I will admit to being a bit of a train buff, not so much that I will spend hours standing on a cold platform taking pictures, but to the point that I enjoy a nice train ride and will go out of my way to travel by rail when on holiday, especially if I'm in Europe. One Web site that I follow is called Global Rail News. Let's take a look at today's stories:
Europe commits more money to Italian national network
The European Union is to co-finance two rail improvement projects in Italy as part of the continued investment in the Scandinavian-Mediterranean priority corridor. The EU will contribute €15 million to[...]
Londoners show support for Crossrail 2
Proposals to further expand London’s urban rail network have been given public backing, a consultation has shown. Out of 14,000 people questioned, 95 per cent supported the principle of building[...]
Completion date set for Zurich cross-city line
Zurich’s 9.6 kilometre cross-city link is set to open on June 15 next year, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) has announced. Earlier this week, SBB began the 200-day countdown to the[...]
Australia looks to protect future high-speed rail route
Australia’s shadow minister for transport and infrastructure has announced plans to preserve the route of the country’s proposed high-speed network. Anthony Albanese said he plans to introduce a member’s bill[...]
EU commits €11m to GWML electrification scheme
The European Union is planning to invest €11 million to fund preparatory ground works ahead of the planned electrification of the Great Western main line. EU money will be spent[...]
And from the USA...
Investigators look for clues to fatal New York derailment
Rail accident investigators in the US are continuing to try and identify the cause of a major derailment which resulted in the deaths of four passengers on New York’s Metro-North[...]
Gosh,
one of these things is not like the other!
Yes, yes, I know that the MetroNorth derailment was probably caused by driver error, given that it was speeding prior to the deadly curve. But, still, if we had the Positive Train Control -- automatically slowing trains at dangerous sections of track -- that one would expect to exist already (FRA rules require it to be in place by 2015, but that deadline will probably be waived) on the commuter rail system serving the richest city in the richest country in the history of the universe (well, maybe there are aliens richer than us...) this would most likely not have happened, especially if speed was the main reason for the crash.
So, here in the USA, we have a speeding train killing our fellow citizens as it careens down 19th-century track, even as our so-called 'high-speed' rail Acela train travels slower than most of us drive on on our crumbling highways, and is really nothing more than an illusion of high-speed rail service for rich people who want to waste money on a fake fast train so that they don't have to sit next to the 'poors' on the normal Amtrak train traveling at about the same speed. In California, last week, our only true high-speed rail project was just stopped dead in its not-yet-built tracks.
Just today, I learned that Italy will have Europe's fastest train in service next year, traveling at 360 KPH (224 MPH), which will mean a two-hour (and pocket change) journey between Milan and Rome, which is about the same distance as the journey between Providence and Washington DC. Eventually, the train may even be able to run at 400 KPH (249 MPH) on enhanced tracks -- wow, just wow!
Years ago, my grandfather emigrated from Italy to the United States, undoubtedly impressed by the growing infrastructure and skyscrapers of Manhattan as he arrived at Ellis Island. Today, I have to look across the ocean to the country that we saved from fascism and economic doom during World War II in order to see the future. As a dual-citizen of Italy, I'm proud of my second country's achievements, but I was born and raised in the USA, and it makes me so upset that we can't have nice things here.
What do Asians and Europeans think when they arrive at JFK and are forced to take the crumbling subway to a Manhattan Island littered with rubbish, piles of garbage and broken sidewalks covered in gum?
We deserve first-world infrastructure that is fast, reliable, safe and, dare I say, even stylish. Why can't we have this?
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