The Justice Department needed to file a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern for its poor handling of Amtrak’s Crescent because Class I railroads routinely ignore the law that gives passenger trains preference over freight traffic, Transportation Secretary Pete …
Continue readingAuthor: Long Branch Mike
Traffic engineers build unsafe roads because they rely on outdated research & faulty data (TheConversation)
“Can you name the truck with four-wheel drive, smells like a steak, and seats 35?”. Back in 1998, “The Simpsons” joked about the Canyonero, an SUV so big that they were obviously kidding. At that …
Continue readingLabour’s railway renationalisation should be directed at ROSCOs: Opinion (RailwayTechnology)
Labour’s push for renationalisation should focus on rolling stock companies, which continue to profit from taxpayer subsidies and send profits abroad. The King’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament has signalled a significant shift …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 5 August 2024
• Design Language Basics for TfL’s Digital Displays (TfL Blog) • Making the Multi-Colour London Transport Museum roundel: Video (Hidden London Hangouts) • So What’s the fare? A Short History of Cab Fares in London …
Continue readingNew Hong Kong – Beijing & Shanghai sleeper services started (RailwayTechnology)
China launched overnight high-speed trains from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai this week [operated by MTR]. The trips are about 1,200 miles and 750 miles by air, respectively. From Hong Kong to Beijing, the …
Continue reading£8.6M pledged for business case on reopening Leamside Line as part of Tyne Metro (NewCivilEng)
North East mayor Kim McGuinness has pledged £8.6M for the development of a business case to re-open the Leamside Line railway as part of the region’s Metro, which could provide spare capacity for the East …
Continue readingAustin Texas stops shift to all-electric bus fleet (KUT NPR)
Capital Metro is slamming the brakes on an ambitious goal of transitioning to an all-electric bus fleet, citing problems with the range of battery-electric buses. Austin voters were promised a transit system with exclusively electric …
Continue readingHow HS2 is using giant metal cans to overcome groundwater ingress (IanVisits)
Two massive metal cans are currently being assembled deep under west London to allow HS2’s tunnel boring machines to drill through water-saturated ground. HS2 is using four Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) to dig two train …
Continue readingAll Aboard the Bureaucracy Train to High Transit Costs (Asterisk)
The United States has the most expensive transportation infrastructure in the world. That’s because we refuse to learn from experts, other countries, and our own history. Asterisk: The overarching question in your transit policy career has …
Continue reading300-mile automated cargo conveyor belt to link Tokyo & Osaka (E+T)
The Japanese government has launched plans for a Autoflow-Road conveyor belt system between Tokyo and Osaka that could carry the same amount of freight as 25,000 truck drivers every day. With Japan’s population falling at …
Continue readingAnglosphere Costs and Inequality (PedestrianObservations)
After my last post detailing how high American subway construction costs cannot be attributed to high incomes, people in comments were talking about inequality instead. Matt was talking about lack of union power, calling high US …
Continue readingChinese carbon fibre metro trainset to enter service (MetroReport)
CRRC Qingdao Sifang has unveiled its six-car Cetrovo 1.0 Carbon Star Express metro trainset, which features carbon fibre composite bodyshells, bogies and other load-bearing structures. The manufacturer says the material is five times stronger than …
Continue readingElephant detection system to be deployed on Indian Railways (RailwayGazette)
Indian Railways has commissioned Sensonic to deploy an elephant detection system, with the aim of reducing the risk of collisions which can dangerous for trains and fatal for the animals. The distributed acoustic sensing network …
Continue readingBRT Simple Calculator Of Project Effects – SCOPE (ITDP)
Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a powerful public transit solution that can move large numbers of passengers in cleaner buses, helping cities deliver on their climate goals. Building on the release of the 2024 BRT Standard and as …
Continue readingReports on High-Speed Rail & the Northeast Corridor (PedObservations)
Two reports that I’ve collaborated on are out now, one about high-speed rail planning for Marron and one about Northeast Corridor maintenance for ETA. A third piece is out, not by me but by Nolan Hicks, about constant-tension catenary …
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