gildone

Thanks! I was just going to edit my post.

Midway Cycleway Open House Tonight! https://www.bikecleveland.org/bike-cle/news/open-house-midway/2023/10/

This jackass is facing 40 criminal charges: Man raged before careening through Portland parade, video shows: ‘They got it all blocked off!’ https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2023/10/man-raged-before-careening-through-portland-parade-video-shows-they-got-it-all-blocked-off.html

I attended NOACA's annual meeting yesterday. In addition to a major focus on passenger rail (Derrick James from Amtrak was one of 3 panel speakers), Grace Gallucci mentioned NOACA's "Street Supplies Program" The program is funded by ODOT with a $2 million/year grant (this surprised me, actually). It provides communities with paint and a library of roadway materials (tape, cones, and signs to parklets, bike racks, colorful street furniture, and planters, etc.) so they can do demonstration projects to gauge community interest in street re-designs. The most interesting thing about the program is that, according to Grace, generates a 50:1 economic return on investment. https://www.noaca.org/community-assistance-center/planning-assistance/street-supplies

Pulled this from the CSR thread. I have a comment about the FWW caps idea, but my comment woukd have been off topic for the CSR thread: "They wanted to see if $400 million or $500 million of the $1.6 billion could be carved out for economic development projects,” Luken said, which could have included housing, an arena or caps on Fort Washington Way, although discussions did not get that far, he added. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/10/17/cincinnati-railway-board-rebuffed-business-leaders.html I was in Cincy back in June. Walked from Fountain Square to the riverfront. Seems to me they should just close the FWW through downtown, but most cities and most peopke in the U S. aren't ready to go this far. I think our biggest mistake we made with the interstate highway system was the decision to build highways through downtowns.

How car ownership costs are financially harming more and more Americans: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/07/business/car-ownership-costs.html

ÖBB is the best night train operator in Europe. Meanwhile in the US, we struggle to get rolling stock built (Thanks to @KJP for passing this along): Solo sleeping pods aim to revolutionize European train travel Julia Buckley, CNN Updated 6:28 AM EDT, Fri October 6, 2023 https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/travel/article/obb-nightjet-new-trains/index.html

U.S. Travel Association study: $71 billion in economic losses from trips not taken due to delays and other problems in our aviation system: https://www.ustravel.org/press/dmv-experience-leading-27-million-skipped-trips-71-billion-lost-travel-spend One thing stood out to me about this study: Like most of the rest of the country, they confine their thinking about solutions within the system as it exists. The most effective thing we can do to make the aviation system work better is to have another travel choice: fast, frequent, modern passenger trains. I'd like to know how many more deferred trips there are beacuse people don't want to make the drive. I know my wife and I would take more weekend trips to a lot of places if we didn't have to drive.

A great new podcast about re-thinking transportation: Freeway Exit https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/freeway-exit

From one of thr board members of the Western PA rail advocacy group. Latest nees from the industry as a whole is thay car loads are up a bit so I'm sure the dip is temporary.

"RWU has advocated for public ownership of the railroads, saying that selling the rail line would be a lost opportunity for Cincinnati. The group held an online press conference about the sale last week." https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cincinnati-voters-to-decide-on-sale-of-cincinnati-southern-railway-to-ns

Especially since freight traffic west of Harrisburg has dropped from 70 trains/day to 25 trains/day.

@Brutus_buckeye If you took notice, I "thumbs upped" this remark by DEPACincy. So it was already made clear prior to your response that: 1) spending on transit or the streetcar is not prohibited; and, 2) my "thumbs up" of the remark indicates that I acknowledge that. My remark after that was just my own opinion, which I'm allowed to have, about subsidizing streets/roads with money raised from the sale of the railroad, regardless of how the vote turns out. I wasn't advocating voting one way or another or even opposing the sale. That was a lot to read into that remark. On another note, and again, this remark is not a signal in any way, shape, or form about the sale or how the proceeds will be used. I'm asking solely for clarification about your opinion city ownership of the rail line. What's the difference between government ownership of a fixed asset like a rail line and government ownership of fixed assets like roads/streets, highways, and in Cincinnati's case, the streetcar line?

This is how you design a train station in a suburban area:

I don't know what European city this is, but what a great solution for tram riders to take their bicycles with them:

Wasn't paying attention and missed the Little Italy stop today. Got off at Superior to get the train back and saw the broken glass... sad

So in other words, more subsidizing of driving from non-driving revenue. Meanwhile in Ohio, gas taxes can only be spent on roads.

Federal regulators approve sale of Cincinnati Southern: https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/federal-regulators-ok-norfolk-southern-acquisition-of-cincinnati-southern/ NS operates about 30 trains per day on the line. @Dev wrote: "for the purpose of the rehabilitation, modernization, or replacement of existing streets, bridges, municipal buildings, parks and green spaces, site improvements, recreation facilities, improvements for parking purposes, and any other public facilities owned by the City of Cincinnati, and to pay for the costs of administering the trust fund?" So, the city is going to use proceeds from the sale of the railroad to subsidize car infrastructure? It should be used to expand the streetcar and improve rail infrastructure within the municipal boundary for the Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Chicago corridor.

New passenger rail corridor in Mexico uses some ex-Amtrak equipment, but mostly from the UK: https://www.trains.com/trn/britain_u-s-_passenger_equipment_heads_to_mexico/

@KJP said: "That's not correct that an hour has been added to the schedules of the Lake Shore and Capitol limiteds because of congestion between Chicago and Porter, IN (a distance of only 40 miles)." I was speaking from experience riding Amtrak on multiple occasions. Making great time and looking like we're going to be early into Chicago only to hit the Hammond/Whiting area (give or take) and slow to a crawl, sometimes just not moving at all, and all that extra time getting eaten up or winding up late. It has been a while, but I have yet to experience an easy ride into CHI. What would times look like if Amtrak could get into Chicago without slowing down at all?

Misuse of the term high-speed rail, but otherwuse a good piece.

I'm researching the issue of liability as it relates to passenger railroads. I was digging into the Ohio Revised Code, but didn't find much about liability. I did; however, find this outdated state law limiting passenger fares to 3 cents per mile! 😄 Yes, this website lists state laws that are currently in effect: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4965.50

Auto debt has increased to $1.5 trillion, a 28% increase since 2020. In a car-dependent nation like the U.S. this is a serious problem: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/09/15/fridays-headlines-are-drowning-in-debt The original article referenced is from ProPublica: https://www.propublica.org/article/wall-street-bet-big-on-used-car-loans-now-crisis-may-be-looming

They want to be the provider of trainsets, and Alstom thinks their trains will have enough American content to meet the Buy American requirements. Siemens isn't as sure that they can meet the requirements. Note that Alstom is supplying the new Acela trainsets.

European Rail Giants Fight for Slice of U.S. High-Speed Train Line Siemens and Alstom vie to supply planned Los Angeles to Las Vegas link By Ted Mann Updated Sept. 6, 2023 12:02 am ET WASHINGTON—In the halls of Congress and the expense-account lunch haunts nearby, two European conglomerates are waging rival campaigns for a $12 billion train to Las Vegas, hoping to finally make a big business out of high-speed rail in America. Siemens and Alstom are lobbying lawmakers and the Biden administration as they vie to supply high-speed power cars and passenger coaches for the trains of Brightline West, a privately owned venture that aims to connect the Los Angeles exurbs with Las Vegas. The companies are relying on powerful allies to boost their chances, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), a public champion of Alstom, which has a factory in his home state’s Southern Tier. Brightline in turn is counting on nearly $4 billion in funding from the $1 trillion infrastructure law to wrap up its financing plan and begin construction of the route by the end of this year—in time for completion by the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A... https://www.wsj.com/business/european-rail-giants-fight-for-slice-of-u-s-high-speed-train-line-e2b788a2?fbclid=IwAR2F5_v2eVnJ3YOX8r97x5Tr42wM6oc0FOOMNZjnedveSTCVU-fJgifIfHM Paywall, but anyone with a Cuyahoga County Library card can access it via their digital news/magazine offerings (that's what I did). I would assume Cleveland Public Library too.