Thread View: rec.railroad
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Started by Loren Petrich
Mon, 28 Nov 1994 02:53
My Trip to Sacramento
Author: Loren Petrich
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 02:53
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 02:53
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Yesterday, as I write this, I took a trip to Sacramento, CA, and this is how it went: The day before, I went by BART bus and BART to Berkeley to check into a hotel for the night; there being no bus service from Livermore on Saturday that would enable one to get to Richmond in time for an 8:00 AM train. The BART bus took me from Livermore to BayFair (that Friday, the local buses were running a Saturday schedule, but the BART buses were running a weekday schedule), and I saw some more of the construction, at least before the bus turned north at the I-238/I-580 interchange. They're digging out the area for the East Dublin/Pleasanton station platform (they'll want several staircases and escalators), and the Castro Valley station's platforms are starting to take shape. I got up OK that day, and went to the Amtrak station at Richmond. The grade separation just south of it was compete, and traffic was now running on that road. I wonder which other East Bay streets will get grade separations; Cutting Blvd. a little south of the BART station is a good candidate. The train going to Sac'to was a F40 pulling (in order) two Horizon coaches, one Horizon snack bar, and two CalTrain cars. I sat in the CalTrain car and had a wonderful view from a height. I wondered what evidence there was of the promised trackwork: welding the rails and rebuilding the second track of the south-of-Sac'to causeway, neither of which was much in evidence. At Sac'to, I had a curious un-train-related snafu: I was short on money, so I had to get cash with my credit card. _All_ the banks were closed (you'd think that at least _one_ would stay open for the weekend-tourist business), one check-cashing place had a broken computer, so I ended up walking a long way to another such place with a working computer -- about 20 blocks! On the way, I walked parallel to the Sac'to UP line and I walked under the Bee Bridge Sac'to LRT el -- single track and very non-obtrusive. I returned by bus -- one of Sac'to's natural-gas buses, complete with rooftop tanks. With the money, I pigged out on two slices of pizza, among other things, and I make a copy of a Key System map (from Harre DeMoro's book). It was sad to see how that system had been allowed to die. If it had had reserved medians along much of its routes, it might have survived. At the California State Railroad Museum, they had their steam loco pulling their excursion train. Returning, the train had the same consist as before (there are two Capitol trainsets; that day that had identical consists), with one exception -- the locomotive. It was one of the new "Amtrak California" locomotives, with a streamlined shape, a new paint job, and the logo <-- <-- --> Amtrak California <-- And it was a _lot_ quieter than an F40. When my trip ended at Richmond, I watched the train leave the station, and the loco's engine revved up like a freight loco's would. There were _none_ of the new California Cars, however. I intend to go back to Sac'to June next year, and I look forward to riding those new cars. I got an issue of California Rail News, published by the advocacy group Train Riders Association of California (TRAC), and it featured some flaying alive on Caltrans for being preoccupied with simply hiring more consultants to do studies when they ran into problems. Why couldn't they do some of the work themselves, instead of shuffle papers? One of the problems mentioned was the seats, which will reportedly be very narrow, just to allow wheelchairs in the aisles. All because of trying to comply with the Americans with Disabilities act. An interesting twist: a fat person is suing under the ADA, claiming that the seats would be too uncomfortable for her. My own preferred solution would be to have the new CA Cars contain the following arrangements: An area on the lower level for wheelchair-bound people, but with folding seats so as to accommodate those who can walk if some of the space is not being used by wheelchair-bound people. Food? An attendant can bring some. The lounge area? It will probably be easier for someone to _carry_ a wheelchair-bound person to a lounge area. Maybe a stretcher would do :-) It's people, and not vehicles, who have to move. Vehicles are only a means to an end, and are sometimes superfluous. -- Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster petrich@netcom.com Happiness is a fast Macintosh lip@s1.gov And a fast train
Re: My Trip to Sacramento
Author: Bill Michel
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 17:12
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 17:12
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Loren Petrich (petrich@netcom.com) wrote: : My own preferred solution would be to have the new CA Cars : contain the following arrangements: An area on the lower level for : wheelchair-bound people, but with folding seats so as to accommodate : those who can walk if some of the space is not being used by : wheelchair-bound people. Food? An attendant can bring some. The lounge : area? It will probably be easier for someone to _carry_ a : wheelchair-bound person to a lounge area. Maybe a stretcher would do :-) : It's people, and not vehicles, who have to move. Vehicles are only a : means to an end, and are sometimes superfluous. The space you posit would also be usefull in carrying *bicycles*, since the "official" bicycle spaces on the new CalCars are few in number (2-4,4,4,4, I believe). Experience from CalTrain shows that demand for bicycle carriage is likely to exceed this paltry number. -- Bill Michel bm@eng.sun.com These views are my own, not Sun's.
CA Car Seating and the ADA (was Re: My Trip to Sacramento)
Author: Loren Petrich
Date: Sat, 03 Dec 1994 13:12
Date: Sat, 03 Dec 1994 13:12
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In article <3bibp3$eni@engnews2.eng.sun.com>, Bill Michel <bm@Sun.COM> wrote: >Loren Petrich (petrich@netcom.com) wrote: [BTW, the loco that pulled my train home was a F59PHI, one of California's new ones...] >: My own preferred solution would be to have the new CA Cars >: contain the following arrangements: An area on the lower level for >: wheelchair-bound people, but with folding seats so as to accommodate >: those who can walk if some of the space is not being used by >: wheelchair-bound people. ... >The space you posit would also be usefull in carrying *bicycles*, since >the "official" bicycle spaces on the new CalCars are few in number (2-4,4,4,4, >I believe). Experience from CalTrain shows that demand for bicycle >carriage is likely to exceed this paltry number. I agree 100%. In fact, I find it curious that the folding-seat solution has not been adopted earlier. My direct experience with folding seats with the the local buses here in Livermore; they've been very successful. Also, a new order of BART cars will have folding seats near the doors; I hope that they install folding seats on the older cars, which have had some seats removed to provide wheelchair space. There seems to be plenty of buttheadedness all around; in the transit industry (why aren't folding seats more common?) in the design of the Americans with Disabilities act (why not fund what is demanded by that law?), and in the litigation around it. Somehow, I suspect that the reason that the CA Cars' seats are so narrow and the aisles are so wide is an effort at covering rear end by those afraid of lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act -- that the handicapped lobby might sue them if the new cars are not accessible enough to those with wheelchairs. However, the fat lobby (for lack of a better term) might start suing about narrow seats... -- Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster petrich@netcom.com Happiness is a fast Macintosh lip@s1.gov And a fast train
Re: CA Car Seating and the ADA (was Re: My Trip to Sacramento)
Author: Frank Kronberg
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 03:17
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 03:17
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> > Somehow, I suspect that the reason that the CA Cars' seats are so >narrow and the aisles are so wide is an effort at covering rear end by >those afraid of lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act -- >that the handicapped lobby might sue them if the new cars are not >accessible enough to those with wheelchairs. However, the fat lobby (for >lack of a better term) might start suing about narrow seats... > >-- >Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster >petrich@netcom.com Happiness is a fast Macintosh >lip@s1.gov And a fast train > It seems to me that the bad seating design might be simply a Governor-Wilson- inspired-attempt to make the seating as uncomfortable as possible, thereby impairing the goal of increased passenger rail transportation for California, so the Governor's highway lobby can have an easier time of building more 16-lane concrete rivers. (check the last few issues of various California railfan mags for details) -- Frank Alexander Kronberg Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics kronberg@cea.berkeley.edu University of California Berkeley 94720-5030 kronberg@garnet.berkeley.edu EUVE launched by NASA 7 June 1992 kronberg@uclink.berkeley.edu Four Telescopes Map 70-912 Angstroms
Re: CA Car Seating and the ADA (was Re: My Trip to Sacramento)
Author: Eric Child
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 07:37
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 07:37
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In article <3cgfbn$e51@agate.berkeley.edu>, kronberg@monterey.cea.berkeley.edu (Frank Kronberg) wrote: > It seems to me that the bad seating design might be simply a Governor-Wilson- > inspired-attempt to make the seating as uncomfortable as possible, thereby > impairing the goal of increased passenger rail transportation for California, > so the Governor's highway lobby can have an easier time of building > more 16-lane concrete rivers. > (check the last few issues of various California railfan mags for details) I would be interested in your sources. I have written a few letters to CALTRANS and others on this topic and have tried to follow it closely. Everything points to requirements of the ADA as forcing the seating changes. I know TRAC tried to push a big CALTRANS conspiracy theory but the facts don't seem to be there to support their position. Hopefully this disasterous law can now be repealed or at least amended so that it serves as a basis for recomendations rather than lawsuits. Even so, the new seating should be more comfortable (IMHO) than the existing AMTRAK seating on the Capitols and San Joacqins. Has anyone seen or ridden in one of the new cars yet? I understand one was in Los Angeles last Monday
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