kaitoku wrote:Residents angry about passing track being built behind their fences...I would suggest fairly short double tracking just at station locations "might" work if only SMART passenger trains were using the tracks. But they aren't, freight trains are being reintroduced too. 4,000 feet long freight trains aren't that long today. SMART has to build a corridor that can accept freight trains, therefore the need for 4,000 feet passing sidings at a minimum.
*are 4000 foot passing tracks necessary? Isn't a loop at the station adequate, if you have good schedule discipline?
You can be assured the specific locations selected for these passing sidings were based upon planned operations, which reduces the number and length of passing sidings needed.
I suggest using your favorite satellite mapping application, I prefer Google Earth, and check out the recently completed DCTA trackage between Denton and Carrollton Texas. They chose two long passing sidings each including a station, two additional station locations with double tracks, two stations with just single track, and one maintenance yard with more than two tracks available, although there's just one mainline track. The long passing sidings were strategically placed to allow 25 and 20 minute headways - it's at those long passing sidings where trains running in opposite directions normally meet.