New video from prolific High Speed Rail Youtuber "Lucid Stew" about Cascadia High Speed rail, which sketches out the details of a new hypothetical route between Eugene and Vancouver, BC. What do you think of this route?
🚨 Action alert! 🚨 #HighSpeedRail is still a long ways away, & we need more ambitious #rail improvements in the meantime. Unfortunately, the goals set out in the latest #AmtrakCascades long term plan are moving backward not forward.
Reading this Cascadia Daily News article about the general lack of tech startup infrastructure in and around Bellingham makes me think: If Cascadia High Speed Rail were already developed (or in the very least, better Amtrak Cascades service between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. existed), Bellingham would be especially well connected to those nearby tech orbits.
The Washington State Department of Transportation (#WSDOT) released a Preliminary Service Development Plan (SDP) for #AmtrakCascades, a step towards creating a blueprint for improving the route over the next twenty years.
Check out these preliminary alternative service diagrams!
While this is not true #HighSpeedRail, these are very important incremental improvements to speed & frequency that will make a big difference in the near term.
On Monday, March 11, U.S. Representatives Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced the American High-Speed Rail Act of 2024. This bill would provide $205 billion over five years for the planning and construction of a national high-speed rail network.
Fill out this form (via the High Speed Rail Alliance) to send a message of support to Congress!
The evaluation of the seven Concept Proposals that have been received from firms/consortiums interested in the #KualaLumpur - Singapore #HighSpeedRail (#HSR) project is expected to take 2 months to complete
#MyHSRCorp is still evaluating Concept Proposals that have been received
The results of the evaluation will be taken up for government approval to shortlist the consortia for the next process, the Request for Proposal (RFP)
I can't quibble with the content (it all holds water) and it's a good promotional summary of the topic.
The whole sponsored thing is a bit "ick", but whatever, newspapers aren't what they once were! And it's a nice counter to the regressive, anti-HSR editorials recently published in the Seattle Times.
I'm hearing lots of people are surprised by the idea of 30 round trips on the proposed #Cascadia#HighSpeedRail line. Yes, that's a staggering number of trips! But once you've built brand-new track that you don't have to share with freight trains, you can run many more trips. And also, faster service vastly increases demand, so you can fill more seats than if you just added 30 round trips at current speeds (there likely wouldn't be ridership to fill that many slow trains).
The initial 2017 study looked at the cost recovery ratio for various numbers of round trips on the new HSR line. Looks like the sweet spot is around 12 to 24 roundtrips, and it slowly starts dropping off after that.
Then the 2019 business case analysis moved forward with two scenarios, of 21 and 30 roundtrips. So the 30 roundtrips mentioned in the Microsoft-sponsored Seattle Times article is certainly the high end, but not outside the realm of possibility.
In the scenarios in this chart, note that most of the options include a mix of local and express trains, so a town like #BellinghamWA might only get 12 trips per day.
Several transportation-related infrastructure projects are being developed in the surrounding areas in attempt to improve accessibility to and from Forest City
#LRT West Line & HSR are two of the projects with plans for stations in Forest City
"Oregon urged to join planning for high-speed rail"
"High-speed rail has the potential to not only catalyze the transformation of the Cascadia corridor by connecting major job markets, increasing international tourism and creating thousands of jobs, but also helping us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We as a state need to begin thinking and talking about the future of our mega-region before we are left behind.”
Whenever I write about the Hyperloop, I always get some people who refuse to believe that Elon Musk opposed high-speed rail and used Hyperloop to try to stop it.
In a Patreon bonus episode of #TechWontSaveUs, @awalkerinla has even more proof: She saw Musk tell transport planners that cities should stop rail projects.
The most important rail project that no one seems to know about in Southern California is Link US, which will create run-through tracks, meaning Union Station will have run-through service rather than be a stub.
A route connecting #KualaLumpur and Bangkok will make it possible to link it to other regional #HSR lines to form larger networks that will reach Laos and China.
ACTION ALERT: The #WashingtonState Senate has a hearing today (Tues Jan 9 at 4pm) about funding for #HighSpeedRail! Sign up to show your support for this bill by 3pm TODAY, or you can submit written testimony before 4pm TOMORROW!
SB 5947 includes $2,250,000 in planning funds for High Speed Rail and pre-allocates $50 million from the carbon emissions reduction account for use in matching funds for federal grants.
"The United States, often a pioneer in technological advancements, finds itself trailing behind more than 20 developed nations in the realm of high-speed rail. While Europe and Asia boast efficient and widespread high-speed rail networks, the U.S. has yet to witness the inauguration of its first such system."
sigh
From "Fast Track to the Future: 5 HIGH-SPEED RAIL Projects Transforming Travel Across the US!"
I donate to Mozilla every month and will continue to do so, regularly.
The story making its rounds on Mastodon and the Fediverse, is one that was often shared on Twitter, by haters of Mozilla and Firefox. By a "libertarian" with both a political and personal agenda.
Pay it no mind, it is the same nonsense every year. 🙄
Y' know - same people that fanboyed #Musk for #Hyperloop which was only pushed to #defraud taxpayers and undercut #CHSR funding as well as sabotage #HighSpeedRail in general...
This is an impressive (but very long!) read with some great analysis and tonnes of photos along the proposed alignment. Very much worth your time to digest over the Christmas break if you’re following along with high frequency rail developments in Canada.
Some really great ideas presented in this video, and I’m definitely in agreement with the final sweary conclusion. Via isn’t the only transit agency in Canada which is several decades behind other transit agencies – exo, ARTM, I’m looking at you again – but it’s irritating they don’t want to try some quick wins or tackle the low hanging fruit.