TransMilenio Along La Septima?

What will help travelers on Septima move faster?

Carrera Septima, Bogotá's most iconic avenue, is often congested and chaotic - and generally an ordeal for commuters.

A man walks by a window side opposing
the proposed TransMilenio line.

Proposed (and stillborn) solutions have come and gone: Dig a subway line below the avenue; Add a Transmilenio line; Build a light rail line. Convert La Septima into an 'eco-avenue.' And on and on...

Meanwhile, the avenue grows ever more chaotic and congested.

Each of the ideas had its disadvantages; A subway line would cost a fortune and generate monumental urban trauma during construction. A light rail line would cost less, but carry fewer passengers than a subway or even buses, according to some experts. And TransMilenio bus lines are cheaper to build, but more expensive to maintain, and often pump out black diesel smoke. Also,  wealthier commuters such as the residents along Ave. Septima often prefer trains to buses.

A bicyclist pedals his way between cars and buses.
Would the redesigned Carrera Septima include a bike lane?
Doubt it.

As everybody following Bogotá's news knows, the Peñalosa administration has decided on a TransMilenio line, generating protests from residents, who worry about pollution and say that the avenue is too narrow at some points.

The city, in response, vows that the Carrera 7 buses will be clean. However, we've heard that story before about both TransMilenio and the infamous Sitp buses. (Concerned neighbors should demand that only electric or natural gas-powered buses operate on Carrera 7, guaranteeing low emissions.)

In some places, Carrera Septima is too narrow, and the city
would have to purchase land parcels along the way.

Critics also say the avenue is too narrow to fit two exclusive TransMilenio lanes, stations, as well as
two lanes in each direction of normal traffic. City halls disagrees, but acknowledges it will have to purchase all or part of some 300 adjoining land parcels - which sure seems like a lot.

I still like the idea of a light rail line, which would not pollute, would have lower maintenance costs than buses and would add an elegance to the historic avenue.

Yet, even if the TransMilenio solution is not the ideal, it would definitely be a big improvement over the existing chaos. The city needs to do something to rescue its most historic thoroughfare, whose congestion costs Bogotá commuters innumerable hours every day, and unless they break ground soon, they may never do anything.

This building's owner displays his opposition to the TransMilenio plan.

A few meters of Parque El Chico's grass would have to be chopped off

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Will Bogotá Get on Track?

Cars in central Bogotá. Private cars,
often carrying only on person,
take up most of the space on Bogotá's streets.

Mayor Petro's ambitious transit blueprint will dust off a mode which Bogotá hasn't seen for a long, long time: Trains.

Trolleys and streetcars have played a big role in Bogotá's history, but today the only train that operates in Bogotá is the vintage tourist train which carries holidayers to and from Zipaquira on weekends and holidays.

Work on the Museo Nacional TransMilenio station,
supposed to open for operation early next year.
A light rail line along La Septima would be
the continuation of this TM line. 

Petro's plan puts a streetcar on Seventh Ave., another train on the projected Longitudinal Avenue of the West (ALO) and two more on avenues crossing the city. Then, of course, it also includes a subway line making a loop thru central Bogotá. Then, there also two new TransMilenio lines and a pair of cable cars serving poor neighborhoods in south Bogotá.

If the plan actually gets completed, the city will be encircled by passenger rail lines.

Of all those projects, the streetcar, or Tranvia, on Ave. Septima has generated the most controversy. Critics say a light rail would only carry a few thousand people per hour - far less than a subway line, or the corridor's commuter flow. Under that reasoning, light rail will do wonders to turn Ave. Septima -which passes by many of the city's most important landmarks - from a chaotic, polluted mess to an orderly, pleasant and efficient avenue. The city also has a grand plan to turn the avenue into a 'green corridor' complete with electric buses and facelifts all along its route. But a light rail won't come close to handling La Septima's future passenger demand.

Progress: Ave. Septima's bridge over
Calle 26 is supposed to be done within a few weeks.

Still, thousands of passengers per hour is substantial. And a streetcar has the advantage of attracting higher-income commuters who would be reluctant to get onto a bus or even a subway.

These projects - if they're actually built - will move bogotanos faster across the city. But don't expect them to solve the city's traffic congestion or pollution nightmares. By a decade from now, when much of this infrastructure may have been completed, a million additional private cars will have flooded the city.

That is the real transit crisis facing the city. And without strong measures, such as a congestion charge and fines for single passenger vehicles, the city's transit faces collapse with or without new rail lines.

TransMilenio buses pass a traffic jam on Carrera 30,
near Palo Quemao market. Unless the city takes
strong measures about exploding private car use,
it'll turn into one big traffic jam. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Steve's Very Own Steam Train

This train pulled into the yard behind the Estacion de la Sabana - and hasn't moved since. 

Steve and friend in front of his locomotive.

Growing up in England, Steve, like many boys, yearned to be a railroad engineer. Today, he works in the petroleum industry here in Colombia - but he's preserved his dream. So, what could make more sense than buying and refurbishing his own steam train? He bought one of the old locomotives rusting away behind Estacion de la Sabana, on the north side of 13th St. in central Bogotá.

Scavengers had ripped the copper parts out of the old railcars. Still, they are restoreable.
The owner of the locomotives estimates that putting one back into operation costs about $150,000. Steve's locomotive will be restored in another six months - or maybe a bit longer. Workers are readying the wells for new wheels, which will make the machine seem alive once again. Steve also plans to repair a metal passenger car, and perhaps also a wooden passenger car. Today, that car looks like a skeleton, but it's a historical jewel - unique in Colombia, says Steve. When all are ready, Steve aims to use his private train for outings near Bogotá.

Walking thru the rail yard is like slipping back in time, with the steam engines, piles of coal, blacksmith's workshop and weathered workers with skin darkened by grease and smoke.

The Baldwin Locomotive Co.

Steve's steam locomotive is about 60 years old, part of a generation lost to time and technology's march. Even its manufacturer, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is long disappeared. The venerable company, which once dominated steam locomotive making, could not adapt to diesel and closed in 1972. Four more steam engines still wait behind Bogotá's train station for their own saviors.

Weeds grow out of a rusting locomotive.

But the cars can't wait forever. Many of them sit in the sun and rain, slowly rusting away. Weeds grow out of them.

Trains symbolized - and even created - a whole era in world history, representing power, industrial progress and travel - but also colonialism, pollution and even environmental and cultural destruction.

Today, trains are coming back across much of the world, particularly the high-speed passenger trains popular in Europe and now China. In contrast to their historical image, today's trains can be much cleaner and environmentally sound than their competitors such as cars, buses and planes. In Latin America, new roads often open up jungle areas to hunting and slash and burn agriculture. Trains, with their limited access, do not. Trains are generally also much less expensive and fuel efficient to operate than cars or trucks.

Andres and a locomotive. 

Colombia, like many other Latin nations, once had a railway network, but allowed it to decay thru neglect and corruption, says Andres, a rail buff who did his university thesis on Colombia's trains. The system was also hampered by the fact that it used a non-standard gauge, or rail width, preventing standard trains from running on its tracks. In 1989, the national train company was liquidated, and efforts to replace it have failed. Today, Colombia has only the tourist train which run on weekends and holidays from Bogota to Cajica and Zipaquira, as well as a few cargo trains. Medellin also has an urban subway system. Bogota officials have debated endlessly about whether to build a metro system here, as well as considered the possibility of building a regional train line. The lack of cheap rail transport means that it costs more to carry Chinese cargo across the ocean to Colombia's coast than to truck it from the coast to Bogotá. That pricey shipping must be appreciated by Colombian manufacturers, but is a problem in the age of free trade.

Update: As of early July 2012, the newspapers report that Steve's got his steam train rolling!

The Sabana Station is in a grand old building...

...But it's mostly vacant.

A potential city park?

The train station covers a chunk of land between 13th and 19th Streets, as well as the corridor north around the tracks. Much of the area is a scene of urban decay. Drunks pass their days on the benches in front of the station, and homeless people pick thru scavenged garbage around the corner. But the area may experience a revival. The transit police plan to occupy some of the station's empty office space, and the adjoining building is to be renovated into an arts academy. The train yard also contains substantial green area: couldn't this be turned into a public park and/or a railway historical museum? Altho the Los Martires neighborhood is mostly industrial and commercial, it does have some residents, but almost no public green space.

More pics below. Or, see a slide show of pictures here.

Drunks sleep the day away in front of La Estacion de la Sabana.

An ancient-looking anvil and hearth. 

Berliner, from 1915.

A coal chute. 

Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Colombia,.

Old locomotives and cars. 

Monserrate viewed from the yard. 

A cemetery scene. 

Coal piles. 

I've been working on the railroad all the live-long day...

Old chairs. 

A sculptural appearing part and el Niño Jesus

Old wheels still roll.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours