Posts Tagged ‘High Speed Rail’

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The Morning Dig: How Not to Land a Plane (Video)

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

• Ashley Halsey, a Washington Post reporter, was taking video while in a vintage small plane while it was landing. It was not the perfect landing as the plane pitched and rolled; the Reagan National runway had to be temporarily shut down after the crash-landing. The video is above. And this article recounts the event. (WashPost)

• The writer Michael Lind argues that liberals’ focus on high-speed rail and certain types of wind and solar energy are misplaced. While many readers of this blog will disagree, the article is still interesting. (Salon)

• While parts of Johannesburg are very developed, the city is still divided between poor and wealthy areas. (AFP)

• The Smart car company will be testing 250 new electric cars in U.S. cities later this year. (Reuters)

• A U.S. Senate committee held a hearing this week on making cities more livable. (Reuters)

• To stop Wal-Mart’s expansion, various competitors of the company have a hired a secretive firm to sabotage new stores’ chances of being developed. (WSJ)

• A writer takes a look at the history of world expos and the current one in Shanghai. (FT)

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The Morning Dig: What Does Bicycle Rush-Hour Look Like?

Friday, May 14th, 2010


• A cool video spotted by Buzzfeed shows a city in the Netherlands that has made bikes a transit priority. Find the full video here.

• A columnist examines possible streetcars in Washington, D.C. (WashPost)

• What would a watery New York look like and how would its infrastructure change? (NYT)

• Ray LaHood visited Japan recently (maybe he got the idea from us?) and saw how their bullet-trains are an example of how the U.S. should approach train travel. (NYT)

• China is doing great work in high-speed rail. (WashPost)

• A profile of a solar power pioneer. (NYT)

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The Morning Dig: Asia Rising Brick by Brick

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

43132861_43f8501a81• Geithner watch alert: The Treasury Secretary is traveling to India, and infrastructure business is surprisingly high on the agenda. (Brookings Institute)

• Expensive oil is making a comeback.  Crude hits a 17-month high on good economic data. (Bloomberg)

• Japan accuses China of stealing High Speed Rail technology and compromising rail safety. (FT - free registration required)

• Saudi Arabia for your next vacation?  Transport infrastructure is growing in the Kingdom in an effort to lure tourists. (ameinfo.com)

• “There are no roads in Ukraine” — comforting words from the first Vice Premier of the country.  Thankfully, some money is being allocated to build some. (Kyiv Post)

• More on accidental train deaths: Over the past decade, the number of deaths involving trains and motor vehicles has dropped 42% to 248. (USAToday)

• Knock on wood it doesn’t happen, but here’s some tips on how to deal if the airline loses your luggage. (FOX News)

• Lines of transportation shape communities: A look at the worries of some Houston residents concerning the city’s planned light rail project. (The Transport Politic)

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Amtrak and High Speed Rail: The Pundits Opine

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Here’s Infrastructurist editor Melissa Lafsky discussing Amtrak and high speed rail with Brian Sullivan. Yes, the national rail provider is giving it the old college try and trying to beef up their knowledge of modern high speed rail. But will their efforts be enough? And do we really want Amtrak running a new, modern passenger rail system?

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The Morning Dig: What’s L.A. Doing to Support Mass Transit? Not Much

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

speed-bus• L.A.’s mass transit agencies are doing just about nothing to make public transportation efficient and useable for residents, despite the fact that the costs of gas, insurance, parking, and vehicle maintenance in the city are some of the highest in the country. (LATimes)

• Baltimore politicians are raiding the city’s transportation fund to patch problems elsewhere. Local journalist Michael Dresser, for one, has seen this kind of mess happen before. (Baltimore Sun)

• Yesterday was International Water Day. Here’s a look at a few of the most innovative projects looking to help the 1 billion people on Earth who still lack access to clean water. (Fast Company)

• NYC looks to the London example of 20 mph zones, which have proven an effective safety measure for pedestrians and cyclists. (Streetsblog)

• Rolling blackouts are hitting Venezuela. Chronic underfunding of the electricity grid has been cited as the main reason. (Businessweek)

• The British government is considering creating a green infrastructure bank, backed by backed by £2 billion in public and private cash. The bank would go towards funding environmental projects — and would be the first direct government involvement in U.K. banking in 40 years. (Telegraph UK)

• India is looking to partner with China for its upcoming infrastructure projects, including a possible high speed rail system. The former nation will need to spend $70 billion on roads over the next three years — though partnering with China could be politically tricky. (Reuters)

• Lastly, a moving story: An Iraqi civil engineer who helped build Baghdad’s airport returns home after living abroad for seven years, and offers reflections on the nation’s recent history based on the state of its main international portal. (NY Times)

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Will High Speed Rail Mean Greater Suburban Sprawl?

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

suburban-sprawl1Transportation and infrastructure projects are a constant balancing act of priorities — environmental, economic, utilitarian, sociological, the list goes on. And while many projects try to incorporate all, or as many as possible, of these — increasing energy efficiency saves money on power bills while also lowering emissions and upping sustainability — sometimes the spectrum of priorities becomes jumbled and ultimately turns on itself. And so what was once an attempt increase sustainability while also boosting local economies of scale becomes a potential environmental goal-killer.

Take our current plans for HSR. In theory (and hopefully in practice) the priorities of HSR in the U.S. are a wide mix of economic, environmental, and urban planning, goals. But some urban planners are arguing that an unintended consequence of actually building HSR lines could be a major step backwards in the notion of sustainable living.

Common sense, and the realities of fuel, water, and electricity use, decree that an urban life is a more sustainable life. The recent population growth of urban centers has boosted efficiency and sustainability on multiple levels, from lessening water use to reducing our dependence on oil-fueled automobiles for basic transportation. And now we’re building an HSR system to further cut this reliance on autos and bring quick and efficient mass transit to wide swaths of the country. Except that, according to some experts, what we’ll wind up doing is simply creating more efficnency-killing suburban sprawl. Wired reports:

[Take] California as an example, [where] high-speed rail has made the most progress. The Golden State, long known as a trendsetter for transportation and environmental policy, has received more than $2.3 billion in stimulus funds toward a proposed line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles…. If and when the line is completed by 2030, riders will zip between the two cities in 2 hours and 38 minutes and pay less than half what it would cost to fly.

But that convenience could increase emigration from California’s urban centers to the exurbs and beyond. In other words, it could lead to more sprawl.

An example of this can be seen in cities like Palmdale, which is 58 miles north of Los Angeles. By cutting the commute time between those two cities from 1 hour and 25 minutes, to 27 minutes, outward growth of the Los Angeles area will undoubtedly continue. It’s easy to see why — home prices in Palmdale are more than half of those in L.A., and high-speed rail could make getting downtown as quick and easy as living downtown. Pushing people further into the exurbs runs counter to a major goal of high-speed rail, namely cutting our carbon output while creating denser, more sustainable communities.

Granted, Wired writer Jason Kambitsis notes that this reasoning doesn’t mean we should scratch our plans for HSR — quite the contrary: “[H]igh-speed rail is fundamental to the country’s economic vitality because it provides cost-effective transportation options that link major commerce centers.” And its use could mitigate some of the worst offenses of all the new suburban sprawl — the use of automobiles to commute to work every day (which, as we’ve seen, is only eating up more hours and fossil fuels as time goes on). Still, unless we take preventative measures, Kambitsis warns, we could wind up enabling a new quagmire of messy sprawl.

Granted, as Yonah Freemark points out, this foretelling of sprawl takeovers could be all speculation — there’s been no link established between existing HSR stations in France and Spain and an epidemic of suburban growth. Also there’s no evidence that the “commute from afar” attitude has been embraced en masse in the parts of the U.S. serviced by fast trains — how many people live in Philadelphia and take the Acela to New York City every day? (more…)

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Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure | 16 Comments »

The Week in High Speed Rail

Friday, March 12th, 2010

chinese-new-year• How many people used China’s new Wuhan-Guangzhou line during the Chinese New Year festival? More than a million, and that’s just during the first 26 days of the 40-day event. Trains were 98% full. (Economist)

• London to…Beijing? China has announced that it’s in negotiations to build high speed rail lines to several European countries, including the U.K. The expansion plans also extend into Southeast Asia, connecting Singapore and Vietnam. (Budget Travel)

• Did Ray LaHood royally tick off the entire airline industry by telling them, “Let me give you a little bit of political advice: Don’t be against high-speed rail” at the FAA’s annual forecasting conference? (WSJ)

• Author Christian Wolmar writes an op-ed in the New York Times arguing that the Acela should be made into a model project to demonstrate that we can successfully get HSR going in the U.S. (NYT)

• On this topic, the New Republic brings up a good point: In the Northeast, Amtrak and state governments own the actual rails. But in most of the country, Amtrak and commuter train services run under agreements with freight railroads — which hold a dedicated right-of-way that’s not going away. (TNR)

• We’ve discussed some of the ways that planning for HSR can go very wrong. Here, the CHSR Blog offers an example of doing it right. (CHSRB)

• Remember that $810 million in federal money for an HSR line between Madison and Milwaukee? Sounds great — once they figure out where it’s gonna go once it arrives in Madison. (Wkowtv)

• But will California HSR plans plow straight through certain hard-won plans for commuter rail? (AP)

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Posted in Energy Sources, High Speed Rail | 5 Comments »

Just How ‘Invincible’ Is China’s High Speed Rail? It’s Hurting Air Travel

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

china-hsr-2020High speed rail has been undeniably successful for China. So successful, in fact, that it’s putting a massive dent in the airline industry. BusinessWeek reports:

China Southern Airlines Co., the nation’s largest carrier, and Air China Ltd. are slashing prices to compete with the country’s new high-speed trains in a battle that Europe’s airlines have largely already ceded.

Competition from trains that can travel at 350 kilometers per hour (217 miles per hour) is forcing the carriers to cut prices as much as 80 percent at a time when they are already in a round of mergers to lower costs. Passengers choosing railways over airlines will also erode a market that Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS are banking on to provide about 13 percent of plane sales over the next 20 years.

There’s really just nothing the airlines have that HSR doesn’t — the latter has larger and more comfortable seats, the stations often more centrally located, it’s easy to get to smaller cities, and the travel times are edging closer to equal.

Plus, given China’s notoriously inefficient and unreliable air travel system — one traveler was quoted in the story as saying, “This is China; you make plans based on the assumption that you won’t get there on time” — rail’s steady schedules and few delays are only upping its attractiveness for travelers. In fact, the only way airlines can really compete is through ticket prices — and they’re lunging at this opportunity, with China Southern slashing economy-class tickets to 140 yuan ($21) on flights between Guangzhou and Changsha. You may recall that the Guangzhou line has cut travel times dramatically, with the trip to Changsha going from 9 hours to 2.5.

Of course, this isn’t to say that air travel in China is in any danger of annihilation — the country’s 8.7% economic growth means that 90 billion yuan are being invested in airport and aviation facilities this year — a 50% increase from last year. Plus 25 new airports, including a second one in Beijing, will begin construction this year.

Still, high speed rail has fully infiltrated the population, and it’s only getting bigger — by 2020, there will be HSR lines connecting every Chinese city with more than 500,000 residents, meaning that 90% of the country’s population of 1.3 billion will have HSR access. Food for thought.

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Posted in High Speed Rail, International Infrastructure | 23 Comments »

Who Will Build Our HSR Trains? The Pundits Discuss

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Fox Business anchor Brian Sullivan asks an interesting question: Who will be making our HSR trains? Thankfully, it likely won’t be U.S. trainmakers, none of which have ever produced high speed trains with the level of sophistication and technology that a shiny new HSR line will require. Watch Sullivan discuss this issue with Infrastructurist editor Melissa Lafsky.

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Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure | 14 Comments »

The Week in High Speed Rail (And a Big Week It Was)

Friday, January 29th, 2010

vegas-strip-nevada• Governer Schwarzenegger held a press conference today with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari, Congressman Jim Costa and other government officials to applaud the $2.25 billion awarded to the state. Quote highlights: “I don’t go to France to buy things. I go to France to ride the high speed rail!” (Gov.CA)

• Were the stimulus funds for HSR awarded free of partisanship? Joe Biden thinks so. Still, StreetsblogDC points out that the bulk of the funding went to 22 states,  nine have GOP governors, versus 13 with Democratic governors. (Streetsblog)

• Can high speed rail succeed in the U.S.? Time’s Bryan Walsh sounds off. (Time)

• Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said at a news conference that the state’s high-speed rail project will provide an estimated 6,000 jobs for three years. (BND.com)

• In the category of “less-good news”: Transportation officials say the $590 million in money given to Washington state will only cut about 16 minutes off the Portland-Seattle trip, and not until 2017, at an average speed of only 90 mph — which comes out to $36,875,000 a minute. (NWCN)

• And the award for Biggest Shaft on HSR Federal Funds goes to…Nevada! The state’s application for $83 million was denied when their plan was deemed ineligible for funding. (Review Journal)

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Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure | 13 Comments »

High Speed Rail in Florida: A Closer Look

Friday, January 29th, 2010

florida1There’s some mutterings about the over $1 billion Florida received  in HSR stimulus money yesterday.  After all, we’re trying to hurl the U.S. into the new century and galvanize the country’s transportation system — so what about the West and Ease Coasts? Well, look closely and you’ll see that Florida does have some major benefits going for it. As Brookings Scholar Robert Puentes noted, the Tampa-Orlando corridor is more “shovel ready” than many of its competitors — it already cleared the environmental impact assessment stage, as well as other procedural hurdles, and successfully leveraged private sector funds — the Disney Corporation donated $25 million in land for one of the station locations. Plus a private partner, as opposed to the state, will assume the risk of ridership revenue to cover the system’s costs. The state also owns a whopping 90% of the right-of-way along the route, a result of the state’s gunning for high speed rail for years now — since 2000, to be exact. Shouldn’t the early entrant be rewarded?

Plus, as Puentes states, Florida has the potential to be a national showcase project: “One lesson our European competitors have taught us is that it is important to get the initial investment right. Then demand for additional investments increases, political and public support follows, and the national system is built incrementally.”

As for Florida’s economic impact, Adie Tomer at the New Republic brings up some good points:

The Tampa and Orlando metropolitan areas, along with their sandwiched neighbor Lakeland, were home to almost 3.4 million people in 2008. That year their economies produced $230.6 billion of economic output, more than the Czech Republic. A huge part of this is the vibrant tourist industry: Few places in the world give visitors simultaneous access to many top theme parks, multiple world-class beaches, and bona fide big city culture all within 120 miles. A pleasurable and useful train ride won’t just benefit Floridians, and could become an additional beacon to visitors across the country.

And as an added bonus, the state projects to have the corridor built by 2015 — over a decade sooner than California. And if it becomes the first completed HSR line in the country, just imagine how a successful line could motivate other states to complete their own. And heaven knows, with costs in the multi-billions, motivation will be much needed.

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Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure | 16 Comments »

High Speed Rail Conference to Discuss Financing in February

Friday, January 29th, 2010

hsr2Now that the $8 billion in federal money has jumpstarted high speed rail in the U.S., there’s still a gaping issue to discuss: Where will the rest of the money come from? After all, California’s plan alone will take an estimated $42 billion to complete — leaving $40 billion left to locate.

Fortunately, the conversation is getting underway. On February 23rd, a two-day conference titled “Financing High Speed Rail USA” will be hosted by American Business Conferences at Chicago’s Marriott Midway. Speakers will include Judge Quentin L. Kopp,
 Board Member of the California High Speed Rail Authority; William Glavin
, Chief Of Rail Division
 of the Texas DOT

; Andy Kunz, President & CEO of the US High Speed Rail Association; and Francis P. Mulvey, Commissioner Surface Transportation Board
. A press release from the conference organizers describe its goals as follows:

The Summit, sponsored by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP and French High Speed Rail Operator SNCF will provide a timely opportunity for participants to network with the financing community, (including investment banks, private investors and financial advisory firms), rail operators, engineering and construction companies, rolling stock firms, suppliers, State DOTS and federal agencies, as well as providing an important forum to expedite the formation of new regional partnerships.

This Summit is the only one that dissects the project costs for both incremental and new-build HSR projects. Capital costs will be discussed, and detail provided about the relative costs of different speeds, what makes these speeds necessary, and importantly, the economic environmental and social benefits they entail.

Interested in going? Click here for registration information.

NOTE: This post is sponsored content, though we fully advocate the conference and the greater discussion at large.

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Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure | 5 Comments »

The Evening Dig: A Day of HSR and the “Infrastructure of Tomorrow”

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

obama-sotu• At last night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama pledged to “put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow. From the first railroads to the Interstate Highway System, our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products.”

• Iowa governor Chet Culver has “expressed his disappointment” that applications for proposed HSR routes from Iowa City to Chicago and Dubuque to Chicago got the shaft in the federal funding spree. (BusinessWeek)

• For a thorough analysis of all the HSR grants announced this morning, click here. (TTPolitic)

• New England walks away with just 2% of the HSR money, meaning that several applications were rejected, including a $1.9 billion request from Massachusetts to fund the proposed South Coast commuter rail project that would link Boston, Fall River and New Bedford. (Globe)

• A conservative opines on why Republicans have traditionally been against mass transit (and Democrats for it). (Politics Daily)

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And the High Speed Rail Cash Goes To…

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

hsr-gov-funds

The announcement has been made, the results are in, and the biggest winner is…California, which will receive $2.25 billion to build a line from Los Angeles to San Francisco with trains running up to 220 miles per hour. The Chicago-St. Louis route will get $1.1 billion, while Minneapolis-Milwaukee-Chicago will receive just over $800 million for a variety of functions including refurbishing existing stations and track improvements. Sure enough, the Tampa-Orlando-Miami camp is getting a big chunk, with $1.25 billion, while New York-Albany-Buffalo is a surprising loser with just $148 million for improvements to existing routes and new track construction. Another $112 million will go towards improvements on the existing Northeast Corridor. For a full list, click here.

Ray LaHood has written a blog post hailing the funding, and the plans for high speed rail, a “historic…game changer for American transportation.” Meanwhile, Curt Pringle, Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, released the following statement:

This award is fantastic news for California and for our state’s high-speed rail project. It is an award that will lead to the creation of tens of thousands of quality jobs in the near-term and to continued economic strength and enhance our transportation network in the long term.

This award will go toward specific projects, but it will benefit every single section of our planned high-speed rail system by moving this entire vision closer to reality – closer to being the first true high-speed rail system in the United States.

California’s success in winning a significant portion of this federal funding, for which there was tremendous competition, is a tribute to our partnerships with our Legislature, with local governments, and to the hard work and leadership of Governor Schwarzenegger and California’s senators and congressional delegation. A California high-speed rail system truly gives each of us the opportunity to change the future of California for our children and grandchildren.

Image courtesy of DOT

CLICK THROUGH FOR A LARGER MAP

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High Speed Rail Funds to Be Announced Tomorrow — So Who’s Getting the Cash?

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

us-map-hsr
It’s a busy week for President Obama — just one day after his State of the Union address, he and the vice president will high-tail it to a town hall meeting in Tampa to announce federal grants for high speed rail projects in 13 major corridors. The total pot is $8 billion, put aside specifically for high-speed trains and other passenger rail projects as part of the $787 billion stimulus bill. Besides the lucky 13 receiving grants, a White House official said several smaller awards will be made for improvements to existing rail lines. In total, 31 states will receive funds.

Unfortunately, it’ll cost a lot more than a few billion to complete any high speed rail project, let alone multiple ones across the country. And so states have been scrambling to nab as much of that precious federal money as possible — the Federal Railroad Administration said it received a total of 45 applications requesting $50 billion in aid. The trick has been prioritizing which states/regions deserve funding, and how much.

So who are the biggest contenders to walk out with big grants tomorrow? Here’s a quick list, ranked by likelihood of their nabbing funding:

1) FLORIDA

The location of the president’s speech can only be read as a surefire tip-off: The Tampa-Orlando-Miami line will get a federal check in the mail. You may recall that Ray Lahood even stepped in to give the state’s fund-winning effort a jolt in October, when he made a speech castigating state lawmakers for failing to secure money for a proposed Orlando-area link and an existing South Florida commuter rail system that was short of cash when the state’s 2010 budget passed.

2) CALIFORNIA

The state’s impressive proposal for an 800-mile-long rail line from Sacramento to San Diego will need money. Lots of money. Far more than $8 billion. The government will give it something — but whether the cash-strapped Golden State can get it together to complete the job is another matter entirely. Still, the public support for the project so far has certainly been encouraging.

3) ILLINOIS

There’s been plenty of anticipation and planning for the proposed Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Louis route, and the Midwest High Speed Rail Association has been hard at work submitting a thorough plan. And Joseph Szabo, Obama’s railroad czar, dropped a heavy hint the other day, praising the region’s “comprehensive plan for high-speed passenger rail service” during a conference in Chicago.

4) NEW YORK

It has the passengers, and it has the demand. The Northeast Corridor (which includes Boston and D.C.) is crying out for a HSR line. There’s the rest of New York, including Albany and other cities in the western and norther part of the state, which have been isolated for years — and some of them have been suffering through delayed service for decades. In some areas, New York State has been quietly begging for rail improvements for years — in part because it would facilitate New York City commutes, and let businesses move to cheaper parts of the state.

Most Likely to Get the Federal Shaft: TEXAS

Sorry, Lone Star State — the chances are good you’ll walk away without a cent. At a speech in Austin earlier this month, a top federal rail administrator charged with managing the distribution of the new grants said your application lacks “a central vision,” and  the kind of political support from the governor and the Legislature that would help it compete against other states gunning for HSR cash.

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Posted in High Speed Rail, U.S. Infrastructure, public transit | 24 Comments »

The Evening Dig: You Can’t Spend Away Traffic Edition

Monday, January 25th, 2010

houston-traffic• A billion in spending, and still bumper-to-bumper? An analysis by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of state and federal records found that Texas spent $997 million on transportation projects that had little to nothing to do with improving traffic in the gridlocked state. (ABC News)

• Central Japan Railway Company is forming an American subsidiary in conjunction with a venture capital firm, in an effort to get into the competition for U.S. high-speed rail (TTPolitic)

• Meanwhile the Progressive Policy Institute has released an action agenda on high speed rail for the Obama administration, anticipating the FRA’s announcement (which should come any day now) on which HSR projects will receive stimulus funds. Read the full report here.

• The trial of alleged September 11th mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed may cause a total of over 2,000 hours stuck in traffic each weekday, which translates to $30 million in lost time for motorists, truckers, taxi riders and bus passengers. (StreetsBlog)

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is speeding up the licensing process — it’s now expected to take three to four years, as opposed to the past, which could be up to 14 years. (Midatlantic Construction)

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The Morning Dig: Put Down That Cell Phone Edition

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010


Watch CBS News Videos Online
• Ray LaHood hits The Early Show to continue his campaign against distracted driving. (Fastlane)

• Baltimore’s new free downtown bus service, dubbed the Charm City Circulator, hits the streets today. (StreetsBlog)

• In California, the Assembly Transportation Committee is holding a hearing today on the future of high-speed rail. You can watch the hearing live here. (CHRSB)

• In New Jersey, newly-elected Governor Chris Christie has picked Jim Simpson, a former transportation administrator in the Bush Administration, to be State Transportation Commissioner. (Whyy.org)

• Amtrak’s 2010 agenda includes the replacement of the 102-year-old movable bridge over the Niantic River in Connecticut; modernization of transformers and other electrical equipment between Washington, D.C., and New York City; track and switch upgrades at Chicago’s Union Station; and construction of new maintenance buildings for passenger-car equipment in Los Angeles and Hialeah, Fla. (Progressive Railroading)

• Meanwhile, Amtrak is also making a push to operate a proposed high-speed line between Tampa and Orlando. (Digital Wire)

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Posted in The Daily Dig | 4 Comments »

Is Indonesia Making a Potentially Disastrous Gamble With High-Speed Rail?

Friday, January 8th, 2010

A group of investors claims that it can build a 220-mile high-speed rail and utility transmission system for Indonesia by the end of 2011. If built, the $3 billion “Hydrogen Hi-Speed Rail Super Highway” (H2RSH) would shake up the transportation world, providing a material advance in the movement of both goods and people at an incredibly low cost and with few ecological consequences.

It sounds great, until you realize that the technology to be used for the line is untested.

H2RSH would offer fast services between Jakarta, Bandung, and Cirebon on the island of Java if the government approves the construction of the line after a 90-day feasibility study. Financing would come solely from private investors, who claim to be able to make a $400 million annual profit. The Indonesian chamber of commerce, in favor of the line, suggests that it would create an eye-popping six million jobs and has pushed the government to allow project proponents to construct the project.

Indonesia may be making a mistake if it does so. H2RSH would use Interstate Traveler technology — an unproven electric maglev vehicle. Interstate Traveler proposed its system to the State of Michigan in March of 2009, claiming that it would be able to offer 100-mile trips between Detroit and Lansing to commuters for a price of only $4.50, all the while making a profit and building the line with no government aid. No recent intercity ground transportation corridor has been built anywhere in the world without financial support from the public sector. Nor has any been able to offer close to $400 million a year in profits!

For two years, Interstate Traveler founder Justin Sutton has been promoting his concept for the maglev vehicles, which would float above dual tracks through which electricity, water, fiber optics, and gas would flow. Solar panels inlaid in the track would create enough energy to power the vehicles but also to convert water to hydrogen, which could be stored for future use as fuel. The concept is ambitious, but its all-inclusiveness may induce skepticism. Mr. Sutton’s sketches of an on-track hospital and what he terms the “equestrian explorer” — among other fantastical ideas for his technology — do just as much to de-legitimize his ideas. So do his previous plans to construct huge BioDome Humanitarian Complexes in war-town regions like Afghanistan.

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Posted in International Infrastructure | 15 Comments »

The Daily Dig: Train Fights Plane, Train Wins Edition

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

plane-cat• In Germany, high-speed rail lines have led to the grounding of hundreds of short-haul flights. Just imagine what HSR could do for the Northeast Corridor. (Guardian)

• The trials of flying with Snowball: Should airlines be allowed to charge passengers up to $100 to fly with their felines? (Particularly since the kitties don’t get a seat.) (Gothamist)

• The landscape designers who created New York City’s beautiful new High Line are turning their eye towards downtown Cleveland. (Fast Company)

• A Dutch architect theorizes that all the cities of the future may be built on water. And maybe the airports as well? (NRC)

• Wouldn’t it be great if the debacle in Copenhagen had some ripple-effect consequences? And wouldn’t it be even greater if those consequences were positive? (Grist)

• A new fashion line is focusing entirely on bike-friendly clothing (not that we’re suggesting that fashionable-ness is a prerequisite for bike riding). (BikePortland)

Image courtesy of LolCats

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The Daily Dig: High-Speed Rail Edition

Friday, December 18th, 2009

javelinlead01• Big week in HSR. New numbers from CAHSR say the Bay Area-LA fare will rise from an estimated $55 to about $105, or 83% of an airline ticket. The Authority hopes to get $17 billion in federal dollars, $4 billion in local grants, and $10-12 billion in private funding. (Palo Alto Online)

• Japanese train makers are entering the competition for U.S. business. One manufacturer, JR Central, is taking a “winner-takes-all” approach, offering “everything from train cars to signals to maintenance machinery and even employee instruction.” (AP)

• The UK opened its first domestic high-speed rail this week, with 140 mph trains raising fares by about 20%. An announcement of $32 billion for railway infrastructure promises more to come. (Daily Mail)

• A Pan-Euro railway is closer to a reality with the help of a new link between Germany and Belgium, which will share timetables with UK, Holland, and France. (FT)

• A new line between Brussels and Amsterdam makes the trip in just 1 hour 53 minutes. (Reuters)

• And the bad news: HSA, which operates the Thalys in the Netherlands, is in serious financial trouble, in part because it has to pay enormous fees for exclusive rights to high-speed tracks. (NRC)

• The Western High-Speed Rail Alliance–the latest arrival to the federal funding bidding spree–wants to study various corridors connecting Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver. (Las Vegas Sun)

• Ed Glaeser’s work never seems to go away. This piece pairs it with Randal O’Toole’s, which suggests that the environmental costs of building HSR cancel out its benefits (but only if cars and planes become much more efficient). (Politics Daily)

Pic via Inhabitat

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