Miami Beach monorail moving forward after commissioners approve
Miami-Dade commissioners have voted to proceed with a plan to build a monorail from Miami Beach to Miami. With the 10-2 vote, the Miami Beach Monorail Consortium will begin planning for the project to begin construction. Commissioners will then vote on the final design and budget in 12 to 18 months. The final cost is expected to be around $60 million paid by the county per year to the Meridiam consortium over 30 years, with Meridiam and its partners fronting around $770 million. A new Miami transit hub will connect the monorail with Metromover and bus connections. [thenextmiami.com]
VIA Rail restarting Winnipeg – Vancouver service in December
VIA Rail is restarting operations in Western Canada with service on the Winnipeg – Vancouver route effective Dec. 11. The gradual return to service in Western Canada will mean one weekly roundtrip on this portion of VIA’s iconic Canadian route. The Canadian typically offers service between Vancouver and Toronto. In making this decision VIA Rail says it undertook a thorough evaluation of its health and safety protocols, including physical distancing measures, enhanced air ventilation systems, and improved measures for passenger access and the protection of its employees. [travelweek.ca]
NYC’s digital subway map comes alive
New York’s MTA has unveiled its new digital map, the first to use the agency’s own data streams to update in real time. It’s so thoroughly up-to-the-moment that you can watch individual trains move around the system on your phone. Zoom out to see a whole line or borough. Zoom in to see routes widen to make visible individual service changes. Click on a station to find out whether the elevators and escalators are working. In a dire year for NYC and its transit system, this digital launch is a rare moment of things looking up. [curbed.com]
The world’s longest immersed tunnel will connect Germany and Denmark
Construction for the world’s longest immersed tunnel is underway. Slated to open to the public in 2029, the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will connect the 11.1 miles of Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland. It will be the longest combined road and rail tunnel in the world. For those journeying between the two cities by car, the ferry takes about 45 minutes now. When the tunnel is built, travel across will take seven minutes by train (traveling about 125 mph) and 10 minutes by car (traveling about 70 mph). [travelandleisure.com]
Joe Biden’s love of Amtrak tells us how he would govern
After the first presidential debate, Joe Biden did what he has done many times before: boarded a train. “The Build Back Better Express” would lumber for the better part of a day between Cleveland and Johnstown. By embarking on a whistle-stop tour of the Rust Belt, the former vice president was not only harking back to famous campaigns of the past, he was once again auditioning for the role of rail passenger-in-chief. [washingtonpost.com]
Hit by pandemic, Amtrak is making cuts that may endure
The COVID-19 pandemic may force a reckoning for Amtrak’s long-distance routes, bringing about cuts that critics have long urged but that passenger rail advocates in and out of Congress say could undermine the service’s mission. Pummeled by the pandemic, Amtrak earlier this month began running three times a week what were previously daily long-distance routes. The nation’s only passenger rail system also began cutting 2,050 jobs out of its workforce of 18,500 and has reduced service on other routes as well. [rollcall.com]
Five innovations that could shape the future of rail travel
What will the future of public transport look like? The major projects being planned today, such as the UK’s HS2 high-speed rail network, aren’t fundamentally different to what’s been built over the last 30 years. Maglev trains are largely confined to niche projects in China. Hyperloop remains an unproven glimmer in Elon Musk and Richard Branson’s eyes. [theconversation.com]
