Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

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twincitizen
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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby twincitizen » September 7th, 2016, 2:40 pm

Took the train to Target Field last night (first time since I moved into my house 1.5 blocks from 46th St Station).

So much noise and vibration on the downtown segment. It was really, really unpleasant. Like so bad that I would be embarrassed if I was showing a visitor around or trying to sell someone on the merits of light rail. I know there's always going to be *some* level of noise and vibration as you go around the curves before/after US Bank Stadium Station, but holy crap this was way worse. Deafening, approaching painful level of track noise. Is it always like this? Perhaps we had the same railcar going there and back, but it was equally bad on both tracks/directions.

grant1simons2
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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby grant1simons2 » September 7th, 2016, 2:57 pm

Have you been on the blue line in Chicago? Shakes like it's about to fall of the rails. Yeah most times I've ridden the blue here, there's some noise. Usually the older cars have it really bad.

colink
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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby colink » September 7th, 2016, 3:00 pm

Took the train to Target Field last night (first time since I moved into my house 1.5 blocks from 46th St Station).

So much noise and vibration on the downtown segment. It was really, really unpleasant. Like so bad that I would be embarrassed if I was showing a visitor around or trying to sell someone on the merits of light rail. I know there's always going to be *some* level of noise and vibration as you go around the curves before/after US Bank Stadium Station, but holy crap this was way worse. Deafening, approaching painful level of track noise. Is it always like this? Perhaps we had the same railcar going there and back, but it was equally bad on both tracks/directions.
I've never been too bothered by noise. It's nothing compared to the sound of the subway in NYC.

twincitizen
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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby twincitizen » September 7th, 2016, 3:32 pm

What's funny is that my gf and I just took a trip to Chicago, and rode the train extensively, so we made a similar comparison last night.

Whether underground, elevated, or at-grade (CTA Blue Line freeway median section), nothing in Chicago was quite like our LRT's grinding low-frequency vibration. Sure, Chicago's El gets noisy too, particularly at high speeds and/or in a tunnel - but I would compare that to the noise in our Blue Line's airport tunnel at 55mph. That's bearable (and expected) noisefrom a fast-moving train or tunnel operation. The issue here is the grinding & low-vibration that produces the noise (especially considering how slow the train is moving when it makes said vibration). It's several degrees more unpleasant. Not to be a diva, but yeah it kinda embarrassed me as a transit supporter/promoter/etc.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby BBMplsMN » September 7th, 2016, 5:01 pm

I ride it every day. It really depends on the train and where you are in the train. Most days I don't really notice much noise. But every so often it gets really loud.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby LakeCharles » September 7th, 2016, 5:58 pm

The Red Line and Brown Line's in Chicago I know are very loud from a grinding, screeching perspective.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby DanPatchToget » September 7th, 2016, 8:54 pm

Try the Green Line in Boston and your ears will be bleeding.

If you're sitting in the middle of the light rail car that's where the noise is worst. At first the noise can be a little annoying but after awhile you get used to it. A number of times I nearly fell asleep on the train.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby Didier » September 7th, 2016, 9:21 pm

The only time I rode the BART it was embarrassingly loud.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby twincitizen » September 8th, 2016, 1:42 pm

While we're comparing our lines to Chicago, I have to say I generally enjoy the "bounciness" of CTA cars' suspensions. Whereas our LRT feels really low and tight to the ground (because it is, duh), particularly in the embedded track sections. The ballasted track sections have a far superior ride quality.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby mulad » September 8th, 2016, 4:55 pm

I ride it every day. It really depends on the train and where you are in the train. Most days I don't really notice much noise. But every so often it gets really loud.
On the older Bombardier cars, it can be really loud to sit in that little middle "C" section between the "A" and "B" halves of the cars. I avoid those four seats when I can.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby widin007 » September 9th, 2016, 10:41 am

The only time I rode the BART it was embarrassingly loud.
BART is horrible in a lot of ways, but the noise has to be the worst. Had to ride it everyday, if you didn't have headphones on it felt like you were going to get ear damage going under the Bay.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby FISHMANPET » September 18th, 2017, 8:54 am

There's a white wrapped Siemens railcar sitting on that little bit of track between Franklin Ave and Lake St stations, as well as a couple flatbed railcars on the freight track, any clue what that could be? It's way too soon for Type 3 cars, right? Not sure if the car was being delivered to us or shipped out, maybe some kind of warranty issue?

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby DanPatchToget » September 18th, 2017, 9:12 am

Is that the spur that connects with the Minnesota Commercial? I noticed they dumped new ballast there and the switch onto the northbound Blue Line track is permanent (used to be disconnected and only connected for railcar deliveries).

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby SurlyLHT » September 18th, 2017, 9:15 am

It might be a warranty issue. I say this only because as I biked past this morning the lights at Lake Street were going off with the LRT on the railcar and train going away from the LRT tracks. (It was going south. I presume it needs to cross Lake and then switch the track to then head across the river?)

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby LRV Op Dude » September 19th, 2017, 3:27 am

New LRV must have arrived. Metro Transit bought 3 or 4 LRVs for the Super Bowl. I do not believe they are the Type 3.
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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby jtoemke » September 19th, 2017, 5:53 am

New LRV must have arrived. Metro Transit bought 3 or 4 LRVs for the Super Bowl. I do not believe they are the Type 3.
Out of curiosity, do you mean 3 LRV aka one train or three full train sets? If it just 3 LRV, I feel like one extra train isn't going to make the biggest difference.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby intercomnut » September 19th, 2017, 6:29 am

New LRV must have arrived. Metro Transit bought 3 or 4 LRVs for the Super Bowl. I do not believe they are the Type 3.
Out of curiosity, do you mean 3 LRV aka one train or three full train sets? If it just 3 LRV, I feel like one extra train isn't going to make the biggest difference.
Another reason for buying more LRV's is so they have more time to do maintenance on the existing LRV's. So you don't need an entire train, just one to swap out with an older one.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby HiawathaGuy » September 19th, 2017, 10:07 am

New LRV must have arrived. Metro Transit bought 3 or 4 LRVs for the Super Bowl. I do not believe they are the Type 3.
Out of curiosity, do you mean 3 LRV aka one train or three full train sets? If it just 3 LRV, I feel like one extra train isn't going to make the biggest difference.
3 LRV means 3 light rail vehicles (or one set, when they have all three in operation). Metro Transit doesn't refer to the LRVs as a set, they are all individually numbered and can/do run individually (rare these days), as a pair (sometimes late nights or weekends), or as a three-car set (most common). MT buying 3 or 4 more vehicles gives them a bit more flexibility in their high demand times, especially for big events like the Super Bowl, as they can run more trains, or have more for unexpected issues.

Curious, does that bring the overall count to 89 or 90 vehicles now, between the two lines? There were 86 (27 Type I, 59 Type II) the last I knew.

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby jebr » September 19th, 2017, 2:59 pm

Do they ever run just one car outside of the night shuttle between the two airport terminals? (I think, though I'm not 100% sure, that the airport shuttle uses just one car. It's been a while since I've been down there when it's operating, though.)

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Re: Blue Line (Hiawatha LRT)

Postby SurlyLHT » September 19th, 2017, 3:36 pm

They do run one car on the Blue Line late at night on the weekends. I always notice it on the bridge over Lake St. since it stands out so much.


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