Tag: SUPERTRAIN

LIMTV: DoT’s SUPERTRAIN?

The LIMTV (linear induction motor test vehicle) is tested at the Department of Transportation’s high-speed ground test center (now owned and operated by Association of American Railroads) near Pueblo, Colorado, in March of 1973. The experimental vehicle was designed to operate at speeds up to 250 miles per hour, using electro-magnetic forces for noiseless propulsion.

SUPERTRAIN?

While not exactly the SUPERTRAIN, the 1979 Love Boat-style show set on a huge nuclear-powered train zipping from NYC to LA which I’m obsessed with, the LIMTV undoubtably influenced SUPERTRAIN’S aesthetic. Except LIMTV actually helped pave the way for an actual product using linear induction-based systems, having found a niche with the aid of Bombardier’s Advanced Rapid Transit system. Notable installations are in Vancouver’s SkyTrain and NYC’s JFK AirTrain (below).

AirTrain

Bad Day For the SUPERTRAIN

Yesterday was a bad day for the SUPERTRAIN around the world. In Los Angeles a Metrolink commuter train collided with a Union Pacific freight train: At Least 18 Killed as Trains Collide in Los Angeles. the same day a Freight Train Fire in Channel Tunnel shut down the Franco-English tunnel; there were no casualties, but it is unclear what structural damage occurred inside the tunnel.

Both accidents illustrate how our current rail infrastructure is running at capacity. Freight and passenger service must be segregated on their own right-of-ways and capacity, especially in high-traffic areas such as Los Angeles, must be increased.

Update 9/14

Apparently the Metrolink engineer missed a red signal which caused the passenger train to collide with the freight train. Sad.

SUPERTRAIN to the Game

I attend Friday’s U.S. Open tennis match in Flushing Meadows (Queens), which increased my East Coast Liberal Elitism a step forward (gift baskets arriving soon!) by not only watching Tennis but also taking the SUPERTRAIN to the game. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows is a very nice facility, but it is nowhere close to where I live or work. Luckily it is served by both the 7 Train and the Long Island Railroad. The LIRR isn’t quite the SUPERTRAIN but the trip was only 12 minutes, considerably shorter then the estimated 90 minutes by subway. That is SUPER enough for me.

Penn Station

This trip underscored how many parts of the SUPERTRAIN experience need to be operating in top form in order to provide a smooth, stress-free trip. Not only do you need efficient transportation at both departing and arriving stops, but you need logical path of travel in both departing and arriving stations so that you can make your 7:04 train. This includes clear signage throughout your journey, especially at stations, not to mention clear announcements of station stops.

Madison Square Garden Ceiling
LIRR fails (Epic Transit Fail) spectacularly when it comes to Penn Station, or what remains of Penn Station. A multi-modal station which was destroyed in order to build an sub-urban basketball arena, what’s left is a rabbit-worn maze of 9′-0″ high corridors. Exasperating the situation is that there are, at minimum, three waiting areas: one each for LIRR, Amtrak and NJ Transit. There is no central waiting room such as at Grand Central (not to mention a lack of any celebration of entry or exit which arriving and departing at Grand Central) and the station spans two floors (not counting the track level).

Penn Station is perhaps the only major urban station which treats its passenger’s in such a manner. We can only hope that the future Moynihan Station will wiggle free from the current logjam and Penn Station will again be a dignified entry to New York City.

No SUPERTRAIN to Pittsburg

Amtrak Pennsylvanian Map
Pennsylvanian
9h 15m

  1. New York – Penn Station, NY
  2. Newark, NJ
  3. Princeton Junction, NJ
  4. Trenton, NJ
  5. Philadelphia, PA
  6. Paoli, PA
  7. Lancaster, PA
  8. Elizabethtown, PA
  9. Harrisburg, PA
  10. Lewistown, PA
  11. Huntingdon, PA
  12. Tyrone, PA
  13. Altoona, PA
  14. Johnstown, PA
  15. Latrobe, PA
  16. Greensburg, PA
  17. Pittsburgh, PA

Joe Biden Name-Checks the SUPERTRAIN

Almost every single night, I take the train home to Wilmington, Delaware, sometimes very late. As I sit there in my seat and I look out that window, I see those flickering lights of the homes that pass by, I can almost hear the conversation they’re having at their kitchen tables after they put their kids to bed.
…
But I profoundly disagree with the direction John wants to take this country, from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Amtrak to veterans.

Transcript: Sen. Joe Biden’s acceptance speech.
supertrain original credits logo

Vice President, SUPERTRAIN

Bullet TrainBullet Train, originally uploaded by Keyfabe

Atrios reminds us that Joe Biden is that is a Champion of the SUPERTRAIN:

He won, and became the youngest senator. But before he could even take office, Neilia, his two sons, and their baby daughter were in a brutal car accident in Delaware. Neilia and the baby were killed and the boys, Beau and Hunter, were badly injured. Biden stayed by their side during their recovery and initially refused to return to D.C. to take his Senate seat, acquiescing only after then-Majority Leader Mike Mansfield pushed him to take it.
Biden vowed to remain a fixture in his sons’ lives. Valerie became their surrogate mother, and Biden began the daily commute from Wilmington to Washington that made him an Amtrak champion for life. Even after Biden met and married his second wife, Jill, five years later, he didn’t surrender the back-breaking schedule. “Kids keep a thought in their heads for 12 hours,” he says at one campaign stop. “They aren’t gonna keep it for 24 hours.”

A Wish for the SUPERTRAIN

As you might have seen from my JFK-DCA DCA-LGA trip today to the lovely Washington D.C. metro area, I did a bunch of flying today which should have been on the SUPERTRAIN.

The problem was that I needed to go to both Annapolis and Washington DC very last minute. Not having the SUPERTRAIN meant that a trip which could (and should) have been undertaken with a combination of subway, metro and SUPERTRAIN became a game theory test between different transportation modes. Surprisingly, taking the Delta Shuttle was actually cheaper and half the time than taking Amtrak. Instead of 3 hours on the train it was 1.5 hours on the plane/waiting in the terminal. Carbon-spewing flight won the day. While I had to use taxis in New York City, I was able to use Washington’s Metro on the way to and from National Airport and from Annapolis to Washington DC.

The Northeast Corridor is the one area where the SUPERTRAIN can take advantage of existing density, mass transit and travel demand. Now if we just had half a trillion dollars laying around we could all take the SUPERTRAIN.