This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Last night at Pub Quiz, Matt and I lost first place because neither of us knew that Jennifer Lopez’s subway-inspired album was named On the 6. I maintained that it would have been a lot cooler if she named it “Hammersmith and City,” because, as we all know, London has the best-named subway lines on the planet. Sadly, “Jenny from the Block” is no globe-trotter.
Anyway, speaking of London, Autopia has some solid reporting on the new Crossrail project, which will be, as I understand, the first suburban commuter rail that starts on one side of the city and goes all the way through to the other. Previously you had to get off in downtown, transfer to the tube, then pick up another commuter rail on the other side of town.
This sounds sorta obvious, I guess, but you have to consider that London’s suburban service is built on a model where everyone lives in the ‘burbs and commutes into the downtown core. Needless to say that’s no longer the case (*cough* 520 bridge, *cough*). The cool thing about Sound Transit’s Link is that it connect hubs like downtown Seattle, Northgate, Redmond, and Bellevue.
Unlike East Link, however, the Crossrail project will be up and running by 2017.