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The first two of six new commuter rail trains arrived in Austin this week.
The diesel-electric trains trains, the last of which should arrive by late spring, were purchased from Swiss manufacturer Stadler Bussnang AG ("We Track Clever Solutions" -- get it?) for $34 million. Cap Metro plans to start testing these cars next month along the rail line from Howard Lane and Mopac down to 47th Street and Airport Boulevard—each will be run for over 1,000 miles before they're put into operation.
Each train will have room for more than 200 passengers (108 seated) and will feature bicycle and luggage racks, high-back seats, low floor entry for easy access, and, for our tech-heavy populace, free WiFi.
Check out Ben Wear's first-hand account of yesterday's arrival.
If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.
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The future is ugly.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST ME TO RIDE UP TO CEDAR PARK TO SEE MY HOMIES?
Awesome, except that route is completely useless to me.
Jon,
Yeah, well, you're written off as a lost cause. A whole bunch of other people who are in the process of moving within Austin or to Austin from other cities will locate near the rail system. Density will increase around the stations. For those people, the route will be useful.
Seth
GRRRR
NOT LIGHTRAIL, COMMUTER RAIL
M1EK SMASH
Seth, even for those who live near the rail system, this line is a piece of trash - it is NOT like the light rail lines other cities started with; it's like the commuter line that South Florida built, requiring shuttle-bus rides every single day on the work end of the trip.
I rode by the stop location up north out of curiosity. Where in the hell are you supposed to go once you get there? It would appear the easiest solution is to now own two cars, 1 north and 1 south so you can actually get somewhere once you get off the train. Not only that, it would seem that it will cause travel time to increase for people getting to their destinations. Personally it never takes me more than 35 minutes to go north or south during rush hours. I just don't get this "solution".
GA, the reverse-commute support at the beginning has been declared 'limited', so it may not even be an issue - you might not even be able to get on the train going the opposite way.
As for coming into town, the thinking is that you board a shuttle bus at the station way out east on MLK near Airport and then ride that shuttle bus back through traffic to UT or the Capitol (which, of course, light rail would have run directly in front of). Left unsaid is the implication that the people optimistic about this line think that people who won't ride the excellent express buses straight to UT and the Capitol today will somehow flock to a solution which includes much less attractive shuttle buses plus a transfer.
For downtown, some people think Austinites will walk a lot more than the average for other transit systems (from the Convention Center to 6th/Congress every morning and back there every evening, for instance). I think that's foolish; if anything, our downtown population will walk _less_ because it's hotter here than in the average of other 'rail cities'. The working radius is usually 1/4 mile - i.e. if your train station is within 1/4 mile of where you work, most people will be willing to take the train. Our 'downtown' station is a bit more than a 1/4 mile from the nearest big office building and more like 1/2 to 3/4 mile away from most of them.
Capital Metro knows they can't count on that walk, which is why they're planning on another shuttle bus circulator for the downtown station from day one.
M1EK is right about that walking thing. I used to work at 6th and Congress and would quite often walk to Iron Works (just on the other side of Convention Center) for lunch, and, I swear to god, my office mates would look at me like i was Terry freaking Fox! And that was in the spring. So, no, nobody will be walking from Convention Center to points downtown, when they can DRIVE to their parking garages! weeee