Women struck, killed by C-Train

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

Portland, OR has what I think is an amazing at-grade light rail system. I don't know where it ranks on lists, but to me, it was great to use when i visited.

Yeah, Portland's system is very good and generally regarded as the best model for a rail system in a mid-sized US city.

One of the most remarkable aspects to Portland's approach is aggressive and continual expansion. They opened a new line (their fourth) in 2009, have one currently under construction, and another due to start up as the current one is finishing. Ridership ranks among the top in North American light rail systems, second only to Boston in the US (whose light rail line is part of a network that includes the much higher capacity "T" subway system). Calgary's system has about double the ridership of Portland's.

Straying a little far from topic in this thread, but I had actually been thinking about doing a series of profiles of other cities' systems (including Portland) in the "Calgary Public Transit Discussion" thread, but my schedule's far too busy to do it right now.

[Boblobla]

I love Frinkprof's insight into all things infrastructure.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Not sure where the $1.2 B figure came from. The costing really hasn't been done and will vary wildly depending on some of the above factors and tunneling methods.

I seem to think that number was thrown out at a SE LRT open house; and I agree that there is no way to be able to estimate the cost within a couple of hundred million dollars. I guess my main reason for bringing that up was just to show people that the airport tunnel didn't come at the expense of the downtown subway; as the projects will have very different price tags.