Norman City Council candidates clarify views at public forum before April 1 election

Key quote:

““Something I would love to see — some type of light rail from Norman to Oklahoma City all the way to Tulsa,” [Matthew] Leal said.”

Dallas’ DART system pushes the limit on how long a light rail line can: it’s about 20 miles from the Parker Rd stop in Plano to Union Station in Dallas.  The San Diego Trolley has a similarly long lines down to the Mexican border and out to Santee, California.  DART’s route is scheduled for about a 45-minute run and I’m not sure you’d want to spend that much more time on that type of vehicle.

“Light rail”, at least for buzzword-compliant politicians and candidates, seem to be short-hand for high-speed rail, commuter rail, intercity rail, light rail, heavy rail, subways, streetcars, etc, etc, etc.  Pro tip: though they all share a 4′ 8.5″ track gauge, the technologies aren’t the same.   In fact, by law, some of them can’t even share the same tracks with the others.

Maybe I need to do a series on the different technologies.