IBM Accelerates Into “Smart Rail,” Guns for High-Speed Rail Investments in U.S & China

March 25, 2009 at 5:04 pm

(Source: Earth2Tech CNET)

GAO’s Report on HSR Recommends Significant Federal Role

March 25, 2009 at 12:31 pm

 (Source: The Transport Politic GAO; Photo: Swanksalot@flickr)

General Accountability Office sees federal involvement in planning and financing as necessary for high-speed rail construction

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Washington’s in-house accounting firm, studied high-speed rail in its most recent report (”High Speed Passenger Rail: Future Development Will Depend on Addressing Financial and Other Challenges and Establishing a Clear Federal Role,” PDF) and came to some significant conclusions about how best to proceed in implementing fast train links in the United States. GAO’s report also indicated strong government support for investment in high-speed rail in corridors of distances between 100 and 500 miles, which the study indicated were best-suited for such connections.

The Transport Politc states that “GAO’s push to incorporate high-speed rail into the broader ground transportation program is elemental for the future of rail in the U.S. That’s because – as GAO’s study indicates – fast trains need to be put into comparison with highways and airports when considering the manner in which Americans will get around in the future. Without such direct, cross-modal comparisons, there is little chance for establishing whether rail, road, or air connections are priorities; without the comparison, we get the status quo, where funding allocations are close to random and where few question which transportation mode fits best where.

The GAO study made the following  Recommendations for Executive Action:
Recommendation #1: To ensure effective implementation of provisions of the PRIIA related to high speed rail and equitable consideration of high speed rail as a potential option to address demands on the nation’s transportation system, the Secretary of Transportation should, in consultation with Congress and other stakeholders, develop a written strategic vision for high speed rail, particularly in relation to the role high speed rail systems can play in the national transportation system, clearly identifying potential objectives and goals for high speed rail systems and the roles federal and other stakeholders should play in achieving each objective and goal.

Recommendation# 2: To ensure effective implementation of provisions of the PRIIA related to high speed rail and equitable consideration of high speed rail as a potential option to address demands on the nation’s transportation system, the Secretary of Transportation should, in consultation with Congress and other stakeholders, develop specific policies and procedures for reviewing and evaluating grant applications under the high speed rail provisions of the PRIIA that clearly identify the outcomes expected to be achieved through the award of grant funds and include performance and accountability measures.

Recommendation# 3: To ensure effective implementation of provisions of the PRIIA related to high speed rail and equitable consideration of high speed rail as a potential option to address demands on the nation’s transportation system, the Secretary of Transportation should, in consultation with Congress and other stakeholders, develop guidance and methods for ensuring reliability of ridership and other forecasts used to determine the viability of high speed rail projects and support the need for federal grant assistance. The methods could include such things as independent, third-party reviews of applicable ridership and other forecasts, identifying and implementing ways to structure incentives to improve the precision of ridership and cost estimates received from grant applicants, or other methods that can ensure a high degree of reliability of such forecasts.

Click here to read  the entire Transport Politic write-up.  If you care to read the entire GAO report you have the following options:   Summary (HTML)   Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 108 pages)   Accessible Text  Recommendations (HTML).  Shown below is the read only version of the GAO report for those whol like to read without leaving this page:

An interesting dialogue on High-Speed Rail brings out some high-profile supporters

March 23, 2009 at 7:34 pm

(Source: National Journal; Photo: Cliff @ Flickr)

Is High-Speed Rail Worth It?


Lisa Caruso @ the National Journal has kicked off an interesting dialogue on America’s proposed investment in Highspeed rail.  She asks:  “What do you think of President Obama’s decision to make high-speed passenger rail service a centerpiece of his transportation agenda? Is it a wise use of taxpayer dollars to spend $33 billion in the next five years (according to the stimulus and his FY10 budget outline) to make a down payment on constructing a rail network that could take decades to create? Or are there better ways to spend this money on transportation?

 So far the following folks, including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood, have recorded their opinions on this interesting dialogue.  7 responses: Steve HemingerPhineas BaxandallGreg CohenGov. Tim KainePeter GertlerRay LaHoodBob Poole  

So, continue to watch the thread as more folks step up to share their take  on why HSR is very important for this nation.

Click here to read and follow the entire discussion.

U.S.Transportation Secretary’s Latest Blog — High-speed rail: an engine of growth

March 20, 2009 at 2:07 pm

(Source: Fast Lane, The offical blog of the U.S. Sec. of Transportation)

March 19, 2009

I’ve been focused this week on talking about livable cities, but I don’t want anyone to think we’re ignoring inter-city travel.

If you read any news at all about transportation in the past 6 weeks, you know about the $8 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment we’re making in high-speed rail (HSR). I’ve been hearing from many enthusiastic rail advocates, and news outlets across the country have been writing editorials championing HSR. More importantly, there is a growing list of states and cities that want to get working on this right away.

Let me remind anyone who doesn’t already know it that I’m from Peoria, Illinois. So, when I consider rail, my first thoughts are of the old Rock Island Rocket that ran to Chicago in my youth. That train, with its GM Electro-Motive engine and its legendary speed, dominated the imaginations of me and my friends.

People rode the Rocket because of the convenience and efficiency it offered. And, with the ARRA high-speed rail investment, President Obama and I want to develop a 21st century equivalent of that efficiency and convenience.

Click here to read the entire post.

$8 billion could help revive travel by train in the U.S.

March 17, 2009 at 3:59 pm

(Source: USA Today; Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky, AP)

Americans started falling out of love with trains 50 years ago, when thrilling silver airliners left locomotives far behind.  Now, President Obama and leaders in more than 30 states say it’s time to embrace trains again — but newer, faster ones that can transport passengers past gridlocked airports and highways on electrified railroads at up to 200 mph.
 
They’re betting billions of federal and state dollars that high-speed railroads can someday move travelers between major U.S. cities within two or three hours just as they do in Western Europe and Japan. And along the way, they argue, such systems can ease travel congestion, reduce the nation’s dependence on oil, cut pollution and create jobs.

“For so long, Americans have viewed the automobile and the airplane as our transportation vehicles,” says Anne Canby, a former transportation secretary for Delaware and train advocate. “Until now, rail hasn’t been a major player in the discussion.”

Driving the new-found interest in trains is $8 billion that was tucked into the president’s economic stimulus legislation signed last month.

“People in this country don’t appreciate what modern rail travel is,” says Doyle, referring to the 180 mph Talgo system. “It is as smooth as riding in an airplane without any turbulence.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Desire a weekend in Ankara? Turkey’s unveils its first high-speed train this Friday

March 11, 2009 at 3:04 pm

 

(Source: Treehugger;  Photo viaSakarya54.net)

Excerpts from Tree Hugger report:

Americans aren’t the only ones newly enamored of high-speed rail. Turkey’s first fast train makes its official debut this week, but railway officials are already envisioning anetwork spanning the country, which has been woefully under-served by train routes of any kind. (Though Turkey’s long-haul bus system puts Greyhound to shame.)

 

That first fast line, between the capital city, Ankara, and Eskişehir, about 210 kilometers away, will have its coming-out party on Friday. Test runs show it should cut the travel time between the two cities from 180 minutes to 70 or 80 minutes. The train will make eight round-trips a day, carrying up to 419 passengers and will include a business section with power outlets to charge laptops, eight cafeterias, and LCD screens for watching TV at each seat.

Click here to read the entire article. 

 

High-Speed Rail Drives Obama’s Transportation Agenda

March 8, 2009 at 1:20 pm


(Source: Washington Post)

The Northern Lights Express is little more than an idea — a proposal for a 110-mph passenger train between Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn., that has crept along in fits and starts for years.

But the slow ride may soon be over. The project is one of dozens nationwide that are likely to benefit from President Obama’s initiative to fund high-speed and intercity passenger rail programs, including $8 billion in stimulus money and $5 billion more over the next five years in the administration’s proposed transportation budget.

The money represents the first major step toward establishing a genuine high-speed train network in the United States and has sparked a stampede among states, advocacy groups and lobbyists who are not accustomed to this level of funding.  

“We’re going to turn over every stone we can,” said Steve Raukar, a commissioner in St. Louis County, Minn., who chairs the Northern Lights Passenger Rail Alliance, which is spearheading the drive for the $500 million project. “We’re trying to get everything moving as fast as possible with the understanding that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for funding.”

 High-speed rail has emerged as the cornerstone of Obama’s ambitious attempt to remake the nation’s transportation agenda, which for half a century has focused primarily on building highways and roads. Nearly half of the $48 billion in stimulus money for transportation projects will go toward rail, buses and other non-highway projects, including $1.3 billion for Amtrak and its successful rapid rail service, Acela. The Transportation Department also would receive $2 billion more under Obama’s proposed 2010 budget, most of it for rail and aviation improvements.Click here to read the entire article. 

The Trains in Spain Go Faster Than the Planes

March 5, 2009 at 6:55 pm

TransportGooru recommends all readers to listen to this interesting coverage on NPR.

(Source:  NPR)

 President Obama’s economic stimulus package includes $8 billion for speeding up train travel. America is far behind other industrial countries in high speed rail. A few years ago, Spain was also behind the curve. But the Spanish network is expanding fast, and the trains are beating planes.

File:Renfe clase 100.JPG

Winging It: Stimulus raises hopes for high-speed trains

March 2, 2009 at 1:55 am

(Source: Philadelphia Inquirer)

Occasionally, a wise journalism professor once told me, being a reporter is almost like not working because of the fun you can have. If you’ve covered transportation for decades, the best of those “are they really paying me to do this?” days have come aboard trains going almost 200 miles per hour.

Now, I’ve taken some pretty exhilarating airplane rides as well. Like the one in a 1929 open-cockpit biplane over Chester County. And two in cockpit jump seats, one in a British Airways 747 between the Philadelphia and Newark airports, the other in a 100-seat Midway Airlines jet bouncing down an ice-covered runway as it landed in Philadelphia.

But nothing quite matches the thrill of watching from the engineer’s vantage point on a French TGV train going 180 m.p.h., as another train approaches from the opposite direction at the same speed and then disappears behind you in seconds. It’s even better than floating along at 200 m.p.h. aboard an experimental German magnetic-levitation train.

Those land-based experiences make me believe that Americans would fall in love with high-speed trains if they ever got them, first just for fun and then as a practical replacement for short, fuel-guzzling airline flights.

With a new administration in Washington, at least we’re in another period of rising hope, similar to ones I’ve seen come and go repeatedly over the last 30-plus years, when the nation may be ready to invest in high-speed rail.

Click here to read the entire article.

When we are talking of investing in high-speed rail, Japanese make a quantum leap, yet again

March 1, 2009 at 9:39 pm

(Source: TreeHugger)

The New N-700 Series Bullet Trains

While the U.S. is finally planning to spend some $8 billion to start thinking about high-speed rail services, Treehugger has noted that other countries are way ahead. Case in point: Japan is now extending its widely popular Shinkansen super-fast train network to the island of Kyushu, with new N700 Series trains from Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. If you like fast trains, the N700 has a maximum speed of 300 km/h (185 mph). The video notes that these new trains are “ecology” and the N700 reduces power consumption by 19%.

shinkansen 500 700 japan photosakura shinkansen japan photo
Photo: Comparing the Shinkansen 500 and 700 series, from wikipedia           Photo: N700 Shinkansen from The Mainichi

The TGV and the Eurostar also clock in at around the same speeds. Tilting of up to one degree allows trains to maintain 270 km/h even on 2,500 m radius curves that usually has a maximum speed of 255 km/h.

Another feature of the N700 is that it accelerates quicker than other Shinkansen trains, with an acceration rate of 2.6 km/h/s. This enables it to reach 270 km/h in only three minutes.

Click here to read the entire article and to see the video of the new N-700 series trains.