Railroads, Local and light

The world currently has more people living in cities than in rural areas. In the United States this is no exception, and as a result government policy is focusing on the supply of 'green' jobs that help repair and expand its infrastructure in an attempt to help curb non-renewable resource use. The expansion of public transportation throughout the country is one facet of the multi-pronged US government policy. In the tri-county area of South Florida (Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade County) a research study known as the South Florida East Coast Corridor Transit Analysis (SFECCTA) entered Phase 2 in January 2009. This study looks at incorporating the FEC freight corridor which transverses the downtown areas of 47 cities into a major North- South commuter system. This system would also supplement the existing commuter Tri- Rail corridor. The proposed methodology in this manuscript attempts to address the issue of providing an adaptable, efficient and convenient public transportation in a low to medium density environment where the automobile is the preferred mode of travel. Emphasis is placed on connecting existing origin and destination locations in and around the greater West Palm Beach metropolitan area in Palm Beach County, FL. The goal of the methodology is to establish potential routes that will connect high amounts of residence to places of social interaction, consumption, employment, and the proposed SFECCTA regional transportation system with Light Rail Transit as the end goal. As a result the proposed corridors focus on creating dedicated and shared right of ways that already exist via the road network. The discussion and conclusion provide methodology successes, improvements, and economic development recommendations.

This study describes analytical model as one innovative way to simulate Light Rail Transit (LRT) operations and calculate vehicular, transit and person delays at LRT crossings through Microsoft Excel. Analytical model emulates LRT trajectories from field and use these trajectories to clearly define train and car phases through Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) logic, which is part of analytical model. Simulation of train trajectories and calculations of delays were done for different LRT strategies and estimated roadway condition, Testing and validation of analytical model were performed in one case study in Salt Lake City (UT). Results show that analytical model is capable of emulating LRT trajectories and estimating delay at isolated LRT crossing. However, analytical model is not capable of simulating different train strategies at two or more LRT crossings, at the same time. Finally, extracted strategy provides savings from $100.000 to $200.000 in study area, on annual basis for projected year.