Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's administration has applied for $69 million in federal stimulus funds to upgrade the Connecticut River rail corridor, according to an 8/24/09 Associated Press report. The funds would be used to improve and reroute Amtrak's Vermonter line service to Greenfield and Northampton, MA. Funds are also being sought to increase the speed of rail service from Boston to Worcester and Springfield. (AP / WWLP rail corridor story, 8/24/09)
It's a notable change to now hear the White House talking up high speed rail, as they did April 16th, offering $8 billion in the stimulus bill for high speed rail corridor improvement and another $1 billion a year for the next five years. (For a transcript of President Obama's announcement, go to White House high speed rail announcement 4/16/09.) This is a welcome change, even if the dollar amount is troublingly small in comparison to the $106 billion President Obama and the Congress are planning to spend this year alone on the war in Iraq and the expanded wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Anyone who's ever ridden the European TGV or other high speed rail, which feels something akin to riding a jet ten feet off the ground, knows that America's got a long way to go to create any serious high speed rail network. But at least there's a down payment here, and whether President Obama puts us firmly on the path of high speed rail and other alternative transportation will depend largely on how many of us push the White House toward that priority.
For more on the administration's high speed rail plans, take a look at the President's April speech and the comment on it by Peter Lehner, Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), via the Huffington Post at Lehner comment on Obama rail initiative. You can also take a look at the Federal Railroad Administration's web pages concerning high speed rail corridor development, at FRA high speed rail (Yep, that's right, our government actually has an office concerned with railroads, who'd a thunk?)
Rails to Trails Conservancy www.railstotrails.org The Conservancy is a long-established advocate for the conversion of abandoned rail beds into bike and hiking paths. Their website has a guide to rail trails around the country.
Pioneer Valley Advocates for Commuter Rail (PVACR) -- PVACR's website / blog Working on the Railroad is a good source for the latest developments concerning proposals for expanded regional commuter rail service in the Pioneer Valley corridor, including possible New Haven, CT to Springfield, MA service.
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) -- PVPC is heading the "Knowledge Corridor Passenger Rail Study", looking at the possibility of expanded rail service from New Haven, CT to St. Albans, VT. They do a web-newsletter about the latest developments connected with the Study, Knowledge Corridor Passenger Rail Study Newsletter. One of the controversial topics being discussed is whether to re-align the main passenger rail corridor from Springfield, MA to Bratleboro, VT, so that it passes through Holyoke and Northampton, MA, rather than through Amherst, MA.
National Association of Rail Passengers www.narprail.org This national advocacy organization has a simple, but important goal: better, faster and more frequent passenger rail service throughout the country. Their website offers breaking news on lobbying efforts to expand rail and governmental policies affecting rail passenger service.
"Riding Bikes in the Netherlands," Kathleen Schalch, PRI's The World (July 23, 2009), (transcript and audio podcast) available at www.theworld.org/special-reports/feed/. Audio file 0723098.mp3 Schalch's interviewees report that about half the trips in Amsterdam are now made by bike, with 60% of the Dutch riding their bikes at least three times a week. Amsterdam residents voted to slowly reduce the number of parking spaces in the City, and are building a bicycle-friendly City with separated and protected bike lanes, and now a three-story parking garage, just for bicycles, at the central train station.
Living Planet's 6/18/09 podcast report on Germany's widespread bike-sharing programs and how they work. (Living Planet is available through www.dw-world.de as well as through iTunes.) Living Planet takes a ride, through the German "Call-a-Bike" program run by the German national railroad system in six German cities. Through Call-a-Bike, bikes are rented at 8 cents a minute using a cellphone, then re-locked on the street wherever you want to leave it. The next caller needing that bike gets an over-the-phone code to unlock the bike. Bikes can be located using an internet site that maps each bike's last location. Living Planet reports that twenty-eight German cities are now running such bike-sharing programs and the German government has decided to invest ten million euros in bike-sharing efforts.
Good magazine -- "the transportation issue" (Spring 2009). There are two types of articles that always get my attention. Those that tell me something important that I don't know, and those that tell me something important that I already know, but do it in a succinct, articulate or beautiful way. The Transportation Issue of the relatively new Good magazine, now on newstands, is full of both types of articles, and heavy on the first type. Good shows how transportation could get a whole lot better. Too many great articles to review with any justice, but you should definitely check out at least these five:
- "The Street of the Future Is A Livable Street", by Carly Clark and Aaron Naparstek. In a brilliant captioned photo/diagram, Clark & Naparstek show 10 physical changes we can make to our city streets to radically improve their sociability, walkability and physical safety.
- "Get On The Bus", also by Naparstek. This quick overview of Bogota, Colombia's TransMilenio bus rapid transit system reminds us that the city bus can be reshaped into a fast, accessible, more cost-effective rapid-transit system, and in shorter start-up times than subway and light rail.
- "Sorry, Portland", by Eric Smillie. This "primer on the best burgeoning bike scenes in North America" rocks us through some of the leading bike cities on the continent and what makes them roll.
- "The Electric Car Rides Again." A Good interview with filmmaker Chris Paine, of Who Killed the Electric Car fame, previews Paine's take on the coming renaissance of the electric car, and his new film, Revenge of the Electric Car.
- "Everybody in the Pool", by Adam Star. The toll-free lane on San Francisco's Bay Bridge for cars with 3 or more people led to "casual carpooling," where riders stand at certain corners in the East Bay and drivers just swing by to pick up whoever's at the curb. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission estimates that carpools now amount to a staggering 46% of morning traffic on the Bay Bridge, reports Star.
- Plus one more: "The Good Guide To Choosing Your Ride". If you're a child of the car age, with a secretly guilty thrill at the sight of sleek little roadsters, there might yet be a guilt-free car in your future. Good looks at electric cars now out or in the works, from the high-velocity Tesla to the Mini E.
-- RP
Page last modified: 8/25/09
