Train Tragedy Shows Need for New Thinking

Wednesday’s Metrolink accident highlights the continuing problem with the rail transit system in the Los Angeles area. “Light rail” trains are not light; Wednesday’s crash involved the heavy cars that travel on rails, interacting with motor vehicles and pedestrians. This is a recipe for disaster.

The answer lies in another direction. One simply needs to look to our amusement parks to see vehicles that travel on two tubular rails. Sleek, larger versions of these cars, enclosed with doors, each having a capacity of 10 to 12 persons, would solve the problems associated with weaving a mass transit system into our existing city. The rails can go up and down with no problem, passing over roadways and other obstacles. A system of side rails at stations would allow traffic to continue passing. Rail cars would stop only when someone needed to get off or on, allowing everyone to get where they’re going faster.

We have most of the technology to implement such a system. We have aerospace engineers and airplane builders out of work as Boeing pulls out of Long Beach who could design and build these vehicles. Let’s move forward into a future of mass transit that makes sense.

Russell K. Johnson

Architect, Los Angeles