The great train (ticket) robbery

Written by Jim Cameron
Wednesday, 20 February 2013 13:10

If you had a contract with someone and paid them in advance to do a job, only to find they never provided that service, you should get your money back, right? Otherwise, by keeping the money and not delivering on the bargain, that person would be committing fraud.

Well, that's exactly what Metro-North does to weekly and monthly ticket holders when it sells those tickets but cancels train service. The railroad refuses to give those riders a refund. That's wrong.

Who sets the highway speed limits?

Written by Jim Cameron
Tuesday, 12 February 2013 15:00

Crawling along I-95 the other day in the usual bumper-to-bumper traffic, I snickered when I noticed the "Speed Limit 55" sign alongside the highway. I wish!

Of course, when the highway is not jammed, speeds are more like 70 mph, with the legal limit, unfortunately, rarely enforced. Which got me thinking: Who sets speed limits on our highways and by what criteria?

In suburban Maryland, they opened a $2.5-billion toll road last year, connecting Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The ICC, or Inter-County Connector, is carrying so little traffic that motorists complain it's hard to stick to the double nickels (55 mph). So to incentivize more traffic, Maryland lawmakers are talking of raising the speed limit to 70 mph, faster even than the 65-mph speed limit on other interstates.

Flight attendants

Written by Jim Cameron
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 12:19

Any regular reader of this column knows that I hate to fly. I'll enjoy an overnight Amtrak sleeper ride to Chicago over a three-hour flight, any day (or night).

But when I do have to fly, I really like seeing gray hair in the cockpit. The older and more experienced the pilots, the better, (despite this crazy FAA rule that pilots must retire at age 65, regardless of their health).

The five biggest lies about highway tolls

Wednesday, 16 January 2013 11:36

Like it or not, get ready to pay tolls on our interstates and parkways. Transportation officials in Hartford say there's just no other way to raise badly needed money for overdue infrastructure repairs. Tolls may not be popular, but neither are collapsing bridges.

In the last decade's debate on highway tolling, here are the five biggest lies that opponents have used to stall the return of highway tolls:

Connecticut’s new railroad

Written by Jim Cameron
Tuesday, 08 January 2013 16:20

Last week, China opened the world's longest high-speed rail line. From Beijing, the line runs 1,428 miles south to Guangzhou, roughly the distance from New York City to Key West. At an average speed of 186 mph, the 1,000-passenger, 16-car trains will cover the distance in eight hours. Trains depart every 10 to 12 minutes in each direction.

Though construction of high-speed rail began only in 2007, by 2015 China will have a national network of more than 11,000 miles of high-speed rail lines carrying more than 3 billion passengers annually.

China's high speed rail is best in the world

Written by Jim Cameron
Tuesday, 20 November 2012 16:10

Last column, I spoke of riding Japan's Shinkansen, the oldest true high-speed rail (HSR) system in the world. This week, the story of the newest and biggest HSR ... China's.

Much has been written of the tragic accident in July 2011 when two Chinese trains collided, killing 40 and injuring almost 200. A recent New Yorker article detailed the incident as an example of shoddy Chinese engineering and political corruption, which it was.

The Bridgeport Port Jefferson Ferry

Written by Jim Cameron
Thursday, 13 September 2012 13:10

Every now and then it's great to see a transportation system that works really well. Case in point, the Bridgeport (CT) to Port Jefferson (NY) ferry.

I've written in the past about some folks' crazy idea that ferry boats are the solution to our traffic problems along I-95. They are not. But they do prove useful when they take you where the roads and rails can't, like across Long Island Sound.

Metro-North's ticket rules are still a rip-off

Written by Jim Cameron
Monday, 27 August 2012 10:14

Metro-North's "new and improved" fare policy taking effect on Tuesday, Sept. 4,, is neither new nor improved. It continues to be a rip-off of riders.

Until 2010, you could buy a one-way or round-trip ticket and use it anytime within 90 days. Convenient ten trip tickets were good for a year. And unused tickets could be refunded anytime for free.

Then, in December of 2010, things changed for the worse: one-way tickets were only good for 14 days and 10-trips for six months. Refund any ticket and you'd be hit with a $10 service fee.

Amtrak’s future in Connecticut

Written by Jim Cameron
Wednesday, 15 August 2012 09:31

Amtrak, what passes for America's national railroad, has some big plans for the future. The problem is finding any consensus, let alone the money, on what those plans should be.

Before we detail its vision for the year 2030, here's a snapshot of how Amtrak operates today. Amtrak runs 46 trains a day through Connecticut, serving 1.7 million passengers annually. New Haven, the busiest station in the state, is the 11th busiest in the nation.

The bicycle revolution

Written by Jim Cameron
Thursday, 09 August 2012 11:14

In the seven years I've been writing this column, I've offered my views on everything from trains and planes to trolleys and trucks. But I've missed out on a major revolution in personal transport: the bicycle.

Now personally, I'd sooner travel by limo than be perched on a bicycle seat, exposed to the elements, but that's just me. Mine is not the generation that's moving from four wheels to two.