Diesel Multiple Train in New Jersey - Riverline

Diesel Multiple Train in San Diego - NCTD

Some examples:

Even the dinner train through Kirkland would severely compromise the corridor for far better uses, by requiring fencing off the rails for liability reasons, keeping people from accessing and enjoying what should be a continuous (not possible with rail) commuter bike trail, and a second trail for pedestrians and children where there is space in densely populated areas such as Kirkland. I have been caught on the right-of-way when the dinner train came by and it is frightening to be within 50′ of it. The rails need to be removed if we are to have a delightful urban greenbelt.

More and more space is being freed up on the freeways as fuel prices increase and people switch to buses and carpools. Let’s use public transit funds to get more buses rolling on express routes all around the eastside.

Thanks for your feedback. Ironically, I was over at the Totem Lake intersection today just before 1 PM as a train came by. Obviously, all the traffic had to stop. During a non-rush hour time in which I was already near the beginning of the line at the stop light, it took 4 minutes for me to get through the intersection. Imagine if it was 7:30 in the morning when many, many more cars are coming through the intersection. If a train came through and all traffic stopped, how long would it take for cars to negotiate the intersection? Since I was right in front of the line, it took me 4 minutes. I’m guessing it could add at least 10 minutes or more to someone’s commute. Mind you, the person whose commute would be impacted would be someone who lives in Kirkland or on English Hill in Redmond. The local commute time would be increased by a train delivering people from further out. Our local commute would suffer at the expense of the train commute.

The intersection issue — Some important roads already have over/underpasses, such as the two main routes into downtown Kirkland, NE 85th St. and Kirkland Way. There are some major intersections that would pose some problems, notably 124th and 124th as you pointed out and NE 8th St. in Bellevue. But, these intersections already have rail traffic on them. This would increase, but would still be far below the traffic on most major roads.

I live one block from the tracks in Kirkland, but I just don’t see the problem with these trains. Several have mentioned diesel as if it’s a horrible thing. Every bus and large truck on the road — thousands of vehicles in our area — use diesel, and the trains wouldn’t increase this use a measurable amount.

Interesting meeting, though. Definitely a lot of strong opinions and passionate speakers.