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--- transportation:train [2025/07/30 21:36] – [Articles] timb
+++ transportation:train [2026/09/03 00:36] (current) – [Articles] timb
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 https://shakeddown.substack.com/p/a-short-post-on-short-trains
+== How Railroad Crossings Work ==
+January 16, 2024 - Practical Engineering
+[Note that this article is a transcript of the video embedded above.]
+If you’ve ever ridden a bike, driven a car, or operated pretty much any other vehicle on earth, there’s a fact you’ve probably taken for granted: you can see farther than it takes to stop. Within the span between seeing a stationary hazard and colliding with it, you have enough time to recognize it, apply the brakes, and come to a stop to avoid a collision. Your sight distance is greater than your stopping distance; it sounds almost silly, but this is a critical requirement for nearly all human-operated machines. But it’s not true for trains.
+Engineers can see just as far as the rest of us, but the stopping distance of a fully laden freight train can be upwards of a mile. That means if an engineer can see something on the tracks ahead, it’s often already too late. So, trains need a lot of safety infrastructure to make up for that deficiency. For one: trains almost always have the right-of-way when they cross a road or highway at the same level, or at grade. The cars have to wait; And, we use a litany of warning devices at grade crossings to enforce that right-of-way and try to prevent collisions. In most cases, these devices have to detect the impending arrival of a train and give motorists enough time to clear the tracks or come to a stop. It sounds simple, but the engineering that makes that possible is, I think, really interesting, and of course, I built some demonstrations to help explain. This video is part of my series on railroads, so check out the rest after this if you want to learn more! I’m Grady, and this is Practical Engineering. Today, we’re exploring how grade crossings work.
+https://practical.engineering/blog/2023/12/29/how-railroad-crossings-work
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 https://amtrakexplorer.com/
+==  Amtrak's New 160mph Acela Trains Take Just As Long As the Old Ones ==
+Posted by BeauHD on Thursday August 28, 2025 07:02PM
+Amtrak's new 160 mph tilting Acela trains have debuted on the Northeast Corridor, offering smoother rides, upgraded interiors, faster Wi-Fi, and 27% more seating capacity. However, "they don't complete the journey any faster than the old trains," reports The Independent. From the report:
+<blockquote>
+Acela runs from Washington, DC's Union Station to Boston via Philadelphia, New York Penn Station, New Haven, and Providence. It's a total distance of 457 miles, with the fastest next-gen Acela journey being six hours and 43 minutes, five minutes slower than the quickest end-to-end time offered by the old Acela trains, introduced in 2000. However, this may be because, as is common practice with new trains the world over, Amtrak is scheduling longer dwell times at stations so staff and passengers can adjust to them. The next-gen sets have a top service speed that's 10mph faster -- though this can only be achieved on certain sections of the mostly 110mph route -- and an enhanced "anticipative" tilting system that allows for higher speeds through curves.
+</blockquote>
+https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/08/28/2128257/amtraks-new-160mph-acela-trains-take-just-as-long-as-the-old-ones
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 https://www.kqed.org/news/12039472/bart-shuts-down-entire-train-service-due-to-computer-networking-problem
+== Realtime BART Arrival Display ==
+Nov 9, 2025 - Filip Grace
+I have a love-hate relationship with BART. I’m grateful for it, but let’s just say it’s not always the most reliable so it’s nice to see before hand when the train you need is due to arrive. There are plenty of projects out there that show real-time BART arrival information. This one does that too, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but I wanted to build my own version that captures the vintage BART platform sign vibe I associate with commuting between the East Bay and my job in the city.
+https://filbot.com/real-time-bart-display/
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 https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/caltrain-electrification-project-paying-off-19917422.php
+== California’s High-Speed Rail Fiasco Keeps Getting Worse ==
+California's dream of building a high-speed rail system linking San Francisco and LA is a cautionary tale of ambition outpacing funding, planning, and federal support.
+Benton Graham, Grist - September 10, 2025
+Seventeen years ago, Californians bet on a grand vision of the future. They narrowly approved a $10 billion bond issue to build a high-speed rail line that would zip between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. This technological marvel would slash emissions, revitalize the state’s Central Valley, and, with some financial help from the feds and private sector, provide the fast, efficient, and convenient travel Asia and Europe have long enjoyed.
+State officials promised to deliver this transit utopia by 2020. Instead, costs have more than doubled, little track has been laid, and service isn’t expected to begin before 2030—and only between Bakersfield and Merced, two cities far from the line’s ultimate destinations.
+It’s little wonder the project finds itself in a precarious financial position, fighting political headwinds, and deemed a boondoggle by everyone from federal Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to Abundance authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. “In the time California has spent failing to complete its 500-mile high-speed rail system,” they wrote, “China has built more than 23,000 miles of high speed rail.”
+The reasons for this vary with who’s being asked, but people with expertise often cite three fundamental missteps: creating a new agency to lead the effort, failing to secure adequate funding from the start, and choosing a route through California’s agricultural heartland. The state’s strict environmental review process hasn’t helped, either.
+https://gizmodo.com/californias-high-speed-rail-fiasco-keeps-getting-worse-2000656798
+== Caltrain Shows Why Every Region Should Be Moving Toward Regional Rail ==
+January 09, 2026
+Caltrain recently replaced diesel trains with electric, cutting 25 minutes from the trip time.
+Faster speed, increased frequency, and more reliable service are causing ridership growth on Caltrain, the San Francisco Bay Area’s passenger railway. The ridership increase and service upgrades are a direct result of the electrification of Caltrain’s entire fleet of rolling stock in September 2024. “For the first time in the railroad’s 160-year history, diesel service was replaced with electric service along the 50-mile main line between San Francisco and San Jose,” Caltrain reported.
+Caltrain’s total ridership in Fiscal Year 2025 (ending June 30, 2025) increased 47% over the previous fiscal year, from 6.2 million to 9.1 million passengers. In June 2025, Caltrain recorded more than 1 million monthly passengers for the first time since the pandemic. It passed the 1 million-passenger mark in July and August as well, which was roughly a 60% increase over ridership totals for those months in 2024, just before the fleet’s electrification.
+The results are a powerful argument for electrification and the adoption of a regional rail model of service by every commuter railway in North America — i.e., offering fast, frequent service throughout the day, including weekends, instead of catering to antiquated commuting patterns and weekday rush hours.
+https://www.hsrail.org/blog/caltrain-shows-why-every-region-should-be-moving-toward-regional-rail/
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 https://www.thetravel.com/largest-underwater-tunnel-in-the-world-unused/
+====== Map ======
+== The world railway map ==
+https://worldtrainmap.com/
 ====== United States ======