Monthly Archives: March 2012

Transportation-Development Symbiosis

Posted on 2012/03/31 by

The RPA’s Regional Assembly has included the following idea submission: expand reverse-commuter rail service. The proposal calls for surveying city residents to look for the main available reverse-commuter markets, and for expanding reverse-peak service on the model of Metro-North. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Good Transit, New York, Providence, Regional Rail, Transportation, Urban Design, Urbanism | 36 Comments

Quick Note: Good News Week

Posted on 2012/03/22 by

Via Systemic Failure, I learn that the FRA is finally reforming its train safety regulations on its own. This is an amazing development, partial as it is. This appears to derive from the FRA’s previous research into crash energy management, … Continue reading →

Posted in FRA, Good Transit, Transportation | 113 Comments

The Growing and the Forgotten

Posted on 2012/03/20 by

Joel Kotkin’s attack on Santorum for his politics rural resentment drew a puzzled response from Cap’n Transit. Although both Kotkin and Santorum are opposed to the kind of urbanism the Cap’n and I promote, their approaches are the exact opposites … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Society, Urbanism | 17 Comments

Train Weights, Bilevel Version

Posted on 2012/03/18 by

My previous table of train weights covered single-level trains, with the exception of the ultralight (for a bilevel) TGV Duplex. By request, here is a similar version for bilevels. Note that very light trains such as the E231 or DB’s … Continue reading →

Posted in FRA, Regional Rail, Transportation | 23 Comments

Surreptitious Underfunding

Posted on 2012/03/15 by

One third of the MBTA’s outstanding debt, about $1.7 billion, comes from transit projects built by the state as part of a court-imposed mitigation for extra Big Dig traffic; interest on this debt is about two-thirds the agency’s total present … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Politics and Society, Regional Rail, Transportation, Urban Transit | 27 Comments

Table of Train Weights

Posted on 2012/03/13 by

Here are some trains, and their weights. The headline figure is weight per linear meter of length, but also includes other metrics of interest. Not included is any feature of interior design, such as the number of seats or the … Continue reading →

Posted in High-Speed Rail, Regional Rail, Transportation | 12 Comments

FRA Rules Are Not Just Buff Strength

Posted on 2012/03/12 by

The FRA waiver approach, adopted by Caltrain, appears to be a relatively simple way for agencies to get out of the buff strength rule. Caltrain applied for and got a waiver from a number of regulations that increase train weight, … Continue reading →

Posted in FRA, Incompetence, Transportation | 41 Comments

Providence: The Quiet Revival

Posted on 2012/03/07 by

Rustwire’s recent article about Providence, and a less recent article on the Urbanophile, have made me think about Providence’s growth. The Urbanophile comes strongly on the side of the power of its coziness; Rustwire takes the opposite track, talking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Providence, Urban Design, Urbanism | 8 Comments

Commuter Rail Stop Distribution

Posted on 2012/03/04 by

One of the features of American commuter rail is that it’s intended to be used by suburbanites. The propensity for making nearly every station a park-and-ride, with poor pedestrian access, is one effect of this. Another effect is stop distribution. … Continue reading →

Posted in Good Transit, Incompetence, Regional Rail, Transportation | 79 Comments

Park and Rides, and Good Planning

Posted on 2012/03/02 by

Some people with experience in American bus planning have come strongly for park-and-rides, as a convenient means of concentrating all people boarding buses at one spot in order to improve frequency. The charge is led by Joel Azumah of Transport … Continue reading →

Posted in Good Transit, Incompetence, Regional Rail, Transportation, Urban Transit | 66 Comments