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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on May 25, 2011 3:41:15 GMT -8
Here is the entire line in a new time lapse segment. Ride the entire Gold Line in just over three minutes! This was made from a recently posted 25 minute cab ride video I can only assume came from an operator. |
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Post by LAofAnaheim on May 25, 2011 5:26:01 GMT -8
Gosh, the amount of cross street stoppings between Mariachi Plaza and Union Station are atrocious. We need more signal priority on the Eastside Gold Line!!!!
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Post by carter on May 25, 2011 8:42:04 GMT -8
Gosh, the amount of cross street stoppings between Mariachi Plaza and Union Station are atrocious. We need more signal priority on the Eastside Gold Line!!!! No kidding! Seeing a train carrying 50+ people have to wait for 3 cars to make left turns makes me want to smash-head-on-keyboard. |
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Post by metrocenter on May 25, 2011 9:53:26 GMT -8
Great video, and I agree with the comments. Even sped up to 3-minute tour, it still feels like there are way too many stops.
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Post by jamesinclair on May 25, 2011 12:46:36 GMT -8
I dislike how the train is overtaken by everyone on the freeway.
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Post by bobdavis on May 26, 2011 12:00:10 GMT -8
Regarding the train being overtaken by cars on the freeway--try riding around 4 pm. Then the trains are often outrunning cars on both sides of the 210, and even cars in the HOV lane. What's even more interesting is the way traffic often gets slower east of the present terminal at Sierra Madre Villa. At least some day in the future, travelers will have a choice, when the Foothill Extension goes into service.
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Post by jamesinclair on May 26, 2011 12:56:56 GMT -8
Regarding the train being overtaken by cars on the freeway--try riding around 4 pm. Then the trains are often outrunning cars on both sides of the 210, and even cars in the HOV lane. What's even more interesting is the way traffic often gets slower east of the present terminal at Sierra Madre Villa. At least some day in the future, travelers will have a choice, when the Foothill Extension goes into service. Whats the train speed limit in that section? Id guess that the cars are going 65-70mph, so the train is at....55mph? |
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Post by Justin Walker on May 26, 2011 14:10:30 GMT -8
Regarding the train being overtaken by cars on the freeway--try riding around 4 pm. Then the trains are often outrunning cars on both sides of the 210, and even cars in the HOV lane. What's even more interesting is the way traffic often gets slower east of the present terminal at Sierra Madre Villa. At least some day in the future, travelers will have a choice, when the Foothill Extension goes into service. Whats the train speed limit in that section? Id guess that the cars are going 65-70mph, so the train is at....55mph? That segment of the Gold Line has a speed limit of 55 MPH (the maximum allowable speed for the line). We may want to look into if the Gold Line can be bumped up to 65 MPH like the Green Line was a few years back. Increasing the top speed could help travel times quite a bit when the Foothill Extension opens, given the long station spacing on that project. |
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Post by James Fujita on May 26, 2011 14:50:12 GMT -8
That segment is definitely screaming to speed up. And most, if not all of the Foothill extension ought to be relatively fast as well.
We're basically looking at a modern suburban electric commuter train, well before Metrolink electrifies any of its lines. And there's no logical reason to keep especially the freeway trackage at 55.
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K 22
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Post by K 22 on May 26, 2011 16:50:41 GMT -8
Great video, and I agree with the comments. Even sped up to 3-minute tour, it still feels like there are way too many stops. Agreed on both counts - the Eastside branch comes off as too much like a bus with the amount of stops at traffic lights. Either way, the video is pretty sweet. Hope more like it get published soon |
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Post by bobdavis on May 26, 2011 22:48:33 GMT -8
The Santa Fe used to do 65 from Pasadena (after coming out of the tunnel north of Memorial Park) to Kaiser (far beyond any Gold Line construction) dropping to 60 at Irwindale (which will be a stop for Gold Line trains). It depends on the acceleration and deceleration of the cars how fast they should go between stops. For example, would it make sense to crank it up to 65 after leaving Monrovia, only to slow down shortly thereafter for Duarte? Speed costs money. Going from SMV to Arcadia might be far enough for 65. Perhaps someone with more detailed knowledge of LA Metro light rail car capabilities could chime in. BART trains are good for 70 mph, but they don't reach that speed going from Embarcadero to Montgomery. The Gold Line as it is currently constituted (pre-Downtown Connector) is a curious hybrid: rather like the San Jose VTA line on N. First St. or the SF Muni "M" in East L.A., and more like the South Shore going east from Pasadena, with a bit of Chicago "L" on either side of Union Station.
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on May 27, 2011 6:37:37 GMT -8
I'm not sure if it was clear from my first post, but this video originally came from what looks to be an operator and I sped it up. Here is the original video. It's 25 minutes long, a bit much - but good for study of the line.
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Post by carter on May 27, 2011 9:39:24 GMT -8
The Santa Fe used to do 65 from Pasadena (after coming out of the tunnel north of Memorial Park) to Kaiser (far beyond any Gold Line construction) dropping to 60 at Irwindale (which will be a stop for Gold Line trains). It depends on the acceleration and deceleration of the cars how fast they should go between stops. For example, would it make sense to crank it up to 65 after leaving Monrovia, only to slow down shortly thereafter for Duarte? Speed costs money. Going from SMV to Arcadia might be far enough for 65. Perhaps someone with more detailed knowledge of LA Metro light rail car capabilities could chime in. BART trains are good for 70 mph, but they don't reach that speed going from Embarcadero to Montgomery. The Gold Line as it is currently constituted (pre-Downtown Connector) is a curious hybrid: rather like the San Jose VTA line on N. First St. or the SF Muni "M" in East L.A., and more like the South Shore going east from Pasadena, with a bit of Chicago "L" on either side of Union Station. I'm not an expert, but I've definitely been passed by Green Line trains while driving on the 105, and I wasn't in traffic. I think they get up to the 65-70 mph pretty well. And greater speeds require more electricity and therefore money, yes, but if you can ramp up speeds enough that you need fewer trains to achieve the same frequency, then you end up saving money. Also, Alex, with the original video at 25 minutes, that means it is sped up about 2x already, right? |
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K 22
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Post by K 22 on May 27, 2011 10:19:00 GMT -8
Also, Alex, with the original video at 25 minutes, that means it is sped up about 2x already, right? It definitely looks like 1.5x - 2x. You can tell by how fast people are walking. |
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Post by Alexis Kasperavičius on May 27, 2011 10:38:16 GMT -8
It looks to be a bit faster than normal. I have no idea who shot it. The You Tube user, Dav Aguirre, doesn't have any other transit related videos. However, there are a couple of interesting things that lead me to believe it's an operator and may have even been shot for internal use: - Cab access, this video is shot from the driver's seat.
- The crossovers are all called out and technically named in addition to all of the tunnels.
- There are many MTA workers in the video and almost every one acknowledges the camera and waves! This is more noticeable on the slower version.
However, I sent the fast link to Steve Hymon (editor of Metro's online blog) and he wrote back very much wanting to know how I got access to the cab! I passed on the original link and never heard back. Who knows? I'm glad I found it though. Makes it much easier to discuss this line. |
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Post by Justin Walker on May 27, 2011 11:21:46 GMT -8
I'm not an expert, but I've definitely been passed by Green Line trains while driving on the 105, and I wasn't in traffic. I think they get up to the 65-70 mph pretty well. When the Green Line opened, it had a max speed of 55 MPH. In around 2000, the max speed was increased to 65 MPH. |
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Post by bobdavis on May 27, 2011 11:50:48 GMT -8
The segment of the Foothill Extension between Monrovia and Duarte parallels Duarte Rd. Anyone driving 55 or 65 mph on that street is likely to get a speeding ticket from Monrovia PD or the Duarte Sheriff's patrol. (or as the truckers used to say, "Don't feed the bears")
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 27, 2011 14:29:17 GMT -8
I'm not an expert, but I've definitely been passed by Green Line trains while driving on the 105, and I wasn't in traffic. I think they get up to the 65-70 mph pretty well. When the Green Line opened, it had a max speed of 55 MPH. In around 2000, the max speed was increased to 65 MPH. Are you sure that it was around 2000? I think that it was relatively recently. Within the last 5 years or so. |
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Post by Justin Walker on May 27, 2011 15:18:30 GMT -8
When the Green Line opened, it had a max speed of 55 MPH. In around 2000, the max speed was increased to 65 MPH. Are you sure that it was around 2000? I think that it was relatively recently. Within the last 5 years or so. I'm basing this on Elson Trinidad's old Green Line page, which indicated: "Speed: 55 mph max allowable; to be increased to 65 mph in 2000. " |
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Post by thanks4goingmetro on May 28, 2011 3:04:12 GMT -8
Taking a friend on a tour of the Green Line (Metro Rail really) next week-- from her home near an Orange Line station, a lot of good facts here in case she has any questions.
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