Imgur via Reddit

Awesome road trip story as narrated by Redditor rufflesdance… with NO GPS!  If you are an avid motorcyclist and harbor a desire down in the trenches of your mind, I sincerely recommend you to check out the comments section of his Reddit post where he has shared info. and answered tons of questions from fellow motorcycle enthusiasts. It was mindboggling how much he has learned and observed as he shared many little nuggets of wisdom from this road trip. If you have a hard time reading the detailed narrative underneath each of the photographs, click here. Drop a note in the comments section if you like this post.

(Source: Al Jazeera News)

This above video was a part of an Al Jazeera news story of migrants experiencing violent deaths in the hands of drug cartels during their journey northwards towards United States from their homelands in South America.  We in the western world often read stories over the years about this tough journey of migrants, who often pay thousands of dollars for their smugglers/handlers and risk their lives while traveling through what’s one of the worst, violence-ridden narco corridors in the entire world. For the first time, I had an opportunity to visually experience this monumental struggle of life and death experienced by the migrants through a recent movie, Sin Nombre by Cary Joji Fukunaga. It was a very painful portrayal of migrant life and the dangers these people face making the trek northwards, while dodging the brutal world of narcotics smugglers.  This above video story from Al Jazeera is not much different than what is shown on the movie, but the only difference here is there are no actors in real life and no-retakes if something were to go wrong.  Here is a trailer of Sin Nombre, that gives you a candid window into the difficult life of a migrant on the road, making it not just a journey in search of a decent livelihood, but also one where he/she often risks life riding those deadly rails.

(Source: EMBARQ)

Research led by EMBARQ’s Senior Transport Engineer Dario Hidalgo provides key findings and lessons learned from a comprehensive review of major bus improvements in 13 Latin American and Asian cities.

“Modernizing Public Transport,” a 40-page report released in October 2010, is based on research and interviews with planners and public officials in cities and transport agencies around the world.

The report reviews and synthesizes information regarding challenges experienced by transport system decision makers in three key areas: planning, implementation and operations. In order to assist urban transport planners and implementing agencies, the study also provides recommendations on avoiding or mitigating similar difficulties when introducing bus reforms in developing world cities.

The report looks at transportation in 13 cities and will present in-depth case studies of nine of the cities. The first two case studies—profiling Leon and Guadalajara, Mexico—will be available by the end of October. The remaining seven case studies will be published by the end of November, including Bogota and Pereira, Colombia; Curitiba, Brazil; Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador; Mexico City, Mexico; and Santiago, Chile. The other cities covered in the report are Sao Paulo, Brazil; Beijing, China; Ahmedabad, India; and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Also, don’t forget to check out the two-part Q&A with Dario Hidalgo on TheCityFix.com.   For those who are interested, you can access the official press release here.

Click here to learn more about EMBARQ and it’s awesome work across the globe.

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• Q&A with Dario Hidalgo, Part 2: Modernizing Public Transportation (thecityfix.com)
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(Source: Reuters & The Transport Politic)

China and Argentina have agreed to invest about $10 billion over several years to renovate the Latin American country’s dilapidated railway system and build a subway for its second-largest city. Funds come from the China Development Bank and will require a 15% match from the Argentinian government.

The $10B breaks down as follows:

Argentina will receive $4.35 billion to renovate three freight railroad lines, including $1.85 billion to improve conditions on the Belgrano Line, which links the country to Bolivia and is an important link for the nation’s agricultural producers.  Argentina’s once-extensive rail network was largely dismantled during the privatisations of the 1990s. But as agricultural output soars, farmers and grain elevators — who send more than 80 percent of grains by costly road transport — have been calling for investment to revive the railways.

Road transport costs about 7 U.S. cents per tonne per kilometre in South America’s No. 3 economy — about twice the cost of rail cargo and four times what it costs to transport grains by boat, according to the grains exchange in the country’s biggest agricultural port, Rosario.

More than four billion dollars for the improvement of the Buenos Aires Subway and the creation of a four-corridor Metro in Cordoba — projects.

China in recent years has been dipping into its deep pockets to fund infrastructure projects in poor and emerging economies that bolster relations and often further Beijing’s own economic goals by helping bring goods and raw materials to market faster.  I’d not be surprised if the Chinese are looking to export their rail technology to not just the developing parts of the world but also to advanced economies such as the USA.  The world better learn fast how to say Ni Hao!

Click here to read more.

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