idoit in the hospital probraly in the texas medical center(one of the world highest rated hospital center)

[kmarinas86]

Hey. I am a commuter guy in Houston, TX.

In case you didn't know, Metro tore down many ghetto houses next door to U of H. They are going to build a light rail line there that connects to downtown, it is going to be very useful for people wanting to recruit people from U of H. You naysayers have no idea what the inner city of Houston is actually like. The light rail will improve the image of Houston and its universities. In the long run, it will make money.

[refresh967]

@kmarinas86 I KNOW!!! thats what ive been trying to tell theses people. you absolutly right.

[refresh967]

@kmarinas86 i go to downtown all the time. Next time u say something like this pos it on comments dont reply to me.

[kmarinas86]

@refresh967

I meant to reply to idiot drewdog1496 about his comments where he denies that we need a mass transit system.

[timh97sg1]

what about sound?

[Balefan83]

looks impressive, but getting fat arse texans out of their cars might prove a little difficult

[NYer79]

LOL

[gtrjoe68]

this is not a good idea.

[sideslide23]

It worked well in Phoenix Arizona and it goes from downtown to Mesa along mainstreet and ends on Warner and we have a next extension to Glendale, so I'm shure Texas will get it. these are the same train we have in Phoenix.

[danielday36]

@Balefan83

Oh don't you worry, it removes texans from there SUV pretty nicely. I hate cars so everytime I watch this film, I have joy in my heart. LOL. :D

Besides, Look to Dallas and the TRE. They get texans out of there cars pretty well.

[texasboytwinturboz19]

@Balefan83 getting fat arse anyone out of their cars has and always will be difficult not just texans and truth be told houstonians as citizens support rail, ALOT its jus our stupid politicians and some business owners who are against it, not the common man

[gibb1991]

@Balefan83 Don't be disrespectful. The light rail system in Houston has actually been quite a success.

[Scoinsoffaterocks]

@Balefan83

Actually the real problem is weather they do it right or not. As demonstrated in Dallas and in Austin, Texas rarely knows how to implement it right.

Read some articles from the Transport Politic if that's what you're in too.

[PanzerVIZeke]

@Balefan83 Obviously not as difficult as you think. Houston's light rail has the second highest ridership per mile of any light rail in the country.

[BoAbkal]

wow nice... this would offer like a good view for people as well... no more boring underground / subway rides, light rail for the win! :-D

[Modeltrainguy]

5 Stars! Excellent!

[georgeb101]

i've never seen rail in front of homes like the first 15 second of this video

[refresh967]

thats cuz the houses turn to skyscrapers and shops after rail.LOL

[Dutchdrummer99]

Beautiful. Looks very realistic.

[mooboo123451]

ford mustang @ 0:18 XD