amtrakowitz wrote:The North Shore Line wasn't a "light rail" line either (the term didn't exist back then; one might call them a "light rail" operator since they operated streetcars in Waukegan and Milwaukee in addition to the interurban);
The street car lines may have been considered "light rail" had the term been used at the time, but that doesn't make the main North Shore or South Shore lines any lighter.
I own a truck and a car ... also owning a car does not make my truck a car - it is still a truck. It meets the definition on its own.
Anyone who met a "Little Joe" mixed with the passenger traffic on the South Shore wouldn't think that was a light rail line, regardless of era.
gearhead wrote:If there is a industry and it creates jobs and the switch can be done at night after the LR has stopped running maybe the transit agency could make the terminal or originating rate (which is higher then the long haul). But knowing goverments it would create a whole new bureaucracy with payroll and benifits just to deal with 5 car loads a week .
I can see where in certain select cases light rail track could be used under a trackage rights agreement. A lot of it depends on where the rail.
When I think of light rail I think on the level of buses on rail ... vehicles similar to the large articulated buses found running on rubber in many cities - but longer since the track keeps the vehicles where they should be and provides a defined ROW. The design of the rails these run on varies ... and where a separate protected ROW exists I could see it used for regular freight trains. But where light rail shares the road with cars you're basically creating a street running railroad - and in areas where getting public approval of the LRT system is hard opening it up for freight trains is near impossible.
There are also design issues to allow for the freight trains to safely pass passenger platforms - which means gauntlet track or low level platforms or special narrow freight cars. In a system designed for trains that pull to a stop at most stations (if not all) adding to the design to allow for passing trains adds expense. The "LRF" concept of using converted LRT car bodies or even building specialized cars that meet the plate size can still fail if you have to slow to a near stop to pass stations.
The only way I can see LRF working is if there was no other way ... and there always seems to be another way.