MBTA Commuter Rail in Boston has estimated the cost of electrifying its commuter system at 29 billion USD.
$29 billion? Who’s the proposed project manager; the California High Speed Rail Authority?
__________________ “The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
__________________ “The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
- Toronto City Hall has discovered a ridiculously effective program that helps people get access to employment, education and health care. The program didn’t require hiring hundreds of bureaucrats or the creation of some pricey new government department. It’s actually kind of absurd how simple it is.
Are you ready? Here’s what the city did: they made transit cheaper.
- In April 2018, Toronto introduced a Fair Pass program that gives people with low incomes access to discounts on TTC fares. The first phase of the program was available to anyone receiving payments from Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program. — Where your average TTC rider using Presto currently pays $3.10 for a single ride or $151.15 for an unlimited-use monthly pass, Fair Pass holders pay $2.05 and $119.40, respectively.
- Before they received the cheaper fares, just 55 per cent of people eligible for the program who were surveyed said they were able to take transit as much as they’d like. After getting and using the discounts, that number jumped to 90 per cent. — And the transit trips they’re able to make now are important ones. The number of survey respondents indicating they can work or volunteer as much as they’d like leapt from 36 per cent to 72 per cent after the pass launched.
- Ditto for people accessing education, training or job interviews, where the number went from 35 per cent to 73 per cent, while people who said they can access their medical appointments went from 50 per cent to 84 per cent. Access to stuff like grocery shopping, visits to family, and children’s activities also increased big time.
- The first RER-style routes linking existing radial rail routes into Moscow were inaugurated on November 21. The opening ceremony for the first two so-called Moscow Central Diameters was attended by President Vladimir Putin, Minister of Transport Yevgeny Dietrich, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Governor of Moscow Oblast Andrey Vorobyov and RZD CEO Oleg Belozerov.
- Line D1 links Lobnya in the north with Odintsovo in the west via Dolgoprudny and Skolkovo on a 52 km alignment serving 24 stations, including eight interchanges. The end-to-end journey time is 1 h 28 min and services currently run every 30 min. Four more stations are to be built on the route by 2024. Line D2 runs from Nakhabino in the west to Podolsk in the south serving 33 stations on an 80 km route that takes 1 h 55 min to travel end-to-end. Five more stations are to be built on Line D2 by 2024.
- A terrestrial yet rail-less passenger system connecting the most populous cities on the European, African and Asian continents. --- The single-track system is designed to reduce construction costs and integrate with existing infrastructure in urban areas. Additionally, it puts a minimal strain on any environment with the loops allowing unobtrusive passage above irregular terrain, rivers and animal crossings.
- The AeroSlider is equipped with linear magnets that propel it through a connected system of electromagnetic portals. Portal loops can be powered by localized energy sources. The incorporation of helium reservoirs within the capsule reduces the effective weight by about 10%, reducing the energy necessary for its propulsion. --- The system is designed for comfortable long-distance travel by combining sitting spaces with private cabins.
The train has to be rigid in order to support itself while being cantilevered through the loops.
I don't understand how it could travel in anything but straight lines.
I also don't think a 200 meter horizontal skyscraper, supported at two points, and cantilevered across and the forces changing so much and so quickly, and the overall traveling speeds involved, I imagine this is going to have a lot of engineering disadvantages, all just so that you can use some funny loops instead of a continuous track.
I wonder how people get money to develop things like this, but then I see hyperloop.....
So was the problem in the third rail around that corner? This type of electrical connection fascinates me with its potential for aesthetics and safety. How do these 3rd rail systems handle in snowier places?
Very cool trams. Always cool to see new transit opening around the world.
- From next year, some of London’s electric buses will play artificial noise while traveling at low speeds, and the specific sound that’s been created for them is an ambient treat for the ears. The noise was created by Zelig Sound, which has been working with Transport for London on the audio over the past year.
The sound is being introduced in response to a new EU law which stipulates that all electric vehicles will eventually need to produce artificial noise while traveling at low speeds, to make up for the lack of noise from their internal engines. If you can’t hear a vehicle, then you’re not as aware of its presence, and research suggests pedestrians are more likely to be hit by electric or hybrid cars as a result.
- Austrian Federal Railways (OEBB) and Siemens Mobility have developed an environmentally friendly train that is a hybrid electric-battery multiple unit: the Cityjet eco. The first runs of the Cityjet eco in real passenger operations have brought valuable insights and give a positive prognosis for the future. --- Carbon-neutral solutions such as the Cityjet eco are ideal for routes that are not yet electrified or where this is not feasible. Atop the train is a battery system that charges via a pantograph on electrified sections. Compared to diesel vehicles, the OEBB Cityjet eco can then cover non-electrified stretches without emissions and, additionally, much more quietly.
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