Light Rail Tidbits

Follow up:

St. Petersburg, FL

Pinellas County voters would not support light rail and more buses if it meant higher property taxes. Or raising the gas tax.

But they did show conditional support for raising the sales tax to pay for it, a recent poll for transit officials shows.

Five hundred registered county voters were asked if they would support a 1-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase if property taxes were reduced. Sixty-two percent said they would; 32 percent were opposed.

Madison, IL

A blind woman is suing the Bi-State Development Agency of the Illinois-Missouri Metropolitan District because she says she was not able to see the edge of a platform on a light rail system, causing her to fall.

Te woman blames her fall on the fact that the light rail system did not have a detectable warning, such as a painted yellow line, on the edge of the platform drop-off.

Because of her fall, Paul suffered injuries to her head, neck and body, according to the complaint.

Denver, CO

As if Denver Broncos fans needed any incentive to see Sunday's home opener at Invesco Field at Mile High, McDonald's offered not one but two.

The burger giant distributed 3,600 free RTD light-rail round-trip passes Sunday to game-bound passengers as well as coupons for free McDonald's Angus Third Pounder burgers.

Similar giveaways were planned in National Football League cities Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C., as part of McDonald's "Try Free, Ride Free" promotion.

Los Angeles, CA

Although Metrolink safety lapses drew national attention last year when 25 people were killed in a head-on collision with a freight train, many more have died from commuter trains hitting automobiles and pedestrians.

Over the 15 years leading up to the deadly crash in Chatsworth, accidents involving trains running on Metrolink's system killed 218 other people, according to a detailed examination of accident records by The Times. Through September 2008, the number killed on the Metrolink commuter rail system was 244. Hundreds more people sustained nonfatal injuries.

Critics say Metrolink leaders have not paid enough attention to safety and have done little to upgrade dangerous intersections where streets cross the tracks.

Tukwila, WA

(Puget)Sound Transit admitted in June, noise from the new light rail line in North Tukwila exceeds the federal standards.

Sound Transit said light rail is not just loud enough to interrupt sleep, but also loud enough to hurt you.

One of the noisiest spots along the light rail route is in Tukwila, where neighbors say the screeching of the trains disrupt their sleep.

"It sounds like scratching something across a chalkboard," said an area resident.

Other people living near curves on the tracks have said the harsh noise can be unbearable.

Sound Transit just made an emergency declaration stating noise from the trains is a public health problem.

The emergency declaration will allow the agency to start work immediately and spend up to $1 million to hush the squealing wheels with grease.

The Twin Cities, MN

The University of Minnesota has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Council over concerns the Central Corridor light-rail line will adversely affect research projects at the University.

The 11-mile, $928 million project won a key federal approval last month that allows planners to continue toward a 2010 construction start and 2014 opening.

But the University's lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, alleges the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and related decisions about the project fail to address serious adverse effects the line will cause.

Among the University's concerns are electromagnetic interference and vibrations from the trains that would affect research facilities.