gmat Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 Response to the StarAdvertiser OpEd on the Mayor/City Council HART spat. The comment section is interesting. Charter is clear on Council's authority over HART http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/20110629__Charter_is_clear_on_Councils_authority_over_HART.html City approves request to alter 4 Oahu streams for rail project http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/15001517/city-approves-request-to-alter-4-oahu-streams-for-rail-project Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
Guest Closed Account 1 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 For the $5.5 billion they're spending, we could have built a much better scale example. LOL. What if the project were classified as elevated roadbed then wouldn't the Federal budget fund it long enough to build it? Then the Tram tracks could be embedded in that 3 lane "Scenic Road". Link to comment
Mudkip Orange Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 You'd have to do a really really good job of pretending it wasn't transit, though. Contractor price gouging is a feature of all transit projects, even ones that are structurally identical to highways - look at the Los Angeles Orange Line if you want an example. Now, if they said TOLL ROAD and PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, and then after construction the toll road holding company revealed itself to be a shell company for what was actually a joint venture of Siemens and Bombardier all along... and then they laid tracks on it... then maybe you could get a fair price. Link to comment
gmat Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Bombardier Transportation files a request for administrative hearing. Essentially the same article from The StarAdvertiser and AP: StarAdvertiser writer. Losing bidder seeks hearing on rail contract http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110630__Losing_bidder_seeks_hearing_on_rail_contract.html AP writer. Losing bidders appeal Honolulu rail contract award http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/124773294.html Interesting comment from ppc in response to the latter article: Stop with these B S artist renditions of the future Oahu rail platform shown in the news. City has already identified that the trains will be a 2 car configuration built by Ansaldo with each car weighing in at 72,000 pounds. Each Oahu train station will have two tracks side by side to allow trains to go in both directions, therefore along any train track by itself, or at the station, for the span of 2 train cars, the track must support close to 1/3 of a million pounds! For comparison one empty Boeing 737 jet like the old Aloha Airlines jet weighs less than one Ansaldo train car! Those streamlined artist renditions of the Oahu train to nowhere won't even come close to supporting the massive weight of those Ansaldo trains and passengers! That is why LA county cancelled their Ansaldo train contracts because of weight issues. Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 The picture in the article is clearly an artist's conception of what a station "might" look like. Now, Ansaldo has had many issues, but any hullabaloo about overweight cars and lightweight structures (and comparisons to 737s- apparently b/c that's what 'mericans can relate to) is getting close to FUD. Link to comment
KenS Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 And 72,000 pounds isn't exactly heavy. That's 36 tons. While modern Japanese commuter cars come in in the mid twenties, the 103 weighed about 36 tonnes (metric), a U.S. commuter rail car (MBTA Kawasaki double-decker) can weigh 65 tons, and a U.S. freight car can be well over 100. With modern construction materials (reinforced pre-stressed concrete), a fairly lightweight structure should be able to handle 150 tons, even with a very large safety materials. We're not talking about the kind of structure needed for a freight. Link to comment
gmat Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Short article. Not much new here. Sumitomo seeks state hearing on rail bid http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110701__Sumitomo_seeks_state_hearing_on_rail_bid.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
Mudkip Orange Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 The BS renderings aren't the ones being put out by the pro-rail guys, it's the ones being put out by the anti-rail guys. The toll road pimps have a couple of high-res renderings on their site of a massively chunky elevated station platform complete with graffiti on the columns. Link to comment
gmat Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 New rail board will not sue City Council over budget http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/124882249.html Rail board holds first meeting http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/15014680/rail-board-holds-first-meeting Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Sorry. Not much new here: Rail board will not sue for control of budget http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110702__Rail_board_will_not_sue_for_control_of_budget.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Star Advertiser OpEd on the need for a rail expert on the Board of Directors of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. Any volunteers? http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/20110424__Oahus_rail_panel_needs_technical_expert_aboard.html Best wishes, Grant I would think they are looking at a very small (non-existent?) pool of potential candidates if they are recruiting within Hawaii for rail experts, unless they can find a retired person from the mainland or abroad. It's tough enough to find real experts on passenger rail in continental US, for that matter, as there is no real professional school for railway engineering in the U.S. My impression of rail passenger/transit systems in the U.S. is that they are run by politicians/appointees, rather than railway professionals well-versed in modern (i.e. European/Japanese style) operations. Link to comment
gmat Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 Not much news. I added a link to the updated site. HART website slowly picks up speed as rail plan proceeds http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110708_HART_website_slowly_picks_up_speed_as_rail_plan_proceeds.html Here is a link to the site. http://www.honolulutransit.org/ Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Open to out-of-staters? Rail authority lacks members with know-how in mass transit http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110715__Rail_authority_lacks_members_with_knowhow_in_mass_transit.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 Not much today. Protest by losing city rail car contract bidder tossed out http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/125860848.html OpEd from a realtor. Building better neighborhoods around transit stations http://www.staradvertiser.com/editorials/20110719_Building_better_neighborhoods_around_transit_stations.html Best wishes, Grant Add ons. Yes2rail site. http://yes2rail.blogspot.com/ Link to antirail editorial mentioned above. http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/07/just-what-honol.html Link to comment
gmat Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 May explain a lot. Ansaldo Honolulu's parent firm rethinking rail car business http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/126439633.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
disturbman Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 AnsaldoBreda is really a strange affair. Some of their contracts have been plagued by delays and quality issues (Danish IC4 and the HST V250 for service between the Netherland and Belgium as well as some of their trams) but others, I never heard a complaint about (like their driver-less subway). But maybe this is good knews, I think the company needs to be reinvented... I just don't know who might want to buy them and inherit the problematic contracts. Link to comment
gmat Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 Trouble nags city rail bid winner Financial and managerial problems beset Ansaldo Honolulu's parent firm http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110730_Trouble_nags_city_rail_bid_winner.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
Nozomi4ever Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 God!! Why take Ansaldo Breda trains. Ansaldo trains are pretty much unreliable and plagued with problems. See what happen to the IC4 , when they finally managed to deliver the DSB IC4 , they sent one of the IC4 to Libya for free which was designated for DSB. I am sure DSB was very pissed about it. And the Fyra. The design looks like %$& crap. Looks uglier than Hayabusa.. So they should have awarded the contract to Bombardier instead. Link to comment
disturbman Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Like I said before, some of their trains (mainly their automatic subway) were not reported as being a failure... at least not to my knowledge. They have produced much more than the Fyra and the IC4. Link to comment
gmat Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Latest news since Ansaldo's announcement: Ansaldo reaffirms commitment to Honolulu rail project http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/126539778.html Pilikia is a Hawaiian word for trouble. Rail firm's pilikia could cost city, Council chairman says http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110801_Rail_firms_pilikia_could_cost_city_Council_chairman_says.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 With Honolulu becoming a one newspaper town, it wasn't long before the StarAdvertiser made the switch to pay for news. So I won't be linking articles to their page anymore. From Honolulu Civil Beat. http://www.civilbeat.com/posts/2011/08/15/12522-bombardier-appeals-honolulu-rail-contract/ Best wishes Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 Recent news from Yes2rail. http://yes2rail.blogspot.com/ From KHON2, a local TV Station: http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Nations-money-problems-could-affect-Honolulus/zDpAEVcImk61peOcJs_jLQ.cspx From the other side: http://www.honolulutraffic.com/ Includes link to the full OpEd article from the Star Advertiser. http://www.honolulutraffic.com/op-ed_082111.pdf Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 Sumitomo drops appeal. http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/128290263.html Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
gmat Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 From the StarAdvertiser; Transit authority plans to question Ansaldo about finances http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/Transit_autority_plans_to_question_Ansaldo_about_finances.html From Honolulu Civil Beat; Honolulu Rail Asks Losing Bidder to Extend Offer — Just In Case http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2011/08/25/12650-honolulu-rail-asks-losing-bidder-to-extend-offer-just-in-case/ From Pacific Business News; Closer look shows why Sumitomo may have decided against Honolulu rail appeal http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/blog/morning_call/2011/08/closer-look-shows-why-sumitomo-may.html Perhaps Sumutomo will win out in the end. Best wishes, Grant Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Closer look shows why Sumitomo may have decided against Honolulu rail appealhttp://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/blog/morning_call/2011/08/closer-look-shows-why-sumitomo-may.html Perhaps Sumitomo will win out in the end. That's what I thought. They can just sit on the sidelines and wait out the results, rather than spend money on appeals and seem like a sore loser. Should Ansaldo be rejected, Sumitomo can swoop in and get the contract, or at least make another bid if the bidding process is re-instituted. Link to comment
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