The engineering jargon name "light rail" is just not lovable. Maybe that's why the more familiar streetcar is gathering support in cities across the country, writes Alex Marshall in this column from Governing.
"It bugs me that such an awkward, engineering-specific term - light rail - has become the common one for the trains that run on fixed rails with overhead electric wires that have been built in dozens of cities across the United States. (The term comes from the fact that light rail is an alternative to "heavy rail" systems - subways or inter-city trains that weigh more and can carry more people.) I support the mass transit systems, but who could love something as soulless as 'light rail'?
Maybe that's why dozens of cities are building new streetcar lines. Charlotte, Little Rock, Memphis and Tampa, to name a few, are putting either vintage or antique cars on their streetcar lines or even brand-new cars with the sharp, clean angles that resemble those you see on light-rail lines. They join cities such as New Orleans that never got rid of their old streetcar lines in the first place."
FULL STORY: The Streetcar Surge
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