flynn050

In the context of the wide outreach to politicians and the media by the Japanese rail consortium to promote their magnetic levitation train system (Maglev) for use in the US, the Baltimore SUN was in Japan to test the trains and investigate the topic in detail. The first route is supposed to run between Washington and Baltimore. The Sun covered its findings in a detailed and largely impartial report which covered three and a half pages in its print section. However, the author of this article believes that many relevant questions were not asked. This article is intended to put them on the table. Maglev, the big disrupter? When it comes to magnetic levitation trains proponents stress the superlatives: The speed (311 miles per hour), the fact it can't derail, the precision (0.5-3.7"), the cost ($10-15 billion for 30 miles between DC and Baltimore), and the technology itself. Happy for the support: Northeast Maglev CEO, Wayne Rogers with Maryland influenzers Mike Miller, Kevin Pl...

Transit ridership fell in 31 of 35 major metropolitan areas in the United States last year, including the seven cities that serve the majority of riders, with losses largely stemming from buses but punctuated by reliability issues on systems such as Metro, according to an annual overview of public transit usage. ( WP , 3/24/18) US Transit Ridership decline 2014-17 (APTA) When Lyndon B. Johnson was President, America still dreamed big: Civil rights, ending poverty and subways for American cities. Washington got its beautifully designed "Great Society Subway"system, San Francisco got BART, two of the at the time most advanced, comfortable and spacious metro systems in the world. The Washington Metro opened in 1976 with a network that expanded to six lines, 91 stations, and 117 miles.of  route .  In spite of Washington's much smaller size, its Metro is now #3 right behind New York and Chicago. back then, as crumbs off the table, Baltimore and Atlanta each got a subway, too, ...

Transportation experts and environmentalists dream of a future in which vehicles are fleet based and not privately owned, where they are autonomous and not operated by drivers and where they are powered by electric motors instead of gasoline and diesel. But how would such a future become possible? This blog has looked into car sharing and AVs before. This article is about electrification. Transportation electrification: Clean air through clean buses The United States is with 1-2% electric vehicles in the mix far behind global leader Norway (somewhere beyond 30%). People don't know much about electric vehicles but many know the term "range anxiety" and have heard that electric vehicles use at least three different types of "plugs" for charging, making hard to find charging stations even more elusive. They have heard that batteries contain pollutants, are expensive to replace and that the materials that go into them are found in only a few places in the world. Wha...

Of all the European cities Frankfurt on the Main is the most American ("Mainhattan") with its cluster of high-rise towers sprouting downtown, a rarity on a continent that is quite skeptical when it comes to skyscrapers. Now Frankfurt has another American feature, a newly reconstructed "old" town  much like colonial Williamsburg, hardly more authentic than the Eiffel tower in Las Vegas its critics say. Reconstructed Altstadt Frankfurt/Main: Completed in 2018 In a country that puts much stock into "honesty" the architectural masquerade which was completed earlier this year re-ignited  a debate among architects and urban planners which surges in waves starting right after WW II and continues today. The war had left many historic German cities in rubble. The reconstruction debate reached a crescendo with the plans to tear down the east German parliament building and reconstruct "the Stadtschloss" in Berlin. The castle was rebuilt and monarchy followe...