METRORail

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METRORail
Info
Type	Light rail
System	Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas
Locale	Houston, Texas
Terminals	Fannin South Park and Ride (south) University of Houston–Downtown (north)
No. of stations	16
Service routes	Red Line, route 700
Daily ridership	39,800[1]
Operation
Opened	January 1, 2004
Owner	METRO
Operator(s)	METRO
Rolling stock	Siemens Avanto S70
Technical
Line length	7.5 mi (12.1 km)
Electrification	overhead catenary
Highest elevation	at grade, shared with streets

METRORail is the 7.5-mile (12.1 km) light rail line located in Houston, Texas (U.S.) known as the Red Line. It is the second major light rail service in Texas following the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system. With an approximate daily ridership of 39,800 daily,^[1] the METRORail Red Line ranks as the eleventh most-traveled light rail system in the United States, with the second highest ridership per track mile.

The arrival of METRORail came 64 years after the previous streetcar system was shut down^[2], which left Houston as the largest city in the United States without a rail system since 1990 when the Blue Line opened in Los Angeles. METRORail is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO for short.

Contents 1 Ridership 2 Rolling stock 3 Crash rate 3.1 Other controversies 4 Future expansion 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Ridership

Today, the average daily weekday ridership is 39,800. Notable records in ridership have occurred on the following dates:^[3]

• February 1, 2004: 64,005 passengers rode the METRORail during Super Bowl XXXVIII
• February 23, 2004: 54,193 passenger boardings were recorded, the highest weekday at the time
• February 27, 2007: 56,388 passengers were recorded the day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

[edit] Rolling stock

Houston operates a fleet of 18 Siemens-built Avanto light-rail vehicles. Each 96 foot long, double articulated vehicle has four low platform doors per side and has a capacity of 72 seated and 148 standing passengers.^[4][5]

[edit] Crash rate

In the beginning of its operation, averaging 11 crashes per track mile per year, compared with the national average of 0.55 for similar rail systems, critics of the METRORail gave the line local nicknames as "Streetcar Named Disaster" and the "Wham-Bam-Tram".^[6] The first METRORail crash occurred in November, 2003 as the system was still under testing prior to opening.^[7] In September 2004, METRORail set a new record for the most accidents in a year, passing San Francisco Municipal Railway's 2001 record of 61 crashes over 73.3 miles (118.0 km) — nearly ten times the length of the Houston Redline.^[8]

As of April 15, 2006, there have been 129 crashes officially confirmed. One crash has resulted in a fatality; the fatal crash occurred on May 10, 2005 and involved a man in a pickup truck who ran through a red light at the Jefferson Street intersection and collided with a train, killing the driver of the truck instantly and causing minor injuries to several passengers of the train.^[9]

There are several possible reasons for the high accident rate; an often proffered explanation is that the entire 7.5 miles (12.1 km) of track runs in city streets unlike systems with private right-of-ways, though systems like the Baltimore Light Rail run much of their route in mixed traffic as well without anywhere near the crash rate.

METRO has consistently blamed driver error as the cause of the high collision rate and the transit agency's police department regularly tickets motorists who cross paths with the train. Some of the people involved in the crashes have stated that poor signage and signal layouts have contributed to the problem. Critics argue that such a high rate of driver error must be attributable to an environment conducive to it.^[6] METRO has rearranged some signals and altered some sign arrangements to try to make things clearer.^[10]

After a near miss, an investigation was launched and the results were sent out in a press release. Along with its findings, it has also published its results since implementation of several safety improvements, the crash rates have gone down significantly over the past few years from 62 crashes in its first year of operation to 14 as of May 31, 2007 with a goal for fiscal year 2007 of 28.^[11]

[edit] Other controversies

Since its inception, METRORail has been the source of several political controversies in Houston. During the 2003 expansion referendum, critics of the system, including Texans for True Mobility (TTM), questioned METRO's financial practices. METRO itself was criticized for spending public funds for "educational advertisements" about the proposed system, which were said to promote the referendum.^{[12][dead link – history]}

The main political action committee (PAC) supporting the bond was accused of having a conflict of interest due to the relationship between its main contributors and METRO. The PAC received over US$100,000 in contributions from contractor firms and equipment suppliers for METRORail who stood to gain financially from its expansion.^[12] This includes a US$50,000 donation from Siemens AG, a German engineering corporation, which has the contract to build METRORail's train cars.

Critics of METRORail accused Houston Chronicle of a heavy bias in its coverage designed to promote METRORail. The newspaper became embroiled in controversy following the accidental posting of an internal memorandum on its website that urged the "specific objective" of making "rail a permanent part of the transit mix" in Houston through news, editorial, and op-ed columns.^[13] The memo included a "ground zero for November" proposal of attacking the finances of groups and individuals opposed to light rail, and specifically Rep. Tom DeLay and former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier.^[14]

[edit] Future expansion

This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available.

Additional rail for the system will be laid as approved by a 52 percent yes to 48 percent no margin in the November 2003 election. The long term planned expansions will eventually reach the two major Houston airports, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, as well as suburbs in Houston.

METRO is also planning a commuter rail system in conjunction with the light rail system. In addition, METRO wants to link up with a planned Commuter Rail line traveling from Fort Bend County to just south of Reliant Stadium, which would use an existing Union Pacific railroad, as well as an additional line branching out along the U.S. Highway 290 corridor to Cypress. In total, the plan currently would add 28 miles (45 km) of commuter rail.

The light rail extension is part of a greater plan that also includes 40 miles (64 km) of Signature Bus Service, Suburban Bus Rapid Transit, 10 new transit facilities, and the conversion of HOV lanes to HOT lanes, as well as an Houston Intermodal Transit Center connecting local public transit to airport shuttles, and AMTRAK service.^[15][16]

The first five lines and services are planned to be up and running by 2012. The plans call for:

• A northward extension of the Red Line past University of Houston–Downtown to open in 2012
• The North/Blue Line from the Houston Intermodal Transit Center to the Northline Transit Center.
• The East End/Brown Line will extend east 4 miles (6 km) from downtown Houston to the Magnolia Transit Center by 2011.
• The Southeast/Green Line will extend 6.8 miles (11 km) from downtown near the Main Street line terminating around Palm Center at MLK and Griggs street.
• The University/Orange Line will extend 10-mile (16.1 km) from either the University of Houston or the Eastwood Transit Center to the Hillcroft Transit Center, and follow the Richmond/Wheeler and Westpark corridors with transfers to the Red line at Wheeler Station. Completion is projected for 2012.
• The Uptown/Pink Line will run from south of U.S. 59 through the Uptown/Galleria area to the Northwest Transit Center for a total distance of 4.4 miles (7 km) to be eventually extended another 1.1 miles (2 km) to Northwest Mall.

[edit] See also

• List of METRORail Stations
• List of light-rail transit systems
• List of United States light rail systems by ridership

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• METRORail
• Metro Solutions

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