Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

25 Dec 2010 21:02

tags

U.S.: Gods of holiday travel converge on East Coast to ruin weekends

  • 16 inches of snow likely headed towards NYC tomorrow
  • one annoyed SFB staffer who may not be headed home tomorrow source
  • » Worst-case scenario: OK, OK, this storm hit the South first, so we can’t really complain that much, but at the same time, this storm could have a ripple effect on large swaths of the country. And it makes one regret taking an Amtrak up to Connecticut from D.C.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Dec 2010 10:34

tags

Culture: Pearl Harbor, in train form (minus the bombs … and the island)

Pearl Harbor happened in Hawaii, on an island. Yesterday, near Los Angeles, on a train … they tried to relive the moment, complete with actors. Fascinating. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Nov 2010 00:53

tags

Politics: Ray LaHood to states: Keep building high-speed rail or lose money

  • no Newly elected governors in multiple Midwest states want to cancel in-progress high-speed rail projects they say their states can’t afford.
  • but … However, these newly minted Republican leaders want to keep the money already set aside for these projects to help fix the roads.
  • no Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the states either have to keep the projects going or forfeit the money entirely. It’s war, guys. source
  • » Our take: Why is it that the first thing GOP leaders look to cut are public-works projects with potential long-term implications? The two projects in question here – a high-speed link between Milwaukee and Chicago and another between four of Ohio’s largest cities – would have a long-term positive effect on the state economies. Yet canceling them halfway through is a great idea. Have these guys even looked at the rising popularity of the Acela trains in the Northeast Corridor? Or how much these would help commuters? Milwaukee to Chicago, for example, is a very common Amtrak trip, and faster trains would make it easier for people who want to skip the traffic to make the trek. It’s not always about slimming down now, but planning for tomorrow.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Apr 2010 10:33

tags

Offbeat: When this Amtrak train goes by, it goes “mooooooooooo”

  • Amtrak’s new train runs on beef. Yes, beef. The travel option of third-to-last resort (it tops Chinatown buses and *shudder* Greyhound buses) has a new line running from Oklahoma City to Forth Worth, and it’s using a type of biodiesel fuel called B20. What’s B20, you ask? 80 percent diesel fuel, 20 percent beef byproducts. Yeah, it’s technically biodiesel, but eww. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Apr 2009 18:50

tags

U.S.: The Obama administration wants to fix our sucky rail system

See those red lines? They go faster than the grey ones. If they do it right, Amtrak might finally have a better rep than Amway. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags