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My name is Lewis Ames. I work in the Construction Division of the San Francisco Municipal Railway - where we're completing a 5.1-mile extension to the 35+ mile rail transit system. Great to be aboard this Railforum. I want to say hello and introduce myself. I’ve worked on developing rail transit for 25 years including Metro-North RR as an employee and Amtrak West and Caltrain as a consultant. I’m interested in achieving a new generation of U.S. rail development – railroad based transit to smaller urban areas, 250,000 to 750,000+/- in population with a new approach to smaller scale, low cost rail service. Escondido-Oceanside and Washington County - Tri-Met are models but at 20 some miles they represent significant projects. Similarly, Austin’s DMU program is an example in an urban area on high end. I not sure if I'm posting in right part of the forum, but would appreciate comments or updates if this has been discussed much recently. Lewis
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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Welcome. Though most of the activity here is focused on Amtrak, I'm sure you'll find some friendly people who share your interests, including several folks from the SF bay area.
Lewis Ames Member # 3902
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Thanks for the welcome and your web site. Its very informative and I hope you keep it going. In 1998 I worked on a rail study (found at the Santa Cruz site blw)for Monterey's TAMC and Santa Cruz's SCCRTC on use of DMU's between the two cities. The study's references to dmu vehicle types are now dated but overall its still valid in most other respects. However, the study showed the distance btw the cities represents too large an investment for one all new project in that region. The local transit option in TAMC handouts to show a rail transit just inside Monterey as a phase, I think, is a good direction. Escondido-Oceanside, Washington County/Tri-Met and Austin’s DMU programs are examples of 20-mile plus programs with more resources. Extending the Capitol's to Monterey seems like a natural if we could mobilize the state to step forward. Lewis http://www.sccrtc.org/pdf/ATBstudy/Section3.pdf
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