Trains
« Previous EntriesRapid Beijing-Tianjin for the Olympics
By rocky | August 4, 2008
All ready for the this weeks Olympic celebrations, the Beijing - Tianjin high speed railway has just opened in China. The train will take passengers from Beijing to the soccer facilities at Tianjin. The train will travel at speeds up to 350 km per hour and cost about $10 for first class and a little less for second class, and the trip will take about 30 minutes. The train is believed to be the fastest intercity train in the world and in it’s first few days of operation has been a huge hit. The system has taken three years to build and over 2o billion yuan (3 billion US dollars) has been spent on construction with nearly 90 percent of its 100km line elevated because of bad soil. Over 26 million people travel the route each year and it is expected with this new service 32 million will now be able to travel making it one of the busiest lines in the world.
Topics: Asia, Trains | No Comments »
The Shinkansen- the easiest way to travel
By rocky | July 1, 2008
Well we got the taste for Japanese stories with yesterday’s post so we thought we would do another. Today we feature the Shinkansen or Japan’s bullet train. This state of the art service is the safest, most punctual and one of the fastest rail services in the world. The service has been running for nearly 40 years and have carried over 6 billion passengers which is Earth’s entire population. The train system has never had a serious accident and travels at speeds in excess of 300 km per hour and there is testing of trains which will do 500 km per hour- it is quiet amazing. Catching the train is the easiest thing, no waiting and long queues like at the airport, just purchase a ticket from the vending machine or office counter, go to your station, wait at the allocated laneway, wait no more than a couple of minutes step inside the carriage walk a few paces to your allocated seat, sit down and away you go. It is that easy. A trip from Tokyo to Osaka takes a little more than 2 hours, and you usually have less than 10 minutes waiting time to board the train. During the day a train leaves Tokyo for Osaka every five minutes and each train holds about 1600 people. Food carts with lovely bento boxes and other treats are brought around the cabin, you can even purchase liquor. It’s one of the most comfortable and hassle free forms of travel.
Topics: Asia, Trains | No Comments »
Getting pushy on Tokyo’s trains
By wattsy | June 13, 2008
Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world and being so big it has a pretty decent transport system. At times like the morning and afternoon rush hours the trains can become overcrowded, sometimes reaching over 200% capacity. Because of this station employees formally known as “passenger arrangement staff” but nick named “Oshiya” (Pusher in English) are stationed on the platform to direct passengers to empty carriages and to help them into crowded carriages. Watch the video above and you will see what we mean. If you also think there may be a chance of getting felt up while in the packed train well the Japanese have a plan for that as well with special carriages for woman only known as Josei Senyo Sharyo. These carriages will have a image of a woman on the door and often feature a pink stripe along side of them and were put in place as many woman felt uncomfortable in the packed carriages due to the amount of groping incidents (known as chikan).
Topics: Asia, Trains | No Comments »
LA to Vegas in 2 hours by train
By wattsy | June 8, 2008
Now if it is 3 top things we like about traveling it would be fast trains, Disneyland and Las Vegas. Unfortunately you can’t combine all three in the one trip, but that may change in the future according to this Slashdot story. Apparently the Bush administration has approved 45 million in funding towards a 300mph maglev train to link Disneyland to Las Vegas in under 2 hours. Maglev’s have been touted as the future of train travel as their speed is comparable to an aircraft but by being a train can move more people to and from a central city spot. The biggest problem with maglev’s is building the track that allows the train to levitate magnetically is frightfully expensive. The Shanghai system in China (video above) cost around 1.2 million US to build a 30 klm track and experts predict that this money will never be recouped over the life of the train via its fares. Apparently the 45 million set aside for the US system is to pay for environmental studies on the first leg of the project. With the length of the proposed track being around 250 miles we hate to think how much the train will cost if completed. Perhaps Bush’s plan is to make it so expensive GM will never be able to buy it to close it down! What do you think great idea or white elephant? Hit up our comment form below. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Trains, USA | 1 Comment »
Melbourne’s W class trams
By wattsy | April 16, 2008
Melbourne’s W class trams are a well known icon of Melbourne that date back to the early 1920s. A main part of Melbourne’s transport system until the 1990s Today the trams are a tourist drawcard operating free on the city circle line as well as at night converted to restaurant trams. Interestingly Melbourne is not the only place in the world where you will see the iconic trams operating as a tourist trolly, a few of the 748 Melbourne built trams were exported to the US in the 70s and 80s and today can be seen operating in San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, New Orleans, Dallas and Portland. The youtube video above is of a Melbourne tram turning onto San Franscisco’s Embarcadero. There are also some W class trams operating in Auckland and Christchurch New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Australia, Trains, Youtube of the week | No Comments »
The Trans Siberian Railway
By wattsy | March 17, 2008
The Trans Siberian Railway is one of the world’s great railroad journeys linking Moscow to Beijing via 9,288 kilometres of track that spans eight time zones. The project to build the rail was one of the most expensive in Russian history at the time the first stage was opened in 1916. Technically the Trans Siberian Railway ends at Vladivostok but branch lines continue to North Korea and via the Trans Manchurian line or Trans Mongolian line to Beijing. The video above has a few good shots of the wonderful Russian landscape, it’s no surprise watching this one that this rail journey is so popular. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Russia, Trains | No Comments »
Tripandom Disney Week - New Monorails
By rocky | December 23, 2007
Well we thought being Christmas Week we should feature stories on the happiest place (or places) on earth- Yes Disneyland’s around the world. Our first story celebrates new monorails at the Anaheim Disneyland. We were reading on one of our favorite blogs that the monorails at Disneyland are getting a huge overhaul. As the photograph shows they are going to look pretty flash, word is they will have fancy blue glass and red strips which change colours in sunlight- a bit like one of those hypercolour t-shirts I suppose. The cabins take on a real futuristic retro look which should look great zooming around the Disneyland park. It looks like the first passengers will be able to ride on these sleek machines around February, so there’s not much time to wait. There should be plenty of new fun at the park during 2008 with a huge multi million dollar upgrade underway at both Disneyland and the Californian Adventure which will both see new attractions and fun for all over the next few years.
Topics: Americas, Trains, fun parks | No Comments »
A train that floats on magnets
By rocky | December 13, 2007
The last World Expo was in Nagoya in central Japan and to help get the 20+ million visitors to the site the Linimo Maglev Train was built. This amazing piece of technology offers a fully computerised, safe and smooth ride and is the first Japanese train to use the maglev system. It is hoped the technology will be used in the Shinkasen bullet trains in years to come, a Tokyo to Osaka train is in final stages of development, infact testing is being currently undertaken with speeds in excess of 580kmh. Nagoya’s train however is a suburban train it stops at 9 stops and rides upon a elevated track and reaches speeds of up to 100kph and actually floats 8 mm above the track being held up by magnetic force. The Linimo Train is able to carry 4000 passengers in each direction every hour with each train designed to carry 244 passengers, but as with all Japanese trains many more will squeeze in.
Topics: Asia, Trains | No Comments »
All aboard the Tramvaje in Prague
By rocky | December 10, 2007
There is a lot to see in the Czech city of Prague and there is no better way to cover the distances between palaces, castles and museums than on the Tramvaje. The local tramway has over 500 km of tracks around the city and it is estimated used by over 300 million people a year. You will catch a tram every 10 or so minutes so there is no long waiting time but peak hours the carriages can get very busy. Tram 22 and 23 are probably the most useful for tourists they go past many of the city’s most scenic routes including passing the National Theatre to Staroměstská and Malostranská metro stations, and continuing up to the Belveder, Prague Castle and Pohořelec. Tickets are cheap as chips costing only 25Kc for adults and 10kc for kids and seniors, but for a real bargain get a short term tourist pass they work on all public transport . Tickets can be bought from newsagents, stations, hotels and some department stores. There are also vending machines close to many stops.
Topics: Europe, Trains | No Comments »
Dinner on the Tube
By wattsy | November 23, 2007
While we enjoyed the video above of this group of people setting up their dinner party in a London Tube Train, its probably not recommended and perhaps frowned upon by the transit police. If you have ever been on London’s subway you will remember how cramped these trains are compared to other trains around the world. Many of London’s subways were built in the late 1800s and looking back it would have been better if they were built a wee bit bigger, the trains are shaped to maximise the little space they do have and are well known for being overcrowded and uncomfortable.
Topics: Trains, UK, Youtube of the week | No Comments »