METRORail North Line

[JLWM8609]

 Indirectly, the construction of the light rail created nice smooth roads that have been altered for light rail use.

 

Not quite. There are some sections of MLK where the light rail was put in and the street hasn't been touched, or else any repairs have been minimal, like new asphalt only on the lane closest to the light rail.

[Houston19514]

I don't understand why they still have buses running along light rail here.

 

Which lines are you referencing? 

 

#15, which most closely tracked the red line extension was eliminated the day after the rail line opened.

[Houston19514]

Interesting.. I would of guessed it's because the north line is still getting limited service... Or is it not? I thought they had to turn cars back at UHD because they didn't have the new cars in yet..

 

I think the north line gets limited service because the expected traffic does not justify more-frequent service.  I don't think it actually has anything to do with the new cars issue.

[urban909]

My family and I took the Red Line from Northline Transit Center/HCC to the Museum district and back this last Saturday. There wasn't a lot of people getting on/off heading south at 10am until Preston station, then it really picked up (passenger wise). On the way back it was beyond standing room only (about 12pm) until about Cavalcade, then it started to slightly thin out until we got back to the Northline Transit Center/HCC. They were only running single cars, but they could have easily had two-cars to accommodate all of the people. Obviously it is too early to tell if this is going to be typical for a Saturday or not.

Edited January 13, 2014 by urban909

[htownswami]

this is a beautiful station...hopefully it gets used!

[august948]

When this happens we'll know we've got a world class rail system on our hands...

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/gallery/No-Pants-rail-rides-around-the-world-77629/photo-5717704.php

[102IAHexpress]

I think Metro is officially trying to run the trains empty by having their police harass passengers. This morning if you had a coffee mug or cup in your hand you were getting chewed out by the cops.  I know there's a "rule" about no eating or drinking and a law about no alcohol consumption but this is ridiculous. It's cold outside, the trains are cold, people carry warm beverages, deal with it Metro.

[totheskies]

I don't want to be a Debbie downer about the light rail. But just because you mentioned this station and I wanted to share my observations... I have ridden the light rail everyday this week in the morning, and I have yet to see one person board or exit this station. I hope this is not the future of Houston mass transit...

 

Northline Transit Center and Quitman seem to have the most activity. But again this is just my observation

 

 

This is a planned Transit Center... it's not being used much now, but once they route more busses here, this will become a hub of activity just like the TMC transit center.  I'm very proud of this station!! 

[Houston19514]

I think Metro is officially trying to run the trains empty by having their police harass passengers. This morning if you had a coffee mug or cup in your hand you were getting chewed out by the cops.  I know there's a "rule" about no eating or drinking and a law about no alcohol consumption but this is ridiculous. It's cold outside, the trains are cold, people carry warm beverages, deal with it Metro.

 

1.  I don't know of a metro rail system anywhere that allows food and drink on their trains.

 

2. It's not that freakin' cold.  Deal with it.

[102IAHexpress]

1.  I don't know of a metro rail system anywhere that allows food and drink on their trains.

 

2. It's not that freakin' cold.  Deal with it.

 

 

1. The rule is not eating or drinking on the train. The rule is not that you're not allowed to carry food or drinks on the train. I don't know of ANY metro rail system anywhere that does not allow you to carry food or drinks.

 

2. I respectfully disagree.

[102IAHexpress]

1.  I don't know of a metro rail system anywhere that allows food and drink on their trains.

 

 

I guess you've never been on a NYC subway?

[Houston19514]

1. The rule is not eating or drinking on the train. The rule is not that you're not allowed to carry food or drinks on the train. I don't know of ANY metro rail system anywhere that does not allow you to carry food or drinks.

 

 

The only reasonable way to enforce that rule is to not allow open food and beverages carried onto the train.  Further, the whole point of the rule is to reduce maintenance and cleaning costs caused by dropped food and spilled beverages.  Allowing passengers to carry cups of coffee on to the train but not allowing them to drink the coffee does not serve the purpose of the rule.

 

[102IAHexpress]

The only reasonable way to enforce that rule is to not allow open food and beverages carried onto the train.  Further, the whole point of the rule is to reduce maintenance and cleaning costs caused by dropped food and spilled beverages.  Allowing passengers to carry cups of coffee on to the train but not allowing them to drink the coffee does not serve the purpose of the rule.

 

 

You are entitled to that opinion. but that is not the law. the law clearly states consumption, which is to say drinking and eating. The law does not say carrying or transporting, which is the whole point of public transportation...

please see city of Houston ordinance Sec. 28-30.

[Ross]

The only reasonable way to enforce that rule is to not allow open food and beverages carried onto the train.  Further, the whole point of the rule is to reduce maintenance and cleaning costs caused by dropped food and spilled beverages.  Allowing passengers to carry cups of coffee on to the train but not allowing them to drink the coffee does not serve the purpose of the rule.

 

 

So, it's illegal to carry your lunch on the train? or a bottle of water in your bag?

 

[Triton]

Which lines are you referencing? 

 

#15, which most closely tracked the red line extension was eliminated the day after the rail line opened.

I have no clue what lines they are... I don't take the bus. There are still bus stops at every intersection along the new north line expansion.

[cloud713]

The only reasonable way to enforce that rule is to not allow open food and beverages carried onto the train.  Further, the whole point of the rule is to reduce maintenance and cleaning costs caused by dropped food and spilled beverages.  Allowing passengers to carry cups of coffee on to the train but not allowing them to drink the coffee does not serve the purpose of the rule.

 

^^THIS...

 

So, it's illegal to carry your lunch on the train? or a bottle of water in your bag?

 

he never said you couldnt have a boxed lunch, or bottled drink. he said no OPEN food or beverages.. the time when things are able to spill...

a coffee mug on the train is just plain ridiculous. now a thermos.. thats where the lines become blurred. i guess liquid can still spill out of a thermos though (or did i just have a cheap one when i was younger? lol), but at least its "closed". which makes me wonder.. can you have cups with lids on them on the train (so long as you dont drink out of them)? like togo cups?

[Houston19514]

I have no clue what lines they are... I don't take the bus. There are still bus stops at every intersection along the new north line expansion.

 

There are not bus stops at every intersection along the new north line expansion for routes running parallel with the rail.   For a good portion of the route, if not all, the only bus stops at intersections are for routes that intersect with (run perpendicular to) the rail line.

[Triton]

On this episode of....

 

The Bus Stops Don't Exist

/w Bob & John

 

.....we're going to go along the north line expansion and see just how many bus stops don't exist!!

 

Grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy!!

 

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1!!!

 

 

 

On our first stop from downtown, we see a bus station nestled below the light rail bridge. Quite a permanent station, wouldn't you say, John??

Sure is, Bob!

 

 

John, that's just ONE station!! There can't be more, can there?

Well yes Bob, there sure are! Let's go to the next one...

 

 

But that looks temporary.... 

Ok, how about this?

 

 

John, this looks cool and all but how the hell does this affect the light rail station.

I'm glad you asked, Bob! This next photo shows perfectly well how people may just get on the bus after we spent millions of dollars to build this light rail expansion. 

 

 

 

This is all fine and dandy, John.... BUT, you are only showing me photos along Main St!

Ok ok fine, Bob. Here you go... let's go over to Fulton...

 

 

Man, another street??

 

 

STOP IT!!! JUST STOP IT, JOHN!!! You've proved your point! 

But Bob I have more photos--- 

No! I've had enough!

 

And that concludes this episode of....

 

The Bus Stops Don't Exist

 

[Houston19514]

On this episode of....

 

The Bus Stops Don't Exist

/w Bob & John

 

.....we're going to go along the north line expansion and see just how many bus stops don't exist!!

 

Grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy!!

 

10

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9

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8

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7

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6

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5

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4

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3

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2

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1!!!

 

 

 

On our first stop from downtown, we see a bus station nestled below the light rail bridge. Quite a permanent station, wouldn't you say, John??

Sure is, Bob!

 

 

John, that's just ONE station!! There can't be more, can there?

Well yes Bob, there sure are! Let's go to the next one...

 

 

But that looks temporary.... 

Ok, how about this?

 

 

John, this looks cool and all but how the hell does this affect the light rail station.

I'm glad you asked, Bob! This next photo shows perfectly well how people may just get on the bus after we spent millions of dollars to build this light rail expansion. 

 

 

 

This is all fine and dandy, John.... BUT, you are only showing me photos along Main St!

Ok ok fine, Bob. Here you go... let's go over to Fulton...

 

Man, another street??

 

 

STOP IT!!! JUST STOP IT, JOHN!!! You've proved your point! 

But Bob I have more photos--- 

No! I've had enough!

 

And that concludes this episode of....

 

The Bus Stops Don't Exist

 

WOW, that was remarkably dishonest.  To remind you of what you claimed, here is what you said:

 

"There are still bus stops at every intersection along the new north line expansion."

 

 

Your demonstration stopped only about 1/3 of the way up the new north line expansion; mysteriously, just when there are no more bus stops along the route.

 

Continue your little demonstration project past the Fulton/Irvington intersection and through the other 3 1/2 miles of the new north line extension and then check back into see if you've "proved your point."

 

As I said, there are not bus stops at every intersection along the new north line extension.  Not even close

 

Edited January 16, 2014 by Houston19514

[Triton]

Wow, what a lawyer.

[Triton]

The main point of this whole discussion is that it doesn't make sense for these bus stops to be here. I honestly think they hurt light rail in a sense. The perpendicular ones are fine since someone can hop off the bus and head to the light rail and vice versa. Why spend all that money if we are just going to have buses riding along a good portion of it.

[Purpledevil]

Some of those lines won't be there in the next year. 24 Northline is stopping service to downtown, as is the 56 Airline, and 79 Lil York. The 56 & 79 will terminate at NTC. The 24, will go to NTC and service the areas it does now in the northside, it just won't go downtown anymore. The 9 and 78 have to cross town from Sweetwater and Irvington to service Gulfton and W. Alabama so those will likely remain paralleling Main with continued service downtown. The people riding those lines wouldn't need the train where they're going, so it would make complete sense to continue running both trains and buses down Main.

[Houston19514]

Triton:  As someone already answered, Metro is working on a wholesale re-imagining of the bus system.  They may have wanted to minimize the bus route changes until they get that done.  As also already noted, they immediately eliminated the redundant bus service on more than 60% of the new north line extension.  This was the only bus line that was 100% redundant with rail. The routes that remain on the other less than 40% of the new north line veer off the rail line at one or both ends.  So to eliminate those routes would cause screams of forcing people to ride the rail to boost rail ridership (which they may end up doing and may be good transportation policy, but that doesn't keep people from complaining.)

Edited January 16, 2014 by Houston19514

[Triton]

As long as they remove these bus stops in the future, that's fine. Hopefully they do it sooner rather than later because I'm sure the bus stops will affect the numbers we get from the light rail ridership. Not significantly affect them but still somewhat. 

 

Thanks for playing. 

[Purpledevil]

I'm pretty sure a good portion of the buses servicing Casa De Amigos will continue as well. Sorry Triton, I'd like to tell you that Main will one day be nothing but shimmering rail, but I'm afraid there will be buses sharing the street for years to come.

[Slick Vik]

Some of those lines won't be there in the next year. 24 Northline is stopping service to downtown, as is the 56 Airline, and 79 Lil York. The 56 & 79 will terminate at NTC. The 24, will go to NTC and service the areas it does now in the northside, it just won't go downtown anymore. The 9 and 78 have to cross town from Sweetwater and Irvington to service Gulfton and W. Alabama so those will likely remain paralleling Main with continued service downtown. The people riding those lines wouldn't need the train where they're going, so it would make complete sense to continue running both trains and buses down Main.

Makes sense. Those should be used to increase frequency on other high ridership lines.

[ricco67]

Newest vid is up.

 

[102IAHexpress]

I've noticed people trying to park at the Northline Transit Center and then riding the rail. I say trying because there are only four parking spots at this transit center. Is there a reason why the Northline Transit Center has only four parking spots? Did Metro not plan for the possibility that the start/end of the light rail line may have people interested in parking and riding?

[JamesL]

When the line was planned Northline wasn't supposed to be the end of the line for long.

[kylejack]

Cyclist ran a red and got hit by the train at Hogan and Main yesterday. He was taken to St Joseph's with non life threatening injuries.

[august948]

Newest vid is up.

 

 

Commenting on the comment about the weird track arrangement on the overpass/Burnett Transit Center.  Looks like they added a passing track here, except that it has two platforms served by all three tracks here.  I'm guessing that's for future expansion, though I'm not sure what the plans for that would be.  Until that happens, they can use this to allow one train to pass another stopped at the station.

 

[ricco67]

But if the train is supposed to stop at every station, why would they need a way to pass a stopped train?

[august948]

But if the train is supposed to stop at every station, why would they need a way to pass a stopped train?

 

Under normal circumstances they wouldn't, but on a rail line having passing capability is a big plus and most railroads will include those at intervals.  Now they can, and do, have crossovers at certain spots which can serve the same purpose so why they chose to do three tracks here is still a good question.  It could be that's just a funding artifact of the original intermodal center that was supposed to be there.  Maybe they had the funding or had the track arrangement approved and didn't want to upset the apple cart by changing things.  Could also be that it was included so they could take another pass at a larger intermodal station at a later date.  I haven't looked at it closely, but there's been some speculation on a new high speed rail station on another thread and maybe some flexability was deliberately left in for such a contigency (or something similar).

 

[ricco67]

the picture I took last year shows the configuration more clearly.

It's like they anticipate this station for heavy usage.

I figured they could also use it to stage trains during major events.

[Houston19514]

^  This is the station where some northbound trains terminate and head back south.  Other trains continue north.  Not sure if that is the reason for the extra trackage...

[cloud713]

Really? I thought UHD still served as that station.. (Where some trains continue north and others head back south). I really hope they are still considering hardy yards as an intermodal station. Txdots recommendation of the post office site doesn't mean much when the Japanese are funding it.. It's just that.. A recommendation. But we shall see. Either site is better than no intermodal station.

[august948]

the picture I took last year shows the configuration more clearly.

It's like they anticipate this station for heavy usage.

I figured they could also use it to stage trains during major events.

 

What's interesting here is that you've got two full boarding platforms, so it's already designed to allow three trains to embark passengers at the same time.  The third track isn't just a passing track.  Not only that, but there is considerable added cost to make the elevated portion here three tracks along with six turnouts, one of them being a wye.  All of that adds expense, so why do it here where you've got to build a larger elevated platform?  If it were just for maintenance or passing purposes, it'd be far cheaper to do it on level ground.  There's something up here.  On a light rail system, when would you normally have more than two trains at a single station at the same time?  The only place I can think of would be a junction between two routes.

 

[cloud713]

Maybe your both right and it was planned to be for an intermodal station, with trains stopping at Burnett station to meet up with commuter or high speed rail, and then some trains turn back south from here, while northbound trains go around the third set of tracks..

[ricco67]

That statement made my head hurt.

The only other possibly I could think of is that during severe weather, they would shut down that station and simply go through, but that still doesn't justify the additional tracks.

[august948]

I found this from Tory Gattis

 

 

The Burnett Station just north of downtown has 3 tracks, enabling trains north and south of it to run at different frequencies (more frequent/faster headways to the south)

 

http://blog.chron.com/opportunityurbanist/2013/12/previewing-the-new-metro-north-line/

 

Tory post to HAIF from time to time.  If he sees this, maybe he can expand on it.

 

BTW ricco...that's a great picture of the station.  First I've seen that captures the whole thing.

[Houston19514]

Really? I thought UHD still served as that station.. (Where some trains continue north and others head back south).

 

Nope.  UHD never served as that station.  The dividing point between the two levels of service has always been Burnett Station.

[Houston19514]

Dup post.  Sorry.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Houston19514

[HoustonIsHome]

I rode the train today at about 1:30.

The train was near full by the time It got to UHD and was standing room packed by Preston.

They really need these new double car trains. The single ones can barely handle the added passengers from the north line

Edited January 26, 2014 by HoustonIsHome

[Triton]

Well, It's the infrastructure under the station and along side it that is the most intriguing. The two giant staircases and the two elevator shafts are not just there for some residents... it's clearly for something larger. 

[cloud713]

Nope.  UHD never served as that station.  The dividing point between the two levels of service has always been Burnett Station.

ohh. i thought some northbound trains were still turning southbound at UHD, even after the extension opened.

if your right then i stand by my point in other threads that the Hardy Yards is the most logical choice for a high speed rail and/or commuter rail hub, not the post office site (not trying to get this thread off topic, haha).

[Marcus Allen]

Not sure if this goes here, but I have ridden the Northline light rail and have noticed that several areas on either side of the line are now vacant lots. Being an optimist for development and living in LA for 20 yrs, I started riding the Orange line across the Valley and noticed that once the exclusive ( has it's own thoroughfare) bus line was up and running more and more small businesses and seedy looking warehouses were torn down, lots stayed vacant for a couple of years, and then slowly but surely, residential towers, apts., and commercial businesses started cropping up along the line. (within 5 years) Do you all think this may become the case for the Fulton area? Give me some hope. I would love to see that entire area revitalize within the next decade. Is it feasible?

[HoustonIsHome]

What I heard is that cost held midtown back.

The north and east should develop quicker.

Heard owners in midtown were sitting on the land waiting for exorbitant land price increases.

But now that the rail leaves downtown in 3 directions instead of only one, there is a lot more land options

[Naviguessor]

It's inevitable.

[Moore713]

There is already a town house units across from the park.. land is cheaper their than it was in Midtown.. so five years are so expect more rids to pop up

[Triton]

First Ward right across the interstate is really taking off right now. I drive down Houston Ave daily and there are townhomes going up left and right. The area has transformed in less than a year. The northside is clearly the next area to go. Townhomes are beginning to pop up in this area, with the latest one on Hogan near the I-45 bridge. Cityside Homes owns a lot of property along the light rail route on Main St and I even contacted them to see if they were building any townhomes or multi-family complexes in general there... they actually told me they were simply looking to sell the property. But we'll see what they actually plan to do with the land they own..