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So how do you get goods to market with zero oil? Right now, you don't. In the future though, it could be done even in the US, if we use this plan for electrifying our national railroad system.

The system is elegant in its construction plan. In the great plains there isn't a lot of electricity to support electrified rail, but there are huge rights of way already ceded to the railroad companies, and they can ship out giant cranes along the rail, and use it to erect massive windmills to power the freight. With the savings in truck traffic on our highway, and thus road wear, we may find that this project pays for itself.

The Oil Drum: Multiple Birds – One Silver BB: A synergistic set of solutions to multiple issues focused on Electrified Railroads

Looks like the city is actually picking up a stick on the RR bridge: "City to press on for access to K&IT Bridge for a pedestrian/bicycle path". Go Team! Ra! Ra!

The New York Times has a good overview of American passenger rail

"Amtrak set records in May, both for the number of passengers it carried and for ticket revenues"

Via the Environmental Law and Policy Center:

The U.S. House just a few moments ago passed HR-6003, the Passenger Rail Investment & Improvement Act of 2008, by a veto-proof majority.... 311 to 104.

You'll recall the Senate passed its version of the bill (S-294) by a 93 to 6 margin late last year.

The next step will be for the bill to go to a joint House-Senate Conference Committee. The conferees have not yet been named.

This bill, if it becomes law, will not only greatly increase funding for Amtrak, but carries the first-ever state matching grant program that can advance the Ohio Hub Plan and state-generated passenger rail plans like it around the nation.

Good news indeed!

Washington Post: Stung at the Pumps, More Hop on a Bus, D.C.'s Outlying Transit Systems Rush to Add Capacity; Metro Worried.

Wouldn't it be refreshing if our local transit was similarly reactive to growing demand? Instead we have route cuts and fare hikes. There must be an alternative.

Cirta via nuvo via oil drum:

The IRTC voted unanimously to proceed with public meetings to present the MPO's recommendation of the Nickel Plate Line as the Northeast Corridor route, the first of seven in a proposed region-wide rapid transit system. The MPO also recommends Diesel Light Rail technology to provide rapid transit service along this route.

Slate explains why and how trains get derailed.

"Global Trade, Fuel Costs Add Up To Expansion for Once-Dying Industry"

The Washington Post scores again with this summary of the boom in the RR industry:

The freight railway industry is enjoying its biggest building boom in nearly a century, a turnaround as abrupt as it is ambitious. It is largely fueled by growing global trade and rising fuel costs for 18-wheelers. In 2002, the major railroads laid off 4,700 workers; in 2006, they hired more than 5,000.

CART regularly makes claims that leave the public going "huh?".  That's because we're reading the wonky research that's recommending no new roads, higher gas taxes, increased investment in rail, and increased investment in public transit.  So here is our bibliography: