Interesting transportation things

[M II A II R II K]

skyTran – Personalized Public Rapid Transit

https://robologiclab.com/skytran-per...rapid-transit/

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- Among all the means of transportation that the future holds, the skyTran can be the most exciting project backed by Reliance Industries, Innovation Endeavors, and OurCrowd. It can be as cheap as the bus ticket, high-speed, energy-efficient, elevated, and the most important, environmentally friendly. --- It is an automatic capsule that is magnetically levitated on aerial rails, run through electric and magnetic fields. In this article, we will look into the operation, economics, and innovations of this next-generation transportation system. It might be our hope for clean, green, and super fast means of transportation.

- The skyTran would be readily available for everyone to travel to their desire destination. It will allow the passenger to rush past jammed streets in cities at speeds of 50 to 100 mph which can reach up to 150 mph in the outskirts. The will be no problem with over-crowding as only two passengers will be allowed in one capsule. It will use magnetic levitation technology to reduce the friction loss associated with high velocities. --- The magnetic levitation is based on the principle of magnetic attraction and repulsion and therefore opposing gravity by making it glide in the air. Additionally, the magnetic and electric fields can be produced by green electricity without any fuel source and help to eliminate pollution.

- The construction of the skyTran does not cause any hindrance to other modes of transport as it is supported by poles in the pedestrian sidewalks. Coming to an economic point of view, skyTran is focusing on optimizing minor features to reduce installation and running expenses to a greater extent. The installation costs are minimal in contrast to some of its alternatives. --- The magnetic levitation tech runs entirely on electricity which is equivalent to a fuel run system efficiency of 200 miles per gallon. Since it has no moving components, the maintenance cost would be lower. Therefore, the ticket cost for taking a ride would essentially cost as much as a bus ride.

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[M II A II R II K]

Mexico City launches Latin America's latest cable car line

https://abcnews.go.com/International...e-car-76262845

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- Mexico City has launched the first of what it hopes will be several cable-car lines serving the poorer outskirts of the city of 9 million. Thursday's inauguration of the first leg of the “Cablebus” line marks the latest chapter in Latin America’s love affair with cable cars, which are seen in much of the world as largely for tourists and ski slopes. The neighboring State of Mexico already has a cable car serving one northern Mexico City suburb, and the city’s own first line was also built on the poor, crowded north side. --- Cable cars are seen as a cheaper, quicker way to bring public transport to poor communities located high up hillsides. Since they’re airborne, the car lines also don’t have as many difficulties with Latin America’s notoriously difficult issues of chaotic development, bad traffic and lack of rights-of-way.

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[M II A II R II K]

Researchers develop roadside barrier design to mitigate air pollution

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...-rdr030921.php

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- A unique curved barrier has been designed by researchers at Imperial College London, who publish new findings in the peer-reviewed journal Cities & Health on how the structure can protect people from the damaging effects of air pollution. --- The curved barriers deflect pollution away from pedestrians and back onto the road. Inspired by airfield baffles and the curved sound-walls alongside motorways in Germany and the Netherlands, the researchers found that curved structures would more effectively disperse and reflect pollutants back towards the roads and would very rapidly improve air quality for pedestrians in an inexpensive manner.

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[M II A II R II K]

Believe It Or Not, These Aren’t Even the Sorriest Bus Stops in America

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/03/...ps-in-america/

[mrnyc]

paper airplane lands on a streetcar:


https://youtu.be/iLBz3sFcBAg

[biguc]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Researchers develop roadside barrier design to mitigate air pollution

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...-rdr030921.php

Works better if you build it across the road.

[M II A II R II K]

World's first ship tunnel to be built under Norwegian mountains

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/artic...nel/index.html

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- Norway has got the go-ahead to construct what's being billed as the world's first ship tunnel, designed to help vessels navigate the treacherous Stadhavet Sea. First announced a few years ago by the Norwegian Coastal Administration, this mile-long, 118-feet-wide tunnel will burrow through the mountainous Stadhavet peninsula in northwestern Norway. Building this engineering marvel will cost somewhere in the region of 2.8 billion Norwegian kroner ($330 million) and take between three to four years, with construction due to commence in 2022.

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[Busy Bee]

Just amazing.

[mrnyc]

yeah i'll say -- some project that was!

[jbermingham123]

All of Norway's coastal transportation projects are spectacular.. relative to Norway's size, the scale and ambition of their projects I would say are second only to China

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

All of Norway's coastal transportation projects are spectacular.. relative to Norway's size, the scale and ambition of their projects I would say are second only to China

I would argue that the Faeroes have even more ambitious projects for their size. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eysturoyartunnilin

[craigs]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I would argue that the Faeroes have even more ambitious projects for their size. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eysturoyartunnilin

Holy crap, an underwater roundabout!

[M II A II R II K]

Beaver wanders into Royal York TTC station

https://www.cp24.com/news/beaver-wan...tion-1.5361692

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- An entrance to a Toronto subway station was temporarily closed due to a wandering beaver. According to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the beaver strolled into Royal York Subway Station on Bloor Street, near the Humber Marshes, early Thursday morning. As a result, the TTC has temporarily closed the Grenview entrance to the station “due to an animal in distress.” The station entrance has since reopened.

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[Busy Bee]

Pizza Rat YOU Have Met Your Match

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Pizza Rat YOU Have Met Your Match

Possibly. Maybe he is looking for some pizza and beavers are part of the rat family.

Fun fact...........Canada is the only country in the world to have a rat as it's national animal.

[M II A II R II K]

Seoul’s high-speed super subway takes shape

https://asiatimes.com/2021/03/seouls...y-takes-shape/

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- South Korea is breaking new ground literally and figuratively: Work is underway on a subway line on which trains will run at up to 180km/h. Seoul’s GTX (“Great Train Express”) network is set to be the world’s fastest underground rail line when it begins operations under the capital’s streets in three years. It aims to hyper-accelerate passengers across the vast sprawl of Seoul and slash commuting times between the metropolis and its surrounding satellite cities. Project visionaries call it the beginning of a transport revolution. And indeed GTX could provide a congestion-smashing model for mega cities around Asia – and across the world. But to be successful, it has to overcome a range of engineering challenges, deal with protests related to underground real estate ownership and overcome fears over buried cultural properties uncovered during construction.

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[M II A II R II K]

[Busy Bee]

^ Speaking of British Rail, I recently acquired a book on the iconic branding and design of BR and it is awesome. If anyone is even remotely interested in the history and design of the former state railways, it is a must have for the library:


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[M II A II R II K]

Government Accountability Office Issues Status Report on U.S. Commuter Rail

https://www.enotrans.org/article/gao...commuter-rail/

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- Stakeholders told us that commuter rail provides a number of economic and quality-of-life benefits, particularly for communities in less urbanized areas. For example, commuter rail agencies said that several large companies have chosen to locate along commuter rail corridors to draw on the regional labor market, including its less urbanized areas. Stakeholders also said that commuter rail could increase mobility and transportation options, as well as access to employment and essential services for individuals who live in the service area. At the same time, however, officials at commuter rail agencies with whom we spoke pointed to considerable infrastructure and operational costs making commuter rail more expensive to provide compared to some other transit modes. Supporting commuter rail in less urbanized communities may also pose additional funding challenges for these commuter rail agencies and local communities. For example, less populated areas may have difficulty raising the local match required to secure federal funding for a transit project.

Some less predictable findings:

• Right-of-way costs. “officials at some commuter rail agencies we spoke with said right-of-way fees pose financial challenges. With respect to right-of-way fees, commuter rail agencies often operate some or all of their trains as “tenants” on the track of another railroad—such as Amtrak or a freight railroad—known as the “host.” The tenant may pay the host fees to access, dispatch, and maintain the track infrastructure, depending on the arrangement. For example, Metrolink in Southern California pays these types of fees to host freight railroads on 44 percent of its total route miles. Other transit modes do not need to pay to use their right-of-way; for instance, bus systems do not need to pay to drive on public roads. As such, it may be challenging for commuter rail agencies to alter their scheduled service in response to changes in ridership demand, in part due to restrictions in their agreements with other track users.”

• PTC costs. “Officials at three of the 10 commuter rail agencies we spoke with noted that installing and maintaining their PTC systems significantly adds to overall capital and operating costs, potentially affecting the ability to extend the service area. One commuter rail agency official said that, to install PTC by the federal deadline, the agency had delayed other work on the system. The agency estimates that its ongoing annual PTC maintenance costs will be approximately $3-to-$4 million dollars, which could be as high as 14 percent of its annual operating budget.”

• Post-COVID. “In the long term, commuter rail agencies may need to reassess their pre-pandemic service levels. For example, officials at seven of the 10 commuter rail agencies we spoke with said long-term shifts in commuting patterns, such as increased teleworking among former riders, could affect their service long after the immediate effects of the pandemic are over. Accordingly, it is unclear how the economic and quality-of-life benefits commuter rail service provides to riders may change if lower levels of ridership persist.”

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[M II A II R II K]

Long Island Rail Road tests US’s first battery-powered trains

https://electrek.co/2021/04/20/egeb-...owered-trains/

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- New York’s commuter railroad The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and French train manufacturer Alstom will work together to explore the possibility of retrofitting the LIRR’s diesel rail cars with rechargeable batteries. If successful, it would be the first commuter railroad in North America to run battery-powered trains. (They are already used in Europe.) The first phase of the study will be on paper, followed by trial runs on empty trains on M7 trains on the Oyster Bay and Port Jefferson branches. If it’s successful, some trains could run on batteries by next year. --- The MTA’s battery study will last eight months and will test how long a train can run on batteries, how fast they can be recharged, and how easily a train can switch from battery to electrified third rail power. The test trains are expected to operate using third rail power on the electric section of the line, charging the batteries as they travel, then switch over to the battery-only power along the non-electrified section of track between East Williston and Oyster Bay.

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