I normally keep up with all transit projects in the U.S., but these last couple of years have been so depressing with transit funding that I only really follow those that beat the odds. Nevertheless, I am late to the party when it comes to Houston. I remember the regions METRONext initiative being overwhelmingly approved and thinking FINALLY, this huge city will get more transit. But today after a lengthy discussion with some foamers on how to get high speed rail to downtown Houston, I decided to do some digging into Metro to see what they're up to these days, and boy was I disappointed. What I'm seeing, also with Atlanta, Austin, and other cities, is that Houston voters were BAMBOOZLED!!! 67% of Houston voters wanted more transit expansion, but apparently these projects would be scaled back or on hold for the foreseeable future such as the Metro proposed blue line (University line) which was SUPPOSED TO BE light rail, but watered down to BRT. Now THAT isn't even happening as of right now. Utterly disappointing, especially when I read funds were redistributed (for the most part) for roadway improvement projects *COUGH COUGH, MIAMI VOTERS FROM THE 2002 BALLOT 👀*!! The bait and switch has became too common. For example... Austin loosing its downtown rail tunnel, Atlanta turning darn near every rail project into BRT and as mentioned above Miami as well with Metrorail. Any Houstonians in here?? How do you guys feel about the current state of Metro??

On Christmas Day 2024, West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Series 221 set 67 enters Tōfukuji Station as a northbound Nara Line train for Kyoto Station.

Tōfukuji sits east of the Kamo River between Gion and Fushimi-Inari, and is named for the nearby 800-year-old Zen Buddhist temple, so the station and trains had a lot of tourists including myself. 

PS: the train on the southbound track to Nara is an ex-JNR Series 205 train.

I’ve heard San Diego has the only Copper Line, so I’m guessing we’re also the only transit system with a Magic The Gathering Line. It’s only for Comic Con however.

In our timeline the furthest west railroads reached by 1860 was the outer edge of Missouri. During the 1840s - 1850s proposals to build a railway from New Orleans to Southern California, either San Diego as the Terminus or Los Angeles via Texas, Arizona and New Mexico or both were drawn up. This is why we got the Gadsden purchase. We never actually got this route until much later, the 1880s. A Northern Transcontinental route was preferred, but was impossible to do in the 1850s and difficult to do in the 1860s. The technology to build a southern transcontinental railroad existed in the 1850s. Had the US begun construction in the 1850s, then San Diego or Los Angeles could have been reachable by Rail from New Orleans by 1860 or a little after. You could have also reached Oklahoma City and Albuquerque, New Mexico via St Louis. Denver or Pueblo Colorado could have been reached by rail by 1860s from Kansas City. Cheyenne, Wyoming from Iowa and Chicago could have been reached by 1860. You could have also reached Minneapolis and then from there reach North Dakota and Montana.

The reasons these weren't built by 1860 are

1. Sectionalism, the all encompassing slavery issue made every rail location and route tied to the issue of slave states vs free states, rather than being an issue of geography and technology. New Orleans to Southern California was by the logic of geography the best route for a transcontinental railroad early on and it would have helped tied the Slave states of Texas and Louisiana to the Free state of California, but sectionalism prevented anything from being built in the 1850s.
2. Limits on Federal spending, the Federal government only has so much money in the 19th century so that limits what is possible.
3. Panic of 1857 caused much of the private railway funding to dry up in the 1850s, limiting westward expansion.
4. A lack of track gauge standardization. The North used 4ft 8.5in, where as the south used 5ft gauge.

News source :

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/rites-to-draw-blueprint-for-metros-55km-giant-leap-under-phase-3/articleshow/132297660.cms

Currently phase 1 of about 39 km is operational, and phase 2 of 45 km is under construction.

West Japan Railway Company (JR West) Series 321 train D28 and Series 207 train S57 meet near Sōjiji Station in Ibaraki City (Osaka Prefecture) in December 2024.

I think Hong Kong wins on reliability and affordability. Signal failures or the very rare weekend closures is front page news in Hong Kong, whereas in London it is a part of the system. However I think London is underrated from other countries but overrated from locals.

What do people think?

The TTC is equipping some streetcars with cameras in a new pilot program to see if the technology can help catch road users who illegally pass open streetcar doors.

Starting Monday, four streetcars will be equipped with Gatekeeper Systems technology.

The B.C.-based company says it uses “AI, video analytics, thermal cameras, and mobile data collectors” to create “a safer transportation environment.”

The camera-clad streetcars will operate on five mixed-traffic routes including 501 Queen, 506 Carlton, 504 King, 511 Bathurst and 505 Dundas for the next nine months.

The TTC said it chose the routes “to allow the cameras to calibrate to typical and unique stop configurations.”

“During the pilot, the cameras will measure how often illegal streetcar passing occurs,” the TTC said in a release on Friday.

Read the full story here.