Free Republic

Here is a series of videos from Metro showing the truck-train accident Tuesday morning (Related news article and photos).

SNIPPET: "CHARLOTTE, N.C.— The FBI is asking for the public's help in identifying a man who was seen near a restricted area along the light rail near uptown Charlotte. A worker monitoring security cameras said the man was spotted in the area in late April, according to investigators. The man was clearly in an area he wasn't supposed to be in and was acting suspiciously, the FBI said."

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Maryland Transit Administration says more training may be called for after three MTA officers detained a man for taking pictures at a light rail station. Pat Warren has more on the incident. According to the ACLU, this isn’t the first time MTA Police have overstepped their bounds. In a YouTube posting, Christopher Fussell left the camera rolling when he was confronted by three MTA officers for taking pictures at the Baltimore Cultural Light Rail Station. “It is my understanding that I am free to take pictures as long as it’s not for commercial purposes but for...

A study released earlier this month by the Cascade Policy Institute questioned whether pricey mass transit options in Portland, Oregon are really being used by the public. The city has been a leader in securing funding for various forms of passenger rail and trolley systems. The Obama administration, for example, pledged $745 million in federal gas tax dollars to pay for the construction of a $1.5 billion, 7.3 mile light rail project connecting Portland to Milwaukie. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has singled out the city’s priorities as for praise. “By adding innovative transit opportunities, Portland has become a model livable...

DALLAS — DART resumed rail and bus service at Mockingbird Station late Saturday afternoon after a suspicious package forced evacuation of the transit center and an adjacent movie theater as a precaution. Earlier on Saturday afternoon, witnesses reported seeing a suspicious person getting on and off DART trains at several downtown stations. He was carrying a large duffel bag and a large box and had been offering to pay people to help him move the items.

Al Qaeda Confirms Osama Bin Laden's Death Al Qaeda have confirmed Osama Bin Laden's death in a statement posted on jihadist internet forums. The U.S. monitoring group SITE Intelligence reported the development, which comes five days after the Pakistan raid. In the statement, the terror group warned their leader's "blood will not be wasted" and attacks on American and its allies will continue. The confirmation followed claims by US officials that it had been planning an attack on the U.S. rail network to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The plot was apparently uncovered as US agencies went through information...

CIA watched bin Laden from nearby safe house inside Pakistan By Augustine Anthony and Michelle Nichols Fri May 6, 1:44 am ET ABBOTTABAD/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Extensive surveillance of Osama bin Laden's hideout from a nearby CIA safe house in Abbottabad led to his killing in a Navy SEAL operation, U.S. officials said, a revelation likely to further embarrass Pakistan's spy agency and strain ties. The U.S. officials, quoted by the Washington Post, said the safe house was the base for intelligence gathering that began after bin Laden's compound was discovered last August, and which was so exhaustive the CIA...

Metro officials say tests are expected to begin Monday for a planned light rail subway line Downtown. The daytime tests will check noise and vibrations and will measure underground conditions along Figueroa Street from the Metro Center station at Seventh Street north to Second Street. From there, tests will be made parallel to the Second Street tunnel and on Bunker Hill at General Koscuiszko Way, near Disney Hall. Work is also expected to be conducted on the Gold Line on Second Street near Alameda Street, near the Little Tokyo Station. The tests will include sonic core drilling, which measures geological...

Large crowds gathered at Porky's in St. Paul Friday, a few days before the decades-old restaurant closes its doors. Nora Truelson and her late husband opened Porky's in 1953, establishing it as the St. Paul gathering place on Saturday nights. Truelson declined to speak on camera, but her son told 5 EYEWITNESS News light rail construction along University Avenue was a factor in the decision to close. The Truelsons say they are selling their property to their next door neighbor, Episcopal Homes. The restaurant is scheduled to close Sunday; everything at Porky's will be auctioned off Monday. The Preservation Alliance...

Phoenix / Valley Metro Light Rail Report Card: FDecember 15, 2010, 10:45 am Folks who read this site know I have been critical of Phoenix light rail since well before it was opened.  So often, folks just willfully misinterpret my criticisms.   The actual rail line and its service is pretty nice, and the facilities are quite attractive (lets see what they look like in 10 years though).  If Santa Claus had just delivered the Phoenix light rail system for free to Phoenix, I would be thrilled with it.   But Santa unfortunately was not involved, and instead the rail line was...

NORFOLK Months before signing legal documents assuring federal officials they could build light rail for $232 million, Hampton Roads Transit leaders knew it would actually cost tens of millions of dollars more, a new state investigation reveals. In fact, HRT senior officials maintained a separate, internal accounting of light rail costs that was intentionally kept “secret” from government entities footing the bills, documents show.

Incoming governors of Wisconsin and Ohio, Scott Walker and John Kasich, have announced that they’ll be rejecting federal funds for new rail projects in their states. The federal government could leave that money unspent; saving the taxpayers untold millions, but this administration doesn’t believe in fiscal responsibility. So they went looking around for someone willing to take the money, and Governor Pat Quinn stuck Illinois’ hand out as far as it could reach, happy to accept such a generous gift this Christmas season on behalf of his panhandling state. But why did Wisconsin and Ohio turn it down? Surely they...

A few days before this month's election, the federal government announced that California would receive an additional $715 million for its high-speed rail project, contingent on the money being spent quickly on a segment in the San Joaquin Valley. Why? You'd have to be terminally naive not to believe that the splashy announcement, made personally by an Obama administration official in Fresno, was to help an embattled local congressman, Democrat Jim Costa, stave off a very stiff Republican challenge. Costa, a longtime bullet train advocate, did, in fact, eke out a narrow re-election win. And last week, the California High-Speed...

Gov.-elect Scott Walker, hoarse from his election night celebration, was optimistic on Wednesday that Wisconsin’s high-speed rail project could be stopped and that highway construction projects will move forward under his administration. Just days before the election, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal committing the state to spending all $810 million in federal stimulus money earmarked for the state to use on the Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line. While at first blush it would seem the signed commitments would end the discussion, Walker said that may not be the case. “I believe there are a couple of legal options...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - In his first news conference as governor elect, John Kasich de-railed plans for high speed trains connecting Dayton to the rest of the state. In a press conference with reporters from around the state, Kasich outlined his priorities for taking Ohio into the future. "My message today is to get jobs going in this state," said Kasich. Political analysts said the economy is what helped Kasich win the election, now he wants the economy to win for Ohio. "We have to become competitive. We've got to show the people of this state that we can manage...

Youtube link.

VIDEO - Detroit's current "light rail" system has been called a “Horizontal Elevator to Nowhere” and the “least cost-effective transit project in the last 20 years.” So what's the response to this epic disaster of central planning from the political class? To build more, of course.

Imagine that you own a service station that supplies fuel to the surrounding community, and you specialize in automotive repair. You're proud that your reputation for service attracts vintage Corvette owners. You worked hard all of your life, and your shop is your equity for retirement. Your business is entirely dependent on customers who enter via a left turn from Boone Avenue, a low traffic street, because drivers cannot get direct access to you from Highway 55, just south of your business. One fateful day, a traffic engineer decides that the street serving as access to your station is to...

An investigation has been launched into the behavior of a member of the city council in Vancouver City, Wash., after she lost her cool at a meeting when people wanted to argue over a light rail plan, ordered one member of the public out of the room, ordered the council chairman to "gavel down" a constituent, and ordered a colleague on the council to "Shut up!" The situation developed as members of the public were in attendance to express concerns about a light rail program. Harris told one speaker not to address individual members of the committee, and when he...

TAMPA - More than a decade ago, Phoenix baseball officials showcased a video of their state of the art ballpark during a lavish Tampa Bay reception, overwhelming the home team's introduction of Tropicana Field. Local business and civic leaders that night yearned for a comparable facility, even before the Rays' first season had begun. Once again local officials are casting an envious eye toward Phoenix. This time they are studying a 20-mile light rail system that could serve as a model for a proposed system in Tampa. This week, a Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce contingent will visit Phoenix to...

VIRGINIA BEACH Two former Hampton Roads Transit employees were indicted by a special grand jury Thursday, charged with embezzlement, money laundering and state income tax evasion in connection with money missing from bus fare boxes. Karen Yvonne Watkins, 23, of Portsmouth and Latasha Kiana Boyd, 22, of Virginia Beach have agreed to turn themselves over to police next week, said Macie Pridgen, spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach commonwealth's attorney's office. Pridgen said the charges stem from funds that were discovered missing between January and October 2009. The investigation is ongoing and more indictments are possible, Pridgen said. Last year, HRT...

The feds, since 1991, have had a plan of creating high speed rail corridors throughout the nation including one between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and since Obama took office $8 billion has been shoved into this opium-pipe dream with billions more expected although that hope may change come November. Texas and the Sourth outside Florida haven't gotten much of this loot for some strange reason albeit Pennsylvania's not much ahead nabbing a paltry $25.6 million for the Keystone Corridor project. Grand schemes like this would be great if resources were infinite and the simple building of it was the hardest and...

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s traffic congestion could double in the next couple of decades, with Charlotte drivers facing the same types of delays Chicago drivers face now. That was the conclusion of a 2007 John Locke Foundation report. It recommended $12 billion of spending to clear North Carolina’s congested urban roads and prepare for future traffic growth. Many traffic problems outlined three years ago continue to cause concerns today. Randal O’Toole, senior fellow with the Cato Institute, recently tackled the issue from a national perspective in the book Gridlock: Why We’re Stuck in Traffic and What to Do About It....

Americans are now getting our of their cars and taking to light rail services in growing numbers. When Judy Garland sang: “Ring, ring, ring, went the trolley / Ding, ding, ding, went the bell” in the Trolley Song in 1944’s movie Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), she was celebrating the trolley car, the all-American streetcar that summed up down town US cities from the 1900s to the 1940s. No city worth its name would have failed to build a streetcar system as a form of civic pride.In the 1940s, a mix of vested interest and the growing levels of...

That puts Alstom nearer to possible subsystem workHornell, N.Y. — The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is closer to the purchase of new railcars, which means Alstom may soon know the fate of their bid for subsystem work on the project. Metro’s Board of Directors approved a contract on May 27 for the manufacture of 428 new generation Metrorail cars, known as the Series 7000 cars, at a cost of $886 million. The cars will address Metro’s number one safety priority: to replace its oldest rail cars, the 1000 Series. Of the 428 cars, 128 of the cars will...

A $293 million investment announced today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood means that residents in dozens of communities nationwide will soon enjoy major transit improvements, including new streetcars, buses, and transit facilities. The nearly $300 million investment is part of the Obama Administration's livability initiative to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development investments to serve the people living in those communities. It is being made through two competitive grant programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program. "This investment by the Obama Administration in our nation's communities will create jobs, boost economic...

Engineers’ assessment is that traffic will require more capacity by 2030PORTLAND — An eight-lane bridge across the Columbia River would be too small to accommodate future traffic demand unless there is a major increase in the number of drivers deciding to take the bus or avoiding rush hour altogether, according to an engineering firm hired by the city of Portland to consider a smaller Interstate 5 bridge. Concerned about the mammoth size of the 10-lane Columbia River Crossing currently being proposed, the city wanted to look at a slimmer version. The engineering firm delivered its assessment Friday during a meeting...

Calling into The Sue Jeffers Show on KTLK-FM in Minneapolis on Saturday, state senate candidate Norann Dillon shared an astute analogy for the hidden cost of state's accepting federal money. The topic at hand was Minnesota's expanding light rail system, the construction of which is highly subsidized by federal grants. Acknowledging the tendency of state legislators to regard available federal dollars as "free money," Dillon compared a more common transaction. It's the reason my kids are always so impressed when they see the new mobile phones come out and they say, "Oh look! They're free!" Well, there's a reason why....

One of Houston Mayor Annise Parker's most visible goals since taking office in January has been to shake up the agency that oversees buses, rail and other forms of transit in and around the city. Parker's criticisms of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (known as Metro to those who speak Houston) have been music to the ears of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is trying to hold off a November challenge from Parker's predecessor, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White. Through press statements and Web videos and under the predictable mantra of "Metrogate," Perry's team has packaged Parker's criticisms with a series...

Many visitors come to Israel for the first time and think they’ll spend a few days in Tel Aviv, maybe head up to the Sea of Galilee, take a quick tour of Masada and the Dead Sea and then see Jerusalem in one or two days. Not so fast!! Even though Jerusalem is relatively compact, don’t expect to get much more than a vague overall impression of the city and its many layers in a 2-day visit. If there’s any way to swing it–try to stay an extra day or two to take in some of the abundance of cultural...

Re: Light Rail Train to New Orleans It is regrettable that Gov. Bobby Jindal decided against the light rail train to New Orleans. With the wide difference in ticket prices flying into New Orleans as compared with Baton Rouge, the demand would surely justify the cost. Recently I had to buy three tickets to fly clients from Atlanta. I would have much preferred to have them fly into Baton Rouge, but the cost was $801 a ticket. The same ticket to New Orleans was $229.40. Flying to New Orleans was a total ticket savings of $1,715, and well worth the...

HERMANN, Mo. -- The 19th century German settlers who saw visions of the Rhineland in the rolling Missouri hills likely didn't anticipate the more modern voyagers who flock to these parts: Spandex-wearing, energy-bar-chowing cyclists lured by a 236-mile rails-to-trails path -- the nation's longest. What they instead discovered was fertile farmland ideal for growing grapes while hardy enough to endure the extremes of Missouri weather. For Katy Trail riders, the abundance of wineries in what before Prohibition was the nation's second-largest wine-producing region makes for a memorable two-wheeled vacation. An added bonus for bicycling history buffs: much of the trail...

County commissioners today will consider creating a transit district that eventually could lead to expanded public transportation options — including high-speed rail. The high-speed rail option has long been talked about in the county as a way to connect Houston to Galveston, with a station possibly in League City. Last year, the city of Galveston commissioned a study on the proposed rail line that would connect with Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority’s light rail line. Forming the Galveston County Urban and Rural Transit District, which would have representatives from all 13 of the county’s municipalities, also could lead to increased federal...

Custom web design and development company Magnetic awards winners of the Transportation Conversation Contest at the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Community Conversation Breakfast. The Grand Prize, a $10,000 website upgrade, goes to law firm Andrews & Manno, LLC. Tampa, FL (Vocus/PRWEB ) March 9, 2010 -- Tampa based web design and development firm Magnetic awarded the winners of the “Transportation Conversation” video contest today during the Tampa Bay Business Journal's Community Conversation Breakfast, which was held this morning at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. “Our goal with this contest was to demonstrate how social media and traditional media can be...

Streetcar is coming. Streetcar is coming! I'm sure most of the regular readers of this site have heard the good news. Dallas won a federal TIGER (transportation initiative) grant for $23 million (PDF) to start design and construction of the proposed 1st phase of the modern street car line. The second piece of good news, is that it is actually going to be one of benefit rather than the tourist trap downtown loop initially proposed. The flip side of this story is that while the application was pursued in concert with Fort Worth, the federal government took it upon themselves...

The second magnetically levitated, Maglev, railway to come into commercial operation in China will be built in Beijing. The suburban railway line 1 (S1 Line) will be built using the medium- and-low-speed magnetic levitation technique, according to the Mentougou District People's Congress Wednesday. The S1 Line will be around 27 kilometers long, and run from Wulu near the Fourth West Ring Road to Shimenying, Mentougou district. Yang Xiuren, the general engineer of the Beijing Urban Engineering Design and Research Institute, said the S1 Line would open in 2015 and would reach a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour. The...

NORFOLK Construction of Norfolk's starter light-rail line is running as much as 41 percent over its original budget, and that has angry local leaders demanding an explanation from Hampton Roads Transit, which manages the project. HRT officials said this week they need $38 million to $40 million more to finish the 7.4-mile transit system, which is just over 50 percent complete. When construction started in October 2007, the budget was $232 million. That figure escalated to $288 million in December 2008. The latest cost estimate is $326 million to $328 million, HRT President Michael Townes said. Officials said the complexities...

New Mexico, Colorado and Texas are applying for federal funds to study the viability of a high-speed rail system from El Paso through New Mexico to Denver. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Tom Udall, DN.M., said Thursday the three states will submit a joint pre-application Friday for up to $5 million to pay for the study. Congress has authorized up to 11 high-speed rail corridors nationwide.

As America's largest city without rail transit, some people want San Antonio to “keep up” by building light rail. You need to know only one thing: Light rail is really expensive. I mean, really, really expensive. The average mile of light-rail line costs two to five times as much as an urban freeway lane-mile. Yet in 2007 the average light-rail line carried less than one-seventh as many people as the average freeway lane-mile in cities with light rail. Do the math: Light rail costs 14 to 35 times as much to move people as highways. The Government Accountability Office found...

A popular alternative to hybrid buses and subways gets a boost Bombardier is well-known worldwide as a manufacturer of aircraft, snowmobiles, and personal watercraft. The company has annual sales of almost $20 billion USD, and is well diversified into multiple transportation markets. One of these markets is light rail vehicles, commonly known as streetcars.Many European cities have highly developed light rail/streetcar lines that both complement and supplement subway lines. New subway lines are extremely expensive and can cost over $1 billion per kilometer to build. They also require high urban densities and heavy passenger volumes to be effective.Light rail lines...

Our building trembles, sometimes, but perceptibly. It is unmistakably a tremble, and I can't imagine what brings it about because the heavy machinery is across the river, where the paper is printed. I've worked in newspapers that house the presses, and when those babies start rolling, you have to grab a strap and hold on because the place feels like a submarine that just got the dive command. Probably, old buildings like ours occasionally settle themselves even more comfortably on their haunches and it is nothing to get worked up over. It only comes to attention, the trembling down at...

Hopping on a streetcar to get to work has a 1930s vibe to it. While streetcars continue to ride the rails in many European cities, they have largely vanished from American cities, and they have a nostalgic aura. But in spite of this, and spurred by the current economic downturn, Americans continue to use public transportation at record levels. More than 2.8 billion trips were taken on public transportation in the third quarter of 2008 -- a surge of 6.5 percent over the third quarter of 2007 and the largest year-to-year increase in 25 years. Light rail had the highest...

The Greater Toronto Area needs a gazillion dollars to fund Metrolinx, a mega mega transportation system of light rail, commuter trains, subways, highways, roads, and bicycle paths designed to reach every ward in an 8,000 square kilometre operating region approaching six million people. It will cost more than governments can afford, say its government backers. The answer, the backers say, is a toll road system that extends across the GTA and finances the transit megaproject. I have a better idea. Install the GTA-wide toll road system and scrap Metrolinx. Once roads are tolled, the population growth that is now projected...

Maryland transit officials have determined that riders on a light rail Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrollton would make up to 68,000 trips daily, a number that supporters said yesterday would only grow as gas prices soar. This compares with about 260,000 daily trips for Metro's Red Line and 175,000 daily trips for the Orange Line. Dulles Metrorail is projected to have about 85,700 daily boardings in the first phase. The state's more detailed estimates also show that a 16-mile east-west Purple Line would reduce travel times, particularly for people stuck on slow and unreliable buses to get to...

Second phase would include a line to airport and North Austin. By Ben Wear AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, October 25, 2007 Austin Mayor Will Wynn today will call for a November 2008 election to build a Central Austin passenger rail system connecting the airport, downtown and the University of Texas, along with the Triangle and Mueller developments in near North Austin. Unlike the current commuter rail project, which Capital Metro is building with its own, diminishing resources, Wynn will propose creating a task force of several jurisdictions to work out plans for the city and other governmental entities — and possibly...

After conducting business as though it were a private entity rather than a public trust, the Texas Department of Transportation is now trying to turn the tide of public opinion in its favor. The Keep Texas Moving campaign is a $7 million to $9 million effort designed to promote various transportation projects in the state. According to the campaign site, www.keeptexasmoving.com, Texans can learn more about such projects as the vast Trans-Texas Corridor and "its promise for Texas." Unfortunately, TxDOT has a history of not being entirely forthcoming about transportation plans. Last year, agency officials and the road-building consortium Cintra-Zachry...

OH, THE POOR, POOR LAS VEGAS MONORAIL. It's just so sad. According to the Review-Journal, the monorail's 2006 ridership was down 30 percent, with a mere 15,430 average riders in December. That's so very, very far from what monorail founder Bob Broadbent promised would be a robust 50,000 riders per day! Oh, to go back to those days, and hear those heady promises once more! To be able to turn to monorail critics who claimed Broadbent was exaggerating by at least half and tell them that, in time, even they would be proven pikers!

January 5, 2006 Policy Analysis no. 559 A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems by Randal O'Toole Randal O'Toole is director of the Thoreau Institute and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Executive Summary The nation's mass transit system is a classic example of how special interests prevail over the needs and interests of voters and taxpayers. Total inflation-adjusted subsidies to transit?buses and trains?have more than doubled since 1990, yet total ridership has increased by less than 10 percent. Train ridership has dropped dramatically while automobile use has skyrocketed. Prior to 1964, when...

Over the next 30 years, most of Harris County's remaining open space will succumb to subdivisions, office buildings and shopping centers where millions of new residents will live and work, projections by local planners show. The spread of development, particularly west and northwest of Houston, is among the more striking trends shown in preliminary population and job growth projections developed by the Houston-Gal- veston Area Council for the eight-county Houston region. The potential loss of open space alarms conservationists and others concerned about suburban sprawl. It is among the factors driving an effort by business and civic leaders to find...

Eight people were taken to hospitals Friday after a pickup and MetroRail train collided in Midtown. It was the 121st accident since light-rail operations began in late 2003 and the 54th in 2005. *** Roberts said the train was northbound on Main and had received a "vertical bar" signal to proceed into the intersection at Elgin when it and the eastbound pickup collided about 12:30 p.m *** The middle portion of the three-section train was knocked off the track