[ale] [OT]atlanta beltway need this!!!

[Jim Kinney]

I've stood under the monorail at Disney as it went overhead at full
speed. It goes "WHOOSH!" and you can still carry on a conversation.
The "L" train in Chicago passing overhead means you stop talking until
it passes. Rubber tires are nice and quite!

At Disneyland there is a roller coaster called California Scorcher (I
think) that uses wheels AND magnetic for propulsion. Wickedly cool!
The train leaves the load in station, rounds a curve and comes to a
dead stop on a horizontal track. When it fires the train is
accelerated to blast up the first hill and peak at about 50mph. We
(me, wife and son) rode it many, many times! By not having a motor in
the monorail, it greatly reduces weight and thus overall efficiency. I
would really like that!

Fast, quiet, reliable, (serves beer and coffee may be asking too much
but they do it Chicago!) and most of all low maintenance.

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Jeff Hubbs <jhubbslist at att.net> wrote:
> "Light rail" basically means "trolley" system.  MARTA is a heavy-rail
> system that uses standard-gauge track.
>
> Maglev has its benefits - chief among them speed and low noise - but
> it's tremendously expensive.  I'm a monorail fan, mostly because of the
> flexibility you get with respect to right-of-way; you can sling rail
> over, under, and through anything you want although grade crossings pose
> a challenge (though mostly you can design so as to avoid them).
>
> You see a lot more heavy rail than monorail because more contractors
> make more money with heavy rail.  Great if you're a contractor or
> contractor-supported politician; crappy if you're a taxpayer and/or
> potential mass-transit user.  MARTA is for the most part a
> nearly-expansion-proof failure because it can't go where people live;
> it's hemmed in.  If the system had the freedom to economically pass over
> roads, thread through commercial property, etc. then it could go places
> - literally.
>
> Geoffrey wrote:
>> Greg Freemyer wrote:
>>
>>> Jim,
>>>
>>> I'm not sure if it is the same project, but the Atlanta - Chattanooga
>>> project got $14M in study money in Sept.
>>>
>>> See <http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-high-speed-rail-136662.html?cxntlid=daylf_artr>
>>>
>>> The first sentence says:
>>>
>>> "A proposed magnetically levitated rail line northwest from Atlanta
>>> has just won a $14.2-million study grant from the U.S. Department of
>>> Transportation, according to U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.)."
>>>
>>> Later it says:
>>>
>>> "It comes from $90 million that was set aside for magnetically
>>> levitated — or “maglev” — rail a couple of years ago"
>>>
>>> Not that that the AJC is perfect, but it certainly doesn't sound like
>>> light rail to me.  And of course they could change to light rail
>>> later, but for now it sounds like maglev is where it is headed.
>>>
>>
>> So maybe someone can define the difference?  Or maybe simply define
>> 'light rail?'
>
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness