"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.
If you didn’t read it yet, with the recent(ish) news of HS2 being cancelled, over at @lonrec a deep breath was taken, time given to let the dust settle and room made for a sense of perspective before sharing an analysis of what went wrong.
By @LongBranchMike and friends: A deep dive into the HS2 debacle.
After 20 years under construction, the Pajares rail tunnel in northwest Spain is finally open.
The €4 billion project brings high-speed train connections to the province of Asturias, plugging the gap with León and reducing the travel time to Madrid by over an hour.
The nearly 25 km Pajares Base Tunnel is the seventh longest in Europe. It forms part of the almost 50 km Pajares Bypass between Pola de Lena and La Robla.
@chad#HighSpeedRail by 2040? 🤨 Meanwhile we have the #transportation agencies of both states focusing a lot of attention on at least $6B going into a mile or two of freeway widening.
"The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 major #PassengerRail projects across the country, including the first world-class #HighSpeedRail projects in our country’s history."
Here's some good context about the winners and (temporarily) losers of the big #HighSpeedRail grants that were announced this week. The projects in California and Nevada were the biggest winners (because they're already under construction or ready to go) but it's nice to see that #CascadiaRail is one of only four new HSR routes added to the pipeline for additional study.
Virgin is on strike and Qantas is granted a protection racket.
If only Australians would vote for an alternative, high speed rail would resolve the high costs of air travel.
The government is urged to expedite the #HighSpeedRail (#HSR) project between Malaysia and Singapore, as well as the #LightRailTransit (#LRT) transport system in Johor Baru.
Efforts to #upgrade the #publictransport system, especially in Johor Baru’s city centre will complete the state’s economic development ecosystem.
This follows the announcement of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (#SEZ) and the Forest City special financial zone (#SFZ).
It's my turn for a #CrossBorderRail and #noflying adventure. I'm going from Parma to Brussels to speak at a project management conference.
My route is Parma - Milan - Brig - Basel - Strasbourg - Brussels. 5 trains, 4 countries, plenty of possibilities that the trip takes an unexpected turn :)
"Zhenhua Chen, a professor of urban planning at the Ohio State University, [has] done extensive research on weather’s effects on planes and trains and finds that places with bullet trains connecting major cities — like China, Europe and Japan — ensure travelers have options to complete short and medium-distance trips when bad weather halts flights.
He believes the lack of that alternative in the U.S. has economic implications."
"#Spain wants to ban #ShortHaulFlights when there is an alternative by #train that takes less than 2.5 hours. However, flights using the capital city to connect to international routes would not be included in the ban.
ALA has argued that, rather than enforcing a ban, large airports should be connected to the #HighSpeedRail network to give travelers the choice between #flying and train travel."
This reminds me of the panic bans on electric scooters that cities all over are imposing.
Pedestrians feel threatened by zippy e-scooters. Fine: walkers and e-scooter riders should totally be separated. But the solution is to build safe bike lanes, not to panic-ban from the sidewalks.
Similarly, countries need to build out their #HighSpeedRail network, not ban three short-haul flights.
The Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok route might be done in the second phase, which would incur a much higher capital expenditure than the one required for the route heading to Singapore.
Even for the KL-Singapore route, it might not be easy for the private sector to fully fund the project.
The formation of a new coalition government in Spain portends big changes for the country's short-haul flights.
The coalition deal includes some 230 policy promises covering the next four years — including a pledge to limit short flights within the country.
The idea is similar to a program in France, and would scrap domestic flights where there is a rail alternative that takes less than two-and-a-half hours