California, Texas high-speed rail: Better late than not at all

It has been reported that if high-speed rail were placed on the California ballot today the electorate would vote it down. While that may be true, it would not be a landslide defeat. There are still a considerable number of Californians that continue to support the project, myself included. So, keep in mind that California … Read more

Development-oriented transit – Now there’s an idea!

In the past on the Air Quality Matters blog and elsewhere I have talked quite a bit about transit-oriented development or TOD. But, I’ve yet to discuss – here or elsewhere – development-oriented transit or DOT. That stops right here, right now. Whereas TOD is development that is built up around transit stops and train … Read more

Hitting 2030 GHG-mark harder with California driving-miles rising – 1

The California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (ARB) in its latest report suggests that without a significant change in the way Californians move about the state, greenhouse gas emissions will climb and reaching the 2030 GHG target – a level of 40 percent below that which was present in 1990 – won’t happen. A … Read more

To build or not to build our way out of congestion – that is the question

It seems lately like American transportation-infrastructure building has been in a state of limbo. I know it hasn’t; it just seems that way. Why? It’s because as a nation on the move in the transportation and travel senses it appears we are slowing down. As a matter of fact, the American motorist forfeits an average … Read more

California high-speed rail: Auditor’s report: Challenges, yes, but not unconquerable

Whether people realize it or not, California’s high-speed rail system is too important to emissions-reduction in state. It is a key component in the state emissions-reduction effort. And it is critical the high-speed rail project is built correctly. In fact, it was in the “Restoring unity, order, smarts, meaning, sanity and balance in the space … Read more

Restoring unity, order, smarts, meaning, sanity and balance in the space we call travel – 1: High-speed rail

From the time transportation first entered the automation age until this day in 2018, the science, platform and industry regarding such have indeed come far. When that happened, what began was a revolution and that same revolution continues today. There have been so many field-related developments that to try to name them all in this … Read more

Restoring unity, order, smarts, meaning, saneness and balance in the space we call travel

Most everyone and their brother it seems, views the world of travel through rose-colored glasses. I couldn’t be more serious. The realm is as unsustainable as it is unhinged – nary is there any doubt. To help lend credence, in 2016, for instance, for pollutant-emissions output transportation had reclaimed the lead; that position held by the … Read more

Brightline acquires XpressWest: Plans to offer Vegas-to-Victorville electrified train service in 2022

One-hundred and eighty-five miles is the distance by road, presumably, from Las Vegas in Nevada to Victorville in California. We know for sure that that is the railway mileage between those two southwestern U.S. communities. This, according to Brightline in its Sept. 18, 2018 “Brightline to Build Express Intercity Passenger Rail Connecting Southern California and … Read more

The ups and downs, ins and outs of modern rail rapid transit or MRRT

Rail rapid transit: What is it? Definition: Rail rapid transit can be thought of as any of the rail-based systems designed to convey, move, transport high numbers of passengers from points A to B pretty much insulated (isolated, separated) from other transportation modes using their own (dedicated) rights-of-way incorporating a guideway of one kind or … Read more