Officials Defend the Indefensible
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| RALEIGH – Those who seek election to political office deserve our thanks for their willingness to serve. Those who win election to political office deserve a chance to demonstrate their work ethic and wisdom. But no one who wins election and then makes demonstrably foolish decisions deserves our respect. I’m rapidly losing whatever respect I had for politicians who continue to vote to fund low-priority projects in the midst of a fiscal crisis. The problem exists at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Consider two recent decisions that involve senseless decisions at every level: • Out of $10... |
Mystery Train - How has California’s high-speed rail project survived for 14 years . . .?
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| If you were looking to take some easy shots at government waste and abuse, you’d have a hard time topping California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle’s recent assessment of the Golden State’s 14-year-old high-speed rail project. The California High Speed Rail Authority, she writes in a 47-page report issued at the end of April, “paid at least $4 million of invoices for which it had no evidence…that the contractors had performed the work invoiced” and “does not generally ensure that invoices reflect work performed by contractors.” |
The Myth of US High Speed Rail
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| There's a big push in some corners of the US transportation industry to "bring high speed rail to America". Visions of relaxed, latte-sipping trips over the nation, no lines for security, low cost trips are certainly heady ideas, but do they bear out? Let's take a critical, cold, calculating look at the reality of the situation. As many know, I split my time between the US (Seattle, WA area) and Asia (predominantly Shanghai, China). China's been on a high speed rail building frenzy recently, and there are thousands of kilometers of line laid, with thousands more to come. Soon most... |
Train travel is making a comeback
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| WHITEFISH, Mont. — When I was 7, my mother took my three siblings and me on a train ride from my hometown of Brainerd to visit my grandmother, who lived in Staples. It was a 30-mile journey that took about 45 minutes. The trip was faster and cheaper by car. (Gas was about 32 cents a gallon back then, and the train tickets were $2 or $3 for each of us). But Mom thought it would be a fun and educational experience. The trip was unremarkable, but the experience — complete with a conductor who hollered "all aboard!" just like... |
Why Cities Are Broke or, There is Something Tragic About a Train...
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| Cincinnati, which still needs about $42 million in additional state or federal dollars to fund the streetcar plan’s $128 million first phase, has applied for a $25 million “urban circulator” grant from the U.S. Transportation Department that would significantly close the project’s funding gap.... The city has identified about $86 million for the project, including $64 million in city bonds that Mayor Mark Mallory has pledged will not be issued unless the city receives roughly the same amount in state and federal funds.... Let's leave aside the obvious point that there is absolutely nothing that a streetcar system could possibly... |
California Still Going Off the Rails On a Crazy Train
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| Usually massive public projects generate such a wealth of studies, reports, estimates and predictions that the challenge is to wade through them all. The genius of the bullet train project is that nobody is conducting the train and yet it continues to suck in money -- more than $250 million spent since the CHSRA was formed in 1996, a $9 billion bond measure approved by California voters in 2008, and a pledge of $2.25 billion in federal support in January. Yet the most striking thing when you start to look into the bullet train is how little planning or thought... |
Troop trains may connect A. P. Hill, Fort Lee
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| Fort Lee considers moving Army soldiers by train to Fort A. P. Hill in Caroline CountyHearkening back to an earlier era of military transport, officials at Fort Lee in Virginia are considering moving Army soldiers back and forth to field training at Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline by train. The military train, if it launches, would carry 800 to 1,100 Army soldiers from Fort Lee to a drop-off point in Milford. Local buses would be arranged to carry soldiers the approximate three miles between Milford and Fort A.P. Hill. After training for five days, a southbound train would carry the... |
Siemens’ High-Speed Rail: These “Cars” Get 700 Miles-Per-Gallon
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| America has a “waiting problem.”Think about the time you spend waiting in traffic jams… at the doctor/dentist’s office… at restaurants… at the gas station.And how about the six months of your life spent waiting at traffic lights? Or the five years you’ll spend just waiting in lines at retail stores, the post office, DMV, etc. (Early buyers of Apple’s products likely spend far more.)And according to Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Policy at the Reason Foundation, the average air traveler now spends two to three hours waiting at the airport. Granted, much of that is due to more rigorous security... |
Pittsburgh-to-Greensburg Maglev plans up for public review
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| Officials are opening for public review the plans for a magnetic-levitation train from Pittsburgh to Greensburg, marking another tiny step forward for the decade-long project. The final environmental impact statement for the proposed $5.3 billion, 54-mile Pittsburgh Maglev project was posted for public review and comment Thursday at the Port Authority of Allegheny County's office and at www.portauthority.org. The authority is managing public funding for McKeesport-based Maglev Inc. but has no role in planning or building the train. Maglev Inc. President Fred Gurney said he was waiting for federal officials' go-ahead before taking the environmental study to the public, and... |
Brown: U.S. Should Fund High-Speed Rail
Friday 30th of July 2010 03:09:31 AM
Posted by admin / Under Rail Transport Modelling
| The expansion of passenger, high-speed and freight rail is critical to the economic growth of the United States. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials, my goal is to have high-speed, intercity passenger and commuter rail lines connecting nationwide to enhance and improve our systems of transportation. A robust passenger rail system in America will go a long way toward solving some of our nation’s economic, energy, environmental and transportation challenges, as well as create thousands of jobs. These benefits, however, do not come without a price tag, and experience in other countries makes it clear... |
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