4 ms·

Minneapolis built their light rail right down the middle of a main roadway, and the train does have to stop for red lights, but there is no train conductor beca

Minneapolis built their light rail right down the middle of a main roadway, and the train does have to stop for red lights, but there is no train conductor because the train is wired into the stoplight system and slows down/stops/accelerates appropriately. The lights have also been re-timed to allow for the train. Works pretty well in my experience.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mark-r 5y ago
They've obviously learned from that experience. The new southwest light rail being built has a ridiculous number of bridges - it's going to rival Chicago's "L" when it opens in two years, at least as it goes through the suburbs.
iggldiggl 5y ago
> but there is no train conductor because the train is wired into the stoplight system and slows down/stops/accelerates appropriately. ??? If you literally mean a conductor, i.e. as per the Wikipedia "a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train/locomotive" then yes, but then again that's nothing special as local public transport has mostly got rid of conductors for decades already and only a few systems still retain them (like apparently most older North American subway systems). Also it doesn't really have to do anything with how the traffic lights are wired or not. If on the other hand you do in fact mean a driver, then that would very much surprise me, as automatic operation of light rail systems running in mixed street traffic is still very uncommon to non-existant (as compared to fully segregated subways and subway-like systems, where new systems are commonly automated and older systems are slowly and occasionally being converted to automatic operation), and a cursory search seems to indicate that Minneapolis is no different in that regard, i.e. the trains are in fact still driver-operated.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mark-r 5y ago

They've obviously learned from that experience. The new southwest light rail being built has a ridiculous number of bridges - it's going to rival Chicago's "L" when it opens in two years, at least as it goes through the suburbs.

iggldiggl 5y ago

> but there is no train conductor because the train is wired into the stoplight system and slows down/stops/accelerates appropriately. ??? If you literally mean a conductor, i.e. as per the Wikipedia "a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train/locomotive" then yes, but then again that's nothing special as local public transport has mostly got rid of conductors for decades already and only a few systems still retain them (like apparently most older North American subway systems). Also it doesn't really have to do anything with how the traffic lights are wired or not. If on the other hand you do in fact mean a driver, then that would very much surprise me, as automatic operation of light rail systems running in mixed street traffic is still very uncommon to non-existant (as compared to fully segregated subways and subway-like systems, where new systems are commonly automated and older systems are slowly and occasionally being converted to automatic operation), and a cursory search seems to indicate that Minneapolis is no different in that regard, i.e. the trains are in fact still driver-operated.