Out of town on a rail
When I travel to another city the first thing I want to try out is the public transportation, especially if it’s rail. I love trains, subways, light rail and never pass up the opportunity to take rail into town from the airport if at all possible.
I have visions of some day seeing light rail lines running east and west and north and south through downtown Oklahoma City, connecting Norman with Edmond and Midwest City with Yukon or El Reno.
Anyway, I was down in Houston recently visiting the M.D. Anderson campus a few miles southwest of downtown. At the end of the day, my hosts suggested we take Houston’s new light rail train into downtown to dine at a restaurant.
So, we walked a short ways to the train station that was in the middle of Fannin Street and caught the next train headed downtown. I sat next to a woman who had just got off work at one of the Texas Medical Center hospitals, and asked her what she thought of the light rail system.
She said she rides it every day but wasn’t a big fan of it because the rails were plunked down right in the traffic lanes of the street and that it had posed a big hazard for drivers. Or maybe it was drivers who posed a big hazard for the train.
The train has to stop at red lights just as do cars, and its traffic lane is also the left-turn lane for vehicles. Dozens of collisions have occurred because drivers weren’t anticipating the train continuing on through the light, she said.
In fact, she was on one of the trains that got hit by a car and was forced to stay on it until police arrived and sorted out the collision and let the train go on its way. She wasn’t a happy camper.
Anyway, the train got us to downtown in short order for only $1. We dined, then caught the outbound train— trains run every few minutes—back to the Medical Center campus at about 6 p.m. The train was packed for the return trip, too.
Other Houston natives to whom I talked said the city is planning a second line that will carry passengers through other sections of town. Maybe Oklahoma City can use Houston as a template for any light rail plans it has in the future — without the traffic hazards, of course.
Jim Stafford
Business News reporter
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