Denver Post. The snippet links to an article 10 things you should know about Denver's A-Line from DIA to downtown.
It's all so romantic! The ten things are not interesting. They're trite. Here they are summarized:
1. Denver's first commuter. They're heavier than light rail, 25,000 volts
2. Level with platform
3. Last one 1:26 AM
4. On cost. $9.00
5. Cheap RTD parking
6. Agents patrol turnstile jumping
7. Married Pair means two cars joined
8. Automatic system limits accidents
9. Has a plow for blizzards
10. Is a public and private combined project
See? Not so interesting as the thing left undiscussed, all that for a train that travels so achingly slowly. Total snoozefest. Why, oh why, oh why, given this undying obsession with trains, an early nineteenth century technology, do progressives not obsess for incredibly fast trains? Trains so fast they arrest the imagination and make you want to ride them.
Thirty-seven minutes to travel twenty-three miles. (It took 2 hours to drive 20 miles across Tokyo when we lived there and it made my parents insane. This is 1/4 that and still unacceptable) It is obscenely slow. That's crawling. Here, let's draw a picture of a modern commuter train hooked up to a giant snail with 25,000 volts. It's Flintstone.
23 miles in 37 minutes. There's more minutes than miles (.62 mpm)
23 37.29
37 60
37.29 MPH.
Why do we want a train that goes 37 MPH? Why is that not too slow for planners? Why is this not unacceptably slow for such a huge project in early 21st century? Again, why is this train not fast? It is a real question. And not just pleasantly fast, why is this train not mind-blowingly fast? I cannot comprehend why early 19th century solution is always insisted upon for 21st century commuting.
And I mean insisted. Light rail was voted on directly twice twenty years ago, in series. Voters denied the light rail plans twice. Voters said quite clearly they do not want to revert to earlier models of transportation, think of something else. Be imaginative. And planners just keep returning to light rail, eventually doing what politicians obsessed and locked onto an idea and in power do, they act against the directly stated public wishes and instituted a penny-ante nibble away through minute taxation applied in patchwork projects until over decades their obsession becomes real. Light rail trollies just like 1875. It's all so very romantic and without all those disgusting horses.
The train could go 200 MPH, but no, not with progressive obsession. I recall the early discussions about what other cities do. What other cities did. How brilliant other and especially other European cities do with these things. Why can't we be like Europe? And never why can't we be better than Europe? Progressive Democrat planners have an obsession with being like Europe, and an obsession with trains. Two unshakable obsessions so that a very slow train from a refurbished fancy and expansive 19th century train station (where I broke my femur) crawls to a modern airport mere 20 miles distant and it takes well over half hour to get there. That is considered success. Instead of taking one breathtaking minute to be whisked there on an incredibly fast and modern train. A ride worth ten times regular cost for the thrill of it. Progressives keep us stuck in the past, and their obsessions frustratingly conservative.
