by jude galligan
This past Sunday I caught an impromptu glance at the Commuter Rail Train parked at the downtown station. Up close, the trains are beautiful. Compared to a subway train, or if you’ve ever seen the NJ-transit trains, Austin’s commuter rail looks like a Mercedes. When I arrived, there were about 25 CapMetro workers milling about. I tried to discretely walk into the train but was cut off by an official looking guy. Still i managed to grab some pics where you can see the interior. Looks pretty cool!
Austin Commuter Rail - Downtown Austin Station
One thing I am disappointed with is the gazebos. They’re small, don’t protect from the elements, and are fire-engine red. We spend millions of dollars on a train and get these crummy gazebos. The service won’t officially start until March, but it’s good to see this thing moving. From my window, I can see it going by and it is very quiet.
More pics after the jump!
About Jude Galligan
The stations aren’t really any worse than par for the course for light rail – if you were expecting subway-style stations, you were bound to be disappointed either way. It’s all small potatoes compared to this problem:
http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000548.html