rail travel posts, articles, and infographics

No Thanks, We Have Enough Investment

July 22, 2009 by RyanAvent
with 90 views

A good post here from the Overhead Wire. It seems to me that the only thing more remarkable than the great success cities have had when they’ve focused on improving land use around fixed-guideway transit is the fact that cities seem so reluctant to repeat the experiment. Metro’s Green Line through the District has been a gold mine for... [read more]

The Dumb Case Against Rail Investment

July 6, 2009 by RyanAvent
with 54 views

Hey, all. I’m back from vacation and taking on Glaeser’s latest inexplicably silly op-ed.Ed Glaeser is a fantastic economist. He has done magnificent work analyzing the economics of urban growth and written indispensable papers on the connection between housing regulations and migration. But when the man picks up his pen to write a... [read more]

Fostering Better Rail Transit Kinetic Energy Recovery

August 29, 2008 by Jonathan Smith
with 137 views

As previously noted, kinetic energy reclamation would seem a needed enhancement in the transport of freight by rail and road. This blog has gone so far as to suggest gathering and reusing kinetic energy from rail transit could occur not only by electricity generated when electric motors become generators while being used for braking,... [read more]

Everyone’s a Little Wrong

June 2, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 59 views

Interesting chart from Paul Krugman today. It turns out that while Europe has a passenger rail network to put America to shame, we actually do better on freight rail shipments: Indeed: while US passenger train service is basically nonexistent outside the NE corridor, America has had a revival in rail freight since the 1970s, while... [read more]

Railpower to build hybrid rail manufacturing plant near Montreal

May 28, 2008 by Tyler Hamilton
with 162 views

Railpower Technologies Corp., once a high-flying cleantech play, has struggled of late and continues to play in penny-stock waters waiting for the tide to lift its fortunes. Oil above $130 a barrel helps, given the company is in the business of making hybrid locomotives for railyards that significantly reduce emissions and fuel... [read more]

Rail for the Future

May 27, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 91 views

I have to say it’s stunning just how dim the outlook for the future of air travel seems to have become in such a short amount of time. And current skepticism about the industry doesn’t even take into account the potential effects of a carbon price. Barring some major technological and organization innovation, the ground seems set for... [read more]

The Week in Cleantech News

May 22, 2008 by Tim Hurst
with 124 views

For those of you who are bettin' folks, traders on the Chicago Climate Exchange view the Democrats as more bullish on cap-and-trade systems. So if you're betting on a Democratic victory, you'll want to buy those contracts now, in anticipation of a price spike on Nov. 5 (Politico). Toyota Prius sales have topped 1 million and dealers in... [read more]

Mistakes Were Made

May 22, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 155 views

Sometimes I wonder why rail and transit have such poor reputations in this country. I know that all systems have some weaknesses, but folks are always going on about how rail is totally unreliable and a black hole for money, when in fact transit and rail in this country provide remarkably good service given the constraints imposed upon... [read more]

Prospects for High Speed Rail in California

May 20, 2008 by Jonathan Smith
with 96 views

“High-speed rail is generally defined as passenger rail running at speeds in excess of 125 mph (200 km/h).” As previously noted, Asian and European high-speed rail networks are currently the world’s most advanced. However, Russia, Morocco and Saudi Arabia are planning to build their own high-speed networks in the near future. There is... [read more]

Amtrak

May 15, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 82 views

Christ. Color me incredibly disappointed: Here’s a startling figure from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics: In 2006, Amtrak made 29.7 cents of revenue per passenger, per mile (PPPM). Inversely, commercial airlines (arguably Amtrak’s toughest competition) made 13 cents PPPM. What’s this tell us? Well, Amtrak makes a ton of revenue... [read more]

In Re: The American Dream

May 15, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 62 views

International financial expert Brad Setser notes: If oil — using the price for sweet light crude — stays to $125 a barrel for the rest of the year, the average price of oil over the course of 2008 will be around $115 a barrel. The average 2007 price was around $70 a barrel. The $45 a barrel y/y increase in the average price of oil is... [read more]

Krugmania

May 12, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 64 views

I can only conclude that after the bitterness of the primary campaign, Paul Krugman has decided to bury the hatchet and work himself back into my good graces. His column today, on oil prices, is very good. But click over to his blog, and you’d think you were reading the Bellows. Well done, sir. In particular, I like that he’s making an... [read more]

Rail Comeback?

May 10, 2008 by Glen Estill
with 155 views

Ridership on the Go system in the Greater Toronto Area rose by 7.5% from a year ago. Is it back to the future for transportation? The Go system is struggling to keep up. Rail platforms are being extended to accommodate more cars. New locomotives are on order, to increase the number of trains. New track is being... [read more]

Time for Transit

May 10, 2008 by RyanAvent
with 57 views

The Times has a big and prominent story on the national increase in transit ridership. Emphasis on national. Numbers are up in Washington, New York, and Boston, but they’re up more in other places without a long history of transit use or particularly comprehensive systems. This, at a time when the broader economy would typically be... [read more]

Gas/car substitutes

May 10, 2008 by Tim Haab
with 100 views

When the price of gas gets to a certain level consumers will find substitutes for driving: With the price of gas approaching $4 a gallon, more commuters are abandoning their cars and taking the train or bus instead. Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to... [read more]