Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The Morning Dig: Toyota’s Safety Shortcuts, Greed Exposed

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

koscnewtownNew York’s Kosciuszko Bridge

• A 2009 internal Toyota document reveals how the company sidestepped its growing sudden-acceleration problem and delayed the implementation of several safety regulations–to the tune of hundreds of millions in savings. (LATimes)

• New York’s DOT released four proposals for the redesign of the Kosciuszko Bridge; if completed, it will be the first new bridge in New York since the Verrazanno-Narrows Bridge was opened in 1964. (CityRoom)

• The EPA will spend $2.2 billion to clean up the polluted waters and beaches of the Great Lakes to compensate for “150 years of abuse.” (Chicago Breaking News)

• Vancouver’s mass transit is seeing record-high ridership because of the Olympics. So far, transit agencies have yet to encounter any serious problems; “Everything that rolls and floats,” says a spokesman, “is in service.” (Vancouver Sun)

• South Africa’s ambitious Bus Rapid Transit program, which is growing in anticipation of the 2010 World Cup, is plagued by violence, financial shortfalls, and “steely” NIMBYism from suburban residents. (NYTimes)

The Evening Dig: Cash for Clunkers Redux Edition

Monday, January 11th, 2010

clunkers• At the Detroit Auto Show, Transpo Sec. Ray LaHood said that Congress would decide whether to run another Cash for Clunkers program, which sold 800,000 cars in less than 30 days. “You see no criticism of Cash for Clunkers in America,” he said. (Motor Trend)

• As it turns out, those whole-body scanners–in direct contrast to what the TSA has said in the past–have the ability to store, record and transfer images. That they have USB integration and ethernet connectivity makes them vulnerable to tampering, and to possible invasions of privacy. (Computer World)

• And even if they were secure, lots of African countries don’t have the money to install whole-body scanners. A security analyst says it’s even hard for many nations to purchase luggage scanning equipment, which costs $1.2 million to purchase and an astonishing $1.4 million to install. (Tribune)

• In the Bay Area, fare increases, service cuts, and cheaper gas are weakening the incentives to take public transit. 66,000 passengers have ditched public transit in favor of cars in the past year. (Mercury News)

• Congestion pricing in New York could potentially raise $500 million a year, which could be used to offset MTA budget deficits that threaten to eliminate whole subway lines. That revenue might even allow for the growth of new transit lines and economic opportunities in underserved areas. (HuffPo)

• According to an international railway organization, rail travel is 3-10 times less CO2-intensive than road or air transport. But at the end of the day, people still care way more about getting around for less money than they do about carbon emissions. (CNN)

• And finally, there’s a “disturbing disconnect” between Dubai’s “architectural spectacle” and its “short-sighted development practices,” says the Tribune’s architecture critic. (Cityscapes)

The Evening Dig: Cable-Propelled Transit Edition

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

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• Cable-propelled transit? What is cable-propelled Transit? (Think tram, or gondola.) A planner shares the history of CPT and argues that it just might make sense in New York. (Urban Omnibus)

• News flash: Americans love Japanese cars. An infographic illustrates the country of origin of junked clunkers and new cars in the U.S. “Cash for Clunkers” program. (Jalopnik)

• Spain’s transportation minister joins an extremely small chorus of those who don’t think full-body scanners at airports will boost security. (Monsters and Critics)

• Build America Bonds will help transportation agencies–and especially New York’s MTA–raise enormous amounts of money for development. Analysts say the total could reach $150 billion nationwide; agencies are thrilled, because the Treasury rebate is a “generous” 35%. (Business Week)

• Government scientists say highway barriers are effective at blocking not just sight and sound, but can lift and channel airborne pollutants away from nearby areas, which are often residential. (NOAA)

• The Huffington Post New York Song Project hopes to map every Gotham-related tune to its precise location on a Google map. We picked Lou Reed, “Coney Island Baby”! (HuffPo)

• I know, we’re all sick of talking about 2009. But Webster Dictionary’s Word of the Year was “Distracted Driving”!! (ActiveTrans)

Image by Stephen Dale (Flickr) via UrbanOmnibus

The Evening Dig: Canine Fail Edition

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

• Three dogs failed a bomb-sniffing test at Philly’s airport. “This is totally ridiculous,” said a Pennsylvania Senator. He then wrote the TSA saying they must “immediately replace” them with “certified animals.” Totally ridiculous. Those dogs are losers. (LATimes)

• A blogger highlights the ten most idiotic journalistic pieces on transportation and infrastructure in the Washington, DC area. Apparently, a lot of journalists are whiny, biased, and not very good at their jobs. (Greater Greater Washington)

• The same blogger compiled ten admirable pieces the day before. (GGW)

• Industry big-wigs weigh in on the three most important transportation developments of 2009 and the top priorities for 2010. Highway spending takes some serious flak. (National Journal)

• U.S. highways saw a net loss of four million vehicles last year, but no one can precisely identify the reasons. Some think the nation has reached a “car saturation” point–something that happened in Japan 20 years ago, when urban density began to grow inversely to car ownership. (CleanTechnica)

• Connecticut’s Senator Dodd said he wouldn’t seek re-election, which means sustainable community efforts and transit-oriented development grants might lose their momentum. (Streetsblog)

• An Israeli high court nullified a military ban on Palestinian motorists on a Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, which some had compared to South Africa’s apartheid system. (Christian Science Monitor)

• Patrick Smith explains the inefficiency of the system currently in place to prevent dangerous individuals from boarding planes, and ridicules the T.S.A.’s screening rules as “ultimately unenforceable.” (Ask the Pilot)

Should Obama Create Public Infrastructure Jobs? A Debate Overview

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

breadlineWith unemployment reaching levels high enough to terrify the hardiest soul, the debate is brewing about whether Washington needs to jump in and create infrastructure jobs through a public-service employment program a la the New Deal’s  Works Progress Administration. With Obama’s job summit opening today, we figured we’d offer a rundown of the views on whether or not the government should be whipping up those jobs. Here are a few of the strongest views.

YES, WE NEED A W.P.A.-TYPE PROGRAM, RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT — Paul Krugman at the Times:

There would be accusations that the government was creating make-work jobs, but the W.P.A. left many solid achievements in its wake. And the key point is that direct public employment can create a lot of jobs at relatively low cost. In a proposal to be released today, the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, argues that spending $40 billion a year for three years on public-service employment would create a million jobs, which sounds about right.

YES, UNEMPLOYMENT IS AWFUL, BUT W.P.A-STYLE PUBLIC JOB CREATION WON’T FIX IT –Megan McArdle at The Atlantic:

Even if you could surmount union opposition, the federal government has an ever-increasing thicket of red tape that makes such a thing impractical.  It takes months to get hired for a job with the federal government.  It takes months to ramp up a new program.  By the time you’d gotten your NWPA through Congress over strenuous union objections, appointed someone to head it, set up the funding and hiring procedures, and actually hired people, it would be 2011.  Maybe 2012.  Perhaps you could waive all the civil service and associated procedure surrounding federal hiring, but I don’t see how.

For one thing, there are powerful public sector unions, who are going to fiercely resist any attempt to create low paid temporary jobs that could be done by well paid government workers who have excellent benefits and job security.  I doubt the Republicans would be willing to take this one on (or well disposed to a New WPA).  But with Democrats in control, this is pretty much a fatal objection.

PLUS A W.P.A-TYPE PROGRAM WILL CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT FIXES, argues Michael Lind at Salon: (more…)

Meet The Infrastructurist’s New Editor

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

It’s my pleasure to announce that this site has a new editor. Her name is Melissa Lafsky. In addition to being a friend, she’s a very talented writer who I think will do wonderful things here. She’s coming over from Discover Magazine, where she was the deputy web editor. Prior to that, she was the editor of the Freakonomics blog at the New York Times.

After launching the site earlier this year and editing it for the past nine months, I’m pursuing some other opportunities (specifically, I took a job as an editor at the news magazine The Week). But I’m going to remain very involved with this site and will continue to write under my new title, editor-at-large.

I’m confident that in the months and years ahead the Infrastructurist can be a meaningful voice in America’s conversation about re-imagining our infrastructure for the 21st century. It’s a terribly important conversation, of course. As Zipcar founder Robin Chase put it, “Infrastructure is destiny.” The truth of this seems rather stark these days.

As always, you can reach me at jr@infrastructurist.com. Melissa can be reached at melissa@infrastructurist.com.

If you’re curious to hear a bit more about–and from–your new editor Melissa, give a listen to the interview she did last week with MediaBistro’s Morning Media Menu. She talks about the Infrastructurist, high speed rail, and 2012, among other topics.

The Daily Dig: High Speed Rail Edition

Friday, November 20th, 2009

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  • Say it ain’t so! A conference at Berkeley reflected growing concern about the practicality of California’s HSR projects. Projected ridership seems unrealistic, and unless it reaches a certain level, emissions won’t be lower than those from air travel. (Berkeley)
  • GE inked a deal with China’s Rail Ministry that will allow it to pursue high-speed projects in the US with the help of a Chinese manufacturer (GE can’t build HS locomotives, yet). They’ll work with another Chinese manufacturer to build their most efficient diesel train. (Earth2Tech)
  • China’s airlines are up the creek, and they know it. The country’s largest carrier is adding shuttle services, and passengers will only need to check in half an hour before their flight. How long do you have to check in before a train ride? (Bloomberg)
  • The biggest obstacle to California HSR is systematic: instead of convening opposed parties on issues like land-use, the government both designs and plans and forces opponents to file lawsuits in order to have their voices heard. (CAHSR)

(more…)

The Daily Dig: Army Corps GUILTY Edition

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

New Orleans Hurricane Katrina Destruction Overhead Photo of What

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  • A federal ruling says the Army Corps of Engineers was negligent in its maintenance of a navigation channel in New Orleans and therefore is to blame for the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. 100,000 people could receive billions in payouts from the government. (WaPo)
  • A group of Senators is scrambling to pass a third short-term extension of the transit bill, which has failed to garner attention due to the health-care debate. A DoT official says federal funding for highways and mass-transit could drop by 30% if something isn’t done soon. (NYTimes)
  • Transit fares in New York will rise in 2011 and again in 2013, if not sooner. MTA Chief Jay Walder called for a permament overhaul of the MTA, saying the agency can’t rely anymore on bailouts from the state. (Reuters)
  • Wealthy investors are turning to infrastructure investments as safe, long-term bets. Target returns for infrastructure reach as high as 18 percent for unlisted investments, and they offer the added bonus of feeling good about building bridges and roads. (Globe and Mail)
  • A New Zealander whines about a trip through Los Angeles: the taxi driver doesn’t speak English good, and doesn’t drop him at the door of the airport shuttle; the airport is a hassle and there’s nothing to do. He’d much rather be in Shanghai or Amsterdam, where the airports are veritable carnivals of fun. (Stuff)

(more…)

The Daily Dig: Killer Beemer Edition

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

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  • The Energy Dept says the US can get 20% of its electricity from wind by 2030. That is, if between 2018 and 2030 we install as much wind power each year as we have in total right now. (EnviroCapital)
  • Turns out paying more for airline tickets to buy carbon offsets is a total joke. Quantifying the emissions-reduction potential of those programs is impossible, and it distracts people from doing things like, you know, actually flying less. (NYTimes)
  • Airlines took a “pummeling” in the last year, as people simply refused to pay for business or first class seats. To make matters worse, airlines are telling their own employees to fly economy! (LATimes)
  • Last week, Obama signed legislation that will drop “helicopter money” on the same home builders who way over-built and helped pave the way to a recession. The kicker? There’s such a surplus of homes, the money won’t even be used to create jobs. (NYTimes)
  • Also last week, Sen. Schumer was all up in arms about the Chinese company that planned to build a wind farm in Texas and soak up US stimulus dollars. Well, that company, A-Power, now says it’s going to build a factory. In America. (NYTimes)

(more…)

The Daily Dig: Bogus Car Study Edition

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

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  • Speaking to students in Shanghai, President Obama expressed optimism about the future of Chinese-American relations and spoke of the “burden of leadership” that bore on both nations with regard to climate-change policy. He also called China’s high-speed rail development “fine work.” (ENS)
  • Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim says that Latin America must invest in infrastructure, including water treatment and alternative energy products, to create employment and promote growth. Slim is banking on the potential of deepwater and land-based drilling in Mexico. (Reuters)
  • The Obama administration wants to set and enforce safety standards on the nation’s subway and light-rail systems, which to date has been the domain of regional and state bodies. Transportation Secretary LaHood will present the plan to Congress next month. (NYTimes)
  • East LA finally has its trains. The area has been heavily dependent on public transportation for years, and local leaders hope the new connection will spark development. (LATimes)
  • An economist says that if we built cars today at the weight, horsepower and torque we built them at in 1980, cars today would be 50% more fuel efficient. This review says says the study is a total bust. (Jalopnik - pic via)

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The Daily Dig: Flintstones Car Chase Edition

Monday, November 16th, 2009

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  • “There’s no end to the things that make TriMet,” Portland’s mass transit system, “awesome.” But there’s still room for a few improvements: a little late-night service, the ticketing system is “neurotic,” and no one really has to pay to ride. (Autopia)
  • World leaders, including Obama, acknowledge that they have collectively dropped the proverbial ball on a comprehensive climate deal. A slow Congress is hogtying the President’s ambitions, and no one is willing to commit to anything until we do. (NYTimes)
  • Spain announced plans to install 8.8 gigawatts of renewable energy sources by 2012. This will undoubtedly make it a world-class manufacturer of solar and wind materials. (Reuters)
  • India, too, will boost solar production, which right now is five times as expensive as oil-based power. The country hopes to have 20 gigawatts of solar output by 2020. (WSJ)
  • It might be possible to circulate CO2 several kilometers below the earth’s surface, removing it from the atmosphere and forcing hot gases to the surface. This would make for more efficient geothermal energy production. (MIT)

(more…)

Meet The Train Makers, Part 5: Siemens

Monday, November 16th, 2009

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This is part 5 of a series that includes Alstom, Bombardier, Talgo and the Japanese manufacturers

It is indicative of the incredible safety record of high-speed rail that over the course of more than forty years of operation in countries around the world, there has only been one major crash. Unfortunately for Siemens, the primary producer of Germany’s fast trains, that accident was of an ICE train, and it happened in Lower Saxony.

ice_eschede_1The curse of the 1998 Eschede train disaster, which resulted in the deaths of 101 people, was a major setback for the company, damaging its credibility even though the primary blame for the catastrophe lay with German national train operator DB. But Siemens’ luck has turned around in the last few years as it has secured major contracts for new high-speed trains in places like Spain and China.

(more…)

The Daily Dig: High Speed Rail Edition

Friday, November 13th, 2009

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  • In an effort to concentrate California’s rail efforts on new high-speed lines, Gov. Schwarzenegger snuffed out a proposal for $1.1B in federal HSR funds to fix (non-high-speed) commuter rail. Positive-control braking systems, which must be in place by 2015, were among the proposed improvements. (LATimes)
  • Rail expansion is the “cornerstone of Beijing’s fiscal stimulus plan”; it’s budgeting $90B for rails this year and next, and $15B more for rolling stock. 13,000km of new line should be complete by 2012. (WSJ - Google headline for full article)
  • 86% of Canadians support high-speed rail, and 68% think all levels of government should be involved in funding the projects. “Put this in the store window,” says a pollster. (National Post)
  • First Canada. Now this. Thai business ministers approved a $3B investment plan to build an HSR network to connect Bangkok to the country’s four regions. At this rate, Bermuda will probably have HSR before the US. (Some site)

(more…)

The Daily Dig: 3D River Landing Edition

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

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  • A 3D visualization reconstructs the descent and emergency landing of Flight 1549, landed on the Hudson River by Capt. Sullenberger in April. The integration of raw radar data with the public docket and audio from the cockpit to Air Traffic Control makes for an incredible guided tour. (ExoSphere3D)
  • Porn in subways, trains, planes, even basketball games…Public consumption of the carnal arts has reached new heights. Sometimes pilots intervene; says one, “I have never had anyone say, ‘I refuse to stop. I must watch this dirty movie.’” (WaPo)
  • 60 million people suffered a blackout in Brazil on Tuesday. The rapidly-modernizing nation is realizing the necessity of fixing its mass-transit and power systems, especially as the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics approach. (LATimes)
  • Trucks carry about 70% of US freight, but they’re three times less energy efficient per ton carried–our 2.2 million semi-trucks average 5.1 miles per gallon. The trucking industry is a little concerned. (Reuters)
  • Chicago won’t hike fares on mass transit, but it will cut service. 110 of 150 bus routes will see cuts because of the budget deficit; the CTA will borrow more than $160 million from the state to pay its bills. (Tribune)

(more…)

The Daily Dig: Digital Cloud Edition

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

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  • An upset in Seattle puts a former Sierra Club leader in charge. He built his campaign around opposition to the waterfront tunnel, then reversed course when City Council endorsed it. He also says he’ll fix the schools, despite the fact that the mayor’s office has no say over them. (NYTimes)
  • South Carolina, where the Confederate flag still flies, tried to sneak one by the Constitution by approving a license plate that says “I Believe” and has an image of a cross in front of a stained-glass window. Fortunately, we have federal courts to squash dumb ideas. (Wheels)
  • An editorialist proposes an “adaptive reuse” or our nation’s highway system: build rail lines alongside roads and bury power lines under highways to bring electricity to cities and (somehow) power plug-in hybrids. “The highway system can’t always be a ghetto for the internal combustion engine,” she writes. (NYTimes)
  • Raise the Cloud! British designers hope to build a “zero-power” “digital” cloud of plastic spheres to float over London, providing an observation deck and a park and transmitting a feed of web searches by Londoners “to give a real time ‘barometer’ of the city’s interests and mood.” (BBC - pic via)

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The Daily Dig: Traffic Fatality Edition

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

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  • The map above illustrates the number of traffic fatalities per 100,000 population worldwide. Note to self: Don’t walk or ride a bus in Ghana, Mozambique, or Kenya. And stay out of Iraq. Stay. Out. Of. Iraq. (HowWeDrive via Planetizen - pic via)
  • If you don’t already read “Ask the Pilot,” you should. In this edition, why senators trying to ban the use of personal electronics by pilots are wrong, and a theory that people (politicians especially) hate air travel. (Salon)
  • Isn’t this lovely. Chrysler convinced Congress to give it $12.5 billion on the premise that it would build electric cars; a few months pass, and it’s dropped all of its electric car programs. (USA Today)
  • Cities worldwide are revitalizing their waterfronts: Hamburg, Stockholm, Sydney, Seoul, Mumbai, New York, and Toronto are all undertaking massive projects to clean their waters and build parks and sustainable cultural centers; click through to see the proposals. (DesignObserver)

(more…)

Meet The Train Makers, Part 4: The Japanese

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

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With more than 300 million annual riders, Japan’s Shinkansen trains (better known to westerners as “bullet trains”) carry more passengers than those of any other high-speed rail system. But unlike the equivalent French or German trains, well known as the flagships of their respective rolling stock manufacturers Alstom and Siemens, Shinkansen trains are not associated as the product of any one company. Rather, over the years they have been constructed by a series of mix-and-match consortia of industrial conglomerates. In Japan, high-speed trains are a cooperative effort.

History
The success of the Shinkansen–the term literally means “new trunk line”–probably has as much to do with its age as anything else. The first high-speed corridor in the world opened for daily service in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka. English-speakers immediately nicknamed the trains “bullets” because of their cone-shaped noses.

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The first Shinkansen, now known as the Series 0 (photo at left), was built by Nippon Sharyo, Hitachi, Kawasaki, Kinki Sharyo, and Tokyu Car Corp. Each had already had decades of experience in the rail business working alone producing distinctive models of trams, metros, and commuter cars — Kawasaki, for instance, has produced more than 85,000 rail cars itself.

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The Daily Dig: Hoover Dam Bypass Edition

Monday, November 9th, 2009

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  • Boston spends 20 times as much on Logan Airport’s security than that of its entire public transportation system. Attacks on trains in Europe have some public advocates worried that we’re not doing enough to protect riders. (BostonChannel)
  • Also in Boston, commuters get an IPhone app called To-A-T, which locates stations and knows when trains and buses will arrive. This kind of move is only possible if scheduling data is released to the public. (Boston)
  • NYC transit chief resigns, walks away with $300,000 and a lousy attitude. “May the day come soon when New York City will have a world class transit system,” he wrote. Who was responsible for that, anyway? Oh, right… (AMNY)
  • Utility companies are pushing Congress to legislate on cap-and-trade, out of fear that if it doesn’t, the EPA will establish costlier rules. EPA rules would be “more arbitrary, more expensive, and more uncertain for investors,” says one industry exec. (WSJ)
  • Last Wednesday, a NYC bus driver struck and killed a 22-year-old man. It was the driver’s first day back on duty after a suspension for texting while driving. Apparently he used his phone “to post disparaging comments about his passengers to Facebook.” (Gothamist)

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Beijing to Tear Down 10,000 Homes for Expanded Business District

Monday, November 9th, 2009

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Ten years ago, Beijing built a big, ostentatious business district that now includes the famous China Central TV building and China World Trade Center III:

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Well, things move quickly in China, and it’s time for the Central Business District to get an upgrade. The city plans to expand it from its existing size about four square kilometers to almost twice that in just eight years and further cement its position as the financial and media capital of China. Basically, it’s a gigantic regional power grab.

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To get the ball rolling, the city held a design competition for the new, expanded district. Seven international firms were admitted, and the winner–or the recipient of “Top Honors,” as elements of each contributor’s plan will wend their way into the final design–was the famous American architecture firm, Skidwell, Owings, and Merrill. SOM’s current projects include the Burj Dubai–the tallest building in the world– and the Freedom Tower at the WTC site.

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The Daily Dig: High Speed Rail Edition

Friday, November 6th, 2009

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  • Airbus predicts that air travel will outpace HSR as the preferred method of travel between major cities. HSR requires massive public funding that airlines don’t need, and many cities do not have local transit systems to make long-distance HSR travel convenient. (Crikey)
  • In Spain, however, rail service is booming: for the first time, more passengers chose the high-speed link between Madrid and Barcelona than chose to fly. British officials may enlist Renfe, the Spanish rail operator, to help build out their own system. (Times)
  • A panel of experts weighs in on Buffett’s decision to buy out Burlington Northern. Rail development will become more important for moving freight and increasing exports, so his bet is good; Buffett’s the wisest–on par, apparently, with J.P. Morgan and Cornelius Vanderbilt. (Room For Debate)

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