Green Line LRT

[IllogicalJake]

I saw a pedestrian yesterday at Lexington Station nearly get run over by not one, but two trains. He darted in front of a westbound train that was pulling through the intersection which slammed on its brakes and honked its horn...then walked in front of an eastbound train, which slammed on its brakes and honked its horn. The rare two-fer.

There's a reason why I appreciate the red, blinking "SECOND TRAIN" warning that's built into yellow crossing signs.

Also, people are pretty damn stupid sometimes.

[Wedgeguy]

Does anyone know why the eastbound trains can go 50mph over the Washington Avenue bridge, where westbound trains are limited to 25mph?

The permanent speed limit sign before Coffman is covered in black plastic, and there is a construction cone with a 25mph sign on it. It is almost like they forgot to remove that when the line opened.

Part of it may have to do with the fact that the train has to go up a hill on the east bound side of the river. You want as much inertia to help push you up the hill as you possibly can to help save your momentum. Winter ice on the track will be in need of that extra push from the speed that is already built up.

West bound you have the opposite effect. You have downward momentum from the hill to over the bridge. You also have a station right after the bridge that you need to brake for. Where as the east bound's next station after Cedar is a ways up from the hill, so the hill will naturally slow the train down as it gets closer to the Washington station.

[FISHMANPET]

7:30 on an eastbound train into campus and it's standing room only. Most of the people cleared out at East Bank, but there's still a few of us.

[Silophant]

Did a big chunk of the riders get on at West Bank, or mostly come from downtown?

[FISHMANPET]

Only a handful got off or on at West Bank. I transferred from the Blue line at DT East, and there was a good number that transferred with me, but the majority of the people were already on the train at that point.

[EOst]

Most seem to get on at Nicollet (same as me) though the trains aren't empty then either; some get on at Government Plaza, maybe because of Marq2.

[seanrichardryan]

again-

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/09/0 ... ng-u-turn/

[IllogicalJake]

Only a handful got off or on at West Bank. I transferred from the Blue line at DT East, and there was a good number that transferred with me, but the majority of the people were already on the train at that point.

I use DT East daily and I see more people transfer there than I ever imagined would... Lots of people running across tracks to catch the other line.

That station needs a center platform so badly...

[MinnMonkey]

Saw a biker dart across University at Eustis against a red light this morning. Almost got hit by a train and 3 cars.

[Tom H.]

It appears that a power system failure of some kind has shut down the Washington Ave Transit Mall from Huron to the Washington Bridge. Lots of emergency personnel working on it, which has also blocked the Mall for buses. I'm not sure how they're dealing with the problem on the rest of the line.

[FISHMANPET]

A pantograph broke on campus, and also there was a gas leak, so train service is suspended between Downtown East and Raymond. Also not sure if it's related, but there was gas leak at WaHu which has stopped train traffic.

Replacement buses are being provided.

[twincitizen]

I use DT East daily and I see more people transfer there than I ever imagined would... Lots of people running across tracks to catch the other line.

That station needs a center platform so badly...

Now, more than ever (with the consideration of that dumb $8MM pedestrian bridge at the Vikings stadium, which could very well eliminate the possibility of future changes like a center platform), you need to be making these comments to the powers that be! Email your city councilperson, Met Council member, Hennepin County commissioner, Brian Lamb at Metro Transit, etc. etc. We can make a center platform happen, but I think we have to start by killing off that wasteful bridge at the stadium.

[IllogicalJake]

I use DT East daily and I see more people transfer there than I ever imagined would... Lots of people running across tracks to catch the other line.

That station needs a center platform so badly...

Now, more than ever (with the consideration of that dumb $8MM pedestrian bridge at the Vikings stadium, which could very well eliminate the possibility of future changes like a center platform), you need to be making these comments to the powers that be! Email your city councilperson, Met Council member, Hennepin County commissioner, Brian Lamb at Metro Transit, etc. etc. We can make a center platform happen, but I think we have to start by killing off that wasteful bridge at the stadium.

Trying and trying! I'm honestly amazed that with all of the work going on in Downtown East that a center-platformed station hasn't come up.

[MNdible]

Does anybody know how far the underground parking extends? Seems like that will be the real impediment to shifting the tracks enough to allow a center platform. I would presume that a center platform sized to serve the loads we're talking about here would need to be much larger than anything we've seen thus far.

[Wedgeguy]

Biggest problems being the retrofitting in the underground parking garage to handle the increased weight of the station overhead. The lack of ROW for a full length platform unless you are eliminating part or relocating part of fifth street as you will need to have a much wider center platform than what is in the Warehouse District or on Nicollet for the crowds and the Blue/Green combination where people will do most transferring. There is no simple or inexpensive solution to this problem. Put it down to poor planning for future expansion.

[mister.shoes]

On the bright side, that parking garage was built with the idea that a structure would go on top of it. On the other hand, the assumed future load points probably don't line up with the load points of a shifted track and additional platform.

Probably be best off building a whole new platform north of the stadium

[FISHMANPET]

A story about the outage:
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/26 ... ear-u-of-m

[HiawathaGuy]

Biggest problems being the retrofitting in the underground parking garage to handle the increased weight of the station overhead. The lack of ROW for a full length platform unless you are eliminating part or relocating part of fifth street as you will need to have a much wider center platform than what is in the Warehouse District or on Nicollet for the crowds and the Blue/Green combination where people will do most transferring. There is no simple or inexpensive solution to this problem. Put it down to poor planning for future expansion.

Very well stated. I don't think everyone proposing to just "add a center platform" truly understand the costs that would go into making that happen. I'm pretty certain it'd make the $8mm bridge look like chump change. I honestly could see this "update" to the DTE station area costing $50-100mm. The underground parking doesn't go under the station (see here: http://en.parkopedia.com/parking/underg ... nneapolis/). So a ton of rework, ROW, concrete, etc. would have to happen.

If a center platform were even remotely possible, MetroTransit would be mentioning it.
That doesn't mean I don't think it should be investigated (perhaps it has, without public knowledge) - so asking the "powers that be" (ie: Council Member Jacob Frey or Met Council Chair Haigh) certainly makes sense.

[Wedgeguy]

On the bright side, that parking garage was built with the idea that a structure would go on top of it. On the other hand, the assumed future load points probably don't line up with the load points of a shifted track and additional platform.

Probably be best off building a whole new platform north of the stadium

A part of me would agree with you on the load points, but you now have 2 lines that are on the opposite side of 4th from the stadium and that people will have to cross to get to if you have a new station. Also the station will no longer be seen from the front door of the stadium and would probably require a larger north entrance if there is even one proposed there now.

[IllogicalJake]

I don't think everyone proposing to just "add a center platform" truly understand the costs that would go into making that happen. I'm pretty certain it'd make the $8mm bridge look like chump change. I honestly could see this "update" to the DTE station area costing $50-100m

Oh I'm familiar with the costs – But I also see a group of a couple dozen people crossing the tracks, just now, trying to get from a Green Line train to a Blue Line train - which was actually in the process of pulling until the herd of people stepped in front of it. Like Wedgeguy said, it's poor planning for expansion at the very least.

I didn't even have much of an opinion in this matter until I started using DT East daily. Now I constantly think "Wow this is a mess of a transit station."

If a center platform were even remotely possible, MetroTransit would be mentioning it.

I know a center platform isn't just a plug-and-play solution, but concluding it's impossible to do simply because MetroTransit hasn't mentioned it seems like a weak way out.