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Author Topic: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses  (Read 37519 times)

blumenkraft

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #100 on: June 21, 2020, 03:44:58 PM »
Amtrack not accepting cash.


What a sneaky way to survive people's movements... Sons of mothers!

Bruce Steele

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #101 on: June 21, 2020, 04:22:06 PM »
Sigmetnow, This train situation is a new development and yes a debit card can fix it , I will help get her a card. There are some services in every county and there are people like Willi who help those at the very bottom . I know without someone as an advocate life is very hard indeed. I have access to her bank account and can deposit for her but you can’t believe how many times she has been rolled for what little she has.
 The lack of pay phones that limit communication, the lack of showers and public restrooms , and the use of electronic money make life harder.  I can try to help but there are thousands with no advocate. We all need to chip in a little with some actual connections to other humans outside our economic strata . We build the walls collectively .

Pmt111500

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #102 on: July 25, 2020, 07:00:44 AM »
Elsewhere HapHazard stated:
I'm somewhere between interstitial & Rod, with a bias towards interstitial.

And honestly I think we should just start talking about trains.
I think there was a thread where trains were sort of focal point but now I'm too lazy to find out what it was called. (Kassy found it, thank you. I'm still wondering what 'buses' are doing in the thread's headline, if they're powered by overhead electric then maybe.))

I think this policy and solutions-section would be a place to talk about new train tech, advancements in routing efficiency, well planned yards to onload and offload cargo (we need to admit every property can't have a railroad beside it), optimal speeds of cargo/passenger shared lines, signalling, PTC, and how companies can compete in a network that is not controlled by shared authority (which is common in Europe). On the passenger rail, there could be some talk on how to diminish the empty seats and possibly about some new methods of coupling carriages to quickly (and quietly) add and remove them, so the stops on stations wouldn't be so short you can just get one suitcase out in the time allotted for a stop. This probably means carriages should have small multiple-unit type motors for shunting, could this be automated? When it is necessary to build rail to rail overpasses, any news on rail bridge/tunnel tech?.... U

a link to my blog, a very poorly constrained study on US passenger rail, attempting to get it to the European level of service (it's obvious this is a bit utopian, but less than some hyperloop-stuff): http://erimaassa.blogspot.com/2012/07/trafficking.html?m=1

(Umm, won't fix the overtly verbose opening)

Anyway, here's my image of European-level passenger rail network for US , thicker lines, golden bits would be totally new rail and most of the others would need an upgrade...
« Last Edit: July 25, 2020, 01:20:51 PM by Pmt111500 »

Pmt111500

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #103 on: July 25, 2020, 07:52:25 AM »
Later did an even more utopistic plan to get finnish passenger rail to the level of Switzerland... The resulting image presented, this network and associated multiple unit passenger/car carriages could serve c. 90% of Finns so well they'd need to drive a car for only local (under 50 km) trips. Parts of Lapland are still without service, connections to Atlantic ports are hard to build over Scandinavian mountains. Umm, this is not especially interesting to non-finns, so may delete this post later. If someone is interested, pm, way more details available (station locations, unserved communal centers, distances to served stations, estimate of the amount of additional track to build. No budget of course :-D)
« Last Edit: July 25, 2020, 11:47:35 AM by Pmt111500 »

kassy

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #104 on: July 25, 2020, 08:25:55 AM »
Merged threads since being too lazy is not a proper criterium for creating a new thread.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

zizek

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #105 on: July 29, 2020, 01:20:38 PM »
Well.
I would consider that a win for the pro Tesla camp.
I will quite happily present actual scientific study's and real world verifiable data to back my opinion As will the rest of you.
Don't expect zizek to pay up .
They never do .....

...... Do I really have to explain to you what happens when a large corporation is in direct competition with poorly funded public services? The year is 2020 and you would think after decades of austerity leading to the privatization of services from health care to infrastructure which have lead to horrible outcomes we would get the picture already..... But I guess this time things will be different??!?!

Here's a little primer of Musk's vision:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/ridesharing-versus-public-transit/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-29/when-a-town-takes-uber-instead-of-public-transit
http://news.mit.edu/2020/how-does-ridesourcing-substitute-public-transit-network-0727

<Moved this from the Tesla thread since most of the articles are about Uber and none quote Elon. The whole business model and what it does to society and who is actually funding it are interesting. kassy>
« Last Edit: July 29, 2020, 07:46:41 PM by kassy »

Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #106 on: November 01, 2020, 09:25:37 PM »
Bloomberg: "Fortress postpones plan for a train to Las Vegas from Southern California after failing to sell a record amount of unrated municipal debt to finance the project.”
https://t.co/vzGj4A5Sqh?amp=1

https://mobile.twitter.com/business/status/1322728473211949056
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gerontocrat

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #107 on: November 01, 2020, 10:49:47 PM »
Some say that uber and robotaxis will kill mass transit systems. Others say not so.

https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/electric-vehicle-outlook-2020-bnef-electric-buses/
Today there are 500,000 e-buses in operation globally. And the share of battery-operated vehicles is bound to cover «over 67% of the global bus fleet in 2040». The figure and the forecast are pointed out in the newly-released Electric Vehicle Outlook 2020 by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

500,000 e-buses today in operation. They’ll take 67 of the global bus fleet by 2040, BNEF says
Quote
What is interesting, in BNEF’s report, is that, according to the researchers, electric bus vehicles «will not fully take over the market. Diesel and eventually hydrogen fuel cell buses round out the rest of the fleet by 2040 in areas where installing charging infrastructure is difficult, or where temperatures are extreme, or near industrial clusters where hydrogen production is being deployed, or finally where local incumbents favor such technology».

Being more specific, according to BNEF, fuel cell applications will account for 6.5% of bus annuals sales in 2040.


"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #108 on: November 23, 2020, 04:11:12 PM »
 :o
Quote
11/22/20, 5:34 PM
China may have the world’s biggest high speed rail network, but it’s reliant on guys sat on top of a train with wooden sticks to de-ice the overhead power lines in winter! @25kV 
➡️ https://twitter.com/ogilvie_cj/status/1330640786711588865
Screen cap below; 53 second vid at the link. (Sound on!)
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #109 on: January 25, 2021, 02:02:41 AM »
The pandemic could devastate mass transit in the U.S. — and not for the reason you think
Quote
Covid-19 is speeding up shifts in where Americans live and work, posing a long-term challenge to transit systems built around getting people to downtown workplaces.

Mass transit might eventually rebound from the worst economic trauma of the coronavirus pandemic. But it still may never be the same, due to the vast changes the outbreak is triggering in the way Americans live and work.

Transit ridership had been falling for years before the pandemic shut down much of the U.S. economy last spring, and it's likely that the virus will only accelerate some of the trends behind that decline. Those include hastening the migration of jobs and people away from dense cities, where transit works best, as well as a newfound enthusiasm for letting employees work from home. …
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/coronavirus-effect-mass-transit-461658
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #110 on: April 01, 2021, 08:19:29 PM »
3/31/21
Quote
If ⁦‪@Amtrak‬⁩ gets the greatly enhanced funding proposed by ⁦‪@POTUS‬⁩ today, its route map could look like this within 15 years with its #ConnectUS plan.

Up to 30+ potential new routes, 20+ enhanced existing routes serving 20 million more passengers a year than 2019.
https://twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/status/1377390180089409536
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #111 on: September 01, 2021, 10:07:34 PM »
Amtrak might add more than 50 new routes. But they still won't be faster than a car
Quote
Washington, DC (CNN) — The $1 trillion infrastructure bill appears set to give passenger and freight rail $66 billion, an infusion that will likely expand where service is offered but does little to increase the speed of train travel in the US.

Amtrak has proposed spending its share of the infrastructure funding on more than 50 new routes, but those routes are significantly slower than typical car travel between the cities — sometimes as much or more than 40% at certain times of day.

A trip between Boston's train stations and Albany's train station would take 4 hours 20 minutes, more than an hour longer than a typical car trip between the destinations. A trip between Milwaukee and St. Paul's train stations will take 6 hours 45 minutes, sometimes two hours longer than a car trip.


Fast trains are more expensive to operate, including the advanced safety equipment that's needed for the highest speed to be possible. Amtrak is also slowed because it generally shares tracks with freight railroads that prioritize their own trains, forcing Amtrak trains to wait.
 …

Some Amtrak alternatives have shown more focus on comparing favorably with car travel.

Brightline, a private company, says it offers train rides between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida in 60 minutes, which is faster than a typical car trip between the two points. (Brightline halted service during the pandemic, but has said it'll reopen later this year.) Brightline has said its goal is to connect pairs of cities and be faster, safer and greener than car travel. It's also planning a high-speed route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Brightline, as a private company, can pick where it wants to operate, rather than aim to be nationwide like Amtrak. Amtrak spends about $4.25 billion a year to attempt to serve the entire country. …
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/tech/amtrak-speed-trains/index.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #112 on: September 04, 2021, 05:18:42 PM »
Mudslides, fallen trees on the tracks, flooded subway tracks and stations. The remnants of Hurricane Ida took out mass transit in New York.

VIDEO
Mass Transit Crippled by Ida; MTA Still Working to Restore All Service
September 3, 2021 3:37 am
By Thursday night, only the city’s W and E subway lines were still shut down, though partial suspensions were reported on almost a dozen lines and nearly that many had delays. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington reports.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/mass-transit-crippled-by-ida-mta-still-working-to-restore-all-service/3254941/
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sidd

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #113 on: January 15, 2022, 10:15:11 AM »
years and change: same driver, different train, quarter century

https://twitter.com/shen_shiwei/status/1479673600059731968

sidd

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #114 on: January 22, 2022, 03:05:07 AM »
New York City
Long-delayed multibillion-dollar train tunnel project under Hudson River is a step closer to reality
Jan. 21, 2022
The existing Amtrak-owned tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey is more than 110 years old and prone to problems and delays due to crumbling walls and aging signals and wiring
Quote
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal regulators announced a key approval Thursday for a planned $10 billion train tunnel under the Hudson River, marking another milestone for a long-delayed project that is the centerpiece of an effort to transform rail travel in the Northeast.

The widely anticipated move came after years of lower ratings by the FTA during the Trump administration, which had clashed with New York and New Jersey over how much money the states had committed to pay to build the tunnel.


The existing tunnel is more than 110 years old and prone to problems and delays due to crumbling walls and aging signals and wiring. Saltwater intrusion from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 accelerated the tunnel’s deterioration and forced Amtrak, which owns the tunnel, to embark on costly repairs to keep it functioning reliably.

Hundreds of trains and hundreds of thousands of passengers per day pass through the tunnel during normal times, and delays can ripple up and down the East Coast between Boston and Washington. Once primary construction begins, the new tunnel could take as long as seven years to complete.

Under the Gateway project, the new tunnel would be built parallel to the existing tunnel. Once completed, the existing tunnel would be taken out of service for a complete overhaul, estimated to take as long as two years.

Among other large-scale rail improvements in the region are the replacement of a century-old rail bridge in New Jersey that has been a regular source of delays; tunnels connecting the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal, scheduled to open this year; and the transformation and eventual expansion of the aging and unsightly Penn Station in midtown Manhattan.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/long-delayed-multibillion-dollar-train-tunnel-project-under-hudson-river-is-a-step-closer-to-reality-01642813333
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #115 on: January 30, 2023, 04:22:36 PM »
Why Biden is visiting a 150-year-old tunnel Monday in Baltimore
Quote
The Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel is turning 150 this year and is still serving passengers. Trains crawl at 30 mph through its curves under West Baltimore, creating delays up and down the busy Washington-to-New York route.

President Biden is set to visit the decrepit structure Monday to announce how the $1 trillion infrastructure law will help to replace the Reconstruction-era tunnel — the oldest in the Northeast — and eliminate the railroad’s biggest chokepoint between Washington and New Jersey.

The tunnel is a major bottleneck for Amtrak, Maryland commuter trains and freight rail traffic that moves between Baltimore’s Penn Station and points south. A plan to replace it has been delayed for years, without viable funding.

Biden’s visit marks an important milestone for getting the project to construction and comes as the administration begins to distribute billions of federal dollars to upgrade aging infrastructure. The White House said funding from the infrastructure law could contribute up to $4.7 billion of the project’s total cost, estimated at $6 billion.

Remaking the tunnel, the White House said, will “improve reliability, lower commuting times, and enhance safety and resilience.” It is also expected to create 20,000 construction jobs.

Demolition, utility relocation and some track work will begin this year, officials said.

Amtrak plans to build single-track twin tunnels that would arc about a half-mile north of the existing tunnel. The carrier has been working on the design and negotiating property acquisitions, while promising that the tunnel — to be named after Maryland native and abolitionist Frederick Douglass — will carry electric-powered trains to reduce environmental effects on nearby Baltimore neighborhoods.

Once completed, trains could travel up to 100 mph in that stretch, while capacity in the tunnel would nearly triple. Officials estimate a new structure would mean average savings of seven hours of train delays on a weekday. …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/01/30/baltimore-potomac-tunnel-infrastructure/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #116 on: February 12, 2023, 02:01:29 AM »
London Super Tunnel | NOVA | PBS
 
➡️ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/london-super-tunnel/
 
53 minute video. A transcript is also available at the link.
Quote
For over a decade, more than 10,000 engineers and construction workers race to build a brand-new subterranean railroad under London— the Elizabeth Line—London’s new Underground. One of Europe’s biggest engineering projects, the construction teams confront immense challenges, from building platforms and concourses the size of aircraft carriers hidden under London’s busiest shopping venue, Oxford Street, to designing, outfitting, and testing a fleet of 70 new high-speed trains from scratch in just two years. Facing delays and cost overruns worsened by the pandemic, the engineers and technicians race to create 10 new stations, learn to operate the new trains, and test out new 13-mile twin tunnels under London. Drawing on more than 1,500 hours of footage, NOVA provides intimate glimpses of the challenges, setbacks, and ingenious solutions that lead to ultimate success, as the Queen finally opens the Elizabeth Line on May 24, 2022. (Premiered February 1, 2023)
 
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NeilT

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #117 on: February 12, 2023, 05:32:44 PM »
The Elizabeth line is just one more of those success/disaster stories of incredible cost and overruns to which the success is only attributed to an unswerving government desire to get it done.

If you want to read about another one like it, read about the Edinburgh tram line.
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #118 on: February 18, 2023, 03:57:33 PM »
Drink bottled water, officials tell Ohio town hit by toxic train crash
The derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, released more hazardous substances than first reported, adding to the distrust and fear of nearby residents
Quote
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Eleven days after a train derailed, spilling toxic chemicals and causing a massive fire here, officials told residents Tuesday to use bottled water until testing could confirm whether the local water supply was safe to drink — heightening concern among some locals who were already wary of returning to their homes.

As questions continued to swirl around the cause of the Feb. 3 accident and the official response to it, the disaster’s still-emerging list of effects became more clear: Water officials are tracking a large plume of contamination flowing down the Ohio River; about 3,500 fish in local waterways have been killed by the chemical release; and cleanup crews are excavating a “grossly contaminated” 1,000-foot area around the train tracks where butyl acrylate puddled and vinyl chloride burned.

“For right now, I think bottled water’s the right answer,” Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said at a news conference Tuesday.

Along with wondering about their drinking water, many residents pondered their options as a strong odor of chemicals continued to hang over the town. Some locals said they are considering leaving East Palestine and are frustrated with how little they know about their potential exposure to toxic chemicals.


A mechanical issue probably caused the Norfolk Southern train to derail near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, federal investigators have said, suddenly hitting the small town with a pollutant-laden fire, the threat of an explosion and the release of at least six toxic chemicals. Officials now face the task of assessing how much contamination has seeped into the ground, soil and water. …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/14/ohio-train-derailment-toxic-chemicals
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NeilT

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #119 on: August 16, 2023, 06:49:42 PM »
I was wondering where to put this one.  However it has strong Train links so I thought I'd put it here.



This is the Fehmarn tunnel project currently under way between Denmark and Germany.

I say it that way around because that is how it is happening.  The vast majority of the work, construction, buildings and everything else is happening in Denmark.  As you get through the video you understand why.

Basically German environmentalists are fighting a pitched battle to stop this project.

Never mind the fact that it cuts off hours of Truck driving, will enable clean electrical rail and will reduce air traffic between the Nordics and more southerly Euoprean locations.

Nope, the local environment will be disturbed for about 9 years and that simply can't happen.

This development will remove diesel ferries (I've used them quite a lot), plus will move more freight off trucks and onto trains for this link.

Even more, depending on how successful this is (the bridge between Denmark and Sweden has been exceptionally successful), the model may be used a lot more.

I suspect this was the tunnel technology touted to be used, along with bridging, between Britain and Ireland.

Fantastic project anyway.  Environmental activism aside.
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #120 on: August 16, 2023, 10:15:56 PM »
The “but construction will emit CO2” argument about the Fehmarn tunnel project is the same as the one that insists we must not use fossil fuels to build out renewables.  It’s a rather short-sighted view.

But: 100 euros ($108 USD) for a toll?  Wow.  The 23-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Maryland, US, is only $14 or $18.  But I see that a Chunnel crossing ranges from around 90 euros to 269.  I guess major European crossings aren’t meant for the casual, frequent traveller.
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NeilT

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #121 on: August 16, 2023, 10:59:09 PM »
Things are not cheap in Scandinavia.

That being said the price quoted when it was in planning was €66 so inflation has bitten this one hard.

I don't remember it being quite so expensive but the last time I took that ferry it was in 2012.  So it would have been quite a bit cheaper but it looks like Covid and the gas price crisis has taken its toll.

That being said the Channel Tunnel was always extremely expensive but also packed with people anyway.  Now the prices are much more reasonable and depending on when you want to travel can be quite cost effective.

However paying it back over such a long period sounds like expecting to depreciate the capital with inflation.  Especially if the interest rate is fairly fixed which it would be as a government backed loan.

When it opens I must take a trip back up there.
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vox_mundi

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #122 on: September 25, 2023, 04:37:09 PM »
As Planet Gets Warmer, Ski Gondola Maker Goes Urban
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-planet-warmer-gondola-maker-urban.html



Austrian company Doppelmayr is well known for making gondolas for ski resorts, but its workshop is increasingly building cable cars for congested cities as climate change has opened up new markets.

A growing number of urban areas are adopting the cleaner, space-saving mode of transport: Doppelmayr's cable cars now glide over London, Mexico City and La Paz.

Urban mobility currently accounts for 20 percent of sales for the world's biggest cable car maker as cities seek to decarbonize their public transport systems.



Doppelmayr's urban business began to take off about 15 years ago.

Its biggest urban project to date—holding the Guinness World Record for the largest public-transit cable-car system—is a 33-kilometer (20.5-mile) network of 10 ropeway lines connecting Bolivia's capital La Paz with another metropolis, El Alto.

Its strongest market for urban mobility is Latin America, but the company is hoping to expand into Asia.

More than 80 cities and towns worldwide have already adopted aerial tramways, urban engineering expert Hanane Bengualou told AFP.

Costing less than seven million euros per kilometer, cable cars are three times cheaper than tramways, Bengualou said.

"It's an innovative solution that uses up very little land and is quick to deploy, as it doesn't require any major work (on site)," she said.

The Paris region is among Doppelmayr's newest customers, with a 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) ropeway project that will connect two suburbs, giving 20,000 residents access to the capital's subway system.

Scheduled to open in 2025, the "Cable C1" line will offer an 18-minute travel time between Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and Creteil.

"Cable transport is clean, quiet and regular," said Laurent Probst, director-general at Ile-de-France Mobilites, which oversees public transport in the Paris region.

The costs associated with cable cars are far lower and they can be quickly installed, making them the ideal solution for traffic-clogged regions, he said.

In addition, they can "cross obstacles" such as roads or train tracks, giving people a commute free of traffic jams, he added.

Bengualou noted that cable cars also offer a cleaner option, as transport accounts for 35 percent of CO2 emissions in France.

Policymakers are often unaware that cable cars—still widely associated with ski resorts—are an option for urban transport, Fitz said.

"We hope examples like the Paris region" will bring awareness, he said, adding that "people are still very attached to conventional systems".



https://www.doppelmayr.com/en/systems/20-mgd-d-line/

Transport capacity of up to 8,000 passengers per hour and direction

The Línea 1 of the Cablebús in Mexico City provides direct access to public transport for 600,000 residents from the Cuautepec neighbourhood.
https://www.doppelmayr.com/en/reference-projects/reference-project-10-mgd-cablebus-linea-1/

Urban funicular railroad opens in Istanbul
https://www.doppelmayr.com/en/news-en/200-ful-rumeli-hisaruestue-asiyan-fuenikueler/

https://www.doppelmayr.com/en/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #123 on: November 03, 2023, 02:48:47 PM »
Wabtec unveils first production FLXdrive battery heavy-haul locomotive
Quote
ERIE, Pennsylvania, US —Wabtec and Australian mining firm Roy Hill have unveiled world’s first 100% battery-powered, heavy-haul locomotive for mainline service in ceremonies today (Oct. 31, 2023) at Wabtec’s Erie manufacturing facility.

The FLXdrive locomotive contains 72 lithium-ion modular battery packs with a total of 36,288 cells, giving the locomotive an energy capacity of 7 megawatt-hours. This is about three times the power of a 2.4-megawatt-hour FLXdrive prototype that operated 13,000 miles on BNSF Railway in California with zero failures in 2021.

The FLXdrive unit will undergo extensive testing in Erie over the next six to eight months before being shipped 10,500 miles to Australia to enter revenue service on the Roy Hill railway, a 214-mile privately owned iron ore railroad in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region. Roy Hill owner Hancock Prospecting opened its line in 2015 and ships more than 63 million tons of iron ore annually to steel makers in Japan, South Korea, India, Malaysia, China, and Vietnam.

Currently, Roy Hill uses four Wabtec ES44ACi Evolution Series diesel-electric locomotives to pull its 240-car ore trains from the mine to a company-owned port facility. The FLXdrive locomotive will replace one of the diesels in the consist. The line’s profile sees empties moving upgrade and loaded 33,000-ton ore trains returning downgrade. Roy Hill expects the battery-powered locomotive will be able to fully recharge its batteries on the downhill run using regenerative braking.

The new locomotive will operate in some of the most challenging conditions on the planet, with temperatures reaching 130 degrees [F], and will provide a double-digit percentage reduction in fuel costs and emissions per train.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/wabtec-unveils-first-production-flxdrive-battery-heavy-haul-locomotive/
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morganism

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #124 on: November 16, 2023, 07:44:57 PM »
In Mexico, building a rail rival to the Panama Canal

By Jean ARCE
Salina Cruz, Mexico (AFP) Nov 16, 2023

At Mexico's narrowest point, linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the government is building a railway rival to the Panama Canal with promises of economic bounty but amid fears of environmental and social harm.

The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes already dreamed of such a crossing for humans and goods in the 16th century, but most plans came to naught and a prior, rudimentary connection was all but abandoned with the opening of the canal cutting through Panama in 1914.

Then, in 2020, work started on a new coast-to-coast link under the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

It comprises a 300-kilometer (186-mile) railway line from the Pacific port of Salina Cruz to Coatzacoalcos on the other side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec -- a region rich in biodiversity and Indigenous heritage.

The government has announced an investment of $2.85 billion.

According to project coordinator Adiel Estrada, it has created 800 direct jobs and some 2,400 indirect ones -- a much-needed injection for a largely impoverished part of the country.

Officials expect that once fully operational, by 2033, the "interoceanic corridor" would boost GDP by three to five percentage points.

"We will go... from one ocean to the other in seven hours," Lopez Obrador boasted of the project in a recent video recorded aboard a brand-new train.

Service is expected to start in December with two daily round trips for passengers, and three for cargo.

By 2028, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor (CIIT) should see 300,000 cargo containers transit every year, with 1.4 million -- about 33 million tons -- by 2033.

The 80-km Panama Canal moved about 63.2 million tons in 2022.

- 'Magnificent' -

Lopez Obrador has said the CIIT comes at a time that "our brothers in Panama are having difficulties due to water shortages" in the canal through which three percent of global maritime trade passes.

The Panama Canal Authority has had to reduce traffic to 25 ships per day starting November 3 -- down from 39 per day on average in 2022. By mid-February it will be down to 20 per day.

The Mexican corridor will be accompanied by the development of industrial parks, for which tenders have been opened, and which the government hopes will attract some $7 billion in investment.

But the corridor has had a mixed response.

"It's a magnificent project!" said Angelica Gonzalez, a 42-year-old craftswoman from Ciudad Ixtepec, one of the stops on the new route she hopes will boost sales to tourists.

Gonzalez was five years old when she last took a passenger train linking the two coasts.

That line was fully operational from 1907 to the 1950s, then declined until the 1990s when it finally closed, leaving only one cargo train on the route.

The cargo service has long been in urgent need of an update as Mexico upgrades capacity at its Atlantic and Pacific ports and the CIIT is meant to do just that.

Salina Cruz green activist Rafael Mayoral told AFP people along the route are "very motivated" for its opening.

But, he warned, that "does not erase its environmental and social impact."

According to another activist, Juana Ramirez of the Ucizoni NGO, the isthmus was likely to become polluted and downgraded by the project, with trees felled and vegetation uprooted.

Ucizoni claims that communities were not adequately consulted on the project, and that several people have already been displaced.

Ramirez said locals were being "harassed." She herself faces a large fine -- yet to be determined by a court -- for taking part in a protest against the CIIT.

Activists also fear a rise of violence in the area with organized crime likely to grow as access improves.

By mid-2024, the train is meant to link up to another line to the border with Guatemala via Chiapas -- a gateway for US-bound migrants without travel documents who frequently fall victim to smuggling gangs.

And observers claim gangs are already seizing land near the railway lines -- uprooting residents -- as they expect its value to rise.

The NGO Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) recorded three murders of land activists between October 2022 and July 2023 which it said were linked to the corridor.

https://www.energy-daily.com/reports/In_Mexico_building_a_rail_rival_to_the_Panama_Canal_999.html

Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #125 on: November 17, 2023, 02:06:05 AM »
In Mexico, building a rail rival to the Panama Canal

A helpful alternative to the Panama Canal with its water woes!  But it would mean completely offloading a ship at one end of the railroad route, transporting it, then loading the cargo back onto a second ship at the other end of the line.  Would be interesting to see a time and cost comparison, and see if shippers choose it as a viable option.
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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #126 on: November 17, 2023, 07:02:06 AM »
A rail link might be reasonable for container traffic but I doubt it would make sense for bulk commodities.


I also wonder how loading and unloading would compare in time and money to traveling around south America. My guess it would be faster and cheaper but would it be by enough?

morganism

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #127 on: November 19, 2023, 09:59:41 AM »
(Mexico going full steam ahead with rail, using Mil to do where they have to. Now Sonora north to Nogales)

Residents battling a new train line in northern Mexico face a wall of government secrecy

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The family of Germán Robles set up a camera trap in 2002 and, to their surprise, caught a black bear wandering through their farm in northern Mexico where residents fear a new freight train line will soon bisect their properties.

The bear, spotted while Robles was in middle school, prompted the family to let a portion of their land go wild after rearing cattle for four generations.

Eventually they spotted ocelots and golden eagles, six different species of rattlesnake and a jaguar. Scientists flooded in and by 2011 the ranch was federally designated a Natural Protected Area.

Now Robles fears the sanctuary he built with his father is in danger, as government contractors begin felling trees and bulldozing the path for the railroad toward his family’s Aribabi ranch and the town of Imuris, 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of the U.S.-Mexico border. 


“Things will change completely in a matter of weeks, you know,” Robles said, adding that the project will fragment habitat his family worked hard to nurture. “It will create a kind of manmade wall that will not allow for animal species to migrate from one side to the other.”

The railroad project is billed as bolstering connections between a Pacific port and the border with Arizona. Local residents and conservationists say it ignores environmental concerns, but have had trouble fighting the project because it has been shrouded in secrecy.

In February, military officials travelled to Imuris to announce the project. Since then, there has been no official communication: no plan, consultation or environmental assessment, local residents say. The project is not mentioned on any state or federal government websites, or in Sonora state’s development plans.

Nor is it clear why the new route is necessary other than to bring the line closer to new mines owned by the rail operator’s parent company, Grupo Mexico.

Grupo Mexico, its rail subsidiary FerroMex, Sonora Gov. Alfonso Durazo’s office and Mexico’s defense department all did not respond to requests for comment about the project.

Meanwhile, construction began a few months ago on communal land north of Imuris.

The project has drawn comparisons to the much larger Maya Train project, a pet project of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to transport tourists through the forested Yucatan peninsula. While smaller, the project in Imuris matches Obrador’s penchant for infrastructure projects with heavy military involvement and no apparent concern for the environment.

No official map of the new rail line has been published. But according to a map leaked by a local official in the spring, the project will create a second rail line for a portion of the existing route between Nogales and the port of Guaymas, this time following the Cocospera river south before cutting through the west perimeter of the Aribabi ranch and then pulling west, into Imuris.

Locals say the route rides roughshod over their farms’ irrigation canals and threatens the reservoir that provides water for the township’s 12,500 residents.

In addition to disrupting wildlife that rely on the river, construction will also cut up an important migration corridor over the Azul and El Pinito mountains for ocelots, black bears and jaguars, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The map’s details are contested, including by Durazo, who has said it won’t pass directly through Imuris. Locals say the map, with a few small changes, is borne out by construction so far, including by way-markers Robles has watched workers erect around his property.

About 80 homes and ranches lie on or next to the route, according to Wildlands Network’s analysis of the leaked map. The state’s infrastructure and urban development department has offered to buy portions of some properties for as little as 1.80 pesos (10 U.S. cents) per square meter.

“It is a mockery,” said Alberto Heredia, saying the state offered to buy a strip through his farm for the tracks themselves, splitting his house from the cows’ corral. “It is an abuse that they are committing.”

Asked why the offer was so low, the state infrastructure department’s chief of transparency, Alan Espinosa Araujo, declined to comment, saying the project was under federal jurisdiction, so his department had no information to share.

Imuris Mayor Jesús Leonardo García said he has tried to negotiate with state authorities for residents with affected properties to be reimbursed, but that he himself had no “official” information.

“One of the main problems was precisely that: the uncertainty that exists among the people because of the lack of communication,” García said.

Locals can only guess at the new railroad’s purpose, however, in the face of an almost complete vacuum of information. The new route will bring tracks within roughly 10 miles of Santa Cruz, where Grupo Mexico expect to open a new open-pit copper mine in 2025.

Mirna Manteca, a biologist with Wildlands Network, began researching when concerned locals approached her in March, but found there was very little to research.

“There’s no real information. There’s no official project,” said Manteca. “There’s nothing.”

Over the summer, government agencies deflected information requests into a torturous loop. First the town of Imuris said it was a state project. Then Sonora’s government insisted it fell under federal oversight. Months later, every federal department Manteca contacted said it had no information it could share about a train project in Imuris.

“They’ve kind of been ping ponging responsibilities back and forth, but we haven’t been able to get any real information,” said Manteca. “It’s so strange. It’s like fighting a ghost.”

Manteca’s struggle is mirrored in Yucatan, where advocates have battled López Obrador over the Maya Train. Initially, López Obrador exempted the project from environmental laws completely, arguing it was a “priority” issue of national security.

Then, in a move that sparked international outrage, his government produced piecemeal environmental impact statements months after construction had already begun.

In Sonora, Durazo, who served as Lopez Obrador’s national head of security from 2018 to 2020 before leaving to run for governor, hasn’t acknowledged the project since March, when he told local reporters some rights-of-way had been purchased and “we are already making great progress.”

Yvonne Siquieros organized a protest against the project in March, and said since then the community has been ignored, particularly when it comes to the risks a train accident could pose to the local water supply.

“The route passes meters from the dam” that is 50 years old, Siquieros said. “It has never been maintained to be capable of surviving the vibrations and everything the project entails.”

By weight, over half of the port of Guaymas’ traffic — arriving or departing either on Highway 15 or the railroad to Nogales — has been fossil fuel products, according to The Associated Press’ analysis of shipping data since 2015.

It might be difficult to imagine an accident causing as much environmental damage in the Sonoran desert as the Yucatan jungle, but Robles insists the ecosystem is rich and worth protecting.

“Yes, maybe less population, because it’s arid, but so many species,” he said.

Ecologists say that severing migratory corridors is particularly dangerous for species on the edge of their range, like black bears, who risk being cut off from larger populations as their habitat is increasingly fragmented.

It’s too late to stop the project now, Robles said, but there’s time to save as much as possible of his father’s vision sparked by that first picture of a black bear.

“This is one of the only towns in Mexico where you have both species,” black bears and jaguars: “one species representative of North America and one species representative of South America,” he said.

“The biodiversity, the importance of it, we will try to protect,” he said.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-train-environment-climate-rewild-biodiversity-2219377e580cfec5892fd6ac092a3942

morganism

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #128 on: December 09, 2023, 09:52:56 PM »
$8.2 Billion from the President’s Investing in America Agenda to Deliver Transformative Passenger Rail in America

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda – a key pillar of Bidenomics – is delivering world class-infrastructure across the country, expanding access to economic opportunity, and creating good-paying jobs. By delivering $66 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago – President Biden is delivering on his vision to rebuild America and win the global competition for the 21st century.   

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 major passenger rail projects across the country, including the first world-class high-speed rail projects in our country’s history. Key selected projects include: building a new high-speed rail system between California and Nevada, which will serve more than 11 million passengers annually; creating a high-speed rail line through California’s Central Valley to ultimately link Los Angeles and San Francisco, supporting travel with speeds up to 220 mph; delivering significant upgrades to frequently-traveled rail corridors in Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia; and upgrading and expanding capacity at Chicago Union Station in Illinois, one of the nation’s busiest rail hubs. These historic projects will create tens of thousands of good-paying, union jobs, unlock economic opportunity for communities across the country, and open up safe, comfortable, and climate-friendly travel options to get people to their destinations in a fraction of the time it takes to drive.
(more)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/12/08/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-billions-to-deliver-world-class-high-speed-rail-and-launch-new-passenger-rail-corridors-across-the-country/

morganism

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #129 on: December 17, 2023, 07:40:01 PM »
(bus stations being bought up by private equity now, like the mobile home parks)

Greyhound bus stops are valuable assets. Here’s who’s cashing in on them

(...)
 These stations built decades ago are shuttering because of high operating costs, government underfunding and, surprisingly, the entrance of a hedge fund buying up Greyhound’s real estate for lucrative resale.

Greyhound terminal closures in one state can unravel service in others, and the closures threaten to break the comprehensive web of national bus routes. Greyhound suspended service for a year in Jackson, Mississippi, after the terminal closed and also left Little Rock, Arkansas, after a closure.

“All this happening at once is really startling,” said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who researches intercity bus travel and directs the university’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development. “You’re taking mobility away from disproportionately low-income and mobility-challenged citizens who don’t have other options.”

Roughly three-quarters of intercity bus riders have annual incomes of less than $40,000. More than a quarter would not make their trip if bus service was not available, according to surveys by Midwestern governments reviewed by DePaul University.

Intercity bus riders are also disproportionately minorities, people with disabilities, and unemployed travelers.

A spokesperson for Greyhound, which is now owned by German company FlixMobility, said it strives to offer customers the most options for connections, but has “encountered challenges in some instances.” The spokesperson also said they “actively engage with local stakeholders to emphasize the importance of supporting affordable and equitable intercity bus travel.”

The terminal closures have been accelerating as Greyhound, the largest carrier, sells its valuable terminals to investors, including hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

Last year, Alden subsidiary Twenty Lake Holdings purchased 33 Greyhound stations for $140 million. Alden is best known for buying up local newspapers like The Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and The Baltimore Sun, cutting staff, and selling some of the iconic downtown buildings.

Alden has started to sell the Greyhound depots to real estate developers, speeding up the timetable for closures.

“I don’t know the specific details of each building, but it is clear what is happening here: an important piece of transit infrastructure is being sacrificed in the name of higher profits,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate at Columbia Business School.

Twenty Lake Holdings did not respond to requests for comment. Attempts to reach Alden were unsuccessful.

Greyhound selling stations

The closures are the latest pressure point for intercity bus travel, which has been neglected for decades.

Local, state and the federal agencies have underinvested in intercity bus travel and relied on private companies to provide an essential public service for mostly low-income passengers. Some cities have been hostile to intercity buses and blocked efforts to relocate terminals.

“The public sector has turned a cold shoulder to buses,” DePaul’s Schwieterman said. “We subside public transit abundantly, but we don’t see this as an extension of our transit system. Few governments view it as their mandate.”

Bus terminals are costly for companies to operate, maintain and pay property taxes on. Many have deteriorated over the years, becoming blighted properties struggling with homelessness, crime and other issues.

But terminal closures cause a ripple effect of problems.

Travelers can’t use the bathroom and or stay out of the harsh weather get something to eat while they wait. People transferring late at night or early in the morning, sometimes with long layovers, have no place to safely wait or sleep. It’s worse in the cold, rain, snow or extreme heat.

Bus carriers often try to switch to curbside service when a terminal closes, but curbside bus service can clog up city streets with passengers and their luggage, snarl traffic, increase pollution, and frustrate local business owners. In Philadelphia, a Greyhound terminal closure and switch to curbside service after its lease ended turned into a “humanitarian disaster” and “municipal disgrace” with people waiting on street corners.

In Cincinnati, the Greyhound terminal downtown closed last year after a sale and relocated to a suburban area far from public transportation.
(more)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/17/business/greyhound-buses-transportation-cities/index.html

Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #130 on: December 18, 2023, 01:57:25 AM »
(bus stations being bought up by private equity now, like the mobile home parks)
 
Thinking ahead to autonomous transportation….  Smaller robo-buses, which can pick up and drop off passengers at multiple locations depending on individual destinations, could eliminate the need for centralized bus stations.
 
“Personalized mass transportation.”
 
Interstate routes could still be offered, providing transportation to specified destinations on demand, (although requiring departure time flexibility) with scheduling by an AI to group passengers most efficiently.  Much like the logistics of an Amazon/FedEx package delivery.
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SteveMDFP

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #131 on: December 18, 2023, 02:08:03 AM »

Interstate routes could still be offered, providing transportation to specified destinations on demand, (although requiring departure time flexibility) with scheduling by an AI to group passengers most efficiently.  Much like the logistics of an Amazon/FedEx package delivery.

Handle me like a FedEx package?  I don't want to wear a bar code!

More seriously, I'm skeptical about the economics of this alternative.  When a bus carries, what, 100 people, then each passenger's fare only needs to pay for 1% of the driver, and 1% of the cost of the bus+fuel.  Put every 2 or 3 in a separate autonomous vehicle, and the cost of the machinery per passenger-mile seems likely to go way up, even with no human driver.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Trains, Trams, Subways and Buses
« Reply #132 on: December 18, 2023, 07:35:38 PM »

Interstate routes could still be offered, providing transportation to specified destinations on demand, (although requiring departure time flexibility) with scheduling by an AI to group passengers most efficiently.  Much like the logistics of an Amazon/FedEx package delivery.

Handle me like a FedEx package?  I don't want to wear a bar code!

More seriously, I'm skeptical about the economics of this alternative.  When a bus carries, what, 100 people, then each passenger's fare only needs to pay for 1% of the driver, and 1% of the cost of the bus+fuel.  Put every 2 or 3 in a separate autonomous vehicle, and the cost of the machinery per passenger-mile seems likely to go way up, even with no human driver.

⬇️  Self-service baggage pickup from the movie Airplane! ;)

But seriously, various financial models put the future autonomous ride-hail cost at from $0.25 to less than $1 per mile.  Larger vehicles might be optimized for even less?  These will be EVs, so the operating cost will be less than an ICE bus.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.