There’s still “some uncertainty” over the exact schedule, but all the pieces needed to allow Metro to open Houston’s second and third light-rail lines won’t be in place until late December, according to reports delivered to a committee of the transportation organization’s board of directors last Friday. Previously, an opening date sometime this fall had been projected for the Southeast and East End lines (though the far eastern end of the East End line won’t come on line until a newly planned overpass is built under over the Union Pacific East Belt freight rail line between the future Altic and Cesar Chavez stations). Delays in the delivery of trains aren’t the sole reason for the late openings, however.
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The contractor building the lines won’t be ready to turn over the completed tracks until September 30th to Metro, which will then need approximately 60 days to prepare for their operation. Other factors affecting the schedule: delivery of hundreds of newly redesigned axle counters to monitor train traffic on the rail lines, and construction of Houston First’s new Marriott Marquis hotel next to the downtown convention center.
- Southeast Line and East End Line coverage [Swamplot]
Photo of new station at Palm Transit Center on Southeast Line: Metro
Metro behind schedule!?! I’m shocked. This has never happened before.
Is this report publicly available? Could you link to it?
Anything Metro says should be taken with a grain of salt. I lost faith in that organization a long time ago.
@Jonathan: You can view the meeting and presentation at this link: http://ridemetro.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=873
Discussion (with slides) begins about 2 hrs. and 38 minutes in, and runs for about 20 minutes.
Argh, I was hoping to be able to take the train to some football games at UH.
John “Fatboy” Culberson has probably bribed someone to delay it…and all those cars that crash into the MetroRail trains are probably orchestrated by Culberson, too. Culberson has a lot riding on killing rail in Houston (he receives bribes and pay-offs to do it). His backwards good ‘ole boy hill-billy anti-rail anti-Houston bullish!t is old, stale and tired. He feeds his family by stopping rail, his livelihood depends on thwarting Houston’s right to rail and 21st century mass transit. He’s following in the footsteps of his daddy Tom DeLay…and at the end of the day, he’ll get the same karma as DeLay. Check Culberson’s birth certificate, I think he’s secretly from Dallas or Chicago. So until Houston gets off its ass and gets rid of this turd, it will continue to lose out to cities that have rail (like Dallas and Atlanta), and don’t have to tolerate farts like Culberson (who f@#k the city they claim to represent).
For the amount of money wasted on these lines, many roads could have been updated to provide improved drainage and traffic movements. This doesn’t mean widening roads, but improving aging infrastructure to accommodate buses and better pedestrian movements.
Think of the improvements east and north of downtown that could have been provided…
What a surprise. I think the entire Metro organization should be completely dissolved and rebuilt new from the ground up. Also, If we should require ALL Metro employees (including everyone in management) to rely on their own services for their commute to work, once per week. If that was the case, I bet there would be a sudden shift in providing adequate transit. Just a thought…
@Honest Truth, certainly you mean mass transit of the 18th century.
I think I’m going to write a fat check to Culberson’s campaign again.
Say NO to communism, say NO to rail!
Of course it’s behind schedule but blaming METRO seems rather foolish. How many lawsuits have been filed? How many riders (not train) has Culberson slipped into other bills? How many hundreds of millions have we lost because the Republicans in the area do not respect basic democracy and the will of the people? Here’s the deal, if you elect people who hate government, you’re going to end up with lousy government.
Its a good thing these rails will open soon to alliviate the crushing rush hour traffic from commuters pouring into the city from Navigation/Harrisburg/ and the rest of the east side. Meanwhile, the entire west side of town chokes in fumes causes by a west loop that is a parking lot 8 hours a day, 290 and 59S that sit bumper to bumper, and a 20 lane afternoon tailgate party of tired workers sitting on the Katy freeway. Way to solve the problem METRO!
@Honest Truth, certainly you mean mass transit of the 18th century.
I think I’m going to write a fat check to Culberson’s campaign again.
Say NO to communism, say NO to rail!
______________________________________________________________________________
Call it whatever you like, Houston is lacking and is inferior because it lacks.
Rail is here to stay in Houston, and will keep expanding, with or without the
CulberBeast. It will outlast fatass. Incidently, did you hear about the MetroRail
crash Cubby orchestrated this morning in the TMC. Make the check out to
John “Fatboy” Culberson (Houston’s resident TURD).
Of course. Why would the TAXPAYERS who are paying for this boondoggle expect anything better? Because METRO is run by second rate amateurs !!! Who have NO accountability to answer to !!!!
John Culberson is da debble! Mama says so!
kjb…
.
Not fighting wars halfway across the planet could have provided national funding for better roads and a full light rail system for every city in the USA. Unfortunately, that’s not how life works.
@Adam. Oh please shut up! The west side of Houston decided to spend a couple billion on widening the Katy Freeway and on the useless Grand Parkway boondoggle. Maybe if the suburbs would put a stop to these wasteful projects, you may get alternate forms of transportation like commuter rail lines instead of unsightly 30 lane wide freeways and environmentally damaging “parkways” to nowhere.
It is not Metro’s fault these rail lines are delayed. It is the contractors and the rails are delayed. We need more lines in the future we cannot keep building concrete. The University Line should have already been built. But fat Culberson gave transit dollars to other cities. The main thing is to get rid of him! He gets payoffs from freeways builders. Then Metro can proceed with another plan to expand the rail lines.
Glad to read that others see Culberson for the rail obstructionist that he is. He dances to the tune of a very small, affluent sector of his constituency, and he really believes more pavement will solve our transportation woes. He covered up existing rail ROW to expand I-10, which is already nearing capacity.
I urge any doubters drive along the new rail lines and see the explosive development that’s occurring along the tracks in anticipation of rail service.
@Honesttruth…my sentiments exaclty..
@commonsense…it wouldnt be swamplot if the biggest troll didnt disagree with everything
@roadchick…while I agree with you on culberson you’re still a NIMBY