Breaking in Houston: Prison bus collides with MetroRail train downtown.

Houston Chronicle ^

[Jalapeno]

Headline on paper front page online. Controversial Metro Rail hits Prison bus. More details to follow.

[DallasMike]

this is why we don't run trains on the street

The idiots who put the DART Rail in here in Dallas put the downtown tracks in the street. Not only do they regularly kill people but they also take up space that was formerly available for use by cars, thereby further congesting the streets of downtown Dallas.

[Eaker]

Hmmmm...... A violation of our mutual destruction accord I see.

Yer lucky I am getting ready to go to Aransas........... but I WILL be back!

[PAR35]

now just wait until they get that 'Cotton Flyer' or whatever they are calling it running between Fort Worth and Dallas...

The Trinity Railway Express has been running for several years between Dallas and Fort Worth. $4.50 for a day pass plus all day rides on Dallas buses and trains and Fort Worth buses.

It's the loop to DFW airport that is still on the drawing board.

[Larry Lucido]

Where is a right turn illegal?

Here, apparently. :-)

[rudy45]

Maybe I know just enough to be dangerous, but isn't Tarrant County where Dallas is? What is a Tarrant County bus doing in Houston?

[deport]

Hokay..... Maybe nothing is being added or just some portion.... Thanks... From the following I guess they are meaning that it will help fund the continued operation of the existing 'Cotton Belt':

Metroplex leaders expect to use their share of the mobility fund on:

• The Cotton Belt commuter rail line from Fort Worth to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

• The Texas 114/121 Grapevine funnel.

• Toll-express lanes on Interstate 635 in Dallas.

[Flyer]

Hmmmm...... A violation of our mutual destruction accord I see.

Oh crap. What was I thinking?!?

Take one shot at me and we will return to the accord. Okay?

[mac_truck]

Passengers waiting at stations were notified of the delays, apparently the first time the electronic sign system has functioned properly in issuing such an alert

I believe the electronic sign system they're referring to is the the one that notifies those waiting for the train that there are going to be delays, not the one that controls the traffic signals.

[unspun]

http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/Kathy2/fugitive.html

[Eaker]

Take one shot at me and we will return to the accord. Okay?

Deal.

When I get back. In the mean time would you post a really cool Houston Liberty thread for me?

The theme could be, "Eaker, your best friend or worse enemy."

;

[PAR35]

The Cotton Belt commuter rail line from Fort Worth to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

I was partially wrong in my earlier post. This isn't the connector from the existing line into the south end of the airport.

It's a separate line. The Cotton Belt line would go from Fort Worth in a northeasterly direction to the north side of the airport and would eventually push up to Plano.

" and construction of a rail connection line from the Cotton Belt rail line in Grapevine into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

"The Cotton Belt line is proposed to become another commuter rail line that would eventually span from Fort Worth to Collin County. "

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/tarrant/stories/081504dnnorroads.5c08a.html

It might brush the northern tip of Dallas up in Collin County, so you may have been technically correct that it would run between Dallas and Fort Worth.

[deport]

technically or otherwise..... I don't know. Just posting a comment from another article mentioning some 'Cotton Belt' line..... Take care now.

[Flyer]

would you post a really cool Houston Liberty thread for me?

I can't promise really cool or necessarily follow the theme, but yes, I can start the thread.

[Ichneumon]

Illegal RIGHT turn? Where is a right turn illegal?

Where the light rail track runs down the right-hand edge of the road, and turning right would cut across its path without a signal. Or where there's a signal, and turning right when it reads, "train coming, you idiot, don't turn right at this time", instead of "go ahead and turn right, no train near".

The same issues are at play when the train runs down the left side of the road (or center), and someone wants to turn left.

The train (theoretically) avoids colliding with traffic at intersections by three methods, depending on the intersection:

1. A permanent "no (left/right) turn" sign.

2. Being synchronized with the regular traffic lights, so that it passes through when traffic isn't allowed to be there anyway.

3. Having light-up signs that show a green arrow turning right(left) across a graphic of a train track (for when it's safe to do so), or a red arrow turning across the track graphic with a big red "X" on it, to say "don't turn now, stupid".

Of course, people don't always obey the signs, and therein lies the problem.

[Xenalyte]

Seriously, I can't think of an intersection where a right turn is illegal.

I've been in Houston my entire life, and am working downtown right this second . . . and I can honestly say that I have never seen a "No Right Turn" sign.

I've seen "No Right Turn on Red," a la Memorial at Briar Forest, but that's different.

[hummingbird]

Heh, heh, heh....Hey, I want one of those beanies!

[hummingbird]

An innocent victim of blind justice. Falsely convicted for the murder of his wife. Reprieved by fate when a train wreck freed him. Freed him to hide in lonely desperation, to change his identity, to toil at many jobs, freed him to run before the relentless pursuit of the police lieutenant obsessed with his capture. Freed him to search for the one-armed man who left the scene of the crime.

A metaphor for our times...heh, heh, heh. LOOK OUT, HERE COMES THE METRORAIL!

[hummingbird]

The little mouse on top is a nice touch. Make friends with the mouse & I bet you'll get your beanie back.

Stay friends with Eaker...he looks pretty seriously armed (and I bet there's much, much more just out of camera sight!).

[No Truce With Kings]

"Maybe I know just enough to be dangerous, but isn't Tarrant County where Dallas is? What is a Tarrant County bus doing in Houston?"

Tarrant County is where Fort Worth is. But that's close enough for the cigar.

Maybe Ft. Worth has new catch and release policy for felons. Kind of like the Park Service does with bears. You know -- catch them near the picnic tables, then drive them hundreds of miles away and let them go, hoping they will find a new home in that environment, rather than returning to their old territory.

[Not A Snowbird]

We have trains crossing streets all over the place up here. The only people hit so far are idiots who deliberately step in front of the train and one dolt bicyclist who rode his bike smack into the side of the Sounder a few months ago.

What is it about Houston's train that makes it so dangerous?