Living Car Free - Cool! Actual advancement in Rail Transportation! Distributed engine train...

http://forcechange.com/2008/12/17/new-very-high-speed-train-goes-220-mph-and-has-no-centralized-engine/

Some highlights:


Unlike most trains, which have a single engine car in the front or back, the AGV has a series of distributed motors underneath the passenger carriages, which saves space and allows the train to carry 20% more passengers.


Top "real" speed of 224 mph (this is the fastest it will actually travel. For comparison, the Acela's is 150 mph)


The AGV has low greenhouse gas emissions, with approximately 2.2g for every km traveled per passenger, which is 13 times less than a bus (30g), 50 times less than a car (115g) and 70 times less than a plane (153g).

(Of course, if the electricity which powers it is from wind/solar, it would be near zero)


http://forcechange.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/agv-very-high-speed-train.jpg
http://forcechange.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/co2-emissions-comparison-graph-agv-bus-car-plane.jpg

Interesting article. I wonder what kind of track upgrade you would need to get one of these babies rolling at 220 mph.

I also wonder what it would do to air traffic if you could travel between Chicago and New York is 3.5 hours?

Interesting article. I wonder what kind of track upgrade you would need to get one of these babies rolling at 220 mph.

I also wonder what it would do to air traffic if you could travel between Chicago and New York is 3.5 hours?

In France, no track updates as it's pretty close to the TGV they've already got running.

Here? You'd need all new tracks. It will NEVER happen.

If it did happen, and they did it like in France (i.e. kept prices reasonable), it would cut down on both car and air travel between Boston-NYC-DC. Assuming the train averaged 150 mph (totally reasonable for a train that can do 220 mph and a fairly straight route), you could go:

Boston-NYC: 1hr 45 min
Boston-DC: 2hr 56 min

Right now, taking the acela, if it's a GOOD day, you'll get between Boston and NYC in 3hr 45 min.

But, the real difference is not the change in air/car travel. It's that if you can make the trip affordable and the time short enough, it will increase business between the cities and allow people to seek jobs in either city (as well as make day trips between them). That would be huge economically.

I'm about as pro-train as there is but this is just an expensive airline. It's going to cost tens of billions to make this possible and quite frankly, the money could be better spent elsewhere. The type of rail transport that truly making an impact without question is lightrail. We've seen so many examples of how lightrail revived entire communites while bringing economic growth. In fact, trolley's can do almost the same for a fraction of the cost.

If you want to make more people car free, build a traction line that goes to and from the downtown district or the business district.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-08-streetcars_x.htm

In another LCF thread, someone posted a YouTube of the Bogota, Colombia of their Bus Rapid Transit system, which seems like it would compare very favorably to streetcars for some cities. For one thing it can move a large number of people. Downside is that it seems to work best where there are wide boulevards that can let the BRT use 2-4 lanes. Lanes are dedicated to the buses, rather than the streetcar concept where you weave through auto lanes.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/01/28/streetfilm-brt-in-bogota/

In another LCF thread, someone posted a YouTube of the Bogota, Colombia of their Bus Rapid Transit system, which seems like it would compare very favorably to streetcars for some cities. For one thing it can move a large number of people. Downside is that it seems to work best where there are wide boulevards that can let the BRT use 2-4 lanes. Lanes are dedicated to the buses, rather than the streetcar concept where you weave through auto lanes.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/01/28/streetfilm-brt-in-bogota/


I've posted that here, and so have others. BRT is a great quick transit fix, especially in developing areas.

One advantage that light rail and trollies have was mentioned by Steve:

We've seen so many examples of how lightrail revived entire communites while bringing economic growth. In fact, trolley's can do almost the same for a fraction of the cost.

Permanent rails are more likely to attract permanent investment in areas near the rails. Bus lines--even BRT--can be moved anytime, so investors are less likely to consider them in determining where to locate new residential and commercial developments. But light rail, trolleys and subways are all powerful attractions for developers.