KJP

I don't suppose you got a photo of that? If so, I'd love a copy for use in the Ohio Passenger Rail News.

This does not jive at all with what Corna told me a few months ago. He was confident the Cantina building would have a good mix of restaurant/retail and was almost completely leased.

Not running HSR into cities is like not putting aqueducts into farms in arid regions. A high-density mode like HSR needs the population density of core cities and the convenience of easily connecting to hubs of local transportation. Without this direct access, high-speed would offer no convenience or speed advantage over flying to airports outside of European cities. Even so, "crawling" into city centers is a relative term. I'll be able to report on this more accurately in a couple of months, but I've watched videos taken from the cab of high-speed trains, and once they clear the throat trackage at stations, they seem to accelerate to more than 100 mph in a couple of miles from the main station. Many conventional rail lines in Europe routinely accommodate 100+ mph trains. That's the benefit of steel-wheel/steel-rail HSR -- it can penetrate urban centers on existing tracks, or where only a first phase or two of HSR route has been built, the high-speed train can revert back to conventional tracks to reach their final destinations. In the case of the TGV system, a small portion of it is on new, dedicated HSR right of way. The rest uses existing routes where the cruising speeds are 100-140 mph. Normally, I respect your knowledge, JM. But putting a city's only HSR station on the outskirts of that city is a lousy idea. I'm surprised to hear such comments from you.

The governator is seeking to block the HSR ballot issue, as well as state funding pledged for existing intercity rail services as part of Proposition 1B. See: http://www.calrailnews.com/crn/0107/0107_4.pdf

So let's ban cigarette smoking in public places, but not deal with pollutants from SUVs and other vehicles. America -- what a country!

As much as we love to love the European rail system, it's the passenger system that's worth envying. By comparison, Europeans envy our freight rail system which is one of, if not the world's best. Just today I got a copy of a speech comparing Europe's freight rail system to ours. It's amazing what we take for granted.

Here's the skinny on the Toledo-Chicago meltdown.... Service Disruption on the NS Chicago Line Desk Freight train operating issues compounded by inclement weather caused delays to Amtrak trains operating between Toledo and Chicago on Friday and Saturday. To help relieve the traffic volume on Saturday, Amtrak’s 48(24)and 30(24) combined detoured between Chicago and Toledo via Detroit, MI. On Sunday, delays caused by these conditions required Amtrak to cancel 29(25) and 30(25) with no alternate transportation, 49(25) and 48(25) detoured through Detroit, with alternate transportation provided. Monday update: NS has 10 freights on the law between Elkhart and Porter and 10 freights outlawed between Porter/MP482 and MP502. There were also (2)disabled freights blocking the single tracking operation on the Chicago Line. As a result trains 30/48(26) were combined in Chicago and operated via the Michigan Line to Dearborn and over the detour into Toledo. The trains were scheduled for an 8:30 PM-CT departure when the Pilot for the Michigan Line would be rested at 8:50 PM-CT at Hammond. Busses were dispatched from Chicago at 8:00 PM-CT to make all stops between South Bend and Toledo where the passengers will board the detoured train. Delays: 29(25) Cancelled 30(25) Cancelled 48(25) 6’02” CHI-TOL – Detour 49(25) 6’29” TOL-CHI – Detour 30(26) 1’51” CHI Initial Terminal 30(26) 4’30” CHI-TOL – Detour 48(26) 1’01” CHI Initial Terminal 48(26) 4’30” CHI-TOL – Detour 352(26) 3’08” CHI-Pine Junction Single Tracking 364(26) 2’32” “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 353(26) 37” “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 365(26) 33” Track Car Ahead CP513-CP518 370(26) 1’11” CHI-Pine Junction Single Tracking 354(26) 1’48” “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 355(26) 1’17” “ “ “ “ “ “ “

Boardman's comments are posted at: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Testimony&Hearing_ID=1821&Witness_ID=4596

I'll be riding Koln-Frankfurt in May -- first on the old line down the Rhine valley, then coming back on the new line shown earlier. I'll also be riding on Eurostar and Thalys. I suspect I will enjoy the rides....

Thanks JDD941 for the vote of confidence. I have the benefit of an opinion column in Sun Newspapers, which helps. But I am just one person. If I alone bring these arguments to the fore, then I can be easily dismissed. But if a room full of people say what they want (rather than what they don't want -- that doesn't give anyone direction), then the power of multiple voices can move even the most stubborn, ignorant and vision-less people to act in the way you want. I've seen it happen a million times. It makes elected officials whimper, then they sing your song. But you need to coordinate the voices with the same general, basic message. Just be loud and clear.

You mean next year. That's when the first negative balance in the Highway Trust Fund is projected to appear -- a paltry $1.6 billion shortfall. In 5-10 years, it's projected to worsen to $22 billion short. And that doesn't include the $1 trillion worth of road and transit projects awaiting funding, just the projects approved for funding. Want to tell your Congressperson about this mess and other issues? There's a neat advocacy tool at http://www.apta.com/government_affairs/GIS/ where you can generate GIS maps for every Congressional district in the US. The maps show all public transportation services within each congressional district. The maps take a long time to download, and the elected officials are a little out of date, but the maps are nevertheless potentially useful.

But Kummant said the situation has shown some improvement in recent months. And in what he called a sign of better relations, he has been given a sneak peak at the railroads' capital plans, and "they're nothing short of stunning." I sure hope so, because what's been happening this week on Norfolk Southern between Toledo and Chicago has been simply horrible. Amtrak has had to combine trains (the Capitol and Lakeshore limiteds) detour them via Michigan, and even annul trains. The reasons? According to “official” Amtrak sources, the re-routes were done because of extreme congestion on NS west of Toledo. In one case, the congestion involved “foreign” train traffic (likely Canadian Pacific which uses the NS main west of Butler, IN). Major source of the freight congestion was weather-related – frozen switches, broken rail, outlawed crews, etc. Annulments were equipment and weather related – frozen cars, equipment in the wrong places; congested trackage, etc. It's been a sad week for railroading on that extremely busy stretch of railroad.

OK smart ass. Most of the lot on Superior was still an active parking lot. But there were large sections that were dug out several feet down. Walk by there and you'll see what I mean.

When was Legacy Village moved to the West Side?

Maintenance dews? Is this the result of Florida's high humidity, or perhaps you work long hours and need the sugar? :wink:

Who asked you?

Could be. But I did see on Friday that large portions of the parking lot were closed and partially excavated.

That is a wonderful tidbit!! And what does that say about what's around the corner construction-wise? Of course, it doesn't suggest where the construction will happen! But I'll bet most of it would be local.

See the images I posted of ODOT's preferred options for the Inner Belt in the Grander Plan For Inner Belt thread. You will see that the East 26th Street Yard is untouched.

Here in Cleveland, I picked up a friend of mine arriving from Chicago last Thursday night. The bus was quite full -- and probably the most full I've seen it except for during the holidays. Wonder what Friday night's run was like? Especially since Friday and Sundays are the busiest travel days of the week.

Transportation diversity video, mostly about bikes, from Portland...

This video shows the new Paris tramway on the section where its tracks are covered with a layer of grass, much like the two Lyon tramways T1, T2. Unfortunately, I could find only one video of the Lyon tram and that was a brief view of its streetcar segment. Here's a 7-minute video titled the "Modern Streetcar" from Portland...

If there was a source of income here, I'd write articles, blogs and features about downtown and near-downtown development projects for UO. Advertisers and underwriters unite!

Yes, some guy named B12 posted it today. Sorry, I just got done reading a few the Pope's posts which put me in the "wrong" frame of mind. I hadn't heard about the move. I wonder what will happen to their Flats location? When Arhaus moved their store from Fairview Park to Crocker Park, I interviewed their regional marketing person about how many stores they had. She gave me the number and mentioned that the Flats store was going to continue to be a warehouse outlet-store type concept. Of course, that was several years ago.

Funny that Howard Hanna's listing didn't identify the unit as being in/at Joshua Hall.