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Archive for the ‘High Speed Rail’ Category

A rail reality check that President Obama should heed

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Innovation NewsBriefs Vol. 21, No. 28 PRESIDENT OBAMA wants Americans to zip around in high-speed trains, just as many  Japanese, French, and Chinese already do. For him, the goal seems almost as much about  national pride as job creation or energy savings. “There’s no reason that Europe or China should have the fastest trains,” he has said. […]

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A Track Record of Success: High-Speed Rail Around the World and Its Promise for America

Monday, November 15th, 2010
Barcelona Ridership

U.S. PIRG EDUCATION FUND
“…the experience of high-speed rail lines abroad, as well as America’s limited experience with high-speed rail on the East Coast, suggests that the United States can expect great benefits from investing in a high-speed passenger rail system, particularly if it makes steady commitments and designs the system wisely. High-speed rail networks around the world have delivered numerous benefits.”

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Update: The Federal High-Speed Rail Program: A Post-Election Reality Check

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s decision to cancel the proposed commuter trans-Hudson rail tunnel (ARC) offers another example of a resolve by the new wave of fiscally conservative governors to rein in spending on public works that, in their judgment, present an unacceptable level of risk and cost. While Christie’s decision was widely condemned as shortsighted by members of the infrastructure lobby, it was supported as fiscally prudent by a majority of New Jersey voters. (By a margin of 51 to 39 percent according to a Rutgers University poll).

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Survey: 62% would use high-speed rail

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
How likely are you to use high-speed rail?

AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION
APTA proposes that Congress invest $50 billion over the next six years in high-speed rail. The association says the investment during that time frame, along with $123 billion in public transportation investment, will help support and create 6.2 million jobs.

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Republicans and Infrastructure: Still Together, Despite Disagreements

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

REGIONAL PLAN ASSOCIATION/ AMERICA 2050
Infrastructure and transportation is traditionally a bipartisan issue – characterized by equal opportunity “pork.” Under intensely partisan congresses, transportation bills passed in 2005 during the George W. Bush Administration, in 1998 during the Clinton Administration, and in 1991 during the George H.W. Bush Administration. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act even passed in 1982 during Ronald Reagan’s administration and with the president’s support, despite the Gipper’s heavily anti-federal-government stances.

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Strategies for Improving the Project Agreement Process Between Highway Agencies and Railroads

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
North American railroads and public highway departments interact thousands of times annually as the highway agencies conduct projects that cross over, under, or parallel to the railways…The focus of this project is to provide recommended standard agreements, standard processes, and best practices that can help both sides reduce the time and cost of project reviews.

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High-Speed Rail Debate Refuses to Quiet Down

Monday, November 1st, 2010

In a November 1 column in the Washington Post reproduced below, the respected economist Robert J. Samuelson attacks the Administration’s high-speed rail program as “wasteful spending masquerading as a respectable social cause.”…Samuelson’s blunt assessment appears in stark contrast to the Administration’s confident prediction, in the words of top federal transportation officials, of “a world class network of high-speed corridors” that would connect “80 percent of America in the next 25 years at a cost of $500 billion.” How can professional judgments be so diametricaly opposed and whose judgment will prevail?

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Prospects for Transportation Legislation and Other Infrastructure Ventures

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

What are the prospects for surface transportation legislation in the 112th Congress? We explored this question informally in conversations on the sidelines of several recent meetings and conferences, by reviewing debates on the National Journal’s Transportation Blog and by soliciting observations from colleagues in the transportation community.

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Samuel Schwartz, P.E., President, CEO & Founder, Sam Schwartz Engineering

Monday, October 25th, 2010
Sam Schwartz

Sam Schwartz has nearly 40 years of experience in the field of Transportation Engineering and Traffic Safety. He is considered a worldwide authority in traffic, highway, bridge, transit and parking systems. He was New York City’s traffic commissioner and the chief engineer for highways, bridges, ferries and other New York City infrastructure. Schwartz specializes in development of urban traffic programs utilizing his expert knowledge in traffic demand management, transit systems management, traffic calming and transportation planning and engineering. He has been in the vanguard of Intelligent Transportation Systems development and wrote the seminal paper, Intelligent Traffic, which received the International Institute of Transportation Award in 1985. Schwartz is also the author of Gridlock Sam, a popular New York Daily News column addressing traffic matters in New York City. His links with multimedia networks are extensive, spanning radio, television and the internet.

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Well Within Reach: America’s New Transportation Agenda

Monday, October 4th, 2010
Congestion

MILLER CENTER OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Transportation systems are the backbone of America: They keep our nation strong and moving. But we have not been taking good care of this resource. Lacking a coherent vision for our transportation future and chronically short of resources, we defer new investments, fail to plan, and allow existing systems to fall into disrepair.

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