Rail in the USA, Canada

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Multiple dead and many injured after passenger train collides with freight train in South Carolina

AT least two people were killed and 70 more were injured overnight when a train carrying 147 people collided with a freight train in the eastern US state of South Carolina, local police said.

The Amtrak train travelling between New York and Miami collided with the CSX freight train and derailed in Cayce, near Columbia, the state's capital, at around 2.30am (6.30pm AEDT) on Sunday.

Amtrak said in a statement that the lead engine derailed along with some passenger cars. Eight crew members and 139 passengers were on board.

The Lexington County Sheriff's Department confirmed all passengers had been evacuated from the Amtrak train. Officials added that although 20,000 litres of fuel spilt following the crash, there was no danger to the public.

Speaking to CNN, passenger Derek Pettaway said he was travelling south from Philadelphia to Orlando in a sleeper cabin when he was woken by the impact of the crash.

He added Amtrak staff evacuated passengers in a "really calm fashion." It is not known how many people were travelling on the freight train, or whether one of the two trains was stationary at the time of the collision.

The Red Cross said it was responding and providing support to victims. The accident comes days after another Amtrak train carrying several dozen Republican politicians including US House Speaker Paul Ryan collided with a garbage truck in Virginia, killing one person and causing six others, including a congressman, to need hospital treatment.

In December, three people were killed when an Amtrak passenger train derailed in Washington state near the city of Tacoma, sending cars flying off a bridge and onto a busy interstate road.

[verbatim9]

Grants of 2.6 Billion USD released to improve and electrify California's Rail network.

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/California-distributes-26-billion-for-rail-transit-work--54536

Chosen electric rail stock as pictured

[ozbob]

" San Francisco has the greatest variety of transit in the United States! Woah!
Trolleybuses, buses, cable cars, streetcars, subways, and light rail!!! "

[verbatim9]

Their trolley buses are great I have been on a couple while I was there a while back to get around. So quiet inside. Roomy too as electric engines don't take up much space in the chassis when compared combustion engines. Perfect!

" San Francisco has the greatest variety of transit in the United States! Woah!
Trolleybuses, buses, cable cars, streetcars, subways, and light rail!!! "

[ozbob]

Time Out New York --> In sweeping plan to fix the subway, MTA cuts 24-hour service

New York City Transit president Andy Byford released his highly anticipated plan on Wednesday, which outlined a medley of initiatives to rapidly modernize the city's transit system. Titled "Fast Forward," it proposes sweeping changes to the city's bus system, handicap accessibility and management structure. But the real crux of it, of course, is to fix the subway.

The biggest piece of the plan involves an aggressive approach to upgrading the subway's signaling system, much of which is more than 50 years old and is considered the single biggest cause of delays and slow service. Currently, the L is the only line that has been fitted entirely with communications-based train control (CBTC), a signal system that allows trains to run faster and closer together and is less prone to malfunctions than the old infrastructure. The MTA is behind schedule and over budget on rolling out the technology on the 7 line, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. Those two lines cover just 900,000 of the subway's 5.7 million daily riders, and previous estimates have said that it will take another 40 years to get CBTC rolled out across the system.

Byford aims to change that.

In the first five years of the plan, the MTA aims to upgrade five different lines with the new technology, including the busy Lexington Avenue Line, which carries the 4, 5 and 6 trains, and the Eighth Avenue Line, which carries the A, C and E. The entirety of the G, chunks of the E, F, M and R in Queens, and the F in South Brooklyn will also see upgrades. Those lines would bring the number of straphangers taking lines equipped with CBTC to 3 million—the plan aims to bring that number to 5 million within 10 years.

In slashing the time it will take to overhaul the signals by 30 years, service will inevitably have to be cut during construction. The MTA does not have a clear idea of what those cuts will look like, but the plan does say that there will be continuous night and weekend closures for up to two-and-a-half years on each line that is being upgraded. Byford says that weekday service will be maintained during the CBTC implementation and additional bus service will be provided where necessary during outages, but the general gist is that subway service is going to get even worse before it gets better.

This temporary elimination of 24-hour service on some lines will surely be a hard pill to swallow for many New Yorkers, but it's not something that should come as a shock. In November, the president of the Regional Plan Association said that "the era of the 24/7 subway system in New York City has come to an end" during a presentation of the local think tank's 61-point Fourth Regional Plan.

What's sure to be even more controversial than the service cuts is the actual cost of the plan—MTA chairman Joe Lhota was mum about its price tag.

"All estimates are premature and inevitably not accurate," he said at Wednesday's MTA Board meeting. "The point of today's presentation is not about numbers, but it's to show that we can and we will modernize the New York City subway system."

Still, sources leaked estimates to both The New York Times and the Post on Tuesday night, projecting the total cost at $19 billion on the low end and all the way up to $37 billion on the high end. If those numbers are even remotely accurate, it presents a massive challenge for transit advocates and politicians alike. The funding would have to be approved in Albany and signed off on by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who controls the MTA. Considering that the $880 million price tag on last year's Subway Action Plan led to months of quibbling between Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, one shouldn't expect that Byford's plan will have an easy approval process.

Even so, MTA Board members hailed the plan and were optimistic that it would garner funding and support.

"While the cost of these initiatives over the long term is being formulated, I think it's important for us whenever this number does come out to not be affected by sticker shock," MTA Board member Veronica Vanterpool said during Wednesday's meeting.

"At the end of the day, what it's really going to come down to is how much the citizens of the state of New York are going to be willing to pay to have a world-class transit system,' added Peter Ward, another member of the board.

Byford is no stranger to this kind of political vitriol surrounding massive transit projects. A veteran of the London Underground, Sydney's transit system and the Toronto Transit System, he says he's up for the fight.

"I was used to a tough political environment in Toronto," he said on Wednesday. "I like the fact that transit is a hot potato. If people were passive about transit it would suggest to me that they didn't really care about it, but it's good that there's this very active debate."

[Lungfish]

An interesting read on Andy Byford and his challenges with the New York MTA.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/09/can-andy-byford-save-the-subways

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1022408774492020736

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/airplusnews/status/1053370404201476102

[ozbob]

CBC --> Churchill residents rejoice as rail service gets back on track


Hudson Bay Railway locomotives travelled the repaired track to Churchill Wednesday night, for the first time in nearly a year and a half. (Cameron MacIntosh/CBC )

1st rail cars in over a year arrived in northern community Wednesday night

Residents of Churchill have taken to the streets to celebrate after the federal government announced full passenger and freight rail service should be restored to the northern Manitoba community by the end of the month.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement at the Port of Churchill this morning, as hundreds of residents gathered for a street party to celebrate the arrival last night of the first train into Churchill in 18 months.

"Churchill, as Canada's only Arctic deep water port, is something I'm very optimistic about," Trudeau said.

"Supporting the North is of fundamental importance to the future of Canada."

[SurfRail]

First full day of wandering around Vancouver. 

Funnily enough, of all the cities I could draw a comparison with, parts of KL are pretty close - elevated automatic trains and stations, random towers in the skyline surrounded by green etc.   

I don't think there is any way any part of SEQ will ever have a mass transit system as good as Vancouver's.  It is simply not possible.  Even their ticketing system works better from the fare structure to the fare gates (which are exactly the bloody same as ours).  Queensland is a joke perpetrated on its own residents.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1401646077720268807

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/1402777660338618375

[verbatim9]

Global News---> Canadian Federal Government set to begin procurement process for Toronto-Quebec City high-frequency rail corridor

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1422631978554245124

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1422976888134414338

[ozbob]

How the Broadway Subway Will Transform Vancouver

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1454226674447360024

[SteelPan]

This city USE to be known as the car/freeway/smog capital of the world...seems unlike Qld they decided to change!

[ozbob]

" ..
Looks possibly like the turbocharger blew an oil seal which dumped lube oil into hot exhaust and caught fire. This is a DPU Locomotive with no crew onboard controlled from the front locomotives on train. So anyone that sees should immediately call 911 and report it as a fire and also call the railroad so the train can be stopped ASAP. Fire department did a good job with helicopter first followed by trucks. ..

[SteelPan]

"....it's a return to rail...."

[#Metro]

Check out the TransLink Vancouver interactive network map. Something TransLink SEQ should have.

Also note the focus on bus-train interchange, even at stations close to the CBD.

Simple, uncluttered network with a low number of bus routes, but each route operating frequently.

Buses stick to main roads and deviation to go into the CBD is not common.



TransLink System Map
https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/interactive-system-map

[verbatim9]

Daily Hive---> https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-trolley-bus-replacement

They also have trolley buses in which are getting replaced with new models by 2027

[verbatim9]

The mapping way finder tool is ok. Google maps is far easier to navigate and can provide clearer information.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/1654153918853652482

[#Metro]

(High) US Transit Costs

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/MitchLandrieu46/status/1665829826987544577

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/jahorne/status/1674574531447476225

[#Metro]

Bright Line Florida and Bright Line West

Brightline West will extend 218 miles from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga with additional stations in Hesperia and Apple Valley. The system will primarily operate within the median of the Interstate 15 right-of-way.

^ Rail gets placed into the median of the freeway. High speed, minimal number of stations, P&R passenger feed.

https://www.brightlinewest.com/overview/stations

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Amtrak/status/1695073548644049281?

[ozbob]

Washington Post --> Faster trains to begin carrying passengers as Amtrak's monopoly falls

The only private operator of intercity passenger trains is about to launch new service in Florida. Next? Trains at 186 mph between Las Vegas and Southern California. ...

186 mph ~= 300 km/h  true high speed rail

[#Metro]

REM Montreal - New Metro Service

Opened this year. Note the placement of the metro service and stations into the median of a freeway.

[RowBro]

REM Montreal - New Metro Service

Opened this year. Note the placement of the metro service and stations into the median of a freeway.

[#Metro]

I think Urbanists need to let this go really. Any Priority A ROW is going to be less walkable, because Priority A is about excluding everything except the vehicle. This is true of roads, rail, busways, airports etc. And the alternatives may be prohibitively expensive. Ultimately, if integrated with bus and P&R it's not a barrier to high patronage in the end, either. Some comments from the Alan Fisher video:

@nigelhudson1948
8 hours ago (edited)
If you want to see median transit lines done properly look at Perth WA. The stations are postioned at interchanges and are enclosed to cut down traffic noise. They generally have car parks and always have bus stops, cab ranks and pick-up/drop-off points. That way they become proper transport nodes for the surrounding area.

@jamesparson
6 hours ago
It is worse than that. Building underground is 5x to 10x as expensive. Sometimes they will argue a line MUST be underground. They know full well there isn't enough money to pay for that. So 10 years is spend studying an underground route. And the project has to get cancelled because there is no money for the underground route. I don't mean the underground part is cancelled, the whole thing is cancelled.

Even claims that TOD cannot be built around them, might not be strictly true either...

@clusterferno7833
7 hours ago
I wonder what you think about Amsterdam Zuid, one of the important InterCity rail stations in Amsterdam. It is in the middle of a highway, but because of the way it is built it feels quite well-connected to the surrounding neighbourhood and the noise is not that bad.

Amsterdam Zuid


Sources:
1. https://zuidas.nl/en/blog/2021/09/23/the-next-steps-at-amsterdam-zuid-station/
2. youtube.com/watch?v=uM5cGZRWUUw

[RowBro]

I think Urbanists need to let this go really. Any Priority A ROW is going to be less walkable, because Priority A is about excluding everything except the vehicle. This is true of roads, rail, busways, airports etc. And the alternatives may be prohibitively expensive. Ultimately, if integrated with bus and P&R it's not a barrier to high patronage in the end, either.

Yes, you can make a station within a highway median bearable. You can even make it somewhat connected to the surrounding environment, but it is still a substandard solution. Highways can be built by resuming houses, yet you couldn't possibly do that to build a better rail line.

[#Metro]

Yes, you can make a station within a highway median bearable. You can even make it somewhat connected to the surrounding environment, but it is still a substandard solution. Highways can be built by resuming houses, yet you couldn't possibly do that to build a better rail line.

Is Amsterdam Zuid substandard?

[RowBro]

Yes, you can make a station within a highway median bearable. You can even make it somewhat connected to the surrounding environment, but it is still a substandard solution. Highways can be built by resuming houses, yet you couldn't possibly do that to build a better rail line.

Is Amsterdam Zuid substandard?

Compared to some of the other stations within and around Amsterdam and greater Europe, yes. You can make highway medium stations work, but they still shouldn't be the go-to option. It should be a last resort which is only used if there is no other viable option.

[#Metro]

Well, I guess one could say Amsterdam Zuid is the example urbanists don't want you to see... TOD around a motorway median train station... in Amsterdam, no less! Google has their office there, there are some hotels, and the consulate of Brazil. The place looks like North Sydney.

[RowBro]

TOD around a motorway median train station

TOD without residential towers (excluding the hotel which doesn't really count). Just because it can be done somewhat well doesn't mean it should be done. Now imagine how much better that would be if the highway didn't exist. It appears you won't have to imagine for long since they are moving it underground. It'll be interesting to see the transformation in a handful of years.

[#Metro]

Residential within 400m of the train station as well, including mixed-use towers. 



Website extract

https://zuidas.nl/en/project/valley/

Valley helps to fulfil the municipality's desire to develop a multifaceted city district for people to live, work and visit. From the ground floor to the seventh floor, the building will accommodate offices, cultural facilities, retail, catering facilities and access to the residential towers. The residential section – starting on the eighth floor – will feature 196 apartments varying in size from 55m² to 700m², practically all of which will be for rent.

[ozbob]

https://x.com/seatsixtyone/status/1703054399180869757?s

====

125 miles per hour ~ 200 km per hour.  Fast rail!