New Hike To Trains At SAC

[The Davy Crockett]

The ability to walk the distance is really not the issue here. The issue is why would you want to design a station with that kind of inconvienence? If it cannot be helped, so be it. If it is just poor design then that would just be dumb.

EXACTLY!

 

[Trogdor]

The ability to walk the distance is really not the issue here. The issue is why would you want to design a station with that kind of inconvienence? If it cannot be helped, so be it. If it is just poor design then that would just be dumb.

The reason is because there were other plans for the land that the old tracks used (plus it eliminates a couple of curves on the railroad itself). Those plans, in the mean time, got put on hold/canceled, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't a plan to begin with.

 

[Peter KG6LSE]

I have to know . does it stop the Bloody Kindergarden walk!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAH!

 

[WhoozOn1st]

AU folks seem to be having as big a field day with news of the change as all those high-minded, Bee-reading Sacramentonian commenters. Sheesh!!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I walked from the "new" tracks into the old station without even realizing I was supposed to be gasping for air and having a heart attack. I guess I missed the memo. I do feel bad for folks who are too old or too feeble to walk such an incredibly short distance, but for the vast majority of us this sort of brief walk should be nothing worth noticing, let alone complaining about. As stated previously, if you can't handle this then you don't stand a chance at SFO, LAX, PHX, DEN, LAS, DFW, IAH, ORD, ATL, BOS, BWI, JFK, etc. Or shopping in a mall. Or walking through a parking lot. Or retrieving the mail for that matter.

Upon arriving in Sacramento I purchased a flight back home out of San Francisco to allow for a nonstop itinerary. I rode Capitol Corridor > BART Orange > BART Yellow > SFO Red. That's four connecting trains and trams and there was plenty of walking involved. However, the only part of that whole experience that was slow and annoying enough to be memorable was the mind-numbing TSA. Everything else was fast and easy, even by my standards.

 

[Bierboy]

The ability to walk the distance is really not the issue here. The issue is why would you want to design a station with that kind of inconvienence? If it cannot be helped, so be it. If it is just poor design then that would just be dumb.

um...because in many eyes, it's NOT an inconvenience?

 

[printman2000]

The ability to walk the distance is really not the issue here. The issue is why would you want to design a station with that kind of inconvenience? If it cannot be helped, so be it. If it is just poor design then that would just be dumb.

um...because in many eyes, it's NOT an inconvenience?

Is this an overwhelming inconvenience? No. But as I said before, "If it cannot be helped, so be it. If it is just poor design then that would just be dumb."

The most convenient would be to have the platform right outside the station, no? If they had the option (which I don't know anything about how it all went down), it should have been designed with the platform closer to the station. Common sense. But I do not even know if that was an option.

My point was to discuss where the platform is and the whole design process and not peoples ability to walk to it.

 

[Bierboy]

With none of us privy to the inner workings of the decision-making process for this new platform, it's useless to debate the design process. None of us was involved in the design process...so to debate it is futile.

 

[printman2000]

With none of us privy to the inner workings of the decision-making process for this new platform, it's useless to debate the design process. None of us was involved in the design process...so to debate it is futile.

Without re-reading I remember at least two reasons why the platform is where it is. And, who knows what information is actually out there and will be found by members here.

Anyway, futility has never been a reason to stop discussing in the past! :lol:

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm fine with debating the logic and reason of the design. No honest discussion should be off the table in my view. The only thing I find surprising is that people actually consider this to be a huge problem on the level of a deal breaker. That just sounds completely silly for me. The people who cannot make this trek probably shouldn't be using public transportation in the first place. Where are they even going that they won't have to do any walking or wheeling once they get there?

 

[Bierboy]

I'm fine with debating the logic and reason of the design. No honest discussion should be off the table in my view. The only thing I find surprising is that people actually consider this to be a huge problem on the level of a deal breaker. That just sounds completely silly for me. The people who cannot make this trek probably shouldn't be using public transportation in the first place. Where are they even going that they won't have to do any walking or wheeling once they get there?

Precisely.

 

[E Runs]

I'm fine with debating the logic and reason of the design. No honest discussion should be off the table in my view. The only thing I find surprising is that people actually consider this to be a huge problem on the level of a deal breaker. That just sounds completely silly for me. The people who cannot make this trek probably shouldn't be using public transportation in the first place. Where are they even going that they won't have to do any walking or wheeling once they get there?

Seem to be a reoccuring theme: change in baggage policy, deal breaker. A longer walk, deal breaker. Sheesh.

 

[rusty spike]

I got it...its a government poly to solve America's obesity problem...walk 500 ft.!

Let's face it, most of us would be better off if we walked an extra 500 ft. each day.

 

[tp49]

With none of us privy to the inner workings of the decision-making process for this new platform, it's useless to debate the design process. None of us was involved in the design process...so to debate it is futile.

The decision making for this has been fairly transparent for years. All you need to do is google "Sacramento Railyards Development." The tracks were realigned by UP to eliminate a dangerous curve at the east end of the station. When light rail was extended to Amtrak, that too was always meant to be temporary with the light rail tracks to move closer to the main tracks to coincide with the move of the station. As the arena was also supposed to go where the current station/track alignment is (a deal which fell apart in the spring long after work commenced on the moving of the track). The tunnel was meant to be temporary as either a new station was to be built and the existing station either repurposed or actually moved toward the new track alignment, which again was done to eliminate a safety issue.

Unfortunately this being Sacramento, and with the state of the economy in this city any real development in the railyards is still years away and this "temporary" tunnel will be around for quite a few years.

 

[MattW]

I have to say I agree with the long walk not being a real big inconvenience overall. I just measured several malls around Atlanta that I'm familiar with and 500ft is about one half to two-thirds the length of the mall. Measured against other stations, it seems it's about a 500ft walk from the Washington gates to the first third or middle of the platforms (depending on the platform), or the western edge of Chicago's great hall to the middle gates, or about 100ft more than just the width of Los Angeles's platforms, or about the ticket windows to the middle of the platforms at Boston South Station.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

A Sacramento Bee update on the changed platform situation. Seems the first week didn't go so well...

Train depot scrambles to fix issues on new tracks

"Sacramento officials are scrambling this weekend to make improvements after a bumpy first week of operations at the downtown depot's new passenger tracks and platforms.

"Some infirm passengers said the five-minute walk up and down ramps to the trains was too long. Other passengers complained that the temporary winding path through a construction zone was confusing. Some commuters missed their trains. And one man collapsed of an apparent heart attack."

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Some infirm passengers said the five-minute walk up and down ramps to the trains was too long.

Again, where are these people going that requires no walking? Heck, how did they make it to the station in the first place? I must be missing something. The path could probably use some more signs and some maps or something. I'll certainly concede that. I'll also agree that the public interest is apparently taking a distant back seat to business interests. As for the heat attack guy? Half of our population is five minutes of brisk walking away from a heart attack.

 

[PaulM]

Wow! I looks like we've opened up a new front in the culture wars. To walk or not to walk?

 

[Blackwolf]

I don't know about all the rest of Sacramento, but I for one find the new walk to be absolutely NOTHING!! Yeah, so it is farther than the original platforms. So what? In the long run, this will be a non-issue. As for the infirm and the heart attack guy? I say BS. The Bee being who they are, it is really political reporting at its worst. Te Bee is anti-transit, ant-Amtrak, and anti-rail... Who here at AU would really take them at their word??? I've personally been at the dagger point of that media machine and don't take their reporting with any serious measure. Go and do the "Walk" yourself and you'll be amazed at just how insignificant it is.

If anything, the construction around it all makes it worth while, if you are nosy like I am!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Go and do the "Walk" yourself and you'll be amazed at just how insignificant it is.

I'm tempted to assume that most of those who complained about this have never even made this walk in the first place and thus have no concept of what they're complaining about. Would it be better with the tracks right out back as before? Absolutely. Is it a major impediment to all but the least mobile among us? No. Say what you will about how we do things here, but the US is the world's leader in catering to the disabled. If anything we might actually take it a little too far sometimes.

 

[Heading North]

I've never been to Sacramento--but for any more seasoned travelers, how does it compare to the ramp in Portland, Maine? I was really surprised how far away the platform was from the building (though it was a non-issue for me).

 

[E Runs]

A Sacramento Bee update on the changed platform situation. Seems the first week didn't go so well...

Train depot scrambles to fix issues on new tracks

"Sacramento officials are scrambling this weekend to make improvements after a bumpy first week of operations at the downtown depot's new passenger tracks and platforms.

"Some infirm passengers said the five-minute walk up and down ramps to the trains was too long. Other passengers complained that the temporary winding path through a construction zone was confusing. Some commuters missed their trains. And one man collapsed of an apparent heart attack."

Please tell me this is actually from The Onion.

 

[user 1215]

Let's see... When I was a Senior in High School, I went into the B4 level of Tokyo Station (really it was about a B6 level - nearly 60 feet vertical climb on two enormous escalators (similar in length to the ones at the Citipark subway station in Dallas on the DART light rail line). Then, I turned left and took another smaller (single story) escalator. After that, there were three moving sidewalks, another 200 feet of walking, another escalator to my 850-ft long train. Of course, I was young and spry. If I had to do that today, I would eventually become young and spry again. OK - spry at least. Point is, Tokyo Station is H U G E. Millions of people walk it every day. Honestly, had they just said "screw ya!" the people would still walk that whole distance. That all being said, 500 feet isn't a cake walk, but it's not exactly walking across town, either. In consideration for guests with limited mobility, they should offer cart service, and in the least they should have installed two moving sidewalks.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

There are numerous train stations in the Tokyo area with walking distances that vastly exceed anything at Sacramento's tiny little train station. Same thing with Tokyo's two airports and dozens of our own airports right here in the US. Walking from my arrival gate at ORD to the CTA Blue line last month was several times longer than the relatively tiny walkway that is at the crux of this thread.

 

[user 1215]

I don't think I've ever seen cart service in a Japanese train station. Japanese airport, either, for that matter...