biker16

oops!

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/623/361/Amtrak-to-Operate-Test-Trains-at-165-mph-ATK-12-084.pdf FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2012 ATK-12-084 Contact: Media Relations 202 906.3860 AMTRAK TO OPERATE TEST TRAINS AT 165 MPH Four test areas cover more than 100 miles of the Northeast Corridor WASHINGTON— Beginning tonight and continuing into next week, Amtrak plans to operate high-speed test trains at 165 mph in four areas covering more than 100 miles of the Northeast Corridor. The tests in Maryland / Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are locations that may at some future time experience regular 160 mph service. The tests will utilize high-speed Acela Express equipment and will measure the interaction between the train and the track, rider quality and other safety factors. The test runs must be performed at 5 mph above the expected maximum operating speed of 160 mph. The test areas between approximately Perryville, Md. – Wilmington, Del. (21.3 miles) and Trenton – New Brunswick, N.J. (22.9 miles) currently have a maximum speed limit of 135 mph. The test areas between approximately Westerly – Cranston, R.I. (29.2 miles) and South Attleboro – Readville, Mass. (27.8 miles) currently have a maximum speed limit of 150 mph. The same areas were used for similar high-speed tests before the introduction of Acela service. The initial test run is in New Jersey where Amtrak is presently advancing design, engineering and other pre-construction activities for a $450 million project funded by the federal high-speed rail program. The project includes upgrading track, electrical power, signal systems and overhead catenary wires to improve reliability for Amtrak and commuter rail service, and is necessary to permit regular train operations at the faster speeds. Some construction activity is anticipated in 2013, but the project will ramp up dramatically thereafter to be completed in 2017. About Amtrak®: Amtrak is America’s Railroad®, the nation’s intercity passenger rail service and its high-speed rail operator. A record 30.2 million passengers traveled on Amtrak in FY 2011 on more than 300 daily trains – at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) – that connect 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Amtrak operates intercity trains in partnership with 15 states and contracts with 13 commuter rail agencies to provide a variety of services. Enjoy the journey® at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and more information. Join us on facebook.com/Amtrak and follow us at twitter.com/Amtrak.

you said that "I (you) am not aware of any "mandates" under our current districting system akin to the ones set forth in this Voters First proposal." you also said " You basically cannot simultaneously prioritize competitive districts, preservation of existing communities, and minimum circumference" do you expect that leaving the details not explicitly laid out by mandate to people who have a vested interest in the outcome and expect a fair outcome. to me It feels like you are looking for something that does not exist perfection or an absolute. The redistricting process is full of contradictions always has been, the issue is who resolves those contradictions. it is the Who that has the power that controls the will of the 11.2 million residents of this state. The intent of the this ballot initiative is to change the Who.

biker16 - i agree with you about this being a copout, however the resistance to the vertical racks runs deep across multiple departments, so it will take some effort - such as your proposed diagrams - to overcome. there is also some debate about foldable seats. the healthline was originally going to have a dedicated area for bikes and strollers and at the last minute foldable seats were added as well. in practice what has happened is that the seats are folded down at the first stop and if you enter the healthline with a stroller or bike anywhere but the first stop, you must ask a sitting passenger to move. the feeling now is that it is better not to even have a seating option so that the space remains available. i will share your designs. the seats used on the HL are not the seats I would use the seats I would use would be seats that by deflt are up, and are only down when a person sit on them. these types of seat are used on the Paris metro. they allow for primary use to be flex ADA/Bike Or standee space. and if not being used for those purposes It can be used as a seat. If the flip seats are not an option, placing a "butt" bar ala the HL stations that can also provide a handhold for standees. I am aware of the resistance to hanging bike racks by RTA, but the objections they have put forth are not valid, iMO.

yes. 1 car is currently being outfitted and then will be tested for comments and then all red line cars will be have interiors redone. - basically it will be the same color scheme as the blue/green line cars with gray walls/ceiling, dark gray flooring, and use the same or very similar seats to the blue/green line cars. - all new windows - all fluorescent lights will be replaced by LEDs with new plastic lenses - some seats will be removed at the ends of the cars to provide additional space for wheelchairs/bikes/luggage - trashcans are being added to the cars - working on possibly having digital destination signs in each car, but communications problems between cars and limited weathertight connections between cars may prevent this - no plans to update speaker system or to add a digital stop sign within the cars, but this may change there may be some kind of public display in the next few months to get rider feedback before all of the cars are done. expected timeline was over the next year to complete the project. overall, it should look and function much better. any word on hanging or vertical bike racks on the redline cars? when will the mock up be avialable for viewing? vertical bike racks are probably not going to happen for 2 main reasons: 1) the way the structural elements are behind the panels make it difficult to mount a hanging rack without expensive retrofit 2) serious concerns about rain/snow/mud etc. on the walls of the cars there was an expressed commitment to provide more space for bicycles and to provide some kind of a rack/tie down mechanism that will secure a bicycle. these haven't been developed yet, but will be similar to something that is used often in Europe or the more basic caltrain tie down i expect a car may be made available in a month or so for viewing. Urban Life I have heard these Reasons before, I feel this is more of a copout than a valid reason. I Actually developed a solution to all the issues About here The key was to use existing mounting points and to use rust proof materials. the solution is simple. I would be happy to build a mock-up for RTA.

Law professors back proposed Ohio redistricting changes http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_2/about_sec2.php#sec2 There are already Conflicting mandates. which is how we get maps like this.

cyclist have 1/4 horsepower, and some can achieve speeds up 45 mph on level ground. most good cyclist can average 17-22mph, more than enough to negate the advantage of cars moving in traffic and the stoplights they encounter. try driving on Detroit ave at rush hour in Lakewood, you will be passed by people on bikes.

this list is bull@$*&. 3. Be predictable, if you randomly swerve, expect to be run over. this is not true, riding unpredictably causes drivers to pay more attention to you not less. but you have to be consistently unpredictable. 4. Be seen. If you ride without lights, reflectors, etc, don't be surprised when you get run over. Yeah it sucks, but drivers aren't looking out for you. If you are in an area with streetlights there is no excuse not to be seen. if a driver can't see you how can they see a pedestrian? should all pedstrians have lights too? 6. Don't make someone pass you twice. When a car passes a bike once and then the cyclist lane cuts to get to the front of the line at the next red light, they have to pass the cyclist again, and the drivers aren't the ass_holes for being frustrated. So if traffic backs up at a light you are not allowed to pass the cars twice? It is possible and happens that bikes can be faster than a car, traffic and lights make it so. who cares if the car has to pass a cyclist 10 times, as long as the laws are being followed there is nothing wrong. 7. Rolling intersections: If you're first in the lane and zero cross traffic, it's empty, who gives a sh1t. Just don't make someone double pass you just so you can run the light. The drivers that cry about rolling an empty intersection are the same ones who cried to the teacher when they were kids about fairness. It's not fair and they hate it, only now they're piloting a ton of steel on wheels, so be mindful that they may act on this imagined slight. I agree, but it is still illegal no one seems to care about speeding, yet it is just as illegal as running a light, but like speeding (within reason) , running a light on a bike rarely causes harm to someone else.

Conflicitng mandates are what we already have with current system , The method for resolving those conflicts is the what Issue 2 is trying to fix. by law Redsitricting "provides conflicting mandates " the difference is who controls the process for resolving those conflicts. it not perfect nothing is but it is much better than the current system.

yes. 1 car is currently being outfitted and then will be tested for comments and then all red line cars will be have interiors redone. - basically it will be the same color scheme as the blue/green line cars with gray walls/ceiling, dark gray flooring, and use the same or very similar seats to the blue/green line cars. - all new windows - all fluorescent lights will be replaced by LEDs with new plastic lenses - some seats will be removed at the ends of the cars to provide additional space for wheelchairs/bikes/luggage - trashcans are being added to the cars - working on possibly having digital destination signs in each car, but communications problems between cars and limited weathertight connections between cars may prevent this - no plans to update speaker system or to add a digital stop sign within the cars, but this may change there may be some kind of public display in the next few months to get rider feedback before all of the cars are done. expected timeline was over the next year to complete the project. overall, it should look and function much better. any word on hanging or vertical bike racks on the redline cars? when will the mock up be avialable for viewing?

It is coming. but generally the combinaion very few consturtion projects being built in north america at one time, and the procument of speciality roling stock and has led out of control costs. on traist projects. when the averge trasit agency only buys 50-60 trains every 30-45 years it is hard to keep costs down plus the "buy american" provision ccause the price to jump. becuase it reduces competition. the most basic Thing that can be done is to piggy back on other tranist agencies buys and take an off the shelf product, which is why the Flexity LRT train in toronto are a good canidate to replace our rail fleet in Cleveland and why Tuscon's Streetcars are identical to Portland's streetcar. http://www.aptastandards.com/portals/0/1GeneralFiles/FTA.pdf With cleveland rail system it is very much one of a kind not just in north America but in the World. 600 VDC overhead cantenary system for a heavy Rail system. The standard for modern LRT is 750 VDC, and few heavy rail systems use a low voltage OCS system, if they use 600VDC it is through a 3rd rail, becuase the current requirements for heavy rail are hard on an OCS at such low voltages, (the cross section of wire causes more resistance than a rail) Information asymmetry means that I know more than you so shut up.

Slightly off-topic, but if you want to encourage "American jobs", you have to pay the price by paying American-level wages. I get the feeling that a lot of the people who champion "Made in America" products turn around and do most of their shopping at Walmart where virtually nothing is made in America. There was also a book that came out a few years ago -- I never got around to reading it but I heard an interview with the author -- that discussed how rising fuel costs would return much of the manufacturing back to the U.S. (and other countries closer than China). It discussed what types of manufacturing would be moved back as the price of oil hit various levels. You are missing the point this not about labor this is about Gold plating and mission Creep in the design of transit projects.

It's a combination of many things, but certainly wages of construction workers play a part. In Hamilton County, Ohio, the average salary for all workers is around $35,000 per year. In Thailand, for example, the average salary is equivalent to about $2000 per year. That is a HUGE difference, and the reason why it is more cost effective to manufacture things in Thailand and ship them to the United States, even including the cost of shipping, instead of manufacturing them in Ohio. Workers in developed countries are better trained and far more productive than their poorer rivals. Because of our exceedingly superior infrastructure system our costs for shipping anything is far less expensive than the 3rd world, also consider that a lot of the construction materials will have to be shipped from developed countries to the 3rd world. Labor costs in construction are a small part of overall costs because things are become more and more automated, watch a road construction crew redo an interstate notice how the machines do most of the work. the use of pre-fabricated components and the use of more powerful equipment to lift larger and larger pre-fab components All and all the costs per mile of tunneling in the 3rd world is on par with that in the 1st world, after all the costs involved are taken into account. Imagine you can design a project and bid on that projects and then bid on the contract form that project, understand for every level of the the construction there is a percentage to be made of the overall project budget. so by making a 30 billion dollar HSR cost 68 billion dollars, the winner of the general construction project that nets a 4% commission increases from 1.2 billion to 2.72 billion. by over-designing a project you can greatly increase the profits of the general contractor on that project. of course if the project designer and the general contractor are the same company what incentive is there to not design in more cost?

So without understanding the scope of the damage how can you estimate the time it will take to repair? also take into consideration that unlike your home when storm damages it insurance can cover the repairs. I suspect that RTA had to front the repair costs internally with capital funds. since capital funds are not as infinite as we think they are it has to be budgeted and it takes time to complete. I can agree that this is taking a long time too, but the system is really old, and needs lots of love, The the signal problem was the straw that broke the camel's back. The underfunding of transit systems s a national problem, the balancing act between maintaining old systems while safely handling increasing demand for transit.

do you think they are trying to rig the vote or something?

I agree 100% replace it with a swing bridge to connect the West and east banks of the Flats together.

To get around gold plattiing see the estblishment of a P-3 (Public Private Partnership) non profit corporation for Regional tranpportion. would need to consists of not only all Regional Transit Agencies, but all Regional Port Authorities all regional Chamber of Commerces, all regional MPOs, and a collection of local Non profits, and CDCs. the goal woudl be combine government funding resources with the efficeny of a private corporation, that is not tied to any Union, procument rules and put skin in the game for the private sector to beeter advocate in colmbus for funding.

The Invention of Jaywalking

The process that often is dictated by law remove the agency from the design of the project Definition of 'Barriers To Entry' The existence of high start-up costs or other obstacles that prevent new competitors from easily entering an industry or area of business. Barriers to entry benefit existing companies already operating in an industry because they protect an established company's revenues and profits from being whittled away by new competitors. the complexity of the government funding process, I.E. seeking government funds for transit projects, means that a outside consultant must be hired to wade through the maze of regulations, needed to secure federal funds for transit project. there are only a few players in this market. regulations in this country Forbid the awarding of a contract based upon any thing but price, on large complex projects like subways, large aerial structures, transit stations, the project is too complex for a fixed price bid ends up being an open-ended contracts. on projects like these lowest bid often is less important than the contractor's experience on similar projects, and their ability to fish their projects on time. regulations have prevented transit agencies from developing a robust in-house design and engineering needed to do anything but the most basic projects. by replacing in-house staff with contractor you lose the most basic form of cost control during the design phase and construction phases. how Spain does their transit projects. The first thing I would do is to decouple the design from the construction contracts, and offer the option for transit agencies to be general project managers. I would forbid the project designer from being awarded construction contracts, and place a member of the agency in between the designer and the builder. to prevent collusion. Finally, place the awarding of the contract on factors other than fixed cost.

we are talking about construction costs not costs for operation. it is impossible to install a driverless train system if the construction costs are too great to make it feasible.

Immigration laws are set by federal policy. Did you know that before about 1905, immigration was wide open? At that time, there was opposition to bringing Chinese to this country, because they supposedly increased the supply of labor and forced wages down. So, we wound up with immigration quotas. So no, states cannot hire Chinese to build infrastructure unless they do it within the confines of the federal law. But we CAN import manufactured goods from China. Can you imagine what American cities might look like if instead of manufacturing things in China and shipping goods to the U.S.A., the Chinese would have instead just moved here and worked in factories here? You just can't ship infrastructure like you can ship manufactured goods, but just look at the potential! I will say it again. labor cost are irrelevant. the costs are added duing the design phase, when engineering descions are being made consultant. it is when a you spec a double track extension for an incremental light rail extension. it like buying car with all the bells and whistles, and the rust proofing package, extended waranty, and the theft protection package when you only drive 2 miles a day and live in arizona. the same thing happens in military procurment.

in econmic term there are barrier to entry that prevent competition on transit projects. Futhermore if PB can secure the contract to do the orginal AA study. I.E. the blue line extension. they can price it, and then bid on the design and constrution contracts as well. becuas they can control the orignal design and they have every incentive to over design (gold platting). I would like to see the rules forbiding the Transit agency from taking design and AA inhouse and trun RTA into a "general contractor" on thier own project, by splintg the contracts out they are more leikely to better control the costs of the project, plus being non profit helps elminate a layer of management. remember they collect a percentage of overall project costs, creaitn incenvites o drive those costs up, escially if they control the original design process. outsourcing is the reason costs are so high, not unions.

some options southern loop. northern loop in between Starter Loop.

Bloomberg opinon: U.S. Taxpayers Are Gouged on Mass Transit Costs

they could be combined to run on either the north or south route or even the a combination of the two routes. The reputation that fixed guideway rail is not flexible is not 100% true because it would be possible to adjust the route to meet demand where ever the tracks are. So during peak hours you can run an extended route that can cover more ground and and boost capsity on the normal circulator routes. And off peak you can run fewer vehicles and split the routes to optimize the system for ridership levels. Then you have the option of running 3 segment 60 foot vehicle (38seats) or 5 segment 90 foot vehicles (74 seats) depending on demand. The problems with the current system are the buses are a primary source of delay for other buses this costs alot of time and money. Thus the need to split some routes in Sydney.