A more realistic solution?

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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This is not completely new information, but it's in today's news and we haven't discussed it here:

Light railway for Santo Domingo
The head of the Office of Transport Reorganization (OTR), Diandino Pena, announced yesterday that the preparatory work being carried out on the Maximo Gomez Avenue and the Francisco J. Peynado bridge that links Santo Domingo with Villa Mella are related to the installation of a light train system that will be begun in January, 2006. Pena told reporters from Listin Diario that the municipal council had approved the project and that their suggestions for some changes would result in a better infrastructure. Meanwhile, the mayor of Santo Domingo North, Daniel Carvajal Lois, said that his council members would be meeting with OTR technical staff today. According to the liaison for the Santo Domingo North municipal council, Margarito de Leon, the only information the council members have received is the starting point for the train, the fact that it will be built as an elevated train and the fact that it will use a special bridge, parallel to the Peynado bridge, to cross the river.

What's the verdict? Is this a more realistic, cost-effective way of tackling the city's transport problem than the much-derided Metro idea?
It sounds good in theory, but I wonder what will need to be done to placate the powerful transport unions.
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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They're hiding the project details, but the word is out that the project is not a train but an electric tram, trolley cars on rails. They've already purchased the trolley cars, Pulman Standard, made in the 1930s.
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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Sounds like a typical Dominican mentality project to me if they plan on using electricity as the power source. But regardless of what they come up with there will be, as Chirimoya said, a need to placate (corruption)the transportation unions.
 

2dlight

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You are

Mirador said:
They're hiding the project details, but the word is out that the project is not a train but an electric tram, trolley cars on rails. They've already purchased the trolley cars, Pulman Standard, made in the 1930s.

the consummate prankster!
 

Don Juan

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Dec 5, 2003
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Will it be cost-effective?

If our wild and crazy government is bent on some kind of rail transport, won't it make more sense to build it around the more densely populated areas of our capital? Why not a closed loop that starts/ends at La puerta del Conde that runs west on 27 de febrero then north on Lincoln ave then east on JFK ave. back to el Conde. It would serve more people which means more revenue. Plus it may even become a tourist attraction. Those San Francisco-type cable cars would sure look pretty!
 

NALs

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Keith R said:
Mirador, is that a joke or for real? An electric tram in a city with inconsistent/unreliable power supply?
Have you ever wonder why Puerto Plata has an electric cable car going up and down Pico Isabel de Torres?

For a place that has unreliable power supply, that would be an oddity, but yet, its real and it works!

-NAL
 

canadian bob

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Trams on rails, pulled by horses would solve the problem and would certainly be a tourist attraction! Canadian Bob.
 

bienamor

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Apr 23, 2004
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But

canadian bob said:
Trams on rails, pulled by horses would solve the problem and would certainly be a tourist attraction! Canadian Bob.

tend to agree, but they would have to provide for the horses. what it takes to pull the car's, is a little different than pulling the vege carts. Its a nice thought that somebody would provide care for the animals, but dont see it happening soon here, what happend to the mounted patrol in the zona colonial best looking animals I have seen, except for some of the ranches arould La Romana, and north of San Pedro de Macorix
 

Rick Snyder

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canadian bob I'm still laughing from your post and in reality it might be a good idea but at the same time the DR really doesn't need more ($hit) on the streets.

NalOwhs as I haven't ever been to PP I can't comment on your observation of their cable car other then to say that from what I have read on the web site PP seems to have a power system that runs 24/7. Correct me if I'm wrong

Rick
 

NALs

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Rick Snyder said:
canadian bob I'm still laughing from your post and in reality it might be a good idea but at the same time the DR really doesn't need more ($hit) on the streets.

NalOwhs as I haven't ever been to PP I can't comment on your observation of their cable car other then to say that from what I have read on the web site PP seems to have a power system that runs 24/7. Correct me if I'm wrong

Rick
You are right and that was precisely my point.;)

-NAL
 

Rick Snyder

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NAL I can't visualize all of the DR or Santo Domingo having a reliable power sourch of 24/7 in our lifetime.

Rick
 

Chirimoya

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Am I stating the bleeding obvious here, or was I the only one to register the farcical nature of that comparison?

A tourist device - the Puerto Plata cable car - that ferries a couple of dozen of people a day up a mountain at a leisurely pace, two or three at a time, with a mass transit system designed to shift tens of thousands of people back and forth across a major capital city?

Is it Puerto Plata as a whole that is supposed to have a 24 hour power supply, or just the cable car??? The former I know for a fact is not true. The latter, if it is true, probably runs on a much smaller generator than would be required for the light railway.

Or maybe Nals was just pulling our legs?

In any case, who says the light railway is going to be electric? Is solar power an option?
 

NALs

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Rick Snyder said:
NAL I can't visualize all of the DR or Santo Domingo having a reliable power sourch of 24/7 in our lifetime.

Rick
Neither can I, but I can visualize a network of electrical trams having its own reliable electricity, similarly how many private businesses and homes create their own electricity when the public grid shuts down.

-NAL
 
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Piso Mojado

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Oct 19, 2005
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I suggest:

That they put rail wheels on all of the publicos and convert them to solar powered. That way, the transport unions can't whine about their drivers losing jobs, you cut down on polution AND you can have an interesting spectacle for all to see. (and you can still cram 6-7 people inside so there won't be a bunch of culture shock).

Cuidado,
Piso Mojado
 

NALs

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Piso Mojado said:
That they put rail wheels on all of the publicos and convert them to solar powered. That way, the transport unions can't whine about their drivers losing jobs, you cut down on polution AND you can have an interesting spectacle for all to see. (and you can still cram 6-7 people inside so there won't be a bunch of culture shock).

Cuidado,
Piso Mojado
Me cai, me cai, me cai!!!! LOL:nervous: :laugh:

Piso Mojado, me cai!

-NAL;)
 

Texas Bill

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But, Canadian Bob-----------------

That would be to admit that the DR hasn't yet emerged into the 21st Century.....
And THAT, my friend, they will NEVER DO!!!
Better to give the "impression" of a modern society!

And NAL, the cable car (tram) serving La Isabel has it's own power supply, paid for out of generated funds.
To my knowledge it has an automatic switch-over between Commercial and internal power.
Can you imagine the array of generators that will be required for backing up the Metro system??? It'll be enough to run the entire City if it were used exclusively for that purpose.

Texas Bill
 
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Keith R

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Jan 1, 2002
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Nal0whs said:
Have you ever wonder why Puerto Plata has an electric cable car going up and down Pico Isabel de Torres?

For a place that has unreliable power supply, that would be an oddity, but yet, its real and it works!

-NAL
No, I never wondered, because I know they have their own power supply. But Chiri is correct, it is hardly analogous to the power supply necessary to run an electrical public transportation system, Nals.

Oh, and I seem to recall that the same cable car you proudly point to spent several years out of operation because of poor maintenance. Hardly a compelling argument for a public transport system...
 
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