A Terrible Week for Rail

Paris, France
French Wreck Reveals Hidden Danger in Its Vaunted Train System

Washington, DC, USA
Obama Administration Puts Brakes on XpressWest High-Speed Rail Project
This is the California-Nevada High Speed Rail proposal.

Honolulu, HI, USA

Federal Judge slaps HART hard by revealing profound contradictions and stupidity. Excerpts from Judge Mollway's letter to HART below.

"On behalf of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, I submit that the Draft Supplemental EIS fails to give adequate consideration to the Beretania Street Tunnel Alternative.

Remarkably, the Project's proposed rail route fails to run along "the highly
congested east-west transportation corridor between Kapolei and UH Manoa," the very
corridor expressly identified as the route the Project is intended to serve.

The EIS unrealistically posits that a UH student, after riding the rail to Ala Moana, can transfer to a bus to get to the UH campus and, even including the time spent getting to the bus boarding area and waiting for the bus, arrive within 9 minutes.

• Waianae to UH Manoa via Beretania Street Tunnel: 84 minutes
• Current Route of the Project: 93 minutes"

Obviously judge Mollaway can do better math than HART's hired un-professionals. Even today during a normal school day I would have to dart in traffic in my sporty Miata in the rush hour to go from Ala Moana Center to the UH-Manoa were I work, in nine minutes. The city bus is no Miata and the likely time of the bus is well over 15 minutes. So the judge's comparison needs to be updated as follows:

• Waianae to UH Manoa via Beretania Street Tunnel: 84 minutes
• Current Route of the Project: 100 minutes

Clearly the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii has a point.


North American urban transit security (July 11 headlines)

NY: Subway Study Eyes Dispersal of Chemical Weapons Subway riders can expect to see in stations Tuesday the installation of special equipment scientists will use as part of an experiment to see how... More » ON: Toronto Storm Causes Chaos Throughout City and on Train MO: Woman Upset Over a Seat Splashes Gasoline on Metro Bus Passengers MA: Man Struck, Killed by Train IL: Man Dies After Falling on Third Rail Don't Text and Walk: Pedestrians Step in Front of Trains PA: Nude Man Shot During Berserk Rampage

ON: All GO Transit Riders Rescued From Flooded Train: Toronto Police Hundreds of passengers that were stranded on a flooded GO Transit rush-hour train following heavy rain have been rescued, Toronto police said early Tuesday morning.

WI: Agitated Drunken Man Assaults 3 on County Bus: Police BC: Transit Police Warn of e-device Thefts in City MA: Transit Police Search for Man Accused of Spitting on Driver