Letter to the Editor: Diesel trains should not be on the BNSF corridor

Dear Editor:

Earlier this month I went to San Diego, courtesy of the Cascadia Center, where I visited the Public Transportation EXPO. There, I saw many state-of-the-art diesel and hybrid (single or double deck) buses of all sizes. Some of them look just like the latest French Tramways, except that they actually roll on wheels and on streets. 

• Later, we took a regular diesel bus from San Diego to Escondido on the freeway. Why a bus? Because, the trains don’t run as frequently. 
• From Escondido, we went to Oceanside to ride on the Sprinter DMU (diesel multiple unit). This is the train model preferred by all train-advocates for our BNSF corridor. It is made by Siemens Transportation Systems. 
• However, this DMU is absurdly OVERSIZED for an urban commuter train and even has large overhead rack space (don’t take my word, see the web links listed below). But, it would be a great train to go in from Seattle to Vancouver or Portland. 
• The track and area around it are like a highway, pretty straight and normally next to other roads or wide empty areas. They NEVER go through tight residential areas REMOTELY similar to what we have on the Eastside. Think what the Eastside corridor would eventually have to look like if it is to become a truly fast and effective transportation corridor with 2 RR tracks, never mind the cost! What would that do to Kirkland, Bellevue and Renton residential areas? Is that what we really want? 
• The Sprinter DMU is noisier and much heavier than modern electric French tramways. Yet, by federal law, if freight trains were also to operate on that BNSF corridor during the day, any DMU to be used would have to be still heavier than the Sprinter model. 
• The Sprinter train replaced 2 existing bus lines. It stops at 2 Colleges and 1 University by using a special loop away from the main line that was built for that purpose. When we rode on it in the early afternoon, it was pretty empty. Oceanside is next to a US Marine Corps training base. 
• NOBODY checks whether or not the commuters have a ticket, and nobody gets penalized according to the project manager of the Sprinter line. 
• Despite this built-in ‘incentive’, the same project manager stated that the real NET ADDITIONAL passenger increase (over the earlier bus rider-ship) is a WHOPING 10%, for which they spent a huge amount of money and time. 

Now let’s do a little math. A 2-wagon Sprinter-type DMU costs $4.17 M each according to Siemens. Therefore, with that same amount of money, one could instead buy … 

21 cheap $200K-buses, or 

7 fancier $600K-buses, or 

4 luxurious articulated or 2-deck hybrid buses. 

But, the Cascadia scenario calls for 8-9 of these trains to create the ‘amenity’ they have in mind. (in a KIRO interview on Jan 17, 08, Mr. Bruce Agnew – the Director of Cascadia, specifically stated that “We are NOT talking about a high-capacity transit system like the light-rail that would operate every 7 minutes or so…” He was talking about building what he called “an amenity”!). 

Yet, with that much money, we could buy from 32 to 61 large really fancy and hybrid buses or 189 ordinary diesel buses. We could also immediately test all kinds of routes and frequency options on the existing roads and Park & Ride infrastructure currently on the Eastside, and even provide a better destination service. All that is needed is to assign BUS-ONLY lanes on I-405, and even on some streets; say 3 hours in the morning and 3 in the evening. 

If the demand predicted by the train advocates is real, the frequency + connectivity is good, and the cost and inconvenience of driving is high, car commuters will vanish from the highways at a fraction of the cost associated with any proposed rail service!! Thus, congestion would be reduced; dense urban corridors could be more accurately defined, developed, and properly integrated in the transportation network over time, prior to committing huge sums of money on fixed rail systems. Meantime, a hugely valuable, non-motorized, urban transportation corridor for the Eastside community will be saved for the foreseeable future. Isn’t that much more sensible and cheaper than spending millions of public money on the BNSF tracks so that private interests can profit without meaningfully reducing traffic congestion? 

LINKS: 

To get a visual idea of the Sprinter DMU train go to www.eastsidetrailadvocates.org. Once there, place the cursor arrow on PHOTOS and click on a San Diego folder that will appear (or simply directly to www.eastsidetrailadvocates.org/Gallery2.aspx ).

On the lower half of the right-hand side of the picture-grouping you will see 8 pictures with a lot of green. Those pictures show how much space 44 feet takes up on the existing BNSF corridor in Houghton (SW Kirkland) and the Highland (between Totem Lake and Kirkland Central Way or NE 80th St). The space between both women is always just 44 feet, except on the Lakeview Elementary School trestle, where it is only 30 feet. 

To see pictures of the BNSF corridor, from Renton to Woodinville, plus some of the Redmond spur and the Sammamish River Trail, click on PHOTOS and choose what area (folder) you want to see by using the << >> arrows to navigate between them. Then, you need to click each picture by using the numbers below: 1,2,3,… 

To see what successful modern tramways look like, look at the pictures in www.eastsidetrailadvocates.org/FrancePics.aspx . Notice where they circulate and how they connect with buses. Montpellier has the 3rd largest tramway system in France, which includes THE most successful tram line in the country (the blue line). This is a densely populated university city with 250,000 people, of which 60,000 are students. Lyon (468,000 people) has the largest tramway system and all other means of transportation: subway, trolley, diesel buses, electric buses cars and bikes for rent. Notice the density of the city and road surfaces dedicated to them.

Shawn Etchevers

Kirkland

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