international passenger news

[blue streak 1]

Saudi 15 hr station fire shuts down HSR line thru Jeddah.  This statement may be subject to change as artilcle states trains not stopping at station ?

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/middle-east/haramain-hs-services-suspended-for-one-month-following-jeddah-fire/

 

[blue streak 1]

More overnight sleeper trains to return to Amsterdam.  However date is over a year away.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/passenger/nightjet-expands-to-amsterdam-and-brussels/54811.article 

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/main-line/dutch-government-to-support-return-of-international-night-train/ 

[blue streak 1]

Typhoon hagibis is taking a bead on Tokyo with a storm surge of up to 13 meters in tokyo bay which is a circular bay.  CAT 4  with 130 MPH winds not close to CAT 5.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/world/asia/typhoon-japan.html 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/10/11/super-typhoon-hagibis-moves-ominously-towards-tokyo/ 

ost rransportation shut down including bullet trains.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20191012_16/ 

Biggest in several decades !

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/710/ 
  

[MidlandMike]

Washington Post article says waves to 40 feet (13 Meters), but storm surge only to 8 feet.

[blue streak 1]

European rail travel up especially over night trains.  When the downturn of over night trains that ppreviously occurred was the specific equipment retired and scrapped ?

https://www.railwaygazette.com/passenger/travel-industry-confirms-rail-renaissance-in-europe/54828.article 

[blue streak 1]

Japan typhoon flood damage on 10  = 12 car HSR trains.  Water up to the roofs. Shades on NJT as Japan east stored trains in a low lying yard that flooded when river bank broke.  May take a year + to rehab train sets but will have to wait.

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/asia/typhoon-hagibis-causes-major-rail-disruption-in-japan/  

[blue streak 1]

Damage to number of train sets now listed as 21.  As well lines are blocked and substituting with bus not available due to roads being seriosly damaged.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/high-speed/typhoon-breaches-hokuriku-shinkansen-and-chuo-main-line/54837.article 

[blue streak 1]

Night jet overnight trafic up 10%.  Could this be a harbinger of what may happen in the US ?  

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/main-line/nightjet-passenger-traffic-up-10-says-obbs-ceo/ 

[Miningman]

Well that is encouraging ... wouldn't that be something, always thought it made great sense. 

[blue streak 1]

blue streak 1

Night jet overnight trafic up 10%.  Could this be a harbinger of what may happen in the US ?  

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/main-line/nightjet-passenger-traffic-up-10-says-obbs-ceo/ 

 

Nightjet is now trying to get some intermittent rail cars for their service until Siemens cars are delivered.

https://www.railjournal.com/fleet/austrian-federal-railways-to-hire-sleeping-cars/ 

[blue streak 1]

JR east may have to scrap 120 train cars.  Cannot use JR west trains due to the non compatible of the 50 Hz trains not being able to work on 60 Hz.  That seems a shame that they were built that way ?

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/10/17/national/jr-east-may-scrap-120-flooded-shinkansen-cars/?fbclid=IwAR0QJUshM-HqpvJa1f1xGrTadi5e_OKpa4iy0nKe2ypasKzsjN5IFRQpzKI#.XawKNm5Fycw

 

[blue streak 1]

China is testing 14 HSR lines that are scheduled to open by the end of the year.  Unfortunately the total Km ( mileage ) is not listed.  If even 12 lines make the end of the year mark that is going to be a very significant accomplishment.

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/high-speed/testing-underway-as-china-prepares-to-open-14-high-speed-lines/

 

[blue streak 1]

UK Victoria line increasing capacity.  Extended times of 100 second headways.  No mention if longer trains possible ?

https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/longer-peaks-increase-victoria-line-capacity/54973.article

 

[blue streak 1]

10 Japan HSR train sets will be scrapped due to unrecoverable damages that would make their safety be in question.  2 JR west trains and 8  JR east train sets. New E-7 Trains scheduled to be delivered in 2nd Q 2020 will fill into present service holes.  Older E-4 equipment that had been scheduled to retire will now stay in service until additional new equipment is ordered and finally delivered.

https://www.railjournal.com/fleet/flood-damaged-hokuriku-shinkansen-trains-to-be-scrapped/ 

[blue streak 1]

Another European airport will be getting a HSR connection (German).  That as the US contines todrag its feet.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructure/stuttgart-airport-rail-connection-contract-awarded/55071.article 

[JPS1]

blue streak 1

 Another European airport will be getting a HSR connection (German).  That as the US contines todrag its feet. 

Houstonians just passed a significant mobility bond issue.  Included in the package is a provision to extend the light rail system to Hobby Airport. 

 

DART and the “T” have light rail trains that run from Dallas and Fort Worth to DFW International Airport.  Most of the people that ride them appear to be airport workers or passengers bound for intermediate stations.  A major deficiency on both services is the lack of dedicated areas for luggage.

 

Austin hopes to extend its commuter rail line to Bergstrom International Airport, but at this point the money to do so is not on the horizon.  Some authorities believe that extending Austin’s Rapid Bus service to the airport would be more cost effective than a rail line.

[charlie hebdo]

blue streak 1

Another European airport will be getting a HSR connection (German).  That as the US contines todrag its feet.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/infrastructure/stuttgart-airport-rail-connection-contract-awarded/55071.article 

 

Very true. AFAIK, no US airport has a direct connection to Amtrak. Mitchell in Milwaukee comes pretty close, but not at the terminal.

[Overmod]

JPS1

A major deficiency on both services is the lack of dedicated areas for luggage.

You would not believe the shot-rabbit looks I got when I brought this point up in discussions in Memphis.  It's well recognized even in bus design for terminal shuttles.  And it's not just the dedicated pickup areas, it's security in those areas, access to them without discommoding other passengers, and getting the luggage reliably on and off.

In my opinion, and in my experience so far, you usually can't mix mass-transit access by passengers with access by terminal workers.  That's compounded by the inability of most light-rail systems to accommodate 'two-speed' operation coherently if at all.  

I have thought for a very long time that a cost-effective version of guided BRT and the usual considerations GM touted for diesel buses as early as the 1950s are almost always the 'best' prospective solution for regional access to airline terminals.  In fact, wrote this up as a paper for one of my transportation-program classes in college, thinly disguised as a "PRT" solution.

With the advent of two prospective technologies (mainstream autonomous operation and plug-in BRT practical for larger vehicles) there is very little use for any dedicated light-rail system built and run at 'public' expense to reach an airport, and severe constraints imposed on a service that would do so with heavy rail or a dedicated HSR service.  Of course, you would need to solve the issue of accelerated wear and spalling on the guideway surfaces -- perhaps it's a European selective-attention thing and there are easy self-leveling solutions like the ones I can think of for it.

[charlie hebdo]

Overmod

there is very little use for any dedicated light-rail system built and run at 'public' expense to reach an airport, and severe constraints imposed on a service that would do so with heavy rail or a dedicated HSR service.  

HSR, local services by S Bahn and regional services currently work very well at Frankfurt and Düsseldorf now; soon in Stuttgart and the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

Overmod

one of my transportation-program classes in college

Would that have been ORF 467:Transportation Systems Analysis? It sounds very good from the catalogue description.

[York1]

charlie hebdo

Very true. AFAIK, no US airport has a direct connection to Amtrak. Mitchell in Milwaukee comes pretty close, but not at the terminal.

 

New Orleans has toyed with this idea for a long time.  Connecting New Orleans with Baton Rouge by a new rail passenger train would take it right past the New Orleans airport.

However, it has been talked about since the 1980s.  Last year, there was another push for this train, but I have no idea if they are any closer to doing this than at any other time.

Edit:  I should add that the train would originate at the Amtrak station in NO.  Right now the City of New Orleans train does pass by the airport, if I remember right.  There are no stops near the airport.

[rdamon]

And they just opened a new terminal in MSY with no provision for rail access.

Does Amtrak serve the Newark (EWR) station?

[charlie hebdo]

rdamon

  Does Amtrak serve the Newark (EWR) station?   

Sort of, yes, but not directly:

https://www.newarkairport.com/to-from-airport/air-train

[MidlandMike]

charlie hebdo

HSR, local services by S Bahn and regional services currently work very well at Frankfurt and Düsseldorf now; soon in Stuttgart and the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

The same is true with SBB at Zurich and Geneva.

[blue streak 1]

Norway report recommends expansion of night train service.  Included is for coaches with reclining seats.

https://www.railjournal.com/fleet/report-recommends-expansion-of-norwegian-night-trains/ 

[daveklepper]

 It has been a long time since I have been to Cleveland, but I remeber the Rapid (Red Line) working just fine for travelers and airport workers.

[ROBERT WILLISON]

The red line runs from the  old windermere station  on Euclid Ave West along the old cut line to union terminal and then west to the airport. The line was extended from  w third to the airport in 1967.

[blue streak 1]

China opens 2 more HSR lines and plans to open 13 more HSR extensions by end of year.

https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/high-speed/china-opens-two-high-speed-lines/ 

[blue streak 1]

Audio report European night train ridership now  increasing 10% year over year after several years of declines.  

https://www.pri.org/file/2019-12-31/taking-night-train-europe 

[blue streak 1]

China adds 263 more HSR trains a day.  As well 7 more overnight sleeper trains.  Wonder if the 7 number was all the equipment CR had?  But of course Amtrak keeps saying overnight LD trains are not desired by the US public.

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/asia/china-expands-high-speed-and-overnight-sleeper-services/   

[daveklepper]

Not quite.  Anderson has restored or announced he will restore sleeping car service to the Boston - Newport News overnight train.