3 ms·
The Pedestrian Observations blog[0] has a lot of thoughts on this. The content is too long to go into here in depth. However, the TLDR is that the US (and, to
by bleepblorp 6y ago
The Pedestrian Observations blog[0] has a lot of thoughts on this. The content is too long to go into here in depth.
However, the TLDR is that the US (and, to an extent, the rest of the neoliberal world) botches transit and rail transport projects because government agencies lack the in-house capacity for effective management and rely too much on outside consultants whose interests are poorly aligned with those of taxpayers.
Bringing in outside firms to do turnkey rail solutions does not have a good history, generally because non-local prime contractors want to do things the way they do in their home countries, which often isn't economical, or even possible, elsewhere. Bring in a Japanese, Chinese, or European high-speed rail prime contractor and they'll want to build a system using parts that aren't widely available in the US (think metric vs. imperial fasteners and go way up from there), which will make construction and maintenance very expensive.
[0] https://pedestrianobservations.com https://pedestrianobservations.com
(this is not my blog)
- arethuza 6y agoThat reminds me of the Edinburgh trams project - which was a bit of a disaster during construction (mind you the end result is excellent): https://www.insider.co.uk/news/edinburgh-tram-inquiry-john-carson-12295822 https://www.insider.co.uk/news/edinburgh-tram-inquiry-john-c...
- jld89 6y ago> (and, to an extent, the rest of the neoliberal world) France, Germany and Spain have a skilled railbuilding workforce...
- M2Ys4U 6y agoThe Metrolink in Manchester,[0] the UK's largest tram network, is a good counter-example. The expansion of the network been consistently well delivered over the last ~decade. The Airport Line opened a year ahead of schedule,[1] the Trafford Park line eight months ahead of schedule,[2] and the Second City Crossing was only a year behind it's aspirational opening date because of the discovery of a crypt buried under where a new station was being built.[3] I think this is mainly because there has been a pipeline of new projects enabling both the contractors and TfGM to retain skilled engineering and project management staff. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Metrolink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Metrolink [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29879147 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-29879147 [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-51801265 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-51801265 [3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-30779807 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-30779807
- moltar 6y agoCanada uses metric system yet all of the problems are the same.