Flooding Disrupts Metrorail

[ricco67]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2881159

Nov. 2, 2004, 10:11PM

Flooding disrupts MetroRail

9 inches of rain inundates tracks in the Medical Center

By LUCAS WALL

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Flooding shut down MetroRail service early Tuesday between the Texas Medical Center and downtown, delaying commutes for thousands of workers.

ADVERTISEMENT

Heavy rain overnight left 9 inches of water atop the tracks on Fannin where it passes under Holcombe, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Maggi Stewart, Metro spokeswoman, said it was apparent by 4:20 a.m., shortly before rail service was scheduled to begin, that trains would not be able to travel past the Texas Medical Center Transit Center.

"People were able to get to the transit center, but then the trains couldn't go in the underpass," Stewart said. "When it's more than 4 inches, it's difficult to maintain service."

This is the first time the Holcombe underpass, the lowest point along the line, has flooded since MetroRail began carrying passengers Jan. 1. Flooding also interrupted train service one evening in June after heavy rains inundated Midtown.

Stewart said Metro provided an emergency shuttle bus Tuesday along the rail line between downtown and the Medical Center until the floodwaters receded about 7 a.m. Notice of the shuttle bus should have been on the signs at affected rail stops, she said.

In response to confusion during other incidents this year, the transit authority began distributing a brochure onboard trains last week explaining to riders what to do if light rail service is disrupted. That information is not available at stations, however.

713-362-6832

traffic@chron.com

[yaga]

ELEVATED!

[Astro]

ELEVATED!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, that's what I say too.

[ssullivan]

In response to confusion during other incidents this year, the transit authority began distributing a brochure onboard trains last week explaining to riders what to do if light rail service is disrupted. That information is not available at stations, however.

I noticed these brochures last week and picked one up. Another change that the article didn't mention (once again the Chronicle's traffic reporters miss details) is that last week the bus stops for the MetroRail emergency shuttles were moved to be adjacent to the MetroRail platforms in most cases. From Bell Station south, all of the emergency shuttle stops are on the street right next to the MetroRail station. Main St. Square and Preston emergency shuttle stops are on cross streets adjacent to the MetroRail platforms. This is a change from before, when the emergency shuttle stops were usually a block away on parallel streets to the rail line. This made it impossible for people at the MetroRail stop to see the shuttle bus when it arrived, and for the bus driver to be able to see MetroRail patrons waiting on the train platform and notify them that the train isn't running and they need to get on the bus.

Yesterday afternoon I did hear some commuters on the train discussing the morning shut down and severe overcrowding on the emergency shuttle buses. It sounded like Metro needed to run more shuttles and/or larger buses. At least the emergency shuttle system seems to be improving, but I think it's far from flawless.

[ricco67]

This morning, I heard a number of people talking about the halt of service, but they didn't seem really peeved by it.

The thing again, thanks to Delay, we had to build this on a budget and had no choice but to go under, but I wasn't at the meetings, so I can't say for sure.

As far as the future lines, hopefully they will take that into consideration when it comes to the elevated portions of it.

Ricco

[westguy]

There's never any articles with the headline "Flooding disrupts Houston's freeways". On Monday and Tuesday this is exactly what happened.

[ricco67]

you have a good point, westguy.

in fact, there was a considerable amount of flooding in some neighborhoods that took several hours to make passable, but that only made passing mention.

Ricco

[H-Town Man]

Mass transit, especially rail, calls for a higher standard of assuredness than cars on a freeway. The fact that our train gets shut down for moderate sidewalk crowds and scattered showers is laughable.

[bachanon]

in the grand scheme of things, from planning to budgeting, why oh why didn't this section get placed at ground level? every one knows that these under passes flood.

perhaps "in the grand scheme of things" it doesn't occur enough to justify the extra cost?

i still wish it weren't so.

[ricco67]

Well, perhaps if DELAY would have helped with funding, we would have been able to get a better system in place.

in regards to the scattered showers remark, I would hardly call a 6" deluge over a 24hr period a shower. Considering it was only shut down 2.5 hrs, I don't think it's bad.

Ricco

[bachanon]

weren't there less requirements on what we could do with the funds because we "didn't" have federal money? would we actually have had MORE money or matching funds up to a certain amount? inquiring minds want to know...

[ricco67]

That's exactly the case. we would have had at least matching funds. As far as the requirements go, I have no clue.

The fact of the matter to me is that they should have stationed some trains on the "north" side of the overpass if they feel that flooding might be a problem for the next business day that way there would only be a slight disruption for that particular leg of the trip.

Ricco

[Subdude]

Any engineers here? I wonder what kind of cost-benefit analysis goes into the routing decisions. I mean it probably isn't worth the cost to totally floodproof a line, since elevation can double the costs. In cases like underpasses, maybe they figure it will flood twice a year, but that is worth living with versus the cost of protecting against those two flood days.

[ssullivan]

The fact of the matter to me is that they should have stationed some trains on the "north" side of the overpass if they feel that flooding might be a problem for the next business day that way there would only be a slight disruption for that particular leg of the trip.

Ricco

That would make a lot of sense. They could easily station trains just north of the Holcombe underpass and park a couple at UH Downtown. There are switches to allow trains to change tracks at UH Downtown and just north of the Medical Center.

In a situation where flooding happens during the day, while MetroRail is operating, I imagine that's what would be done. However, this happened in the early morning hours before service started for the day. I don't know how willing Metro would be to leave a few LRVs parked on the tracks in those areas overnight.

[ricco67]

maybe we should make that suggestion.

Most storms don't usually occur without some sort of warning. I would imagine if they saw a series of storms coming, it wouldn't be a big deal to simply stage some at a couple of stations. Put a couple of metro cops to look at them, and it's all good.

The pay of a couple of officers for a few hours is less then the disruption that the trains themselves not being in operation.

Ricco

[ricco67]

On another thread there is a discussion on the topic of media biased. Whether or you're liberal or conservative, let's see how this topic is handled.

This "blurb" is a commentary listed by the www.actionamerica.com website:

Wham-Bam-Tram Shut Down due to a little rain

Most of the Wham-Bam-Tram route remained out of service till after 7:00AM on Nov. 2

Wham-Bam-Tram Shut Down due to a little rain

Most of the Wham-Bam-Tram route remained out of service till after 7:00AM on Nov. 2

Gee, this sounds familiar. Where have we heard this before? Oh, yes! We said it. Back when it was first proposed, long before the Wham-Bam-Tram earned its nickname, Action America and many other voices of reason warned Metro and the City of Houston that the proposed train would not run in more than 3 inches of water. This is the second time that the Wham-Bam-Tram has had to be shut down because of high water. Passengers riding from the south, had to transfer, at the Med Center, in the rain, to guess what - good old dependable BUSSES - to complete their trip into downtown. Interestingly, if the bus routes had not been eliminated, to force riders onto the failing Wham-Bam-Tram, those riders would have likely not even known that there was high water, because the busses would have simply gone around or even through the high water. Also, bus riders would not have had to change vehicles in the downpour, either. This is Metro's idea of a World Class mass transit system. 20 times the national average in crashes, 13 times the previous worst crash record, 50% more pedestrians hit than the national average for all kinds of accidents, shut down twice, because of power lines and shut down twice due to high water. And those are only the incidents that they have not been able to hide.

Opinions?

R

[ssullivan]

Considering the source, I'm not surprised. Some facts are incorrect in their take on the shutdown. Rail riders were not forced to walk in the rain to transfer to a bus; obviously they are not familiar with the TMC Transit Center, where the trains were stopping. Transfers between bus and train are done completely under cover. And, the MetroRail stops provide more protection from the elements than most bus stops; had those riders been on buses they likely would have gotten wet anyway.

I also question the article claiming the rail line is "failing." I have seen no evidence to support that, and ridership numbers indicate it's anything but failing. I personally traveled on a train today into downtown during a non-rush hour period that was standing room only from north of the Med Center all the way to downtown. This was not at a major shift-change time in the Med Center either. I also personally don't buy the argument against transfering bus riders onto the train. The train is more efficient, and every city with rail does this. The idea is to use slow, inefficient buses to get people to the rail lines, then transfer them to a faster, higher capacity system to get downtown. It removes hundreds of bus trips from the streets, and most riders complete their trips faster.

I don't believe Metro is perfect, but even if the entire rail line had been built as a subway or an elevated light rail line, these people would still bitch about it. Even if in its current configuration not a single idiot driver had hit the train and no drunk homeless people had walked into it, they'd still find a way to bash the system.

Consider the source. That website even claims that Bush has passed some "liberal" initiatives during his first term. That's almost laughable.

[ricco67]

Good post Sullivan:

here is a the relevent link supporting your argument:Hiawatha light rail to serve airport

Ricco

[ssullivan]

Good post Sullivan:

here is a the relevent link supporting your argument:Hiawatha light rail to serve airport

Ricco

Thanks -- that does support my point!

[dbigtex56]

OK, face-off: who's cuter, Lucas Wall or Nancy Sarnoff?

I think that's how issues are decided these days...

Any opinions about Lucas Wall's articles? It seems to me he leans a bit heavily towards criticism of the Red Line. Does he report fairly? Is he well informed?

Personally, I think either he's cute or has a good photographer.

[Astro]

I like Lucas Wall... Esp. since I read one of his first articles he wrote when he got his transportation column, when he lambasted drivers who drove slow in the left lane and wouldn't get out of the way for faster traffic to pass (even if they were sppeding), I thought "I like this guy's way of thinking!" He seems like a bit of a smartass, like me

[ssullivan]

OK, face-off: who's cuter, Lucas Wall or Nancy Sarnoff?

Oh yeah he's super cute.

I do think he is a little too critical of Metro at times; often I find people who are overly critical of Houston's public transit system have very little actual experience using it. Sometimes he seems a little ill-informed; I don't know if Lucas wrote the article or not, but the article in the November 1 edition of the Chronicle on the changes to Metro's bus service that went into effect this week was a prime example. Overall I do like his column and the idea of treating traffic reporting like consumer reporting, where people can send him comments and complaints and he follows up with the city to get problems like mistimed signals corrected.

[ricco67]

Well, I met Lucas Wall only briefly during an interview and I thought he seemed like a rather nice guy. I noticed his wandering around the room observing and listing to everything around him.

But Sarnof is definately cuter.

Ricco