USA: A $100 Billion Train: The Future of California or a Boondoggle?
For all the cranes, crews in orange vests, beeping trucks and fresh concrete, it remains far from certain that this project will ever be completed. [nytimes.com]
USA: Calculations show California’s bullet train can complete route within 2 hours and 40 minutes. Reality may prove slower
When California voters approved construction of a bullet train in 2008, they had a legal promise that passengers would be able to speed from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two hours and 40 minutes. [latimes.com]
USA: SunRail debuts in Osceola County as commuter rail adds 17 miles and four stations
SunRail awakened before sunrise Monday with more toot in its Central Florida whistle. That’s when the commuter train began carrying passengers in Osceola County for the first time. [railwayage.com]
Asia: China’s first railway through desert marks 60th anniversary
Every day, 11 sets of passenger trains and 36 sets of cargo trains run along the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway. Protected by seedlings, grass hedges and trees, carriages tear through the southern edge of the Tengger Desert with ease. [xinhuanet.com]
Africa: Zimbabwe’s Rickety Trains Get A Boost From Expat Investors Next Door
There’s a new plan in the works to get the rail system back up to snuff, with a $400 million investment, led by a group of Zimbabwean expat investors living in South Africa. [wyso.org]
Are UK trains the ‘envy’ of Europe?
Amid recent delays and cancelations, the director of Britain’s rail companies membership body, the Rail Delivery Group, told BBC 5 live that the UK’s railways were the “envy” of Europe. [bbc.co.uk]
USA: The Story Behind the ‘Fantasy’ Columbus, Ohio Public Transit Map
Columbus is the largest city in the United States without a passenger rail system — reality that was obscured recently by a self-described “fantasy” transit map for the city that generated buzz after it was posted online. [dispatch.com]
