August 5th, 2010 |
» Though rail will play an important role for the San Francisco center, the project’s bus focus sets it apart. The existing almost windowless building will be replaced with a blocks-long glass façade.
Cities have few opportunities to invest in new transportation centers, since they’re enormously expensive and usually require a complete reworking of the transit system during construction and after they’re built. For big metropolitan areas, a new transportation center usually means a series of multimodal connections focused around a rail link; in most cases in which they’re present, trains get the priority placement in the building whereas buses
Continue reading this post »
August 3rd, 2010 |
» In pulling out, engineering firm SNC-Lavalin cites concerns that project wasn’t going to have its operations subsidized.
For investors interested in infrastructure projects these days, there is apparently a lot of low-hanging fruit to pick. This, at least, is the argument made by Montréal-based contractor and engineering firm SNC-Lavalin, which has pulled out of a years-long commitment to operating Toronto’s planned airport connection train because the regional transportation authority refused to subsidize the service.
The construction of a new two-mile corridor between an existing rail track and the airport was to be fully paid for by government investment. The Canadian federal government
Continue reading this post »
July 30th, 2010 |
» New Haven-Hartford-Springfield corridor would get significantly improved service, opening up possibility of Inland Route New York-Boston trains.
As the competition for the rapidly diminishing federal funds for intercity rail heats up, states are apparently taking seriously Washington’s call for increasing local spending on such projects. The $10.5 billion thus far allocated by the Congress for this transportation mode may encourage state and municipal governments to devote much more of their own funds to the program. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Transportation — at least behind the scenes — seems to be informing states that the only way they’ll receive
Continue reading this post »
May 12th, 2010 |
» North Carolina Railroad studies new commuter rail system in the state’s center, but its ridership estimates may be unrealistic considering the region’s demographics.
The fastest-growing tech hubs in the United States are unified in their sprawling nature and provide definitive proof for at least one uncomfortable truth: the country’s smartest inhabitants aren’t necessarily rushing off to urban hubs. Despite the recent increase of wealthy, young, white inhabitants in many central cities — a reverse “white flight” — the overall trend suggests that the fastest-growing high-education metropolitan areas continue to be places with low overall density.
According to a new
Continue reading this post »
April 30th, 2010 |
» Service changes on Long Island would reduce the number of one-stop rides into Manhattan but lower operations and capital costs.
Though the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the busiest commuter rail operation in the United States, with more than 300,000 daily boardings, its 700 miles of track make frequent services to all parts of the island too expensive to be economically viable. The stations at the end of the system’s two longest branches — to Greenport and Montauk, at the eastern tips of the island — are out of convenient commuting distance to Manhattan, so the LIRR provides
Continue reading this post »
April 28th, 2010 |
» A state rail plan does not mean Pennsylvanian will move forward with a specific project. A lack of ambition, or a reflection of few funds?
The U.S. government’s unwillingness to commit to prioritizing certain rail corridors and its fear of moving beyond empty rhetoric to describe the country’s future rail system are frustrating reactions to the sometimes paralyzing federal system. But intercity rail advocates should take some comfort in the fact that certain states are taking advantage of their governing responsibilities to promote projects and develop detailed long-term proposals. The investment made by states like California, Illinois, and Wisconsin
Continue reading this post »
Recent Comments