Hybrid News

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, Green Daily

California, say hello to the bullet train. In the big election America held on Tuesday, one transportation-related measure that passed was California’s Proposition 1A, named the “Safe, Reliable High Speed Passenger Train Bond Act.” Its passage means that almost $10 billion in bond money was approved for an electric train route that will connect San Francisco and Sacramento with Southern California (LA and down to San Diego). Clean transportation advocates are pretty thrilled with the vote, calling it “a clear affirmation of high-speed trains” and saying that better public transportation was “critical to solving global warming and creating real energy independence” as ENS reports. Once completed, the state estimates that a LA to San Francisco trip will take two and a half hours and cost $55. Learn all about the plans for the new train here.

When we first mentioned this train back in March, some of you were skeptical that it would ever pass. What say you now?

[Source: State of California, ENS, TreeHugger]

California voters approve $10 billion for high speed train originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives

Mass transit is a concept that holds significant promise in the U.S. as it is currently very under-utilized. Train travel has become more popular now that the price of gas has rocketed upwards, but rails only go in certain directions and there isn’t always a solid route to your chosen destination. The highway system in this country, on the other hand, is huge and connects every major city in the country with each other (well, except Honolulu). So, what if you could combine the passenger-carrying abilities of the train with the abundant routes of the bus? That’s exactly what a British company called Silvertip Design has envisioned with its Blade Runner concept. The machine carries two sets of wheels, one appropriate for highway driving and the other set up for rails. By using railways when possible, traffic wouldn’t be a problem, and when the route needs to take a different direction, highways can be used to get to the proper set of tracks. Like modern trains, a diesel engine would power a generator, providing electric power to the wheels.

[Source: Indian Autos Blog]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, UK, USA

Bus and rail company Stagecoach has reported better than expected growth since May 1st. According to the company, Stagecoach’s UK bus business was up 9.3 percent, while rail revenues rose nine percent. The company said that the increases were due to people switching to public transport because of the rising cost of private motoring. The company is pleased with the figures, because high fuel prices and inflation in the UK could have hurt their financial results. Virgin Rail, a company in which Stagecoach has a 49 percent share, also grew by two percent, also higher than expected. Stagecoach’s U. S. operations in the coach business grew by 7.6 percent in these three months, thanks to additional vehicles and services stateside.

[Source: Financial Times]

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Original post by Xavier Navarro

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, USA

The recent trend of escalating gas prices has had major ripple effects on the auto industry, not the least of which is a well-defined (and well-covered) switch to fuel efficient small cars and hybrids. Another statistic which is raising some eyebrows is the apparent return to train travel. Traffic in and out of core Midwest states such as Michigan and Illinois has increased notably in the last year or so. Though Amtrak has raised its ticket prices some 3-percent in the last few months, fuel costs still only account for 11-percent of Amtrak’s total expenditures.

The increase in passengers, though, has not been accompanied by an increase in capacity. Amtrak shares tracks with major shipping lines, so it is rather costly to add additional routes. What’s more, the current railway infrastructure isn’t equipped to handle any additional traffic.

[Source: The Detroit News]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Etc., Transportation Alternatives, USA

Gamblers with families might start humming “It’s a small world after all” if plans for a high-speed maglev train between Disneyland and Las Vegas continues to go forward. The “technical corrections” legislation that was recently passed freed up $42 million from a 2005 transportation bill to go towards an environmental study of the first leg of the project. The train, moving at speeds of up to 310 mph while levitating on a magnetic field, would make short work and a smooth ride of the 4 hours it currently takes to make the trip by car. It’s a great sounding idea that could give both tourists destinations a big green boost. That is, it’s great until you check out the $12 billion price tag. Yikes! Of course, $12 billion might be ok if it’s a financially viable proposition. The Central Japan Railway Co. is spending $45 billion on a shorter run and foregoing government subsidies to do it.

[Source: Blogging Stocks]

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: Etc., Transportation Alternatives, Japan

Most people are under the impression that trains are a reasonably green sort of transportation. When used in a city to move people about, the environmental benefits seem pretty obvious. Fewer cars are needed on the roads, decreasing congestion and electric trains are more efficient and create less air pollution than their automotive brethren. But apparently that’s not good enough for some folks in Kagoshima, Japan. They realized if they placed some midori (green) around and under the train tracks, not only could they improve the appearance of their town but also reduce the heat island effect caused by acres of concrete and pavement. In the newscast discussing this development a reporter takes a temperature reading while standing on the asphalt street of 62.6 degrees Celsius (143.96 Fahrenheit). Moving over to the grass, the temperature drops to a much more reasonable 35 degrees C (95 F). So far they’ve done just under 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) but hope to green about 9 Km (5.5 miles) by 2012. The effect on the people of the city seemed positive. The one comment the reporter received from a woman about the improvement that we could understand without an interpreter said it looked beautiful. We agree. Thanks to B.T. for the tip!

[Source: Japan Probe]

Continue reading Greening the rails in Japan

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: Diesel, Transportation Alternatives, Green Daily

Almost a hundred new ultra-low-emission locomotives are cruising the rails in Texas (98 total, with 46 based in Dallas-Fort Worth, 43 in Houston, and nine in San Antonio) thanks mostly to a $75 million Texas Commission on Environmental Quality grant. According to this article in the Dallas Morning News, the $75m covered about 75 percent of the cost of the Union Pacific Corp.’s 98 new locomotives, which would mean that each one costs roughly a million dollars. The good news? “Officials said Wednesday that the benefits to Texas air quality would be even larger than they bargained for,” DMN reporter Brendan Case writes. He continues:

Union Pacific places a value of $118 million on the emissions the new locomotives will eliminate over the 10-year agreement with the state. That’s 57 percent more than the amount of the state’s grant. Compared with the older engines being replaced, Union Pacific’s new ones cut emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter 54 percent to 63 percent, while using about 30 percent less fuel, the railroad company said. Diesel locomotives emit about 26 tons per day of smog-causing nitrogen oxides in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, just under 7 percent of the region’s total “Nox” emissions, according to the TCEQ.

The locomotives were built by the Montreal-based RailPower Technologies Corp.

So, for $75 million, Texans get $118 million worth of emissions not pumped into the air? Don’t quite know how they calculated the figures, but am I reading that right? If so, that’s one heck of an investment return.

[Source: Brendan Case / Dallas Morning News, h/t to Domenick, from whom I also cribbed the headline]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel

The Association of Oil Pipe Lines along with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will study the effect of ᫾, ᬃ and ᬈ blends on corrosion and cracking of pipelines. The results of the $700,000 study is expected in 12 to 18 months and the goal of the study is to find out three main things: how much ethanol can be sent down existing pipelines, what changes need to be made to mitigate the damage from ethanol to the pipelines and what kinds of designs are needed to make a pipeline that can carry ethanol.

Brazil uses ethanol pipelines but the idea has not gained much traction in the US because of perceived problems with pipeline damage caused by ethanol. Plus, here in the U.S., there are plans for dedicated train lines that would transport ethanol, for example a $150 million project in Nebraska that could be complete in 2010 if it gets funding. The train pipeline would be made of three or four 95 to 125 car trains, could store 30 million gallons of ethanol and would shave about 9 cents a gallon off the cost ethanol for the plants. The price of ethanol has gone done 30 percent with an apparent glut in the market. How would an ethanol pipeline fare if the glut continues? “If there’s no interest, that’ll be the end of it,” Kirk McClymont of Seminole Energy Services of Tulsa, the company behind the plan, told Businessweek.

[Source: Ethanol Producer Magazine, Associated Press]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Lascelles Linton

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, On Two Wheels

I′m not in favor of firefighters burning books but I really liked the vision of future transport in Ray Bradbury’s scif-fi classic Fahrenheit 451. As you can see in the video above, Montag, a book-burning firefighter, must walk home quite a distance after taking the train. There are no cars on the road but you do see people riding bikes. I don’t think I have seen a more green vision of the future of transport in a movie which is kinda shocking considering the novel was published in 1953 and François Truffaut made the film in 1966. Maybe I missed the point of the exclusive use of public transport and the complete exclusion of cars except for use by the firemen who burn books? Maybe it was commenting on the fascist, utopian views of a society that would burn books? I still think it’s cool. What do you think Linda?

[Source: YouTube]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Lascelles Linton

Filed under: Etc., Transportation Alternatives

Who says taking the train is boring? January 12th was “no pants” day on the public transit system. It’s a prank started by Charlie Todd’s Improv Everywhere. There really isn′t a point to it and it’s not a protest against anything. Well, perhaps they are protesting pants or celebrating legs? Anyway, you can see half naked people on the train in the Today Show clip above and another news report below the fold. Technically, it’s not illegal unless you don′t wear undies, then you are just a flasher. Also, it looks like it’s only happening in the cities, so don’t try this in small town America (if you can find a bus there). They’ll think you’re crazy.

[Source: Today Show, YouTube]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Lascelles Linton

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, South/Latin America

Before you get too excited by the headline, I should clarify that by “America,” I mean South America. And by “South America,” I mean Argentina. An editorial in the International Railway Journal strikes an optimistic note on the surge of plans for high speed rail construction and expansion worldwide, focusing particular attention on projects in Argentina, Italy, and China. David Briginshaw, editor-in-chief of the trade publication, is confident that, “These events look set to have a profound impact on the future development of high-speed rail and give it a major boost”. He also wisely notes that political considerations will be the biggest obstacle.

This issue of IRJ could easily have been announcing the opening of a high speed rail system in Florida but time and again, those potential projects were canceled . Still, don’t cry for me Argentina. Studies continue to work their way through the political machinery in Canada and the United States. Who knows, maybe the February 2010 issue of the IRJ will have good train news for the U.S. One can only hope and contact one’s local and federal government representatives.

[Source: International Railway Journal via Carectomy.com]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, Legislation and Policy

While riding the Shinkansen from Nagoya to Kyoto and back last year, I got a real eye opener. It wasn’t just the amazing scenes of sleepy villages and snowy bamboo hillsides that passed by between dark mountain tunnels but rather the vision that had gone into imagining the future. I could picture a group of people excitedly talking about the possibilities of moving people at high speed, smoothly and comfortably, all across the country, freeing up road space and stimulating economic opportunity. I don’t know how much resistance their plan met along the way but apparently they were able to convince the right people and made it happen.

This November, the people of California will have the opportunity to vote on a $10 billion bond measure which will show the world they have the vision to put in place the needed infrastructure to meet a crowded future. I know $10 billion is a lot but if you put it into a certain perspective, it’s not so bad. Especially if you look at it as an economic investment.

Imagine going from downtown L.A. to San Francisco in under 2 1/2 hours while working on a presentation (or commenting at your favorite blog) or just watching a movie on your laptop. No annoying click clack of rails or encumbering traffic. How about if the train was powered by electricity made with zero greenhouse gas emissions (PDF)? Sounds great to me. Need more information? Check out a video by California High-Speed Rail Authority.

[Source: Carectomy]

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Original post by Domenick Yoney

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives, European Union

Here’s another harbinger: air traffic between cities that are linked by high speed train lines is significantly reduced. This was a notorious effect of the Paris-Lyon route (Europe’s first high speed train link), and has been seen more recently in the Paris-London, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Amsterdam combinations. In the country where high speed trains are growing the fastest is seeing the effects as well: The Madrid-Barcelona high speed link in Spain (AVE), which started operating in March, has reduced by about 18.4 percent the air traffic between the two cities.

June is expected to offer more dramatic results. Railway traffic has increased steadily by five percent every month since then, and Renfe, the company that operates the line, has increased train frequencies accordingly. Train speeds are also going to be faster this fall, from the current 300 km/h to 350 km/h (186 to 217 mph) completing the 615 km (382 mi.) long trip in 2 hours and 15 minutes. The Spanish high speed train network is expected to be linked with France and the rest of the European continent in 2010.

[Source: El Periodico]

 

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Original post by Xavier Navarro