[sustran] Re: "India is on the road to a transport revolution"

[Daryl Oster]

Sunny,

Railroads were designed (optimized) to haul massive loads between two
locations.  Their efficiency goes down considerably when they are called
upon to service a high number of access points(nodes).

It is well documented in network theory that the usefulness of a network is
proportional to the number of nodes squared.  

The cost of servicing a transportation access point (node) with rail is more
than ten times the cost of servicing it with a road; therefore the cost of
accessibility of roads is more than a hundred times better than the cost of
accessibility of rail. 

Of course, the proof of this is ancient history in the US and most of
Europe; trains had a 95% share of the value of cargo transport in 1910 in
the US, and now they have less than a 20% share, and even airplanes carry
more cargo value than trains do.  The very high node access cost of train
access (both money and time) is the main reason.  

There are many well intended do-gooders who mistakenly promote rail as
having accessibility advantages over cars/roads - this view is proven false
upon technical analysis AND in the vast majority of the many markets where
it has been tested.  The false view that trains offer better accessibility
is carefully fostered by the rail industry that has a huge vested interest
in maintaining the grip on the mammary of government funding.  

The truth is that cars on roads provide much better access to transportation
than trains, and those who seek equity for the poor would be better advised
to build roads and provide cars than to provide trains.  This is why trains
have been displaced to niche markets by the car in developed countries.
Passenger trains only survive by firmly latching onto the mammary of
government to prevent the birth and nurture of more sustainable
transportation technology.  This is why most people in developing countries
aspire to use motorcycles and or cars.  

Virtually all societies frown on a toothless grandpa or grandma nursing from
their daughters mammary while the new born baby grandchild goes unfed.  Why
is it that the rail industry is not admonished for doing the same thing??

It is obvious that there are problems associated with the adoption of the
car, and that a better form of transportation is needed.  Grandpa rail would
have us believe that rail is better than cars, and with self serving lies
railroaders promote government funded train transportation projects, and
government funded rail operating subsidies. 

What IS needed to solve the energy and environmental sustainability
limitations of cars is to implement transportation technologies like ETT
that offer at least a ten-fold improvement in transportation value.  

Compared to trains, planes, and automobiles; ETT requires less than 1/50th
as much fuel, and creates 1/50th as much pollution per passenger kilometer.
The cost of providing ETT accessibility is about 1/4th the cost of providing
freeway accessibility; and less than a tenth the cost of providing rail
accessibility.  

For the task that trains were optimized for (moving tons of coal from mine
to points of major use) ETT can be implemented and operated for about the
same cost, leaving the ONLY advantage of trains to move loads that cannot be
reduced to weighing more than the 400kg payload of an optimally sized ETT
capsule.  Such loads represent less than 5% of cargo transported by rail.  


Daryl Oster
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com at list.jca.apc.org
> [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com at list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of
> Sunny
> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 10:04 AM
> To: Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
> Subject: [sustran] Re: "India is on the road to a transport revolution"
> 
> Dear John,
> 
> In my opinion if the problem is shipment then it can be fulfilled with
> out building new road and by efficiently using the existing railway
> network or by adding new goods/cargo trains, this can even generate
> income and jobs thereby benefiting the jobless both at the source and
> the destination, expanding our highways and bringing more larger and
> multi-speed gear boxes will only be a burden as they have to be imported
> and their number will be very small for an investment like increasing
> the overall highway structure for which the large truck users might not
> legally contribute anything. On comparison to Bangkok I have recently
> been on road to Chiang Rai, the north of Thailand and to my surprise I
> have not seen even one toll post charging the cars which I am familiar
> with in India and my friend was driving never less than 100 kmph.
> 
> Using the railway as I said earlier will reduce the unemployment and
> also the travel time as there will be a pressure for quality on the
> railways, better roads might be a good answer but roads built solely for
> freight will not be a good answer, if anyone is familiar with HIV in
> India it can be found that the HIV cases are more among the lorry
> drivers. I would be thankful if anyone can throw more light on this
> issue, I think Eric would be the one as I have seen him as a moderator
> on GATNET.
> 
> Sunny
> 
> John Ernst wrote:
> > On the serious side -- and, sorry to say, the article was not on the
> > satire page, Eric -- the problems with India building expressways
> > that induce further private motor vehicle use over longer commuting
> > distances are, I think, clear to all.
> >
> > But here's an anecdote to consider in regards to these highways and
> > freight shipment:
> >
> > Last year, on a flight from Delhi to Bangkok, I sat next to an
> > American man who was setting up greenhouses in India to grow massive
> > quantities of vegetables for large discount stores that were coming
> > in (the "big box" stores, e.g., Walmart, Lotus, Carrefour).  His
> > biggest problem was the trucking. To make his plan work, he needed to
> > reduce the shipping cost and time.  This meant changing from India's
> > existing trucks to big semi-trucks with multi-speed gearboxes,
> > trained drivers to operate them,... and better roads to accommodate
> > them.  He said the roads were coming.
> >
> > I'm not prepared to comment on the global economic considerations
> > here, but I think it provides an interesting window into the kind of
> > political pressures behind these expressways.  It's not just the
> > Yohan Poonawallas in their Rolls Royces.
> >
> > Best,
> > John
> >
> > At 04:21 AM 5/3/2006, Lee Schipper wrote:
> >
> >> If Eric liked that he'd LOVE a presentation by the guru of the Delhi
> >> Metro. Made up numbers and all!
> >>
> >>
> >>>>> eric.britton at ecoplan.org 5/3/2006 6:07:23 AM >>>
> >>>>>
> >> Dear Sunny,
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> This is a satire, isn't it? The sort of multi-layered complex big fish
> >> Indian tale that we of the West are not expected to be able ever to
> >> penetrate.  A rich private yarn, is it?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> If so, it's a real good one. I especially liked the name choice for
> >> the
> >> "34-year-old scion", Yohan Poonawalla, of Pune nonetheless. And you
> >> know
> >> the stuff about Mumbai, cows and "people", well that is very refined.
> >> As
> >> indeed is all the rest.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Keep it coming Guardian. Har har har.
> >>
> >
> > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> > John Ernst   -  Director, Asia Region
> >     ITDP - The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
> > Promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation
> worldwide
> >   Visit http://www.itdp.org
> > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> >
> >
> >
> > ================================================================
> > SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South'). Because of the history of the list, the main focus
> is on urban transport policy in Asia.
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South'). Because of the history of the list, the main focus
> is on urban transport policy in Asia.