The benefits of automated metros are well-known, apart perhaps from the higher speeds that automation brings. Driverless metros, which are becoming increasingly common around the world, generally have low operational labour costs as well as …
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Friday Reads – 9 February 2018
Welcome to Reconnections’ Friday Reads. This week’s lineup: • Vision impaired & on the Tube? There’s an app for that (Tech’s Good) • LED road studs to guide drivers at complex junction (E&T) • Fifty …
Continue readingTurning sleepers into solar power stations (Railway Technology)
Sleepers made from secondary waste materials, which can integrate sustainable power systems, have the potential to turn railways all over the world into producers of clean energy. An Italian startup backed by EU funding hopes …
Continue readingEdinburgh Trams sees huge shift to contactless payment (Intelligent Transport)
Journeys on Edinburgh Trams increased by 19 per cent from 2016 to 2017, reaching 6.6 million, leading to the company embracing new technology to meet the demands of its rising number of customers… Within two …
Continue readingLecture : Mass transit in age of new mobility (UCL Bartlett School)
TfL’s Chief Technology Officer Shashi Verma is the next speaker in The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management’s 2017-18 keynote lecture series. Rapidly increasing urbanisation and digitisation of society means that the need for …
Continue readingAI harnessed to make railways safer (Railway Technology)
Researchers from the University of Huddersfield and the University of Leeds have trialled AI software that is designed to make railways safer, as part of a £680,000 project called Smart Maintenance and the Rail Traveller …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 2 February 2018
Welcome to Reconnections’ Friday Reads. This week’s lineup: • Ocean liner speed and style exhibition to open (V&A) • Woolwich Crossrail station (1LondonBlog) • British railway viaducts (The Beauty of Transport) • Who abandoned this …
Continue readingDeutsche Bahn unveils Idea Train (Smart Rail World)
Deutsche Bahn’s Idea Train promises to be the most relaxing train ever. The morning commute could become a pleasure rather than a chore if Deutsche Bahn’s vision for rail travel becomes reality, with rigid traditional …
Continue readingWhy is US urban rail so expensive? (CityLab)
It’s not just the Second Avenue Subway: Nearly all urban rail projects in the US cost much more than their European counterparts. In late December, The New York Times published a bombshell article by Brian …
Continue readingChina launches world’s first electric cargo ship (Clean Technica)
Here’s the good news: China has launched the first all-electric cargo ship. According to China Daily, the 230 foot long vessel is equipped with a 2,400 kWh lithium-ion battery that stores enough electrical energy to …
Continue readingBase Train Service is Cheap, Peak Service is Expensive (Pedestrian Observations)
A few days ago, I calculated regional rail operating costs from first principles, as opposed to looking at actual operating costs around the world. Subway operating costs in the developed world bottom at $4-5/car-km (and …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 26 January 2018
Welcome to Reconnections’ Friday Reads. This week’s lineup: • New solutions to reduce transport emissions (IMechE) • Zeppelin distant early warning system (Andrew Grantham) • History of the bollard, from Napoleon to Carillion (CityMetric) • …
Continue readingZero emission-ready cab now in London (Air Quality News)
London Electric Vehicle Company – LEVC – the company behind the zero-emission capable black cab, has handed over its first new model for use in the capital. The vehicle, dubbed the TX eCity is powered …
Continue readingDARPA’s challenge to map subterranean spaces (Atlas Obscura)
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, loves a good contest. Whether it’s an effort to design wild new robots or to more fully evolve cyber-security, the U.S. Department of Defense’s official …
Continue readingTransit agencies: Don’t Panic (CityLab)
Many predict that new technology will doom public transportation. They’re wrong. A transit professional can’t open a browser these days without encountering prophets of doom. “New technology is changing everything,” we’re told. “Everything you do …
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