>>1454465Here's austin. First off full overview. As always in black are commuter lines on existing track. On the south side I only drew as far as San Marcos, although theoretically this could be an Austin-San Antonio line.
I've drawn in the existing MetroRail line, but I propose extending it through downtown. See, thing is, I don't think the basic concept of such a line is all that bad, using small DMUs that are cheap to run and adequate for low demands, and able to have street running. I do think it's somewhat poorly executed, like, if you have the possibility of this train running through the street, get the most out of it by having it run all the way through downtown, offering many more connections.
I also propose another such line using the same downtown alignment and running to Elgin. These are smaller towns, so a full commuter line wouldn't make sense anyway.
These DMU-streetrunning lines are colored red.
The commuter line to the airport would require some infrastructure measures: firstly a connecting track from the mainline around where it crosses Highway 290, next to St David South Austin Hospital. This conneciton would likely have to be in a tunnel as it passes urbanized areas. The line then runs along existing tracks for a short stretch, and then follows an abandoned ROW. This part might have to be made in part as viaduct or tunnel to avoid urbanized areas (only parking lots as far as I can tell tho) and definitely a short tunnel when reaching the airport, or a viaduct that would run along the highways to get around the runway.
