Last week was a really busy week for Light Rail meetings. As I get caught up, I’ll try to make some more stuff available. One of the more interesting meetings was held at ASU to discuss light rail safety near the campus. Gary Flunoy from Metro did a great job with his presentation and I was able to video a couple of different parts. In the enclosed video, Gary discusses some of the features of the light rail cars. Some of them include;
1. Air Conditioning. While discussing this very timely topic, Gary mentions that Metro feels they have one of the best a/c systems in the nation and that their units have been tested in extreme conditions, up to 137 degrees.
2. Accessibility. The trains are low floor vehicles which should easily accommodate bikes, pedestrians and the disabled – you can roll a bike or wheelchair right on to the train. The wide aisles will also make it convenient for wheelchair access. Metro also mentions that there will not be a need to strap down wheelchairs because of the computer-controlled braking action.
3. Storage of bikes / wheel chairs – Each train has room for four wheel chairs and four bicycles. If all four bike racks are in use, people “may” be able to bring another bike on the train and hold it as long as it is “safe.” Another cool feature for bikers is the fact that there will be locking bike lockers at park-and-ride stations.
4. Safety – These vehicles are very quiet. Be alert around the tracks and please realize that the traffic is louder than the trains. I have heard the bells and whistles and they work quite well but believe me, it is just a matter of time until some clown drives right in front of one of these trains.
The trains have many other cool features and I’ll be sure to add to this list in the near future. Please check back often, subscribe to our feed or follow us on Twitter! 🙂
Oh yeah, to hear Gary in the video, you might need to turn up the speakers a bit, I was sitting kind of far away..
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