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Page 2, Year 2000

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DECEMBER 2000


Faster Timings for SMARTrans

Author Wright's recent visit to Europe confirmed that faster timings than those projected in the book are realistic. While Wright was aware of exciting new equipment potentially available, he did not want to incorporate anything in the book which was not based on proven technology in daily commercial use. Specifically, he now recommends the use of the GTW family of trainsets designed and manufactured by the Swiss firm of Stadler AG. Wright rode one of these at over 80 mph on regularly scheduled service and confirmed for himself that the ride was very comfortable from start to stop.


The GTW 6, shown above, is an ideal configuration for local service in the Eagle Valley/Vail, Breckenridge/Silverthorne and Winter Park Fraser corridors.


GTW's are lightweight, manufactured in both meter and standard gauge, and in a variety of configurations. They are a low-entry design...one can wheel a bicycle or a chair directly into the car, and loading of skis and luggage requires no steps. Four dozen of these trainsets are in service in Switzerland and Germany, over 200 have been ordered, including 20 which will shortly be in service for New Jersey Transit.



The GTW 4x8 configuration is recommended for mainline service. Three train-sets coupled together would leave DIA with each train-set destined for Granby, Breckenridge and Vail. The two interior driving sections (which passengers can walk through) are rated at 1 MW each...sufficient to drive the set at over 80 mph on most sections and 70 mph on 7% grades.



This new GTW equipment allows significant improvement in SMARTrans's running times. About 20 minutes would be saved on trips from the Metro Area to Summit and Grand Counties and 30 minutes to Vail.




Thus, the Typical Elapsed Times shown on page 30 of the SMARTrans book can now be reduced accordingly. Express timings from the Golden carpark would become about 40 minutes to Winter Park and Keystone and an hour and a quarter to Vail. For locals, from Golden carpark to the Winter Park ski area would now become slilghtly over 50 minutes; to Keystone, just under an hour and to Vail, slightly over an hour and a half.


New Urban Corridors are Expensive!

Bangkok's one-year-old, 15-mile-long Skytrain monorail probably cost $1.2 billion...about $80 million per mile. This cost does not include elevators and escalators at most stations (required for a monorail in Colorado) which is a major source of passenger complaints. Currently, they must climb two or more difficult flights of stairs to reach the trains.

A more sensible approach to urban transportation was recently inaugurated in Montpelier, France, where a ground-level light rail system was installed at a cost of $35 million per mile, ahead of schedule and on budget. The system uses low floor train-sets and not only are passengers apparently delighted but it has received accolades for its aesthetic sensibility (International Railway Traveler, Sept. 2000).

SMARTrans's ability to use existing rail corridors such as RTD's projected Lakewood line promises huge savings. While exact cost-sharing scenarios would need to be established, the addition of SMARTrans's relatively light traffic to the relatively light traffic patterns expected for both the Lakewood and DIA lines to downtown Denver, provides excellent utilization of those planned urban corridors and a win-win-win situation for RTD, the City of Denver and SMARTrans.



NOVEMBER 2000


Can Colorado Afford a Monorail?

The new Las Vegas Monorail will link seven stations over four miles of elevated guideway at an estimated capital cost of $354 million, or close to $100 million per mile, in spite of the fact that one mile of guideway already exists. Service is expected to start in 2004 (Colorado Time Table, November '00).

This monorail is a low-speed system. . . . CIFGA estimates a cost of approximately $23 million per mile for its obviously more expensive high-speed proposal into the mountains (170 miles at $3.9 billion). If CIFGA's true cost was the same as Las Vegas's $100 million per mile, their proposal's capital cost would be $17 billion, roughly $170 for each passenger carried over its first 20 to 25 years!

The book SMARTrans proposes a 200-mile meter-gauge system with a capital cost of approximately $1 billion, or roughly $10 for each passenger over the first 20 to 25 years.


Monorail Bill Suffers Defeat in Legislature

Colorado's legislature killed CIFGA's bill to spend $100 million in research, development and demonstration for its proposed monorail (Denver Post, May 3, '00). SMARTrans played a significant role in the bill's defeat. The author, Edward Stewart Wright, testified before both the Senate and House Transportation Committees and hand-delivered copies of the book to each committee member, Governor Owens, and Majority Leader Blickensderfer in the closing days of the session.


But is CIFGA Dead?

No. CIFGA's latest proposal is to spend up to 4 times the amount in its defeated bill to build their Monorail from Denver International Airport to downtown Denver. They plan to bypass the Legislature and petition their way onto the ballot in November 2001.

Apparently, little or no coordination has occurred with either the City of Denver (which has issued its own request for proposals for a conventional rail link) or with RTD (which has passed a resolution requiring that DIA be served only with technology proven and in use in the USA).

And what does CIFGA's newest thrust have to do with its state-ordered mission to address the I-70 mountain corridor (not the downtown Denver to DIA problem)?


Ice and Snow?

Newark Airport's four-year-old monorail is shut down for repairs because it would not operate in snowy or cold weather (New York Times, March 28, '00). The system, which will have cost approximately $380 million when the repairs are complete, is only 1.9 miles long. This cost of $200 million per mile is almost ten times CIFGA's estimate for its Monorail proposal.

SMARTrans's ability to operate in ice, snow, cold weather and other conditions is proved daily by hundreds of operations of mountain meter-gauge railways around the world. It's cost is reasonable because it is:

- based on existing, proven technology

- lightweight equipment

- ground-hugging right-of-way

- integrated with RTD's routes through the Metro Area

- uses a cog-rack system to surmount the divide


High Speed or High Hopes?

CIFGA has been insistent that its Monorail would average at least 70 mph (which requires a top speed of over 120 mph) for the torturous, twisting I-70 Mountain Corridor route. SMARTrans points out why this goal is impractical. Experimental High-Speed trains actually have operated at speeds up to 300 mph. Japan's mag-lev, for example, can achieve 270 mph in 90 seconds! But Japan, a mountainous country, has yet to achieve one single commercial application of its elevated mag-lev monorail, despite investing well over $3 billion on the project!


How Big is Colorado's Tourist Industry?

Huge! It is the second largest industry in the state and means over $7 billion per year to Colorado's economy. Contrast that amount with Kenya in Africa, where tourism is the biggest industry . . . at $200 million a year!

Without relief on the I-70 mountain corridor, a significant portion of Colorado's tourist business will strangle and die. And the I-70 highway can't realistically expand over its present four lanes. SMARTrans will use less than the width of an interstate lane and provide an alternative route at the lowest possible cost.



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