People have a lot of strong opinions about elevated rail in cities. In North America, modern rail transit usually avoids conventional elevated lines in dense cities and even suburbs. Reece Martin of RMTransit discusses what makes elevated rail so good. Among the benefits are better views of the city, natural light and ventilation, and quicker construction times. Elevated rail also costs significantly less to build compared to underground rail, and it is easier to expand and adapt once built.
As a Canadian, Martin notes that Vancouver has been a leader in building out an elevated rail network. Seattle in some ways has followed in Vancouver’s footsteps, but recent Sound Transit 3 route decisions to add tunneling in West Seattle and Ballard break from that trend.
