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  • Amazon HQ2

  • Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.
Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #1458712  by Chris Brown
 
Sand Box John wrote:"Chris Brown"
But why is the procurement of 8000 series cars being delayed for 5 years? What is the thinking behind that decision?


I can think of few reasons:
* Declining ridership.
* reduced service and.
* less mileage.

The declining ridership is the result of reduced confidence and reduced service. Reduced service equals less mileage. Less mileage equals longer service life. Baltimore and Miami procured larger fleets for their railroads then WMATA did. Folks from WMATA when visiting those properties were amazed at how things were in such good working order. They were that way because their larger fleets allowed lower annual mileage and more time for preventive maintenance.
Make sense.

But with the current growth rate of the DC area (plus the possibility of Amazon moving here) I don't see the dip in ridership lasting all that long. It will probably meet or exceed peak levels by around 2022.

A consistent problem with WMATA is making decisions based too much on the reality of today. WMATA often lacks foresight. That's why they are always reacting to problems instead of avoiding them through better planning.
 #1458835  by Sand Box John
 
"Chris Brown"
But with the current growth rate of the DC area (plus the possibility of Amazon moving here) I don't see the dip in ridership lasting all that long. It will probably meet or exceed peak levels by around 2022.


The odds of Amazon setting up shop in the Washington area are about the same as me being nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the office of President of The United States in 2020.

A consistent problem with WMATA is making decisions based too much on the reality of today. WMATA often lacks foresight. That's why they are always reacting to problems instead of avoiding them through better planning.

Planers in every government entity have their own fiefdom. What ends up happening is one hand doesn't bother to look at what the other is doing. WMATA can plan until they are blue in the face and some other government entity will come along and do something that screws everything up. Like I have said before, I have been observing the evolution of WMATA for nearly a half of century, and have seen that happen numerous times.
 #1458986  by MCL1981
 
They would be foolish to come here. Building anything on the assumption Amazon will setup an HQ in the most business-unfriendly location on earth that is gridlocked 10 hours per day is ludicrous.
 #1459028  by drwho9437
 
Although I think there are better places to put HQ2 in the 20 remaining than the DC metro area
MCL1981 wrote:They would be foolish to come here. Building anything on the assumption Amazon will setup an HQ in the most business-unfriendly location on earth that is gridlocked 10 hours per day is ludicrous.
Having lived in CA, NY and the DC metro I can attest that DC is *not* the most business-unfriendly location and has better transportation infrastructure than many other places in the country, even with the problems of the moment. Is it business friendly? No. VA is better than MD or DC for sure on that front. Are there more business friendly places in the country? Yes. Absolutely. But tech pays for the high rents in the Bay because of access to human capital more than anything else. The DC area has a lot more of the people in it that they want to hire than many other areas that might have better business policies. Simply put they didn't put 3/20 of the list in the DC metro for no reason. The reason they did wasn't WMATA it was who lives in the region.
 #1459440  by Backshophoss
 
DO you know HOW BAD 95/495/Beltway will get fouled up? Put that "HQ" in and that is permanent GRIDLOCK at that exit!!!
IT would make the Eastside Beltway unusable,forcing more traffic to the Westside of the Beltway!!! :( :( :(

As for the 8000 series,should be a simple design upgrade of the 7000 series,nothing more,nothing less!
 #1490200  by dowlingm
 
Does HQ2 move the needle on getting Long Bridge expansion done to facilitate improved VRE?
 #1490251  by Backshophoss
 
Consider Amazon's HQ 2 as VAPORWARE untill they are buying real estate! Too many cities have tried to lure Amazon and wasted a lot of $$$
in that loosing effort! :( :( :(
 #1490259  by mtuandrew
 
Backshophoss wrote:Consider Amazon's HQ 2 as VAPORWARE untill they are buying real estate! Too many cities have tried to lure Amazon and wasted a lot of $$$
in that loosing effort! :( :( :(
Can confirm. Can also confirm there is a lot of real estate in Crystal City and Potomac Yard that isn’t very fully occupied. The entire Potomac Yard Mall site could conceivably be redeveloped for Amazon if they decided that they wanted it.

There’s also the Landmark Mall site further down I-395, but that isn’t really big enough or close enough to transit for a company like Amazon.
 #1490965  by Chris Brown
 
Sand Box John wrote: The odds of Amazon setting up shop in the Washington area are about the same as me being nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the office of President of The United States in 2020.
Amazon is officially coming to the DC area.

Let's talk about it.
 #1490971  by davinp
 
VRE does have a Crystal City station.
They are studying moving a little further south.
The problem with the current station is that it is hiding behind a building, not that close to Metro and the platform can only fit 5 cars.

https://www.vre.org/development/station ... rovements/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1490987  by mtuandrew
 
So it begins.

A few important transit improvements come to mind:
-a true intermodal VRE station with bus turnaround and covered connections to both the airport and WMATA Crystal City
-a busway extension to Pentagon and to the I-395 HOV lanes
-a Crystal City streetcar study
-the WMATA Potomac Yard station
 #1491004  by Greg Moore
 
Sand Box John wrote: The odds of Amazon setting up shop in the Washington area are about the same as me being nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the office of President of The United States in 2020.
Congratulations on your pending nomination :-)