Santo Domingo Metro

[PICHARDO]

Hey!!!! I blinked you an eye!!!!! Too many beans being spilled!!!!!!!

[Jon S.]

Originally Posted by PICHARDO

Jon S. I take it you're very familiar with rail systems?
What's your overall opinion on the infrastructure that was designed for the SD Metro from personal experience??

I'm somewhat familiar, since I work with public transportation procurement (a heavily politicized area). However, I will limit my opinions on the SD Metro to say that I haven't seen anything up close other than driving by some of the stations and can't form an educated opinion just yet. I do know some engineers involved with the actual project but other than that, I don't know much about it.

At least the one down by Bellas Artes is gonna be one beautiful-looking station, I'm sure of it.

[Jon S.]

Originally Posted by PICHARDO

They contacted Bombardier, but to the best of my knowledge they didn't take part on the actual contract process of the Metro, mainly because the loan was punted to be spent mostly with suppliers in the EU...

I don't know about ERICO but the name of a lot of the welding materials is CADWELD...

Yep, those are the ERICO people doing what they do. That means the material for the weld joints is copper-based.

[Jon S.]

Originally Posted by PICHARDO

Hey!!!! I blinked you an eye!!!!! Too many beans being spilled!!!!!!!

Hahaha! I'll keep the noise down, haha!

[Jon S.]

One thing that did bother me was all the hoopla over the geological studies and that the info was not released earlier to Huchi Lora. Obviously, all sorts of people are behind the scenes but there are much larger systems with much higher risks of terrorist attacks and other mishaps which display their expansion plans online with no problems. NYC's MTA is one of them. Other than the secrecy, which is a load of crock, I actually don't have that many issues with the completion of the Metro. They should've just kept their hands away from the Education cookie jar!!

[PICHARDO]

They can't show and tell everything that's planned...
If you told people some two years back that a towering building of 150 meters was going to dwarf everything in the Anacaona and the city line by large, they would have sent you to the head doc... LOL!!!

The SD Metro, well... Better described as the DR's Metro! Is going to be huge, HUGE!
You can't show minds that aren't prepared to understand grand scale projects stuff like that... The Master plan is going to be shock and awe when it makes the news, one day... LOL!!!!!!

The real problem facing the DR is that still the Gov. has not been able to secure a firm platform to negotiate a buy-out offer to the now privatized energy suppliers...

They think that once control over the Refinery is achieved, given that we buy Oil from Venezuela on long term credit; the gov could eventually have a firm and better position (like being the petrol supplier) to negotiate terms.

If I told you that death and taxes will be the DR only two certain things coming soon, would you believe it? I mean in grand scale unlike anything seen before...(not the death of course, lol)

[Narcosis]

Originally Posted by Jon S.

This should be interesting......back in Miami, I work for the County's Procurement Department and we purchase all the Transit vehicles in the county, including the rail. All this time I've been reading on the SD Metro, I assumed it would be a heavy rail system, boy was I mistaken. This is a light-rail project with a heavy rail infrastructure. Lord knows how this one will turn out. Hope they get their copper based welding material from a good supplier, lol....

P.S: To Afro-man en el palacio....Please finish fixing the Maximo Gomez north of JFK Avenue, the "street crud" near the cemetery damn near ate my car for lunch!

Please explain what makes this a light rail system. They are going to use Alstom Metropolis 9000's same as in use on the newest subway lines in Barcelona Spain.

I always thought light rail was a tram or other ground level systems which share the street with cars.

[NALs]

Originally Posted by Narcosis

Please explain what makes this a light rail system. They are going to use Alstom Metropolis 9000's same as in use on the newest subway lines in Barcelona Spain.

I always thought light rail was a tram or other ground level systems which share the street with cars.

My guess is that Jon S. is assuming that because the trains will receive their electricity via catenaries, that it makes them light rail.

-NALs

[Narcosis]

Originally Posted by Jon S.

I'm not the most knowledgeable person on this topic, but basically, light-rail is usually above-ground, parallel to major roads or on the outskirts of cities, connecting one point to another, e.g., MAX in Portland, Oregon, the Green Line of Boston's MBTA, etc.....heavy rail has a larger infrastructure, higher-capacity rolling stock, usually run on fully separated right-of-way which can be elevated, tunnels, or simply on the ground.

IF the SD Metro ever gives good maintenance to the railcars and replace them before their end of service life (usually 15-18 years), the infrastructure being installed would be well-suited for REAL metro rolling stock, such as the railcars used by New York City's MTA, PATH, MBTA in Boston, the Underground in London, Moscow, Paris, Madrid Metro, etc....

If they built one in certain places in Southeast Asia, they can get it done here......

I'll take the Alstom Metropolis 9000's over any "REAL" metro rolling stock any day..

How do you campare riding a noisy, shaking, train in NY or London to the new modern metro lines in Barcelona? Riding on the Barcelona metro you feel the difference from the new air conditioned and quiet Metropolis 9000's to the older models.

[suarezn]

Originally Posted by PICHARDO

Being that the new buses with the Thales computerized systems will be deployed to link the rail to other parts of the city, the price for using the Metro will be on par to that of any mass surface mass transit already employed in SD...

The system will be able to create further income via ads and rental space in all stations for commercial use...

That it's going to be workable is beyond the questioning already, the Metro is here and will operate within months!

What nobody yet knows about is that the DR is currently entertaining offers to build Metro lines by privateers that want to invest in the ever growing potential of the DR's market. They include both passenger and cargo service, along one or two offers to link major coastal points to the city as well.

The city of Santiago is also under consideration by privateers to build a rail system there, that's one of the reasons why the shortly lived "trolley" was discarded for a more Metro like system city-wide...

The hottest real estate soon to jump in price is going to be the Samana region and Barahona... Many things are being panned for those two areas with multi-billion Pesos investments...

The centrical Santiago will be kept as it is pretty much, but major growth will start on the city skirts to accommodate the ever growing population. The plans so far are to create communities with walking distance malls just like Miami.

Santiago will son enjoy the first 30+ floor structure there too! Density is being looked for within the outer band along Duarte and Sadhala areas.

A new underground natural Gas supply network is also under work by the planning office of the DR... LP gas is going to be replaced by Natural Gas for home services.

A new nation wide early warning system is being put together for the DR agencies to warn the public of possible major natural disasters and hazards.

A new linkage network to allow on line school to be imparted to remote areas of the DR with fewer teachers needed to provide quality education to public students is being planned right now. The Gov is planning to use basic laptops to be assigned by the Education Department to students for the school year on loan. This will save the Gov. major funds on structures and maintenance along with staff...

Students will only be required to attend in person for tests to be imparted in soon to be build examining halls in major communities. Also an electronic on-line library will have all the required text and material for the students, rendering buying expensive books by families obsolete. The Gov. will buy the electronic licenses for the text and materials only, providing access to the students only in the system.

The laptops will be tamper and theft proof, as they will have non-marketable parts that can be used on any other laptop; also the units will have a hardware traceable much like the low jack of cars to trace any unit as soon as it connects anywhere, just like cell phones report to the closest cell towers, etc...

The whole idea is to have parents engage in the education of their children unlike before and today. Parents will get basic training and PTA type orgs will be used to keep them apprised of the curriculum of the children.

The DR will introduce English, French, German, and a soon to be considered extra idiom as basics into the curriculum of the education of the children in the DR.

Many things will change for the better in the DR, that's why education funds are not being raised because the emphasis is to bring the plans to fruition sooner rather than later.

Students will enjoy free passes for all Buses and Metro services nation wide...

Wow, those are all awesome ideas that I can't wait to see implemented. It sounds like The DR will bypass many other countries...

This is all great, except for one little problem....There's no money to implement this because the money is being either stolen, spent on political pork barrel projects or (most of it) to build and maintain The Metro.