The official tumblr of amtrak

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swordshapedleaves asked:

What's the difference between light rail and heavy rail for metro commuter trains? Obviously the weight of the rails but what are the different pros and cons of each?

My city has been expanding a network of light rail lines the last ten years and it's been a big improvement over no rail, but I just saw you mention heavy rail metro in another post so now I'm curious.

Light rail is a very vague term, it basically is a cheaper slower kind of rail that often runs at grade on streets, while heavy rail is faster, grade separated and has higher capacity. But these rules are not a garenteed way to tell which is which. Seattle and Minneapolis is Light rail, NYC and Chicago are Heavy.

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luvsouls asked:

You hate light rail and love trolleys, right? But in Philly, the light rail IS the trolley. So do you love or hate the trolleys? (PS if you're unfamiliar, check out the route 15 trolleys specifically, they're the coolest ones)

amtrak-official answered:

Trolleys are kind old fellows, Light rail is a stupid Modernist with no soul. I love Trolleys and streetcars and would give them the world, because they have a fucking point. Lightrail on the other hand…

[amtrak-official]

Okay so @angstylittlecatboy these aren't offical definitions but, Light rail is basically cheaper normal rail that can carry fewer people and is slower, but is more able to run on streets. This is because it is an indecisive little bitch of a transit form. Meanwhile a streetcar is designed for street running and thus is more streamlined, and even cheaper, but has actual soul and is more likely to have fucking dedicated lanes. In short a streetcar is designed for at grade and street running and is better for areas that can't be served by traditional rail due to elevation, cost , or space, meanwhile light rail is normal rail but shitty and with less capacity, but can run in traffic, what a useful fucking invention.

[amtrak-official]

@srijellyfishtempura

Trams and Trolleys are forms of streetcars and are just as majestic, and beautiful

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luvsouls asked:

You hate light rail and love trolleys, right? But in Philly, the light rail IS the trolley. So do you love or hate the trolleys? (PS if you're unfamiliar, check out the route 15 trolleys specifically, they're the coolest ones)

amtrak-official answered:

Trolleys are kind old fellows, Light rail is a stupid Modernist with no soul. I love Trolleys and streetcars and would give them the world, because they have a fucking point. Lightrail on the other hand…

[amtrak-official]

Okay so @angstylittlecatboy these aren’t offical definitions but, Light rail is basically cheaper normal rail that can carry fewer people and is slower, but is more able to run on streets. This is because it is an indecisive little bitch of a transit form. Meanwhile a streetcar is designed for street running and thus is more streamlined, and even cheaper, but has actual soul and is more likely to have fucking dedicated lanes. In short a streetcar is designed for at grade and street running and is better for areas that can’t be served by traditional rail due to elevation, cost , or space, meanwhile light rail is normal rail but shitty and with less capacity, but can run in traffic, what a useful fucking invention.

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

luvsouls asked:

You hate light rail and love trolleys, right? But in Philly, the light rail IS the trolley. So do you love or hate the trolleys? (PS if you're unfamiliar, check out the route 15 trolleys specifically, they're the coolest ones)

Trolleys are kind old fellows, Light rail is a stupid Modernist with no soul. I love Trolleys and streetcars and would give them the world, because they have a fucking point. Lightrail on the other hand…

[The official tumblr of amtrak]

lazeecomet asked:

I see you have opinions on light rail but what about BART

With a face like that, can you really hate this precious little bunny

So I just want to say BART is heavy rail and I love that little guy so much. Though nobody thought to tell me he’s an adorable rabbit. He is doing so much more than he has to for the Bay area and has fun looking trains

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lottiethedottyhottie-deactivate asked:

Light rail is whatever form of rail that I currently hate today

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ashr202 asked:

Light rail

That’s not light rail that’s just heavy rail without any God damn grade separation it’s not right. But the train is pretty

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Anonymous asked:

L + light rail works in certain circumstances + the DLR is shorter than link in seattle with only twice the stations and less track length and no city-centre tunnel and serves an area of roughly half of link with 5x the passengers and relieves metro and heavy rail lines. plus the milan metro is light rail and kicks ass people in north america are just so starved of urban transit they call what is a tram system everywhere else e.g. paris tram system "light rail" to make themselves feel like they have anything at all. looking at you l.a. metro k line

amtrak-official answered:

Okay but have you considered that separated right of ways are way better and you can run more faster trains on heavy rail because of the stronger units and you know it’s fucking fully separated from the road. Also Seattle isn’t using heavy rail for sound transit its fucking light rail for some shitty reason

[amtrak-official]

@fujoshi-eminem Oh I honestly do need to learn about London public transit. But still I honestly feel like if it is already grade separated why not just use heavy rail.

(Also this light rail hate thing is mostly a bit because I need something to do with this blog while waiting for more train news)

[amtrak-official]

@fujoshi-eminem I agree here actually. My perspective is basically just build a damn tram or streetcar if you are going to run on the road and just build real heavy rail for a mass transit system since light rail just isn’t as good as either of the other 2 options available. It can’t carry as many people as heavy rail and isn’t as flexible or cheap as a street car. It is in my opinion the worst option

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Anonymous asked:

L + light rail works in certain circumstances + the DLR is shorter than link in seattle with only twice the stations and less track length and no city-centre tunnel and serves an area of roughly half of link with 5x the passengers and relieves metro and heavy rail lines. plus the milan metro is light rail and kicks ass people in north america are just so starved of urban transit they call what is a tram system everywhere else e.g. paris tram system "light rail" to make themselves feel like they have anything at all. looking at you l.a. metro k line

Okay but have you considered that separated right of ways are way better and you can run more faster trains on heavy rail because of the stronger units and you know it’s fucking fully separated from the road. Also Seattle isn’t using heavy rail for sound transit its fucking light rail for some shitty reason

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Anonymous asked:

Please........... stop the violence.......... it doesnt have to be like this........... lightrail hatred only furthers the oppression of us all........... hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. dark cannot drive out dark. Only lightrail can do that.

amtrak-official answered:

Are you implying nobody puts love into heavy rail, the real superior form of rail for public transit. Subways are built with love, light rail is only built for the budget. I will jot end the hate because my hate is correct

[amtrak-official]

@bw1tched The eternal war against the automobile can only be won with rhe strength of the mighty heavy rail in all forms of transport long distance, commuter, and regional. Light rail is not good enough to beat the car