urbanism

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This was supposed to be c/traingang, so post as many train pictures as possible.

All about urbanism and transportation, including freight transportation.

Home of train gang

:arm-L::train-shining::arm-R:

Trainposts highly encouraged

Talk about supply chain issues here!

List of cool books and videos about urbanism, transit, and other cool things

Titles must be informative. Please do not title your post "lmao" or use the tired "_____ challenge" format.

Archive links for reactionary sites, including the BBC.

LANDLORDS COWER IN FEAR OF MAOTRAIN

"that train pic is too powerful lmao" - u/Cadende

founded 5 years ago
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just thought it was funny this video came out right after the NotJustBikes doomerism post

I tend to agree RMTransit here, even in cursed Los Angeles there are miles of rail opening each year. Maybe one day it'll creep into my neighborhood

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This is Thanet Parkway.

No ticket office, no information point, no staff, about as wide as a balance beam and less vibrant than a self-storage complex. It was supposed to cost £11m but somehow ended up spiralling to over £35m.

Southeastern Railways is on Twitter trying to answer or deflect angry questions, predominantly from disabled people, explaining the ever more complicated and absurd ways disabled people can 'request' assistance in using the station.

It's important to note that most of their answers rely on just saying that the trains on that line have conductors on the trains themselves who can help, at a time when both the government and the rail companies are pushing for DOO trains (Driver Operater Only i.e. no train staff apart from the driver who is not allowed to leave their cabin).

They've also been asked numerous times for the dimensions of the platform so that disabled users can check if there is enough space for their wheelchairs / mobility scooters. This is the only question they have repeatedly ignored.

It also appears that the station, which many local politicians have argued was not required, may have been promised as part of a deal with a housing developer to increase the value of the development they were building. Which is a whole other can of worms.

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NotJustBikes is getting dragged on Twitter for this post.

What do you think? Is he right? Wrong? Not wrong, but an asshole?

When I see how hard advocates and sympathetic planners have to work in 2023 to get a halfassed facility that would never make it off the drawing board in the Netherlands, it's hard for me to say he's wrong.

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by InevitableSwing@hexbear.net to c/urbanism@hexbear.net
 
 

SpoilerIt's an elementary school.

Lafayette, Louisiana is so car dependent that their brand new elementary school is built like an industrial center where trucks line up to deliver and pick up goods.

All of this for a demographic (kids) that can't even drive.

Nitter

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A lot of guerrilla gardeners simply want to supply healthy food for themselves and their neighbors, while others want to beautify their communities, make them less hot (green spaces help cities stay cool), or support pollinators and local wildlife. Still others put extra emphasis on the ​“guerrilla” part: The fall 2001 issue of the anarchist quarterly Disorderly Conduct, for example, suggests particular greenery to plant ​“along the foundation of government buildings” to ​“tear up concrete.”

The organization Food Not Lawns says a good place to start is by replacing your own lawn with food and native plants. But because not everyone owns a lawn, advocates argue there is major guerilla potential in, er, ​“extra-legal” spaces. Abandoned lots are a common site for guerilla gardens, as are strips of land along roads and sidewalks, and even city parks. Often covered in concrete or (at best) mowed grass, all that land could instead be feeding us, shading us, helping pollinators and generally making our lives more pleasant. (And yes, you can always start by asking the city for permission.)

Another way to start is by ​“propaganda of the seed.” Some gardeners make ​“seedbombs,” which are little balls of compost, clay and seeds. As gardener Josie Jeffery explains in her book, Seedbombs: Going Wild with Flowers, the clay holds the ​“bomb” together so the seeds don’t scatter in the wind, while the compost provides nutrients. ​“Here you have in the palm of your hand a little revolution,” she writes, ​“something that contains the early stages of a field of wild flowers, edible crops or a herb garden.” You can throw these seedbombs anywhere— into an alleyway or out your bus window — so long as you are conscious of whether the seeds you chose are a good fit for the local environment.

“Next time you see a foxglove growing by a set of traffic lights,” Jeffery writes, ​“you’ll know a guerrilla gardener has been there!”

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You'll never guess! If you do know, post it in the comments section with the spoiler function. Answer provided tomorrow!

Edit: What the tunnel is doing now

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or am I doomed to suburban hell lmao some context I am in tech

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Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems are considered heavy rail, using electrified or diesel trains. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used.

The term can refer to systems with a wide variety of different features and service frequencies, but is often used in contrast to rapid transit or light rail.

Some services share similarities with both commuter rail and high-frequency rapid transit, examples being the German S-Bahn in some cities, the Réseau Express Régional (RER) in Paris, the S Lines in Milan, many Japanese commuter systems, the East Rail line in Hong Kong and some Australasian suburban networks, such as Sydney Trains. Some services, like British commuter rail, share tracks with other passenger services and freight.

In North America, commuter rail sometimes refers only to systems that primarily operate during peak periods and offer little to no service for the rest of the day, with regional rail being used to refer to systems that offer all-day service

Most commuter (or suburban) trains are built to main line rail standards, differing from light rail or rapid transit (metro rail) systems by:

  • being larger
  • providing more seating and less standing room, owing to the longer distances involved
  • having (in most cases) a lower frequency of service
  • having scheduled services (i.e. trains run at specific times rather than at specific intervals)
  • serving lower-density suburban areas, typically connecting suburbs to the city center
  • sharing track or right-of-way with intercity and/or freight trains
  • not fully grade separated (containing at-grade crossings with crossing gates)
  • being able to skip certain stations as an express service due to normally being driver controlled

Compared to rapid transit (or metro rail), commuter/suburban rail often has lower frequency, following a schedule rather than fixed intervals, and fewer stations spaced further apart. They primarily serve lower density suburban areas (non inner-city), generally only having one or two stops in a city's central business district, and often share right-of-way with intercity or freight trains.

Track

Their ability to coexist with freight or intercity services in the same right-of-way can drastically reduce system construction costs. However, frequently they are built with dedicated tracks within that right-of-way to prevent delays, especially where service densities have converged in the inner parts of the network.

Most such trains run on the local standard gauge track. Some systems may run on a narrower or broader gauge. Examples of narrow gauge systems are found in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Switzerland.

Some of the Commuter rail systems around the world

In Japan, commuter rail systems have extensive network and frequent service and are heavily used. In many cases, Japanese commuter rail is operationally more like a typical metro system (frequent trains, an emphasis on standing passengers, short station spacings) than it is like commuter rail in other countries. Japanese commuter rail commonly interline with city center subway lines, with commuter rail trains continuing into the subway network, and then out onto different commuter rail systems on the other side of the city.

Commuter rail systems have been inaugurated in several cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and the Pearl River Delta. With plans for large systems in northeastern Zhejiang, Jingjinji, and Yangtze River Delta areas. The level of service varies considerably from line to line ranging high to near high speeds. More developed and established lines such as the Guangshen Railway have more frequent metro-like service.

The two MTR lines which are owned and formerly operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, and MTR's own Tung Chung line connect the new towns in New Territories and the city centre Kowloon together with frequent intervals, and some New Territories-bound trains terminate at intermediate stations, providing more frequent services in Kowloon and the towns closer to Kowloon. Most of the sections of these four lines are overground and some sections of the East Rail Line share tracks with intercity trains to mainland China.

In South Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway includes a total of 22 lines, and some of its lines are suburban lines. This is especially the case for lines operated by Korail, such as the Gyeongui-Jungang Line, the Gyeongchun Line, the Suin-Bundang Line, or the Gyeonggang Line.

In Indonesia, the KRL Commuterline is the largest commuter rail system in the country, serving the Greater Jakarta. It connects the Jakarta city center with surrounding cities and sub-urbans in Banten and West Java. In July 2015, KA Commuter Jabodetabek served more than 850,000 passengers per day, which is almost triple of the 2011 figures, but still less than 3.5% of all Jabodetabek commutes.

In the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Mexico regional passenger rail services are provided by governmental or quasi-governmental agencies, with the busiest and most expansive rail networks located in the Northeastern US, California, and Eastern Canada. Most North American commuter railways utilize diesel locomotive propulsion, with the exception of services in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and Mexico City; New York's commuter rail lines use a combination of third rail and overhead wire power generation, while Chicago only has two out of twelve services that are electrified.

The five major cities in Australia have suburban railway systems in their metropolitan areas. These networks have frequent services, with frequencies varying from every 10 to every 30 minutes on most suburban lines, and up to 3–5 minutes in peak on bundled underground lines in the city centres of Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne. The networks in each state developed from mainline railways and have never been completely operationally separate from long distance and freight traffic, unlike metro systems. The suburban networks are almost completely electrified.

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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

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Theory:

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https://www.designboom.com/design/brownstone-shared-housing-capsulte-pods-shared-living-05-05-2022/

THE PROJECT PRESENTS AN ANSWER TO SOARING RENTING PRICES

How can someone stay for months in a pod? It’s easy when the pod is as spacious and well-designed as ours,’ said James Stallworth, co-founder of Brownstone Share Housing in a blog post. ‘Christina led the way ensuring the house and the pods were as accommodating as possible without sacrificing reasonable space efficiency. We found our product is a God-send for people who need to be in the area for work and school.

[Screaming eternally into the void]

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What is with the voice of this insipid Aussie? Very annoying to listen to. If you pronounce Law as "Lawr" then you don't deserve to be taken seriously.

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High speed rail is a fine investment to make to a railway network that is even somewhat competently put together, but California currently only runs one train a DAY between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Coast Starlight, which takes about 12 hours.

The San Joaquins is the inland train from Oakland to Bakersfield, and has 6 trains a day, which is shit, but better than the Coast Starlight. From Bakersfield, there is a timed bus connection to Los Angeles, which makes San Francisco-Los Angeles take about 9.5 hours. This is a solution, but not a good one.

Why doesn’t the train continue to Los Angeles, you ask?

WELL…

It's not like there aren't tracks there. Before Amtrak, the San Joaquin Daylight was a train ran by Southern Pacific Railroad, and it's what Amtrak inherited. It ran from San Francisco to Los Angeles by way of Merced, Bakersfield, and the Tehachapi Pass.

The Tehachapi Pass is a remarkable pass and a major bottleneck for train travel in California. There are only two north-south routes for trains to Los Angeles in California. One is by the coast, which is what the Coast Starlight uses, and the other is Tehachapi Pass, a single-track mountain pass with a famous loop. The Tehachapi Pass is shared by BNSF and Union Pacific railways, and is extremely well used.

Intent readers may note the following passage from the Wikipedia article:

Although Southern Pacific ran passenger trains on the Loop for years, it banned passenger service there soon after handing its trains to Amtrak in 1971. Union Pacific has maintained the ban since taking over Southern Pacific.[3] As a result, Amtrak's San Joaquin train is unable to directly serve Los Angeles until a bypass is constructed or the federal government of the United States or the California State Legislature compel the railroad to allow passenger service to resume.[3] Amtrak operates Thruway Motorcoach buses for passengers wanting to travel between the Central Valley and Los Angeles.

:agony-consuming:

Capacity has recently increased on the Pass as several passing loops have been added, using state bond money. Are passenger trains allowed? Nope.

The high speed line opening in 2029, if it ever does open, will only extend as far as Bakersfield. This means that people who want to continue on to Los Angeles will still have to transfer to A BUS while the rest of the line is being built, because of the Tehachapi passenger train ban.

Endpoint: Until California gets the guts to let passenger trains use the pass and thus allow trains to use the high speed alignment as soon as possible, California is a failed state and does not deserve high speed rail.

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Caught him mention this here, decided to look up the project.

Seems neat. There's a few different routes that have been proposed over the years, changing with the political conditions I guess? Train gang will be fans of it.

For Bolivia I think the obvious merit is that it provides much more port access options for a landlocked country which is probably essential for maintaining their sovereignty.

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A NYT columnist...

weekly bakery run with this new basket on my bike. one of the great things about this bike is that it is such a conversation piece. it has sparked so many great convos with all sorts of people who are just intrigued by the idea of an ebike. and i am very confident that i have convinced more than a few people (including my neighbor!) to get an ebike for themselves. this is the thing. everyone i know who has tried one has instantly fell in love with the experience. it feels like magic!

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I wondered what the model was and how much it cost. I guess all the cool people don't have to google. But I did.

Tern GSD S10 LX electric cargo bike review: no more excuses - The Verge

The price tag for the GSD [is] $5,499 for single battery configuration, $6,299 for the dual-battery.

[...]

It’s not cheap to outfit your bike with all these accessories. The panniers ($250 for two), Clubhouse ($240), Storm Box ($220), and Storm Shield ($220) are all pretty expensive, especially in aggregate. And when added to [the base price] - you’re looking at an overall price of over $7,000.

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by RNAi@hexbear.net to c/urbanism@hexbear.net
 
 

The retro lights, the plate and the carpet should also count, and everything matches color, so that's a four in the Kinsey scale.

Hold up, is that a scenter? That's a Kinsey-6

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