Reinventing the train: Ideas coming down the track

[marmar]

Ideas coming down the track
Transport: New train technologies are less visible and spread less quickly than improvements to cars or planes. But there is still plenty of innovation going on, and ideas are steadily making their way out onto the rails

Jun 1st 2013




(The Economist) COMPARED with other modes of transport, train technology might seem to be progressing as slowly as a suburban commuter service rattling its way from one station to another. Automotive technology, by contrast, changes constantly: in the past decade satellite-navigation systems, hybrid power trains, proximity sensors and other innovations have proliferated. Each time you buy a new car, you will notice a host of new features. Progress is apparent in aircraft, too, with advances in in-flight entertainment and communication, fancy seats that turn into beds, and quieter and more efficient engines. Trains, meanwhile, appear to have changed a lot less.

This comparison is not entirely fair. For one thing, people buy their own cars, so they pay more attention to automotive innovation. Carmakers are engaged in a constant arms race, trumpeting new features as a way to differentiate their products. Nobody buys their own trains. Similarly, air passengers have a choice of competing airlines and are far more likely to be aware of the merits of rival fleets than they are of different types of train. In addition, notes Paul Priestman of Priestmangoode, a design consultancy that specialises in transport, trains have longer lives, so technology takes longer to become widespread. The planning horizon for one rail project he is working on extends to 2050. “You have to think about longevity, whereas the car industry wants you to buy a new car in two years,” he says.

Yet there is no shortage of new ideas, and they are steadily making their way out onto the rails. Better technologies are delivering everything from improved traction, braking and route-planning to sleek levitating trains designed to glide on air at an astounding 500kph (310mph). Energy-efficiency and safety are up, and derailments are down. There are schemes to transfer electrical energy from braking trains into local power grids, and even more radical plans for “moving platforms” that dock with high-speed trains.

For proponents of rail transport, such developments strengthen the political and economic case for favouring trains over roads or short-haul air travel. In 2011 a European Commission “roadmap” document on transport strategy called for a trebling of high-speed rail capacity in Europe, and further investment in urban networks, with the goal of halving the use of fossil-fuel-powered cars in cities within two decades. That seems optimistic. But high oil prices, clogged roads and rising demand for passenger and freight capacity have prompted widespread talk of a “rail renaissance” which will accelerate the adoption of new technologies. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21578516-transport-new-train-technologies-are-less-visible-and-spread-less-quickly?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/ideas_coming_down_the_track

[hunter]

1. We don't need faster trains so much as longer vacations.

The journey ought to be part of the experience.

If I was emperor of the earth I'd ban air travel except for dire emergencies, but then I'd allow people a few extra weeks to travel, two month vacations a year, year long vacations a decade. My impossible utopia...

But electric high speed trains are an excellent compromise because, unlike airliners, they don't require fossil fuels. Put solar panels and wind generators along the railroad right-of-ways and the energy that powers them might be entirely renewable.

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. ++

For me, the time on the train is my favorite part. But my employer doesn't like me to be away for longer than a week, which severely limits my "Train Range".