'Fastest series-built train in Europe' unveiled - Railway Gazette

China’s bullet trains facilitate market integration and mitigate the cost of megacity growth. Megacity growth in the developing world is fueled by a desire to access their large local labor markets. Growing megacities suffer from high levels of traffic congestion and pollution, which degrade local quality of life. Transportation technology that allows individuals to access the megacity without living within its boundaries offers potentially large social benefits, because individuals can enjoy the benefits of urban agglomeration while not paying megacity real estate rents and suffering from the city’s social costs. This paper presents evidence supporting the claim that China’s bullet trains are playing this role. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/13/1209247110.abstract?sid=1b700e6c-f4da-4ebf-8983-192cdad52fca

Bullet trains fuel real-estate booms, improve quality of life and create other unintended consequences by sharply reducing commute times from smaller cities to large megacities, economists from UCLA and China's Tsinghua University observed in a new study in China. A similar dynamic, they said, could play out as California builds its own high-speed rail system. Because high-speed rail effectively brings cities closer together by reducing travel times, it allows people to enjoy many of the benefits of big cities while living in "second-tier" cities far from the pollution and congestion. By making second-tier cities attractive to those who would otherwise flock to global hubs, bullet trains could act as a safety valve for crowded megacities in the developing world and ease the effects of overpopulation, the study authors report. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/bullet-train-study-finds-remote-244304.aspx

by Drew Kerr A new environmental report on a planned high-speed train from Minneapolis to Duluth didn’t expose significant barriers to its construction, though future funding for the $820 million connection remains undetermined. The Environmental Assessment released Monday by the Minnesota Department of Transportation says that bridge work, wetland crossings and station construction for the Northern Lights Express would have limited impact along the 155-mile corridor. Adding passenger trains to the freight rail corridor would likely mean building new tracks near BNSF’s Northtown Yard, in Fridley, between Isanti and Hinckley and near Superior, Wis. Nearly two dozen bridges may also need to be replaced or rehabilitated. Bob Manzoline, executive director of the St. Louis and Lake Counties Regional Rail Authority, described the report’s largely positive findings as an “absolutely huge” milestone for supporters of the high-speed connection. “Many projects get mired down in some of the

The new TGV rail link fast-tracks Robin McKie along a very civilised route from London to Barcelona via Paris, a theme he continues with a stay on a sailing boat in Sitges http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2013/mar/15/high-speed-train-tgv-london-paris-barcelona

Of all the high speed rail projects and plans in America perhaps the best idea comes out of Texas. Texas Central Railway has partnered with Central Japan Railway Co . JR Central has decades of experience in high speed rail. We think that partnership is a very smart move. Texas Central High-Speed Railway is a private, for-profit Texas company, working to bring high-speed, high-tech rail to our great state with a route between Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston in the next ten years with a travel time of 90 minutes. These bullet trains will move at speeds over 200 miles-per-hour and exceed the expectations of every traveler. Texas Central is working closely with JR Central, the internationally respected high-speed passenger rail leader, to utilize the proven N700-I Bullet Train system. About JR Central. JR Central has developed the latest generation of world-class high-speed passenger rail and its Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail line has been in operation for nearly 50 years with a per

The paternal grandmother of a baby girl born on a train packed full of commuters during rush-hour said today: "We're all still in shock." Mari-anne Stanley was travelling back to her home with the unnamed woman who suddenly went into labour on board the 18:18 London Victoria to Maidstone East service last night. Passengers on board the Southeastern service were asked to move off the train or into a separate carriage as a midwife, nurse and police officer, who were off-duty, came forward to help. Ms Stanley said the mother gave birth a week early to a "perfectly healthy" 6lb 13oz baby called Phoebe on board - and were greeted with cheers by other passengers. Explaining how it began, she said: "The train was stopped at West Malling to let passengers off and I ran off to the driver telling him we needed to not go any further and call an ambulance because she was giving birth." Ms Stanley added: "Mum and child are doing very well. They are expe

A little more info on France's low cost high speed train. It was really only a matter of time, but it's finally happened and the world now has some low-cost, high-speed rail options...in France. Have a few Euros in your pocket and need to head from Paris to the French Riviera? Well, it can actually happen now, thanks to Ouigo (pronounced wee-go), a train from the SNCF designed to bring affordable travel to all. Starting April 3rd, the super-fast TGV train is launching its low-cost tickets from Paris to Lyon, Marseille and Montpellier at an absolute steal of 10 Euros each way. Since there are a few stops in between these cities, a weekend get-away in Provence is not out of the question. If you have ever flown on a true budget airline, you will see some parallels within the Ouigo details. For example, the main train station is not in Paris. In fact, it's about a 40 minute commuter rail trip outside the city, by Disneyland Paris, at Marne-la-Vallée. Also, don't think

Market pricing boosts high speed sales by 38% - Railway Gazette