Amtrak lite rail service

[beerwesley]

Hello i would to introduce myself . Thanks for allowing me in. i live in Austin Tx and i see there is a new lite line being layed down anybody know anything about this, cant find much about this anywhere.

 

[VentureForth]

Hi Beerwesley. Welcome to the forum!

This is just thoughts coming from various things I've read through the years. I hope that someone can clarify or completely refute my recollections of how things are going.

The rail between San Antonio and Ft Worth are REALLY congested. Austin wants to build a light rail and Amtrak wants better speeds through there. As bad as I-35 is, taking the train right now is almost hellish.

Anyway, the idea is to get a better freight realignment that goes out side of the Austin metro. Amtrak would be able to do better going through there without the UP congestion. Light rail is also a thought, but that would be electrified and completely separate from any diesel run. Amtrak doesn't piddle in light rail at all.

There are a lot more details - let me think about them and get back to you.

 

[eliyahu]

Hello i would to introduce myself . Thanks for allowing me in. i live in Austin Tx and i see there is a new lite line being layed down anybody know anything about this, cant find much about this anywhere.

welcome! there are two major rail projects being pursued by the city of austin and TxDOT: a commuter rail line between san antonio and austin proper, and a new light rail line connecting the northern/northwestern suburbs like leander and cedar park to the city center. i think you are probably referring to the latter. check out capitol metrorail's initial web site (click here) for additional information. they already had imported at least one train set just before i moved up here. neither project is amtrak-affiliated.

-- eliyahu

waterbury, ct (formerly austin, tx)

 

[beerwesley]

Thats it, sorry for the mixup. thanks