cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19378278

There’s a new train pulling into the station in San Bernardino, a southern California city about 60 miles from Los Angeles. From the outside, it looks like any other commuter train, with three passenger carriages, blocky windows and a colourful blue exterior.

But inside, it’s unlike anything the region – or the country – has seen before. The $20m Zero-Emission Multiple Unit, known as Zemu, uses a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery system to propel the train and run other onboard electrical systems. The only byproduct of the fuel cell is water vapour, a welcome change in an area known as the Inland Empire that suffers from some of the worst air quality rates in the country.

The new technology will make Zemu the first hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions passenger train in North America to meet Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requirements when it goes into service early next year.

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Many transit agencies have started to push for battery-powered transit as a way to advertise their "eco-friendly" public transit offerings, but this is a misguided way of thinking and a bad way to spend capital — let's talk about why.

In June, Governor Kathy Hochul made the bombshell announcement that she had ordered the MTA to indefinitely pause New York City’s congestion-pricing program, just weeks before it was set to begin. The governor had once been a major proponent of the first-in-the-nation plan to charge fees to drivers traveling at or below 60th Street, but when she announced the pause, she cited concerns about the $15 toll being too much of a financial burden for everyday New Yorkers. This week, Hochul is indicating that a replacement plan could soon be on the horizon.

The New York Post reported on Sunday that Hochul is mulling significant changes to congestion pricing, including a lower toll and potentially adding new exemptions to the fee. A source told the outlet that the governor is considering excluding teachers, police officers, and firefighters who commute from paying the toll. In July, the New York Times reported that state lawmakers, who would have to sign off on a new plan, were pushing for Hochul to consider a lower toll

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At one point beginning in 1901, a traveler could easily ride via interurban rail from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin to Little Falls, NY

https://www.sheboyganpress.com/story/news/local/2016/11/04/interurbans-meteoric-rise-then-fall/93291360/

@transit

(I hope it's okay if I just keep posting stuff here)

This version of the multidirectional elevator is neat because it's not an exotic modern solution or just a concept, but an actual practical machine that's widely used. It's not quite fresh content but it holds up.

The comments say it can run a lot faster, as you'd expect for the added complexity, but they don't usually use the full speed for liability reasons. I wonder if a version could be made that's fully enclosed.

New York City’s transit system is launching a new type of subway train where riders can walk between cars and doors are wider, the first of its kind in modern US history.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Thursday ran the new R211T open gangway trains on the C line for the first time. The pilot program includes two such trains, with 10 cars each. While the more spacious trains are used on mass-transit systems in Europe and Asia, the MTA’s investment is the first for a US public transportation provider, according to the MTA.

“You can actually move seamlessly from one car to the other,” Governor Kathy Hochul told reporters before boarding the train for its first passenger trip. “You’re not trapped. You want to have a different experience? You can get up and move around. You don’t get claustrophobic.”

In one of the coolest and more outrageous repair stories in quite some time, three white-hat hackers helped a regional rail company in southwest Poland unbrick a train that had been artificially rendered inoperable by the train’s manufacturer after an independent maintenance company worked on it. The train’s manufacturer is now threatening to sue the hackers who were hired by the independent repair company to fix it.

After breaking trains simply because an independent repair shop had worked on them, NEWAG is now demanding that trains fixed by hackers be removed from service.

The project has been delayed for years, but perhaps with Amtrak (and Andy Byford), the line will finally progress.

This is my full interview with Kim Irwin, the Executive Director of Health By Design about her work advocating for expanded transit and other urbanist policy in Indianapolis. It was a great conversation. Check out the more polished version of the video here.

One day...