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Post by erict on Apr 3, 2010 17:03:05 GMT -8
It is a very fast rail line in my opinion, one of it's best traits.
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Post by kenalpern on Apr 3, 2010 19:13:58 GMT -8
Unless things have changed in the last five years, I believe that the Green Line, our Green Line, is the fastest light rail in the nation.
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Post by redwings105th on Apr 3, 2010 20:59:14 GMT -8
I was just curious since if the El Segundo section might end up becoming part of the Crenshaw line why not upgrade the Green Line to something else especially since its not at-grade and might actually make it faster or attract more riders with enhancements just like they have done back in Japan since the Shinkansen was created.
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Post by ieko on Apr 3, 2010 21:59:46 GMT -8
The El Segundo portion may be shared with both lines to serve the South Bay.
Making the Green Line a bullet train would be very expensive for something that'd yield essentially no benefit. It'd make more sense to extend the Green Line to say the Norwalk Metrolink Station or north to Santa Monica, or south to Long Beach.
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Post by jeisenbe on Apr 4, 2010 22:31:07 GMT -8
Redwings, high speeds require long distances between stations. With different trains, the Green Line could hit 110 mph briefly between the few stations spaced 2 miles apart (Crenshaw to Vermont, and Long Beach to Lakewood, and Lakewood to Norwalk). However, this would only save 1 to 2 minutes between each of these station pairs, and would not qualify as high speed rail.
For 125 mph max speed, you need at least 3 miles between stations (even with very good acceleration), and 5 or 10 miles is better. 150 to 220 mph rail has stations 20 to 50 miles apart at a minimum
Most of the other stations are 1.5 or 1 mile apart, so the max speed would be about 90 mph with a reasonable 2 mph per second acceleration. Faster acceleration leads to people falling down (my kid already falls over on the Blue Line when it accelerates).
If I could fix the Green Line, I would speed up the trains to 80 mph max (barely achievable with 1 mile station spacing), and add stations at Western, Atlantic, Garfield and Bellflower, to fill the >2 mile gaps between stations. This would make it much more accessible to those neighborhoods and bus transfers, while only adding about 3 minutes to the schedule.
I would also like automated trains and an extension to the Norwalk Metrolink / Amtrak / HSR station, but that's another matter.
Now, if you want to take out two lanes for the freeway to add express tracks, you could add 110 mph electric Metrolink-style service to the Green Line Route, but you will only be able to stop at about half the stations in the western part of the line. I can see this being useful long in the future. Generally, however, Metrolink or Regional Rail service needs to make it to Downtown work well.
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Post by redwings105th on Apr 15, 2010 20:36:05 GMT -8
I was just wondering that sometimes I see cars going faster than the train and everytime I'm on that train I think: isn't the train supposed to beat the car, especially if it has no crossings to worry about for most of the line? I was just curious if it were possible to at least to make it a bit faster. Thanks for the info jeisenbe.
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Post by tonyw79sfv on Apr 15, 2010 21:52:10 GMT -8
I've checked the digital speedometer in the cab of the Green Line cars, they don't run faster than 64 MPH (it must be some imposed limit to stay under 65 like how Metrolink stays under 80 and maxes at 79 MPH); free-flow freeway traffic is faster than the posted 65 limit, with some cars going up to 20 MPH over.
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