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Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

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Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#231

Post by ZeroGravitas »

huijzer wrote: post #227
ZeroGravitas wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I associate this attitude with criticism of Wikipedia and narcissism. I don't think it's a coincidence that it's often around editing things they are related to that this comes up. I tried to do something and they stopped me . This is wrong, I should be able to do this and write my own story. Which is a perfectly normal feeling. But if you end up saying that loudly in public without ever thinking, well what if the ru…

> I associate this attitude with criticism of Wikipedia and narcissism. I never said anything about Wikipedia. For the record, I'm a big fan of Wikipedia and I'm skeptical about the new US government. Please don't assume that because someone holds opinion X that they also hold opinion Y. With the current levels of polarization, it's probably a fair assumption to make, but I think we all as individuals have a responsi…

I brought up Wikipedia because it's something I'm interested in.

And it's an example of somewhere I'd seen this exact argument against rules/regulation regularly made on HN stories and the comments on them in what I thought was a mostly non-political context.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#232

Post by wffurr »

jmward01 wrote: post #41
pm90 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To unlock the true value of these systems the BA needs to be forced to increase density of their cities though. We need SF proper to look more like Manhattan.

It also needs a much bigger emphasis on transit oriented development. In Japan the best place to eat in town is often in the train station or within a few feet of it. In the US the stops are often some of the worst places like parking lots or run down parts of town. Rarely have I seen good shopping/dining/living integrated into BA, or even US in general, transit systems.

My office in Cambridge, Massachusetts is directly in a 12 story tower with ground floor retail directly on top of a transit station. TOD does exist, it’s just rare for whatever reason in NA.

That said, there are lots of other stops in the area that are either overrun with parking, like you said, or are one story business districts with no housing. Lots left to do.

I suspect the problem might be mismatched incentives. ISTR reading that some East Asian transit companies own and develop the parcels on and around their stations, which provides funding and drives ridership.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#233

Post by jajko »

jacobjjacob wrote: post #181
whyenot wrote: post #34

It's great, but it took more than 20 years to get here due to environmental reviews and shaky funding. ...and this was just re-fitting an existing, relatively short stretch of track! We (as Californians) have GOT to do better than this! There are huge infrastructure projects that we need to undertake in the coming years. We have got to cut the red tape and properly fund projects.

People want infrastructure and then when it gets built, they say it’s too expensive and takes too long. Valid criticisms but many throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Rail for people is hard to get profitable without pretty high cost (or permanent subsidies).

Look at Switzerland - this is the land of trains, all reachable cities and villages have main train station at their heart, use is frequent, and its part of national pride (precision, coverage, cleanliness etc.). Yet prices are brutal, sure if you live here you can often afford it but it still hurts. The price keeps rising.

And I still use our family car for anything else but commuting to work (and even for that sometimes). Morning trains packed like sardines, in reality there are frequent (usually small though) delays which cascade. Car for 4 is significantly cheaper - I'd say 4x for full tickets, less with half/card but then thats 200 bucks a year on its own per head.

Whatever problems you are facing, I doubt that in US rail will solve all of them. Happy to be wrong here of course. I see rather some AI vans/minibuses ondemand hailing and sharing as way more effective and cheap solution. Small bus full of people has minimal env impact and can provide door-to-door transport.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#234

Post by roenxi »

sofixa wrote: post #192
huijzer wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m getting more and more convinced that this is a main problem all over the West. In Germany, a business owner called Marco Scheel is becoming more and more popular by being very outspoken about how bureaucracy is hindering him. His company is called Nordwolle by the way. They make clothing out of sheep wool. They spend a lot of effort finding the right type of wool so they don’t need chemicals to paint it. One majo…

> One major example which Marco first became popular with was that he owned a barn but wasn’t allowed to use it for the factory since it was a farm on paper. The government told him to move to a designated factory area. He argued that it made no sense since he was living in a very remote area, and the barn was of high quality. What else should he do with the barn? Why would he need to build something new somewhere el…

You're going to end up in a position where you're telling a farmer how to manage & value farmland. That'll lead to more misses than hits.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#235

Post by saagarjha »

Dalewyn wrote: post #197
quantified wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean they won't at least check your professed name and address?

Nope. It is literally illegal[1] to ask for identification in California. In fairness it was ambiguous[2] before, but in practice California has never asked for identification and this was made clear and official policy from the 2024 elections (note: I am not aware if there are any lawsuits that have blocked enforcement of this law, I no longer reside in CA and do not keep close track of their goings-on). And before…

Surely they can just check your ballot and see if you are registered to vote when counting it?

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#236

Post by inglor_cz »

s0rce wrote: post #60
aetherspawn wrote: post #40

Train technology is so behind compared to road electric vehicles. Companies that build train batteries have been trying to sell to us (car OEMs) lately, and we look at the battery specs and battery management system capabilities and go uhhhh… On the motor and control fronts as well.

Why? Just build more trains any train infrastructure is so much better than cars, they barely need improvement, they just need to be built

The fundamental problem with any infrastructure today is that

a) it works better in a densely populated territory,

b) but the more people around, the more NIMBY cliques to throw sand into the permiting process, usually abusing environmental protections to do so.

If the new Trump administration defangs NEPA reviews just a bit - and I see no evidence that the original intent behind NEPA was to delay everything everywhere by decades - it might help, but a powerful YIMBY movement would be even better.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#238

Post by Dalewyn »

saagarjha wrote: post #235
Dalewyn wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. It is literally illegal[1] to ask for identification in California. In fairness it was ambiguous[2] before, but in practice California has never asked for identification and this was made clear and official policy from the 2024 elections (note: I am not aware if there are any lawsuits that have blocked enforcement of this law, I no longer reside in CA and do not keep close track of their goings-on). And before…

Surely they can just check your ballot and see if you are registered to vote when counting it?

That's the theory and in most other states I would agree, but this is California. The priority is in getting votes period, not getting voters.

Once a ballot gets past the initial verification stage, ballots are separated from the voter and it becomes impossible to link them back again (ballots have no identifiers on them). Given California's priorities, I have no confidence in the integrity of their ballot verification. While I did still vote when I was in California, I was aware I was likely just wasting my time and that the act of voting had symbolic meaning but no practical value.

Election integrity is achieved by vetting elections in ways that are immediately obvious and verifiable by the voters, California unfortunately has none of that as a legal policy of the state.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#239

Post by ZeroGravitas »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #23
londons_explore wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno... Many trains in London still don't do regenerative braking despite the technology to generate electricity from motion being around for... checks notes... 194 years!

The deepest metro lines are also boiling, because the heat from braking just gets constantly absorbed into the ground, and the ground's ability to disperse the heat is maxed out.

Some of that heat is now used to heat homes via a local heat network originally built to use combined heat and power.

Re: Caltrain's electric fleet more efficient than expected

#240

Post by tim333 »

whyenot wrote: post #34

It's great, but it took more than 20 years to get here due to environmental reviews and shaky funding. ...and this was just re-fitting an existing, relatively short stretch of track! We (as Californians) have GOT to do better than this! There are huge infrastructure projects that we need to undertake in the coming years. We have got to cut the red tape and properly fund projects.

I'm not sure it'll work but we have one of the loudest critics of over regulation making it hard to build things setting up the Department of Government Efficiency when he's not doing iffy salutes on stage. Their proposed approach as written in a WSJ opinion piece is quite interesting -

>Most legal edicts aren’t laws enacted by Congress but “rules and regulations” promulgated by unelected bureaucrats—tens of thousands of them each year

>...President Trump, [] can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission.

>When the president nullifies thousands of such regulations, critics will allege executive overreach. In fact, it will be correcting the executive overreach of thousands of regulations promulgated by administrative fiat that were never authorized by Congress...

(wsj thing https://archive.is/nFNp4)

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