Passenger Trains > 5 Countries That Show Us What The Future Of Rail Looks Like

An interesting read.

http://railwayinnovation.com/5-countries-that-show-us-what-the-future-of-rail-looks-like/

Marty Bernard

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> An interesting read.
>
> http://railwayinnovation.com/5-countries-that-show
> -us-what-the-future-of-rail-looks-like/
>
> Marty Bernard

Thanks for the link. Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and Spain are listed, in that order. Hong Kong and Japan, I've briefly discussed before, and others have chimed in on Switzerland and Spain. I felt the need to summarize, because trolls don't read - they can exercise their laziness (and ignorance) start trolling on what I post here. :-)

There are some factual errors (Maglev is NOT Shinkansen), but it's forgiveable, since Japan's SCMaglev research is co-funded by the government and JR Central (a.k.a. JR Tokai) which operates the most profitable Shinkansen segment in Japan, between Tokyo and Osaka. That factoid would be meaningless to general readers.

I got advertisements asking me to download PDFs on the Hyperloop when I followed your link. Unfortunately, I don't think America's future will emulate those 5 countries. Hyperloop! :-)

It's interesting France and Italy aren't on the list.

Italy is very much like the U.S. with mixes of state and federal train services. And freight + passenger rail on the same tracks.

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I'm surprised about Spain being included, some of their schemes, such as the Pajares Pass base tunnel are mired in pork barrel politics and may never be fully completed.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> It's interesting France and Italy aren't on the
> list.


...with Netherlands and Germany.

I am a charter member of International Association of Railway Operations Research, headquartered jointly in Netherlands and Germany. The purpose of the organization is to figure out how to improve railroad operation and make maximum use of infrastructure. Membership includes:

Austria 5, Australia 14, Belgium 5, Brazil 5, Switzerland 24, China 21, Czechoslovakia 2, Germany 44, Denmark 17, Kenya 1, Spain 2, Finland 3, France 16, Great Britain 28, Greece 2, Herzegovina 1, Ireland 2, India 21, Iran 5, Italy 19, Japan 25, South Korea 2, Nigeria 1, Netherlands 42, Norway 3, Panama 1, Pakistan 1, Serbia 3, Russia 3, Sweden 24, Turkey 2, Taiwan 3, UAE 2, Venezuela 1, US 17.

These are the folks who are figuring out the future. Comparing membership with country size can sort of give an idea of the enthusiasm with which the country pursues improved rail operation. The membership includes individuals from railroad companies (including Amtrak and CSX), consultants, universities, and government agencies.



>
> Italy is very much like the U.S. with mixes of
> state and federal train services. And freight +
> passenger rail on the same tracks.

As are Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and others. France has not yet gone to open access.

We are the only country in the world in which a significant number of railroad professionals maintain that passenger trains and freight trains can't be on the same railroad.

TAW

86235 Wrote:
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> I'm surprised about Spain being included, some of
> their schemes, such as the Pajares Pass base
> tunnel are mired in pork barrel politics and may
> never be fully completed.

That is infrastructure. They do pretty well in operation, although the example AVE is in a different league. As with Shinkansen, AVE has it's own railroad because of nonstandard gauge of the national network.

TAW

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> >
> Italy is very much like the U.S. with mixes of
> state and federal train services. And freight +
> passenger rail on the same tracks.
>
Is that true of their high-speed network? I thought it had its own dedicated tracks.

I'm surprised mainland China isn't included. Their high-speed network is fast, clean, frequent, and easy to use, even for foreigners. It spans incredibly vast distances, and has all been built relatively recently.

symph1 Wrote:
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> I'm surprised mainland China isn't included. Their
> high-speed network is fast, clean, frequent, and
> easy to use, even for foreigners. It spans
> incredibly vast distances, and has all been built
> relatively recently.

As well, the regular national network is very good. China has extensive railroad education in universities, China is building railroads for "emerging" countries, and most of the non-western world is sending students to railroad universities in China.

TAW