• Hammersmith Highline best and winning entries (HydeParkNow) • 1845 graphic train schedule & tool (SandraRendgen) • Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs (PriceTags) • Billions spent in US highway boondoggles (CityLab) • Portland takes step …
Continue readingAuthor: Long Branch Mike
VW predicts traffic collapse in cities (Forbes)
The car brands in the Volkswagen Group–VW, Škoda, SEAT and Audi–are promoting last-mile ‘micromobility’ solutions including e-scooters. Why? Because the car era is coming to an end, at least for cities. That is the obvious conclusion from a July 3 posting from the group which states: “Answers …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 5 July 2019
• Seven colour blind Tube maps (BrilliantMaps) • SF Salesforce Transit Centre retake (Dirt) • The first org chart was by a railway (SandraRendgen) • Confessions of an electric scooter (McSweeneys) • When they used …
Continue readingThe Schleswig-Holstein (battery) Question (AnonWidower)
Battery-powered Stadler Flirt trains will operate in Schleswig-Holstein, with a range of 150 km under optimal conditions, although the longest non-electrified route they will operate on is around 80 km. The batteries will be recharged …
Continue readingUber’s Path of Destruction (AmericanAffairs)
Since it began operations in 2010, Uber has grown to the point where it now collects over $45 billion in gross passenger revenue, and it has seized a major share of the urban car service …
Continue readingNight Trains – They’re not dead yet
Germany’s Deutsche Bahn and France’s SNCF terminated most of their respective City Night Lines and Intercités de Nuit pan-European night train routes by the end of 2016. The cessation of services by these two large …
Continue readingSmart city hype & technochauvinism (CityLab)
The vision of the technology-powered metropolis of the future is being sold with images that bear little resemblance to the real world. Suddenly, the world is awash in smart cities. Google is about to build …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 1 July 2019
• Piccadilly Circus Tube’s Sign Language staff (HydeParkNow) • TfL’s hidden dungeons (Paszkiewicz) • Commuter sells seat on crowded Tokyo train (Guardian) • Self-driving robotic boats for Amsterdam’s canals (CBCSpark) • Improving bus time accuracy …
Continue readingTube dust – another investigation (Wired)
When a London Underground train hits the brakes, its wheels grind against the tracks, throwing up tiny specks of metal and other particles. There’s concern that this ‘Tube dust,’ could be damaging the health of …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 28 June 2019
• Manchester to begin its own bus franchise (LGC) • 1876: Building a Channel Tunnel (TheEngineer) • Pedestrians pushing back in car-choked Brussels (CityLab) • Bus driver learns Punjabi from passengers (CBC) • Portland congestion …
Continue readingNoise differentiated track access charge review (RailFreight)
The effect of noise differentiated track access charges (NDTAC) in Europe is under review. Since 2015, it is legally possible for infrastructure managers to include a malus or bonus in the track access charge for …
Continue readingCoolRail cuts fresh food CO2 emissions (RailwayGazette)
Food logistics company Euro Pool System has launched a thrice-weekly CoolRail dedicated temperature-controlled service to transport fresh produce between Valencia in Spain and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This is intended to be first route of …
Continue readingDealing with rail disasters (RailwayAge)
As long as railways have existed, the threat of disaster has never been far away. But as trains have become faster and more sophisticated, the techniques, methods and systems put in place to prevent and …
Continue readingRecycled HSTs for freight/passenger use? (RailMag)
High Speed Trains could be used for mixed-use passenger and freight trains, according to Intermodality Managing Director Nick Gallop. He told RAIL that the British Rail-style operation of newspaper trains, which also carried passengers, could …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 24 June 2019
• The search for Britain’s forgotten footpaths (NewYorker) • Early pioneer of battery-trains wants nationwide fleet (CityLab) • Bike architecture Bienniel (Forbes) • Best conversion of parked cars (PopUpCity) • Research determines financial case for …
Continue reading