New Santo Domingo Rail Line
Richard Layman points out a new rail line (wiki) in Santo Domingo (wiki), Dominican Republic (DR) (wiki) has opened. I think the official web page is this, though it doesn’t have much content yet. Technically, I think the system is ‘heavy rail’ - designed to carry lots of people. It seems to run both above and below ground.
Some pics from Flickr:
I see there’s been criticism of the project because the country is relatively poor. Looking at per capita income numbers, it seems DR is similar to countries that have been rolling out BRT systems - Brazil, Colombia, India, etc. Essentially, DR is about a quarter as wealthy as the U.S., per capita.
[Update: I wanted to add that, though DR is only about as poor as these other developing nations, it is also drastically smaller in population size -- so, I read some number that said the total cost of the train is, in theory, somewhere south of $1 Billion (nobody knows for sure except the government because they're keeping the real figures secret). That cost would be roughly equivalent to the total amount of money the national government spent on health care and education (in a single year, I think?). Still, I'd have to know a lot more about conditions on the ground before making 'value judgments' on whether the train investment was, say, better or worse than building BRT or something else. Obviously, Benevolent Dictator Smith would build only bike infrastructure and no motorized transport. But if I had to choose between big shiny train and nothing (BRT), I'd be tempted to go train. At least DR appears to be spending money on productive things not destructive things.]
Santo Domingo is not a small place - about two million people in the city and metro area. The city/metro area of SF goes 800k/4Million. Its density is about 22k/sq mi - that would make it second most dense in the U.S., right between San Francisco and New York.
The president of DR, Leonel Fernandez, was born in Santo Domingo, but grew up in New York City, so he knew what an effective subway system was all about.
They’re using Alstom Metropolis cars. Those folks got some serious train technology. And their trains look nice - especially their trams:
So, could this be a good comparison case when looking at the BRT vs. LRT debate, in particular where poorer/developing countries are concerned?
Looks like a beautiful place. I could go for some sun and sand right about now!
Leave comment (0)[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
