A Train That Doesn't Stop

No time is wasted. The bullet train is moving all the time. If there are 30 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, just stopping and accelerating again at each station will waste both energy and time. A mere 5 min stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) will result in a total loss of 5 min x 30 stations or 2.5 hours of train journey time!

Beyond Motor City

In a comment post a few days ago, Quim posted a link to the PBS show "Beyond Motor City" I just watched it and found it some of it fascinating. For example, these quotes from the segment about Spain's infrastructure improvements:

These trains travel at 200-300km/hr. What we have found out in Spain is that distances of 400-700 km which can be travelled in about 2.5 hrs are faster than a plane.
-tour guide at train factory

The National Govt should be worrying about arms control, not potholes...
-Ronald Reagan, 1982 State of the Union Address

In 1980, we spent 3% of GDP on infrastructure. Today it is 1.3%
- Norman Anderson transportation consultant CG/LA Infrastructure

Through the eyes of a Spaniard, the (US) Interstate Highway system was a wonder. You were our example in the last century ....Begining in he 1980s in the US it was perceptible that things had begun to deteriorate, that the maintenance of those infrastructures was getting worse, and that the networks didn't evolve in any way to keep pace with the country. And in the 1990s in terms of infrastructure it was a country that had fallen behind the standards of any European country....

I would say that not only is the Spanish citizen content with how our country has been transformed (by the transit infrastructure) but I would say it has been incorporated into their basic outlook and they demand from their polititians the improvement of their infrastructure."
- Pedro Perez, Secretary of the Economy, Spain 1988-1993

(They key to maintaining public support, has been to create a system that works.) "The great majority of our riders use at least two types of transportation. Because of this, it is absolutely necessary that the points of transfer are very easy for the clients and that the path they follow and the amount of time invested be minimal."
-Ildefenso de Matias, Director of the Madrid Metro".
(In Madrid, a single ticket pays for parking, commuter rail, and subway).

If you go to the website, they also have a strange 70s interview with Robert Moses and other interesting clips like one of Mitch and Gina (former OTR resident)and their $1,000 house.

Somewhere in the video, when talking about 19th century investments, they talk about the Tehachapi Loop. Here in Google maps you can clearly see that trains are still using this infrastructure.

Great Transit Articles

This was the set of links in the weekly email from Protransit. If you're not on their email list and are supportive, send your contact info here.

Investment, Not Spending
Every High-Speed Rail system around the world generates operating surpluses (including Amtrak’s Acela) and are highly popular with riders.

Can high-speed rail succeed in America?
High-speed rail represents the kind of long-term infrastructure investment that will pay back for decades, just as the interstate highway system of the 1950s has.

Accessibility, mobility and automobile dependency
During the last century, faster and cheaper automobile transport significantly increased accessibility, but those improvements essentially peaked about 1980.

The Architecture of Healthiness
“It’s not necessary for us to go to the gym.”

Joe Sprengard on Smart City

I've been offline a lot lately, but I haven't seen anyone else note that last week, Joe was on a nationally syndicated show, Smart City with Carol Coletta. He is a great spokesman. If you have time, listen past the first 10 minutes. At the beginning, they review the issue, which by now is probably pretty well-known to anyone who reads the local blogs. But as the interview progresses, they cover the bigger picture of livable cities, coalition building and choosing to live here.

Tomorrow, Please Vote No on Nine.

Issue 9 Mythbusting, or Why Issue 9 is not only about the Streetcar

There are a lot of myths flying around about Issue 9 as we approach the election. It seems every stage of the process has been designed to confuse and deceive voters. I thought the use of "deceive" was a little harsh until I heard COAST defending their wording of the ballot issue, now I feel very comfortable with it.

Now I am not saying I have heard all these myths from COAST. Some are only implied in their rhetoric, and some I have heard from others. I am also sure you can add more in the comments, please feel free.

MYTH: Issue 9 is only about the Streetcar
FACT: Issue 9 will affect a much broader range of projects

I don't think we need to belabor this point. We have already covered COAST's use of the "Queen's English" (their term for technical legal latin abbreviations) that make the wording appear to focus on streetcars and trollies, while covering any light passenger rail. I know COAST likes to mock the issue of it affecting the train at the Zoo (even though it would). I am more concerned of the impact on passenger rail systems like the proposed high-speed rail connection in Ohio. If I really wanted to be more conspiracy minded I would pursue the fact that most of COAST's members live in the burbs, and the effect of this issue could cause the rail to stop in one of those communities rather then go into the city. All in all, if you are against the Streetcar, voting Yes on 9 is like going after a fly with a sledge hammer.

MYTH: Voting Yes on Issue 9 will stop the Streetcar
FACT: Voting Yes on Issue 9 will require another vote to stop the Streetcar

Here is the Yes on 9 sign:


It's kind of your worst work-realted nightmare. The meeting to determine when we need a meeting. The only thing a Yes vote guarantees is that we will have a vote if the city wants to build a Streetcar, or use public funds to bring high-speed rail into the city, or expand the train at the Zoo. Seems silly, doesn't it. Now to be fair, "For Cincy Jobs" seems a bit of a stretch for the No on 9 signs, but Yes on 9 will not stop the streetcar.

MYTH: Voting Yes on Issue 9 is a vote for democracy
FACT: Voting on Issue 9 is democracy already

I find it amusing that they wrap this issue in the concept that Yes is about democracy. "We Demand a Vote". Well, we have a vote. It's called representative democracy. We vote representatives into office, and they make decisions. If we don't like those decisions, we vote them out. We do this because a majority rule on every single detail of public issue is truly counter-productive. It is not because people are too dumb to vote on it, it is because people don't have enough time to fully educate themselves on every project. Rail is going to require a big-picture perspective on things. It is going to require that the decision makers balance a number of issues. It does not work well in a sound-bite popular vote. We can already see how folks are trying to deceive voters.

MYTH: Voting Yes will slow down those hasty politicians
FACT: Seriously? The problem in Cincinnati is we move too FAST on things?

It will slow down the process by creating extra hurdles, but is Cincinnati's problem that we move too fast, or we move too slow? We all know the apocryphal Twain quote. And wow, Fountain Square west moved SO fast. And that Bank's project... if we could have only slowed that down.

MYTH: Vote Yes because the government shouldn't be making these decisions without a vote
FACT: Why are we starting this now? The government already makes these decisions

You remember when we all voted for the Fort Washington Way project? And on the proposed expansion of 75? When are we voting on the Brent-Spence Bridge? Oh wait, we don't. The government heavily subsidizes the road system. I'm glad they do, but the gas tax isn't paying for all of the cost associated with the system. Frankly I could care less about the 75 expansion, I don't need to ride that section of 75. So why don't we vote on that? Because we need folks to look at the big picture, and make planning decisions that benefit the whole region, not just me.

MYTH: If you are against the Streetcar you should vote Yes on 9
FACT: A LOT of anti-streetcar folks are voting No on 9

Have we mentioned the scope is beyond streetcars. Even Bill Cunningham expressed dismay over the wording of Issue 9. Listen to the audio. He thought it was a bad issue (though he said he won't be voting on it since he lives out of the city). And he cannot stand the streetcar. There are a lot of council members and candidates who are against the streetcar, who are very much against Issue 9.

What kills me, is the GoCoast Twitter account twittered this:

More Half-truths. Willy DID say we should stop the ridiculous trolley, but he also said Issue 9 was bad. This is yet another purposefully misleading statement from COAST.

So, in my opinion, whether you are for the streetcar or not, you should vote No on 9. It is a bad piece of law we don't want in our City's charter.

Is Rail a Boondoggle?

If you have been listening to the sound bites in favor of Issue 9, the anti-passenger rail amendment, you have heard the word boondoggle bandied about a lot. In fact, taking a lesson from the wording of the ballot initiative, I would say ad infinitum.

So when I saw a recent tweet linking to the article High Speed Rail: A No-Brainer, I was amused by reading this at the beginning of the article:

“‘Boondoggle‘, ‘Loss-making whim‘, ‘Monument to bad territorial planning’. . .

Such are the arguments of high speed rail critics, as the United States finally gets on board the passenger rail revolution that is sweeping the world.

I thought to myself that they must surely be referring to the sound bites bouncing around Cincinnati, but I was wrong. Turns out they are actually the words of Spanish conservatives railing (pun intended) against the Spain's passenger rail plans.

I also appreciated this passage:

Shielded behind overly simple, short-sighted, cost-benefit analysis, critics complained with those arguments against high-speed projects over years, until the success of each one of the new corridors proved them wrong and showed that in troubled economic times, the best investments for a society are the ones which improve equality.

History has proved rail’s critics wrong in Spain, as economic development and rider enthusiasm followed it everywhere it went.

To be fair, the article is focused on the high-speed rail effort in the US. However, I think most folks understand that Issue 9 goes beyond streetcars in scope. I think it is a great read, and well worth the time to look at it. Thanks to @recycledbin for the link.

China Moving Fast on Trains

China plans to build 42 new high-speed rail lines over the next 3 years. By 2012 it will have added 13,000 km of high-speed rail line. It also claims to have developed trains which can run on regular and high speed rail track.

Obama Briefing on Rail

Wow. I just watched this video from Thursday. Years from now, I hope that this will be seen as the day that transport in this country began to change for the better. It is a 23 minute video in which he compares a new rail strategy to both the transcontinental railroad and the Eisenhower freeway system, and quotes Burnham "make no small plans". I have transcribed part of Obama's words:

...but if we want to move from recovery to prosperity, then we have to do a little bit more. We also have to build a new foundation for our future growth. Today our aging system of highways and byways, air routes and rail lines is hindering that growth. Our highways are clogged with traffic, costing us $80 billion a year of lost productivity and wasted fuel.

...We are at the mercy of fluctuating gas prices all to often. We pump too many greenhouse gases into the air. What we need then is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century. A system that reduces travel times, and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.

What we're talking about is a vision for high speed rail in America. Imagine boarding a train in the center of a city, no racing to an airport, and across a terminal, no delays, no sitting on the tarmac, no lost luggage, no taking off your shoes, imaging whisking through towns at speeds over 100mph... walking only a few steps to public transportation....and ending up just blocks from your destination. Imagine what a great project would be to rebuild America.

Now all of you know this is no fanciful pie in the sky vision of the future. It is now. It is happening right now. It has been happening for decades. The problem is that it has been happening elsewhere, not here.

In France high speed rail has pulled regions from isolation and ignited growth. remade quiet towns into thriving destinations. In Spain, the high speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel that line than by both car and air combined. ....
...
There is no reason we cannot do this. This is America. There is no reason that the future of travel should lie somewhere else beyond our borders. Building a new system of rail in America will be faster cheaper and easier than building more freeways or adding to an already over burdened aviation system, and everybody stands to benefit.

And that's why today, with Sec LaHood, adn VP Biden, I'm announcing my administrations effort to transform travel in America with an historic investment in high-speed rail...

Watch video here

Via The New Deal Rail Plan

Dukakis on Rail Again

Michael Dukakis recently talked about how relatively easy it would be to fix passenger rail infrastructure, lay double tracks, etc., and get decent intercity rail. The full lecture is here:
10 minute clip is on YouTube.

Lego Goes Urban - Light Rail

Now that our pretend city has its very own streetcar to circulate people within, they need more rail transportation to connect with other Lego neighborhoods. And since they don't have to worry about asking permission from voters, politicians or taxpayers, the addition of a light rail system is certain.

They have, however, received several bids in response to their RFQ (Request for Quotation). Please review them below and submit your purchase recommendation, along with rationale and justification for same, in the comments.

RFIs (Requests for Information) may also be submitted via comments, and will be responded to within 24 hours up until 18Feb2009.

1st Responsive Bidder - MTS

2nd Responsive Bidder - TGV












3rd Responsive Bidder - TriMet

Dukakis on Midwest Rail

 

Interesting interview in Wired with Michael Dukakis, rail advocate:

Dukakis:...It's absurd to say we don't have money to expand rail. For what we spend in Iraq in a week or maybe 10 days, we could fund Amtrak's ongoing operations as well as make major investments. We spend about $30 billion a year on highways and about $15-to-$16 billion on airports and airline subsidies. We're talking about 6 percent or 7 percent of that for a national rail-passenger system. ...

...If you want to build a European-style 200-mph high-speed system — the kind that California is now committed to — that requires exclusive rights of way. And it probably argues for electrification. That's an expensive proposition.

... We can use our existing rights of way to reach speeds of between 110 and 125mph...

...There's a 10-state plan to connect downtown Chicago to every other major Midwest city within 400 miles using trains that travel between 110 and 115 mph. The whole thing would cost around $7 billion, and the basic proposal calls for using existing right of way.

That $7 billion is half of what it will cost to move forward with the planned expansion of O'Hare airport. Every third flight out of that airport is less than 350 miles. So if you build a regional rail system in the Midwest, you're also helping with congestion at O'Hare and opening slots for longer flights.

... from the Mississippi River east, we actually look a lot like Europe. There's similar population density and distance between cities. That's why the Southeastern states want high-speed service extended from Washington, D.C., down to Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte and Atlanta. They know it can work...

Wired.com: The cool thing about traveling by train in Europe is when you get off the train, you can cross the platform and hop on a subway. What do you do in a city like Charlotte or Houston, where those local connections just don't exist?

Dukakis: With the exception of a handful of U.S. cities, we are not where we should be in this regard. But if more investment is made in intercity rail, you'll see local and regional transit systems reconfiguring themselves to improve the connections.

...If we commit to a first-class passenger-rail system, you'll see local and regional transit organizations start talking about finding ways to connect to it...using airplanes to fly 300 miles makes absolutely no sense at all.

...The cities in this country that are planning light-rail–type systems will need to purchase every stick of rolling stock from a foreign manufacturer. There's no reason our car companies can't make them instead.

Image from here.

Fast Trains Attract Frequent Fliers

The ...300-mile Milan-Rome route... in three hours and 30 minutes 18 times a day. (speeds up to 186 mph)
...
...one-way ticket can cost around euro67 ($90.52), while an airline trip is at least euro90 ($121.59) and driving can cost some euro85 ($114.84) in gas and toll charges.

Italian Railway ... aims to snag 60 percent of the 3.7 million passengers who fly the route every year.

...they won't really start taking a bite out of air travelers until the time gets under three hours. Attainment of that goal is expected at the end of 2010 when the track between Florence and Bologna is improved to shorten that leg to 30 minutes.
...
The Spanish railway's high-speed service from Madrid to Barcelona took off in February, going after a chunk of Europe's busiest air route, which registered 4.7 million passengers in 2006.

The 400-mile trip by rail takes two hours and 38 minutes — well under the three-hour benchmark for attracting frequent fliers...

As a comparison, 300 Miles is the distance from Cincinnati to Chicago. Cinci to DC is 520 miles and driving takes over 8 hrs.

The Acelafrom Washington DC to Boston is the fastest US train line.

Petition For Transit

Petition Obama to invest in transportation alternatives. Here is the Vision.

Biden Supports Rail

...Biden commutes back-and-forth from Delaware to Washington regularly on the Acela, so he appreciates what high-speed rail can do. What’s more, Wilmington recently lost its scheduled air service making Delaware a plane-free state that depends on rail for its connectivity. ... he’s still one of the best friends rail has in the Senate. Beyond that, Biden’s son sits on the Amtrak board and unlike some of Amtrak’s leadership (which besides Biden is heavily dominated by Republicans) is actually a forceful advocate for Amtrak and for improving rail.

-Yglesias

A Candidate Finally Mentions Rail

An Obama quote from yesterday, as per Grist:

The irony is with the gas prices what they are, we should be expanding rail service. One of the things I have been talking about for awhile is high speed rail connecting all of these Midwest cities -- Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis. They are not that far away from each other. Because of how big of a hassle airlines are now. There are a lot of people if they had the choice, it takes you just about as much time if you had high speed rail to go the airport, park, take your shoes off.

This is something that we should be talking about a lot more. We are going to be having a lot of conversations this summer about gas prices. And it is a perfect time to start talk about why we don't have better rail service. We are the only advanced country in the world that doesn't have high speed rail. We just don't have it. And it works on the Northeast corridor. They would rather go from New York to Washington by train than they would by plane. It is a lot more reliable and it is a good way for us to start reducing how much gas we are using. It is a good story to tell.

Is he intent on losing the white suburban vote or with the current gas prices are they finally ready for other options?