international passenger news

[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/ 

[Miningman]

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

[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/ 

[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]

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]

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 

[MidlandMike]

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

[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/ 
  

[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]

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/

 

[54light15]

 Germany and France are both raising the taxes on short-haul flights to encourage an increase in rail travel. If only aviation fuel in Europe (which is untaxed from what I've heard) is taxed the way diesel fuel is. Maybe Greta Thunberg is having an impact. 

[blue streak 1]

KLM airlines is replacing on flight with reserved seating on a Thalys effective March 2020

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

blue streak 1

China has approved another HSR line.681 Km ( Approx 425 miles ) .  Price $19.8B US .  When will we ever learn here in the US ?

 

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/asia/china-approves-chongqing-kunming-high-speed-line/ 

 

Probably sometime after the collapse of democracy and the establishment of an authoritarian state.

[blue streak 1]

China has approved another HSR line.681 Km ( Approx 425 miles ) .  Price $19.8B US .  When will we ever learn here in the US ?

 

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/asia/china-approves-chongqing-kunming-high-speed-line/ 

[JPS1]

daveklepper

Russia and South Africa have long-distance trains comparible to those in the USA.  Some are faster and some are slower. 

Where do Russia and South Africa stand in the comparisons? 

Meaningful country to country comparisons are difficult at best.  

What is the cost/benefit ratio for the U.S. to increase its standing in the speed contest? 

Who will pay for the upgrades necessary to move the country up the comparative speed ladder? 

What will be the return on the investment? 

[daveklepper]

Russia and South Africa have long-distance trains comparible to those in the USA.  Some are faster and some are slower.

[JPS1]

JOHN PRIVARA

 blue streak 1 China is now #1 in high speed trains. 

Based on the fastest regular services, the top countries in the 2019 survey are China, Italy, France, Japan, Spain and Taiwan, all of which operate at least one train timetabled at an average of more than 250 km/h. Germany is ranked seventh, the UK 13th and the USA 19th.

We may be 19th, but we're better than, uh....   Oh yeah,  we've got the best slow-motion eagles in the world.  

With the possible exception of China, the other countries don't have long-distance trains comparable to those in the U.S.  Amtrak's long-distance trains account for 70 to 75 percent of the company's mileage.  They are relatively slow.

What would be the position of the U.S. if the long-distance trains were removed from the comparison?

Amtrak is the predominate commercial carrier between New York and Washington.  It also has a significant portion of the New York to Boston commercial market.  

What would be the cost/benefit ratio for increasing the speeds between New York and Washington so that Amtrak's NEC would place in the top five of the countries for speed comparisons?  

[BaltACD]

blue streak 1

Want to run a coast to coast excursion train across Africa?  It only takes better than 2 years to get permits and 2 weeks to run the train.  It is a first !

https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news/africa/single-view/view/coast-to-coast-cruise-train-crosses-africa.html  

And at only $12.8K US - only a little over $900 a day

[blue streak 1]

Want to run a coast to coast excursion train across Africa?  It only takes better than 2 years to get permits and 2 weeks to run the train.  It is a first !

https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news/africa/single-view/view/coast-to-coast-cruise-train-crosses-africa.html  

[JOHN PRIVARA]

blue streak 1

China is now #1 in high speed trains.

 

 

Based on the fastest regular services, the top countries in the 2019 survey are China, Italy, France, Japan, Spain and Taiwan, all of which operate at least one train timetabled at an average of more than 250 km/h. Germany is ranked seventh, the UK 13th and the USA 19th.

We may be 19th, but we're better than, uh....   Oh yeah,  we've got the best slow-motion eagles in the world.  

[blue streak 1]

The French SNCF is having to order more TGVs due to surging ridership.  This means older equippment set for retirement will have to be maintained for an indefinite extension

https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/ridership-surge-prompts-sncf-to-order-more-tgvs.html

 

[blue streak 1]

700 passengers rescued from IR railways train near Mumbia. India.  Train got flooded frrom moonsoon initiated flood.

[ORNHOO]

For something completely different, how about a full size DMU converted to run entirely on solar energy:

https://jalopnik.com/this-delightful-solar-powered-train-is-the-pinnacle-of-1834284676 (in OZ, of course).

[BaltACD]

Overmod

Jones1945

World's fastest bullet train with a 72ft nose is unveiled in Japan  

It's as if, in a Chuck Jones cartoon parody of Star Wars, Wile E. Coyote's bumbling Sith apprentice was an opossum.

With Augie Doggie's Doggie Daddy's nose.

[blue streak 1]

China is now #1 in high speed trains.

 

https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/news/single-view/view/china-out-in-front-with-the-worlds-fastest-trains.html

 

[Jones1945]

Overmod

It's as if, in a Chuck Jones cartoon parody of Star Wars, Wile E. Coyote's bumbling Sith apprentice was an opossum.

With Augie Doggie's Doggie Daddy's nose.

I think Augie Doggie was cute! I bet you never heard about Moomin in "The Moomins."

Anyway, I think that "World's fastest bullet train of Japan" is another case of given up esthetics in favor of engineering...

[Overmod]

Jones1945

World's fastest bullet train with a 72ft nose is unveiled in Japan 

It's as if, in a Chuck Jones cartoon parody of Star Wars, Wile E. Coyote's bumbling Sith apprentice was an opossum.

With Augie Doggie's Doggie Daddy's nose.

[JOHN PRIVARA]

Re:  Hey  USA what would 

Don’t forget, you can’t compare any other country to the US because we are so unique.

1)  We’re the best.

2)  The eastern part of the US is only as densely populated as France and Spain, so HSR would never work due to our spare density.

3)  The US enjoys decimating its cities with freeways to ensure cars move fast enough to negate the need for HSR,  other countries don’t because they hate freedom.  

You can’t compare apples to orangutans when it comes to HSR.

[blue streak 1]

SNCF reports 14% growth on TGV network.  Soome from new service to Bordeaux region but overall still more growth.  Hey  USA what would happen if awe had some network in high density population areas such as NEC, CHI, LAX, SFO ?

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/high-performance/sncf-reports-strong-high-speed-growth/?RAchannel=news 

[Jones1945]

World's fastest bullet train with a 72ft nose is unveiled in Japan 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a27457041/japans-new-bullet-train-can-hit-224-mph/

The *operating speed of it would be 360kph(224mph) which is merely 10kph faster than China's CR400AF/BF operating speed. Since it is set to be put into service by 2030, let's see how China react to it. 

Meanwhile, somewhere in China......