After Transportation

I had never paid much attention to abandoned railroads till the time I first heard of the High Line Park in New York City; I often thought of Transportation Planning as planning for a new system to move people efficiently from one place to another. This popular urban design project introduced to me the dilemma of what to do with a transportation project once it has served its original purpose.

The High Line, New York City

Tracking High Speed Rail in India

For nearly thirty years, India has been toying with the idea of implementing High Speed Rail along major corridors to maintain global relevance and to increase connectivity to boost business and tourism. It looks like India is, finally, on track to get its very first high-speed rail line, albeit at least ten years from now. The HSR made headlines last week when the French National Railways, SNFC, announced that the technical feasibility studies for the Mumbai – Ahmedabad line (and 5 other lines), it is helping the Indian Government conduct, is nearing completion. The construction for this line is expected to begin after ironing out financial details like pricing, etc. and is expected to take 10 years to complete. Each line is expected to cost $600 Billion to construct.

High Speed Rail for India?

Florida's Rail Problems

                One of the many locations in the U.S. trying to push ahead in regards to rail travel is the state of Florida.  I grew up in Central Florida, and traffic and an inadequate public transit system have been a problem in the state for decades.  Major development in the state coincided with the rise in auto-centric society, which created a very spread out suburban infrastructure.  The number of major highways and interstates in the state has, however, remained very low, meaning that getting around without taking congested routes is very difficult.  Compared with Oregon, Florida is only smaller physically; the population of Florida is five times that of Oregon (19,000,000 vs. 3,800,000, respectively).