Build it and they will come, especially if it is free. With the opening of a 7.4 mile light rail system, the crowds were out early Friday in Norfolk, Virginia to test out the new transportation option, The Tide: The Tide is the first light rail system in Virginia and marks the beginning of a new era for [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Trains’
2nd Green Revolution’s New Outpost: Japan!
June 20th, 2011
Justin Manger My first post in a while comes from Kashiwa City in Chiba prefecture in Japan. I’m currently in a manga kissaten (internet cafe) near the train station in order to get access to a keyboard and computer. My personal computer should arrive sometime next week. It’s been a hectic month or so of moving preparation; wrapping up [...]
May 7th is National Train Day
May 3rd, 2011
Eric Wilson It seems like just about every cause has a day, week, or month dedicated to it. Last month I mentioned Home Farming Day, as well as our favorite, Earth Day. These “celebrations” are one way to raise awareness about an issue or topic. Just the other day National Train Day came across my radar. Find [...]
Site Visit: Alliance for Sustainable Colorado
March 23rd, 2011
Eric Wilson I recently had the opportunity to take two tours of 1536 Wynkoop St in the Lower Downtown section of Denver. A hundred year old brick building that began as a warehouse, the structure is now home to some 38 non-profit organizations and the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado. According to the tour guide, the building was [...]
$53 Billion Proposed for High Speed Rail. Cool? Yes. Pipe Dream? Probably.
February 10th, 2011
Justin Manger Given the national debt and the public’s aversion to much more spending I doubt the $53 billion proposal from Vice President Biden has much chance of ever being funded or implemented. America is not Japan or Europe where populations are much more densely packed, making High Speed Rail implementation and the economics of such a [...]
President Obama Highlights Clean Energy in the State of the Union Address
January 26th, 2011
Eric Wilson Clean energy was mentioned several times during the 2011 State of the Union Address delivered last night by President Obama. Similarly, he touted clean energy throughout the 2010 State of the Union. Last year, Obama said “We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities and give rebates to Americans who make their [...]
DC’s Streetcar Debate Should End. Construct the Line.
December 26th, 2010
Justin Manger There has been a lot of debate surrounding the idea of building a streetcar line from Chinatown going east along the H Street corridor in Washington, D.C. I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Chinatown is already a vibrant and exciting part of the city and is not too far from The Atlas [...]
Five Friday Facts: Fascinating Chinese High Speed Rail
December 17th, 2010
Justin Manger The current 7,531km of track is more than the rest of the world put together Traveling from Wuhan to Guangzou, a distance of 1,068km used to take 10 hours. It now takes 3. A journey of similar distance from Washington D.C. to Chicago take 18 hours on Amtrak. Within 10 years, the government wants to [...]
Chinese Train Breaks High Speed Record
December 4th, 2010
Eric Wilson As high speed rail flounders in this country, China’s state news agency Xinhua News reports that test runs of a train connecting Zaozhuang City of Shandong Province and Bengbu City in eastern Anhui Province reached speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour (480 kilometers per hour). The tracks on which the train was traveling [...]
Japan Debuts Hybrid Train
October 11th, 2010
Justin Manger Land of the white gloved people pushers and Shinkansen Bullet Train, Japan has again made news in the rail industry. Recently, East Japan Railway Co. started to operate a hybrid passenger train with an electric motor and diesel engine. Located in Nagano Prefecture (site of the 1998 Winter Olympics) the train is designated for tourists. [...]
Posted in
Tags:



