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Stay on Track
Editorial, NY Times
Americans made 10.1 billion trips on public transportation last year, the highest that ridership has risen in nearly half a century. That’s good for congestion on the roads as well as the pollution that goes with it. But any mass-transit renaissance will come to a grinding halt unless a commensurate investment is made in upkeep and expansion.
As Libby Sander reported recently in The Times, Chicago’s elevated train system, known as the El, appears to be near a breaking point. The second-largest public transit system in America after New York’s is suffering from rising commute times as the century-old system deteriorates.
Public transit systems are financed through a combination of federal and local money, so parochial priorities play a big role in underinvestment. For instance, the Chicago Transit Authority’s financing formula hasn’t changed since 1983. But at the same time, the federal gas tax – which contributes money for public transportation systems as well as highways – hasn’t changed since 1993. That means it hasn’t even kept up with inflation in maintenance and construction costs, much less rising demand.
Part of the trouble with financing for mass transit is that the upfront costs always appear prohibitively large (for the next five years, Chicago’s regional authority is seeking $10 billion in state and local money) while the benefits are long term and extremely diffuse. As a result, projects often linger. Planners have been trying to build New York’s Second Avenue Line since the 1920s.
Worse still, when money is scarce it is insidiously easy to delay maintenance.
Once a system begins to break down, it can hurt the quality of life and economic growth of a city. And it isn’t just a problem for city dwellers. Buses and rail systems serve rural areas as well. Government officials around the country should take heed of Chicago’s problems. Meanwhile, Congress should at a minimum bring the gas tax in line with inflation.
(4 April 2007)
China carries out tests prior to sixth railway speed boost
Staff, Xinhua
China’s railway authorities Monday started tests for the coming sixth speed boost. An official with China’s Ministry of Railways said passenger trains with a speed of 200 kilometers and above per hour will be tested for several days on the Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Guangzhou railways.
China has been raising train speed limits since 1997, when most were running at a mere 60 kilometers per hour. The new speed boost is scheduled for April 18. After the speed boost, trains will run at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour on the Beijing-Harbin, Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Guangzhou railways. In some sections the speed can be raised to 250 kilometers per hour, the international railway speed upper limit.
The coming speed boost will increase the railway system’s passenger handling capacity by 18 percent, and its cargo capacity by 12 percent, according to the ministry. ..
Experts with the ministry say trains running at high speed are more likely to be overturned by strong winds. The ministry has asked a research center to develop a wind warning system.
(3 Apr 2007)
Government admits Gatwick Express U-turn
Steve Hawkes & Joe Bolger
The Government has safeguarded the future of the Gatwick Express in a radical new transport package that will see 12,000 extra seats added to rush hour services between London and Brighton from December 2008.
As revealed by Times Online yesterday, the Department of Transport has backtracked on proposals to scrap the direct non-stop rail link between the capital and one of the country’s largest airports.
But air passengers will have to rub shoulders with commuters at the busiest times of the day.
While the Gatwick Express service will be retained as a non-stop service every 15 minutes, during rush hour it will also run beyond Gatwick to Brighton – doubling the number of express services between the Sussex town and London Victoria. ..
(4 Apr 2007)
Mitsui wins $763 million order for Saudi railway
Reuters
TOKYO – Mitsui & Co., Japan’s second-biggest trading house, said on Tuesday it has won a 90 billion yen ($763 million) order together with a group of companies for a railway construction project in Saudi Arabia.
Mitsui said it is teaming up with Al Rashid Trading & Contracting Co. of Saudi Arabia and Australia’s Barclay Mowlem to build an 818 km (508 miles) portion of the North-South Railway, which is being built to move mineral traffic from Saudi Arabia’s interior to an industrial complex to be built on the Gulf coast.
A Mitsui spokesman said the trading house aims to expand its railway operations in the Middle East as demand for railway transportation is growing. ..
(2 Apr 2007)
Rail fans might also be pleased by French railway orders 67 more Bombardier regional trains.
Try here for more on Saudi Arabia’s resource wealth beyond oil and gas.
Case studies: Public transport project management
Helen Beckett, Computer Weekly
Transport infrastructures are highly fragmented, yet they must serve a travelling public that needs to use the whole. Migration to a new system cannot easily be confined to a particular segment, and teething problems can cause massive disruption – and rapid disenchantment.
Privatisation of the railways back in 1993 was followed by the carving up of the national bus and London Tube networks into franchises. “Getting the various operators together to agree something that the travelling public takes for granted is a major task,” says David Hytch, principal transport consultant at LogicaCMG.
“And it is of little value if just one operator innovates, because the fallout of an inconsistent service hits all operators.”
Similarly, the all-important return on investment that dictates any commercial investment is constrained in the transport industry by franchise lifecycles.
“If it takes four years before any return can be recouped – and the franchise only lasts seven years – it is hard to argue for any investment to the board of directors,” says Hytch.
“These factors combined mean that technology upgrades and change come only falteringly to the transport networks. Smartcards have been around for 10 years, yet the rail operators are only just getting serious about it.” ..
(1 Apr 2007)
Interesting article illustrating the difficulty of integrating public transport operations – privatisation is obviously not producing efficiencies here.-LJ
