gayerthanliberachi asked:

Hello this shall be my daily screaming about Sound Transit:

1) ST actually does operate some heavy rail, the Sounder commuter rail. Look at its schedule and experience my fury. Also it only goes like 25-35mph for over half the track.

2) Link light rail actually does have grade separated right of way for most of the track (on line 1, but we don't have time to talk about the T line today), and it goes 55-65mph on those stretches. Those parts of the line are genuinely fantastic. I recognize it could be much better but I'll take what I can get. Then you get to Rainier Beach. For some fucking reason beyond my ken it runs down the middle of a major thoroughfare for several miles, right next to traffic. The cherry on top is that the lights don't change for the train, so you get to sit and wait at the light because ~what about the cars~. It's idiotic.

All that to say: light rail is a viable alternative to heavy rail that's more budget friendly but only when you do it right. ST is doing all new construction grade separated so I think they learned the lesson, but it's still a problem. We do really need a solid regional heavy rail backbone up here, though. The shit we have now does not cut it.

It is viable but worse and less reliable than heavy rail. If done well and not like how you are describing it, heavy rail is the clear superior form due to how it is just able to carry more people and is far faster and better. I honestly just dislike light rail because I’m really petty and gets built way too often in cases where it really doesn’t fit like Seattle Link