seattle light rail

[spencerlovestrains]

what kind of bell is that?

[Megahammerheadshark]

I did not know they had a light rai

[1230luigi]

HEY! THE LIGHT RAIL TRAINS ARE TWICE AS LONG AS THAT! Unless if it was testing vid. lol

[Lukelr]

congratulations Seattle - 7.18.09 is the big day.

[aviater12345]

Meh, i think I like Vancouvers SkyTrain better

[Lukelr]

I'm guessing those trains were made from the Bombadier company. Ours in Minnesota are very similar and almost have the same bell sounds.

[cmfair2003]

Kinkisharyo, Osaka Japan and Pittsburgh, PA

[BisonAP]

Garrett...In regards to your question about becoming involved in a movement, the answer is yes, there was an organization here called "C.U.R.T" (citzens united for rapid transit"), it was ignored and systemically eliminated by local politicians and our lame media, our so-called department of transportation in this state is the absolute worst, indicative of their poor non-service to transit patrons in this town or for that matter, the entire state of alabama, the transit climate here is pitiful.

[TheEvansontop]

They should extend the light rail into place like Shorline and Edmonds, that would be great!

[mugshotesp]

And make it faster :D

[TheEvansontop]

I hate that wave look on the cars, its too retro looking!

[BisonAP]

Beautiful light rail, sure as heck beats the terrible system in Birmingham, Alabama, no light rail and terrible, obsolete buses that break down as frequently as people change their socks.

[garrett4242]

sorry to hear that. it is wonderful to finally see the trains driving around, testing. soon we can ride. i hope your city will be able to get something better someday. have you thought of starting a movement? someone has to be the first!

[Gary3785]

@BisonAP I wish Birmingham would get light rail.

[denny906]

I like the low floor design of your light rail car. Here in Los Angeles our MTA uses high platform rail cars which makes exiting during emergencies difficult since it's about a 3 foot drop to the ground.

[actioncap81]

I like the ocean wave on the side,our LR's look like old robots movin on a track lol

[decline2state]

How long have other Northwest cities (such as Vancouver, BC and, Portland, OR) had light rail (or any other kind of rail)? Vancouver has had SkyTrain since 1986, and Portland has had MAX light rail from the same year. Other than the monorail, what has Seattle had?

[blueparakeet38]

Seattle has had nothing at all ever except for surface buses and the Monorail

[denny906]

It it true that the monorail is only two miles long?

[sherwelthlangley]

Yeah, the monorail is only one line, from Downtown Seattle to the Seattle Center (Space Needle). It's pretty much just a novelty system for tourists, not at all a major link in our transit network. We had a major monorail system initiative going on (the Green Line) once that would span the whole length of the city north-south, but it got killed.

[daoodism]

noted.

[moosanova]

This train is not the type of train that does street running in Tacoma.... they use a smaller and shorter train car for the Link Section in Tacoma..... also Sound Transit only uses 1 train car as opposed to the 2 train car set-up that will serve the intial 14.3 mile Light Rail line when opened in mid October 2009.....

[caa1000]

Is this the same train that they use in Downtown Tacoma?

[garrett4242]

I think it is very similar but larger. I believe that they run on the same size tracks though.

[tgva325]

Those are streetcars (not trains), like those of Tacoma, but larger. In the past were known as "interurban streetcars". Track gauge is the same in all the modern trams (or streetcars or LRTs) in USA, standard gauge.

[wawonas]

The streetcar in Tacoma is 66 ft long and has a top speed of around 45 mph but it actually mostly go around 25-30 mph on the streets. Seattle's light rail is 95 ft long and can be connected up to 4 cars and can go up to 55 mph in south part of the line on the way to the airport. It has an predicted average speed of 26 mph which is the fastest light rail line in North America.

[dave20thmay]

That looks like a good climb it does over the bridge. Dave

[mrwitte]

There.  That wasn't such a bad idea, was it?