gildone

Sleeper trains are booming in Australia too. Here at home Amtrak's sleeper trains have been selling out for most of the year for decades, yet Amtrak never goes to Congress or the public to argue for their expansion. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/06/sydney-to-melbourne-sleeper-train-services-return

I'm willing to bet that while climate concerns might play a small role in the booming passenger rail market in Europe, the biggest factor is increased price competitiveness with airlines due to growing competition. (Note: Cuyahoga County Public Library card holders can get 3-days of free access to the NYT via the library website) In Europe, Trains Are Full, and More Are on the Way Amid concerns about climate change, demand for rail service is strong, and both governments and private investors are trying to keep up. Even Eurostar may see competition on its London-Paris route. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/travel/europe-new-trains.html By Paige McClanahan Jan. 4, 2024 Paris to Venice. Barcelona to Amsterdam. Brussels to Bratislava, Slovakia. European cities could see a flurry of new rail connections in the next few years, as governments and private investors respond to climate concerns and strive to keep up with strong demand for cross-border passenger rail traffic. Patience is required: Some new connections will take a year or more to start operating, and there will be the occasional inconveniences — like the six-month suspension of nonstop service from Amsterdam to London beginning in June, as Amsterdam’s Central Station undergoes renovations. The route that passes under the English Channel could also have some slow-building changes in the works. Eurostar has had a monopoly on passenger rail traffic under the Channel for nearly 30 years. But the Channel Tunnel is open access, and competitors are lining up to offer additional services between Britain and the continent. It’s all part of Europe’s ongoing rail renaissance, which is being driven in large part by strong interest from passengers...

Wow! How's this for a bluntly-titled book: https://islandpress.org/books/killed-traffic-engineer

Yeah I did. 🙂

Great video about Montreal, which is often touted as having pedestrian/cycling infrastructure that is as good as any European city. Jason Slaughter does a great job of showing the good and bad. Montreal is better than most North American cities, but it still isn't as good as the best cities in Europe:

I think Ohio just got distracted by the glitz of hyperloop more than anything. Getting distracted by glitz is something Ohio has done before.

This is what happens when you have an extensive, publicly-owned track network for passenger rail. Service can be expanded within months: These two dazzling European countries could soon get a high-speed train link https://www.timeout.com/news/these-two-dazzling-european-countries-could-soon-get-a-high-speed-train-link-121323

Similar article at Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elon-musk-hyperloop-tesla-1234934812/ Thank goodness too. Some of us knew it wasn't going to work. It was just a smokescreen Musk threw up to distract from the California HSR project. He admitted it. Now we can get back to reality and focus on fast trains.

For the RTA employees who lurk here. Why won't you get rid of the window coverings? We know you need the advertising revenue, but you DON'T HAVE TO REDUCE THE RIDER EXPERIENCE in order to put ads on your buses. I know from personal experience riding RTA, that covering windows makes it harder to see where you are, especially at night! RTA Please explain:

Would be nice to find out for sure if it was illegal then crowd-fund a lawsuit to get the liens back?

Amtrak says "It's the city's decision". A couple of us have warned one Amtrak official about possible encroachments on the E. 26th St yard and potential issues with Collinwood Yard. We've told NOACA about the pros and cons of TC vs. the Lakefront and suggested an alternatives analysis. We are trying to get a meeting with the Cleveland planning department. We've unsuccessfully tried to meet with Bedrock.

Amen. We almost always fly Southwest for all the reasons you state. Their archaic computer system is an issue, but they are finally working on upgrades. Founder and former CEO Herb Kelleher would have never let that happen, but when he retired and a bean counter accountant took over, he refused to invest in computer upgrades. The employees union begged him for years to no avail. There have been multiple articles this year about how all travel in the US has become such a pain. The richest country in the world has one of the sh*****t transportaton systems among developed countries.

It's very important that this the design of this cap not cut off the possibility bringing intercity passenger rail service back into Tower City: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/11/25/plaza-sought-atop-ohio-city-red-line-station/

Good to know. Thanks.

Strong Towns: End Parking Mandates and Subsidies: https://www.strongtowns.org/parking

The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that speed limiting technology be installed in new vehicles, limiting top speed to 100 mph. I offer no opinion on the matter, just tossing it out for conversation. Understand that it is just a recommendation by the NTSB, which is unlikely to be adopted. There has been push-back in Congress about installing them in semi-trucks. The same will happen with this. I suspect this will result in the same contentious debate that the red light cameras thread has with the usual arguments about safety, privacy, government oversight: You shouldn’t be driving over 100 mph—and your car shouldn’t let you The NTSB recommended that automakers be required to install technology to prevent reckless speeding. https://www.fastcompany.com/90985257/you-shouldnt-be-driving-over-100-mph-and-your-car-shouldnt-let-you

Ebikes are doing more to cut oil demand than electric cars: https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-280-million-electric-bikes-and-mopeds-are-cutting-demand-for-oil-far-more-than-electric-cars-213870

Greyhound in talks to relocate to Puritas Rapid Station: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/cleveland-greyhound-in-talks-to-relocate-to-puritas-rapid-station/ar-AA1jQ0Ki

Johns Hopkins study recommends narrow travel lanes A nationwide study of more than 1,000 street sections sides with urbanists and planners in the long-standing battle with traffic engineers over the benefits of narrow travel lanes in urban places. ROBERT STEUTEVILLE NOV. 8, 2023 https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2023/11/08/johns-hopkins-study-recommends-narrow-travel-lanes

A video look at the new overnight train equipment purchased by ÖBB, Austria's state railway. PS... I like their slogan: "Dream Tonight. Enjoy Tomorrow"

Why Norway — the poster child for electric cars — is having second thoughts Although the EV rush has reduced tailpipe emissions, it has also entrenched car dependence... Although the EV policies were fueling a car-buying frenzy for affluent residents, they offered little to those of limited means. Many low-income Norwegians do not own a car: In Bergen, for instance, 67 percent of households in the lowest income quartile go without one. One recent study found the likelihood that a Norwegian household would purchase an EV rose 26 percent with each 100,000 Norwegian Krones (around $11,000) in annual income, suggesting that electrification subsidies — which ballooned to $4 billion in 2022, equivalent to 2 percent of the national budget — have redistributed resources toward the rich... EV promotions have shrunk the funding available to invest in transit improvements because Norwegian public transportation budgets are partly funded through the road tolls that the national government exempted EV owners from paying... https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23939076/norway-electric-vehicle-cars-evs-tesla-oslo

I would suspect that DET-TOL-CLE would receive one too, but we'll see.

Don't know, but they may have gotten rid of a secondary line or two. Who knows.

A lunchtime meetup isn't an option for me. Would this be in addition to the evening meetup on 11/1? If so, go for it.

Just passing along someone's opinion without opinion or comment of my own: