Posts Tagged ‘Amtrak’

The Morning Dig: A Total Ban on Japanese Cars?

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Obama plans for nuclear energy • Mad Cow redux? Republican Senator Mike Johanns from Nebraska has suggested that the U.S. ban Japanese cars entirely until the country’s government guarantees that the vehicles have no defects. (USA Today)

• The green community is incensed at the Obama administration’s claim that nuclear equals clean energy.  Author Ron Pernick labels the revival of nuclear under the clean energy banner as “madness.” (Clean Edge)

• Vice President Biden pitches for Amtrak. Is his direct endorsement of the company walking a fine line of propriety? (Mediaite)

• Bulgaria seeks to build a new nuclear power plant in the border town of Belene — using European Union funds.  Russia has already offered $2 billion, but E.U. energy commissioner Günter Öttinger says the project will find financing from Brussels.  (Sofia Echo)

• Nabucco update:  The E.U. pipeline intended to break Russia’s monopoly on Europe’s natural gas supplies may be less costly due to sinking steel prices.  The project envisions Middle Eastern, Caspian, and Central Asian gas imports flowing into European markets. (Businessweek)

• A bridge to reconciliation?  Turkey and Armenia to rebuild bridge connecting the two countries in a move to reopen relations, which were severed in 1993.  (Hurriyet)

• India looks to court Saudi Arabia to invest in infrastructure.  The Indian energy sector gets top billing in this budding relationship. (Times of India)

• The New Jersey DOT commissioner has proposed placing a toll on Interstate 80.  Public outrage is guaranteed to follow. (NorthJersey.com)

• And New York’s MTA is going through with a heavy round of service cuts, despite vociferous protests. Just what a recession-embattled city needs — cuts in public transit! (NYTimes)

Tags: ,
Posted in The Daily Dig | 13 Comments »

The Week in High Speed Rail: Tragedy on Amtrak

Friday, February 26th, 2010

chic-hsr-plan• Yesterday, a Northeast Corridor Amtrak train hit and killed two 10th-grade girls in Norwood, just southwest of Philadelphia. More details surrounding the incident haven’t been released yet, though some are speculating it was suicide. (NYTimes & WaPo)

• Chicago architect Helmut Jahn, known for his work on transportation facilities, has sketched out a plan (pictured) for a high-speed rail station in Chicago, involving a “glassy street-level pavilion” that “advertises the romance of travel and offers a view out to the skyline and the Chicago River.” (Blair Kamin)

• Nearly 9 in 10 Americans would consider high-speed rail as an option for their long-distance travel, according to a survey conducted by HTNB Corp., an architecture and engineering firm. Granted, that number is still lower than it was in March 2009, when 94 percent of Americans viewed it as a travel option. (HoustonTomorrow)

• Eurostar officials are saying that full service to and from Brussels will be restored on Monday, two weeks after a commuter-train collision killed 18 people and forced the closure of parts of track outside the city. (NYTimes)

• Want to know what’s going on with your favorite train makers? Here’s the latest from Bombardier, Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, AECOM, RailComm, and Ricardo. (Progressive Railroading)

• A new report commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission found that by 2035, California’s proposed HSR system would reduce passenger loads at San Francisco’s airports by as many as 6 million people. (Mercury News)

• The planned HSR line from Milwaukee to Madison is supposed to go right through the small town of Waterloo. But residents there say it will literally divide their community in two. (NewsTalk)

Image: Chicago Tribune

Tags: ,
Posted in High Speed Rail | 4 Comments »

The Week In High Speed Rail

Friday, February 5th, 2010

• Yup, lots of other countries have really cool high speed rail.

• To recap, America 2050 director Petra Todorovich and Infrastructurist editor Melissa Lafsky took to the cable news networks to talk high speed rail. Some discussions were fair and reasonable…others less so.

• California was the clear stimulus winner…so which corridor in CA will get the bulk of the cash? One CA High-Speed Rail Authority board member thinks Los Angeles-to-Anaheim is clearly winning. (MercuryNews)

• So what happens when the $8 billion dries up? Many states have been less-than-forthcoming about how they plan to pay for the completion of HSR projects. Experts say most are counting on the feds to cover at least half of their costs over the next few decades. (ABC News)

• The California High Speed Rail Authority is looking abroad for planning advice, and is is expected to approve a memorandum of understanding with Korea, which has had a high-speed rail network since 2004. (SFExaminer)

• A former councilman in Waterloo, Wis., argues that that a high speed rail line passing through could harm small towns more than help, by lowering property values near the tracks.  (NBC)

• And what of Amtrak? The wayward passenger rail system says it needs $11 billion in new rail equipment during the next 14 years. Where that money will come from remains undetermined. (BusinessWeek)

Tags:
Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure | 8 Comments »

The Morning Dig: The ‘Amshack’ Edition

Monday, January 18th, 2010

amtrak-01• A Chicago Tribune columnist explains the “Amshack” perception, and how high speed rail could be a major boost to economic mobility. (Chicago Trib)

• In the latest edition of the Status Report, a series by the Brookings Institute assessing the Obama administration’s first year, Bruce Katz and Robert Puentes give the president an A- for boosting infrastructure spending and policy reforms. (Brookings)

• The most recent round of cuts in San Francisco’s mass transit service have been announced, slicing $4.8 million out of a $16.9 million budget deficit. The cuts are all in the frequency of service, and they affect every single line. (Human Transit)

• New York City is planning a series of bus rapid transit lines called Select Bus Service that will connect areas lacking subway access. A line is currently in operation on Fordham Road in the Bronx, but the real test of the program’s strength will come later in 2010 when a line opens along Manhattan’s First and Second Avenues between 125th Street and Houston Street. (TTPolitic)

• What’s in store for architecture in the coming decade? Well, for one, efficiency and sustainability will replace flash and grandiosity, says one op-ed columnist. (WaPo)

• And down in Georgia, Governor Sonny Perdue is struggling to come up with a solution to empty transportation coffers, and runs head-first into a recurring theme in state politics: the public’s absolute hatred of raising gas taxes. (SN)

Tags: ,
Posted in The Daily Dig | 2 Comments »

The Morning Dig: The Fails of Airports and Smart Cars Edition

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

smart-car-fail• Smart car, you say? Leave it to humanity to find a way to foil that one. (Shipment Of Fail)

• Those hazardous materials that shut down a Bakersfield, CA airport yesterday? It turned out to be honey. (USA Today)

• Over at HuffPo, Vice President Joe Biden has penned a post in defense of Amtrak. We agree, if only we could fix those pesky problems like speed and efficiency (or the lack thereof). (HuffPo)

• The Chinese train manufacturing behemoth China South is now competing in Europe, and has already been named the lowest bidder on a major contract — which is likely causing fits for competitors Alstom, Siemens, and Bombardier. (Railway Gazette)

• An argument for why Seattle has the best chance at becoming the U.S.’s first carbon-neutral city from a transportation stnadpoint. (Human Transit)

• Can a mathematical model predict terrorist attacks? Leave it to researchers at the University of Miami to try. (RT)

Image: Shipment Of Fail

Tags: ,
Posted in The Daily Dig | No Comments »