Train "Street Running"

[PurdueBill]

The old street running in Lafayette, Indiana was a regular heavy-rail line that shared space with traffic, pre-relocation of the line to along the river.  Near the end of this video (as well as in the middle), you can see traffic following the train.  That would seem to be literal "street running."

[kphoger]

How are we defining "street running" here?  Are we defining it where it's simply a rail line that runs down a street?  In this case, several public-transit lines across the country would qualify, including the ones already mentioned.

Or are we defining it more narrowly in that it's a rail line that runs down the middle of a street and where non-train traffic can use the same "lane" that the train does?  In many cases, particularly with the rail transit lines, the line may run down the street but non-train traffic is not authorized to use the lane.  This is also the case with the CSX tracks through Ashland, VA that 1995hoo mentioned earlier...vehicle traffic cannot use the space the tracks are in.

This is why the OP said "Trolleys and passenger light rail are one thing, but..."

I've simply been assuming this thread was only intended for freight or long-haul passenger trains.

[Roadrunner75]

How are we defining "street running" here?  Are we defining it where it's simply a rail line that runs down a street?  In this case, several public-transit lines across the country would qualify, including the ones already mentioned.

Or are we defining it more narrowly in that it's a rail line that runs down the middle of a street and where non-train traffic can use the same "lane" that the train does?  In many cases, particularly with the rail transit lines, the line may run down the street but non-train traffic is not authorized to use the lane.  This is also the case with the CSX tracks through Ashland, VA that 1995hoo mentioned earlier...vehicle traffic cannot use the space the tracks are in.

This is why the OP said "Trolleys and passenger light rail are one thing, but..."

I've simply been assuming this thread was only intended for freight or long-haul passenger trains.

Yes, there are plenty of trolley and light rail tracks running down streets out there, although dwindling (trolleys at least).  Also 'street running' would have no separation, with traffic sharing the 'lane' with the tracks in the pavement.  Here's the 'definition' for what it's worth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_running

And then of course there's the tunnel in Whittier, AK.  Hopefully I'll get there someday.  Sharing bridges and tunnels with trains looks like fun too:

https://www.google.com/maps/@60.7772559,-148.73259,3a,66.8y,292.38h,93.94t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sN2xfsCTHhTwbbGTpxDwdnw!2e0?force=lite

[sparker]

One of the most notorious street-running examples can be found in Oakland, CA, where the UP (former SP) main San Jose-Sacramento line, used by freights, intercity Amtrak (Coast Starlight, San Francisco Zephyr), and the intercity California Amtrak use a double (and occasionally triple-) track right down the middle of the Embarcadero -- right past Jack London Square, a principal local tourist center.  Trains of all types roll down that street 24/7; Amtrak trains must negotiate a series of in-street switches to get to the boarding tracks of the Oakland passenger station just south of the Square.  Several major hotels front on the Embarcadero along this section; it's always amusing to see tourists or other hotel guests emerge from their parking garages onto the street -- and to observe the WTF expressions on their faces when they see a train coming only a few yards away!  (yeah, I know it's "schadenfreude" on my part -- but this has been going on at this location for about 90 years!) 

[oscar]

And then of course there's the tunnel in Whittier, AK.  Hopefully I'll get there someday.  Sharing bridges and tunnels with trains looks like fun too:

https://www.google.com/maps/@60.7772559,-148.73259,3a,66.8y,292.38h,93.94t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sN2xfsCTHhTwbbGTpxDwdnw!2e0?force=lite

Yeah, that hadn't occurred to me because it was originally a rail-only tunnel, only recently converted to allow auto/truck traffic. Also, you don't have trains and motor vehicles sharing the tunnel at once -- eastbound motor vehicles, westbound motor vehicles, and trains get their own time slots.

http://www.alaskaroads.com/photos-whittier-access.htm

[cpzilliacus]

Baltimore City once had a fair amount of street running on railroad tracks that were effectively spurs, but I believe nearly all of them are now gone (remains on Wicomico Street here).

In the District of Columbia, the CSX Georgetown Branch terminated on K Street, N.W. under the Whitehurst Freeway (U.S. 29), though there are no remnants in the streets left (though this bridge (not street running) was converted to a multi-use trail), and in the Southwest industrial area of town, near the Nationals ballpark is this remnant of track.

[kphoger]

One of the most notorious street-running examples can be found in Oakland, CA, where the UP (former SP) main San Jose-Sacramento line, used by freights, intercity Amtrak (Coast Starlight, San Francisco Zephyr), and the intercity California Amtrak use a double (and occasionally triple-) track right down the middle of the Embarcadero -- right past Jack London Square, a principal local tourist center.  Trains of all types roll down that street 24/7; Amtrak trains must negotiate a series of in-street switches to get to the boarding tracks of the Oakland passenger station just south of the Square.  Several major hotels front on the Embarcadero along this section; it's always amusing to see tourists or other hotel guests emerge from their parking garages onto the street -- and to observe the WTF expressions on their faces when they see a train coming only a few yards away!  (yeah, I know it's "schadenfreude" on my part -- but this has been going on at this location for about 90 years!) 

I note the plastic pylons along the yellow lines at some intersections, discouraging left-turning traffic from using the railroad as a left-turn lane when the queue builds up.

[Roadrunner75]

One of the most notorious street-running examples can be found in Oakland, CA, where the UP (former SP) main San Jose-Sacramento line, used by freights, intercity Amtrak (Coast Starlight, San Francisco Zephyr), and the intercity California Amtrak use a double (and occasionally triple-) track right down the middle of the Embarcadero -- right past Jack London Square, a principal local tourist center.  Trains of all types roll down that street 24/7; Amtrak trains must negotiate a series of in-street switches to get to the boarding tracks of the Oakland passenger station just south of the Square.  Several major hotels front on the Embarcadero along this section; it's always amusing to see tourists or other hotel guests emerge from their parking garages onto the street -- and to observe the WTF expressions on their faces when they see a train coming only a few yards away!  (yeah, I know it's "schadenfreude" on my part -- but this has been going on at this location for about 90 years!)

Yes, I'd say this more than qualifies:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7955798,-122.2774897,3a,66.8y,88.25h,86.97t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbZI_wcaksoipJ3msPEBJog!2e0?force=lite

[jmd41280]

St. Marys, WV

Elizabeth, PA

[sparker]

Until about 15 years ago, the Embarcadero street-running line in Oakland was only one of two in that immediate area; the second was two blocks away on 3rd Street (Embarcadero was an alternate name for the 1st Street trajectory).  The Embarcadero line was originally Southern Pacific (SP), while the parallel tracks were part of Western Pacific (WP).  The WP Oakland passenger station was actually at 3rd and Broadway, right on the corner.  There were no separate "platform tracks" at that station for passenger boarding or unloading; they boarded passenger trains right in the middle of 3rd street; RR personnel directed automotive traffic away from that street segment during the boarding process.  WP, according to lore, had an unwritten agreement with the City of Oakland to avoid blocking Broadway whenever possible; the eastbound California Zephyr, the "flagship" passenger train on the line (which technically began its journey at the waterfront Oakland Mole, picking up ferry passengers from San Francisco there) pulled up to the station slowly so the front of the lead locomotive (always an EMD FP7, for rail buffs!) sat right at the Broadway crosswalk.  The 3rd Street street-running arrangement was about a mile and a half in length.

WP was "merged" with UP in early 1983 (it was actually a $90M cash purchase) well after passenger operations over that line had ceased; the 3rd street line was freight only after the inception of Amtrak in 1971.  UP had done another "merger" with SP in 1996 (more or less a "fire sale" of SP to UP by Phil Anschutz, who had bought the line in 1988), and decided that two parallel street-running tracks through Oakland was one too many to maintain, so the former WP 3rd Street tracks were taken up circa 2001 and a connecting track between the lines installed a couple of miles southeast.       

[Bruce]

Wikipedia has a list with examples from around the world, and a comprehensive list of U.S. examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_running#United_States

Depending on the definition, a bridge/tunnel shared between trains and buses could count. There's a few U.S. examples, like the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel or the Tillikum Bridge in Portland.

The Port of Tacoma, in Washington State, has several railways running down the center of the street, but they're not commonly used.

Renton, WA has a passenger railway running down Houser Way, one of their main arterial roads. The railway is, however, hardly ever used (only, very rarely, by specialty dinner trains, and by Boeing to ship airplane fuselages to their Renton plant).

Sadly, the dinner train has been gone for a few years and the tracks up north are being converted to a bike trail (with a loud minority whining about a proposal to turn them partially back to rail transit come 2024...), so the street-running segment through Renton is rarely used at unscheduled intervals. It'd be nice to know when a 737 fuselage was going on the tracks.

[slorydn1]

Hancock St in New Bern NC here

[SeriesE]

There's one in Downtown Anaheim, CA along Santa Ana Street and Olive Street.

[sparker]

Addendum to my Oakland post -- if you think a normal, everyday UP freight or Amtrak passenger train on the Embarcadero elicits WTF reactions from the tourists, you should have seen it back in 1984 when the steam "Daylight" passenger locomotive 4449 came through town, 12-car matching train in tow,  on its way to the New Orleans World's Fair of that year.  With a chime whistle that sounds like bagpipes on steroids -- and sounding like the biggest & loudest teakettle in the world -- folks on the sidewalk and in cars were literally slack-jawed!  The only people not surprised were the RR "foamers" (myself included) who followed the train around the Bay Area (actually, I took some time off work and followed it from Klamath Falls back to San Jose, and later -- after it did several days of excursion work between SF and SJ -- all the way to Yuma!), who were virtually occupying Jack London Square.   Fun times back when the tracks belonged to SP; UP no longer allows steam excursions other than with their own two (soon to be 3) operating "heritage" locomotives to use their tracks (except via trackage rights of other lines).  Even though they absorbed SP back in 1996, they don't consider SP 4449 to be one of their own.   

[hm insulators]

Here's one in Colton, CA that I found awhile back.  We were looking at old wigwag signals on Youtube, and we came across this one with both wigwags and street running:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0619618,-117.3240402,3a,66.8y,136.48h,90.83t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sumYbpapJpfyHcEIANNupCQ!2e0?force=lite

And video:

I didn't think wigwags still existed, much less one in good working condition!

[sparker]

Still plenty of wig-wags on the former SP agricultural branches in the San Joaquin Valley.  Most of these branches are now being run by short-line operators; these tend to leave extant signaling in place, usually replacing them with simple crossbucks if & when they fail.  About the only time they're upgraded to gates is if that is subsidized by state/local agencies.   

[Aerobird]

Not mentioned above: a line that runs along Roosevelt Street in Albany, GA.

East end.

West end.

An interesting bit about this one is at the intersection with Jefferson Street. Previously there was just a simple crossing, as this GSV from Roosevelt Street, 2012 shows - but it also shows construction underway for adding a wide island, gantries and crossing arms that the GSV for Jefferson shows in place. The "overlapping" Left Turn Only lanes are also a somewhat different touch!

[sparker]

In case it didn't make the national news, the street-running UP trackage along the Embarcadero in Oakland recently was the locale of an unfortunate incident in which two members of the longstanding Bay Area jazz/rock group Tower of Power were struck by an Amtrak train (one of the "Capitols" that run between San Jose and Sacramento); they were waiting for a freight to pass on one of the tracks and proceeded to walk across the tracks only to be struck by the Amtrak train heading in the opposite direction on the adjacent track (the musicians were en route to a club gig about a block away).  Despite taking a direct hit from the train, which was traveling about 20 mph at the time, they survived with some serious injury.  The tracks and the street in which they run are wide open to the public; so far there hasn't been much of an outcry to somehow isolate the tracks from their surroundings (as a long time area resident, I'm as surprised as anyone that such rumblings haven't been heard!); the fact that the victims were jaywalking may have something to do with that. 

[sbeaver44]

So while looking around on Google Maps I ran across this street in West Brownsville, PA where the freight tracks run right down the middle of Main Street for a few blocks.  From watching lots of train videos with my son I know this is commonly called "street running", but it's still interesting to see active tracks running down a residential street.  Trolleys and passenger light rail are one thing, but I can't imagine looking out my front door at a freight train coming down my street within inches of my parked car.  Here's a few GSV links:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0252515,-79.8889213,3a,66.8y,36.81h,90.25t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1spqwM_0EUfm1dRWx83PV3Xg!2e0?force=lite

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0287226,-79.8832887,3a,79.3y,33.78h,89.57t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1squLZj7Rjd5IAMI2Pxg8XRQ!2e0?force=lite

...and one of the videos of the train passing through:

And finally...

I have relatives in West Brownsville, and the trains pass by fairly often, but are limited to about 10 mph.  Still weird to see a train right between two houses!

[jmd41280]

Here is another view of Main St. in West Brownsville, PA (no train running down the street, though)...


West Brownsville, PA by Jon Dawson, on Flickr

[Traffic]

Fayetteville, NC has a couple of examples of street running with both styles mentioned above.  The CSX Vander Spur runs down the middle of Russell Street for almost a mile or so from downtown out to near Eastern Blvd. (US 301/Bus. 95).   The main A line runs down the middle of middle of Winslow Street for 3 or 4 blocks just south of the Amtrak station.  In both of these cases, the tracks are separated from the roadway by a curb, so you can not actually drive on the tracks.  Just north of downtown, however, the NS line from Raleigh and Fuquay run down the middle of Hillsboro Street for several blocks.   The tracks are literally in the pavement with only the rails exposed.  A yellow line on either side of the tracks serves as a median to deter people from driving on the tracks, but there is nothing to really stop you.   I think the NS line gets a round trip train on weekdays from Raleigh to Fayetteville, so it does get regular rail traffic.

[Bruce]

A different kind of situation in Ballard, Seattle: A major bike trail is forced onto the street because of a near-defunct railroad that keeps blocking a full project.

[jakeroot]

Does the double-yellow line separate same-direction traffic? (Bikes and cars in one direction)

Seems like the double yellow should be between the bike lanes (as it is now), and a wider white buffer between traffic. At least if we are to reserve yellow for same direction traffic opposing directions.

(For the record, I recognize that the bike lane was simply laid down over the old lane, but the double yellow should have been removed if I'm interpreting the situation correctly.

[Bruce]

Does the double-yellow line separate same-direction traffic? (Bikes and cars in one direction)

Seems like the double yellow should be between the bike lanes (as it is now), and a wider white buffer between traffic. At least if we are to reserve yellow for same direction traffic.

(For the record, I recognize that the bike lane was simply laid down over the old lane, but the double yellow should have been removed if I'm interpreting the situation correctly.

The street is one way for cars and two way for bikes and trains.

[sparker]

^^^^^^^^^^^^
When it comes to rail branches such as the one pictured, there's a binary situation:  it's either in operation or it isn't; the tracks are owned by the RR, and if there's a paying customer on the line, it'll remain in use and legally can't be removed (this is per FRRA/USDOT rules) without consent of all parties.  Of course, if it costs more to operate than the revenue received, the RR may elect to remove the tracks and provide truck service (usually by contract) to the customer.  The fact that the tracks likely date from the early part of the 20th century and are still there attest to the fact that there's enough business to maintain the tracks (which can be expensive, since pavement must be torn up and replaced if track work is necessary).  If urban advocates think removal of freeways is a difficult process, taking on privately owned and legally protected rail facilities is considerably worse -- the rail companies (in the case of Seattle, either BNSF or UP) can in effect raise their middle finger at such plans with impunity.