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<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Thanks Todd. I do rather feel that if Daryl spent as
much time promoting ETT as he does rubbishing rail that the former would be more
advanced by now.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Just one or two quick points - </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>US Railfreight is growing rapidly at present (and US
railroad stocks are on the up and up). Over long distances (the sort of
distance we are talking about in India) rail's modal share of TONS is high - I
don't have the figures to hand but I would guess something like 80% or
more. And it's the tons that need the infrastructure, not the
dollars. Who would even think of trucking coal from Wyoming to the
Mississippi (let alone airfreight!)? But US rail is also making inroads in
markets such as contracting to UPS, fruit and veg, etc. Not to mention the
huge flow of containers from West Coast ports.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>In the UK at least, many inter-urban passenger rail
services are now genuinely profitable - a positive result of the involvement of
the private sector in operation (and again numbers are rising rapidly).
And that's despite excessive track access charges under the UK's decidedly messy
"privatised" rail regime.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I claim limited expertise on Indian urban transport, and
hardly any on inter-urban and rural. But I suspect that what is needed is
a re-invigoration of the rail system, which is government owned and run, heavily
subsidised, and I'll bet it takes a LONG time to get a box-car (or the Indian
equivalent) from (say) Mumbai to Chennai.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>But what do Indians have to say on
this?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><SPAN class=109511008-04052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Alan</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P><SPAN><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></SPAN><BR><SPAN><FONT face=Arial size=2>--<BR>Alan Howes<BR>Associate Transport
Planner<BR>Colin Buchanan</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN><FONT face=Arial size=2>4 St Colme Street<BR>Edinburgh EH3
6AA<BR>Scotland<BR>email: </FONT></SPAN><A href="mailto:alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk"><SPAN><U><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>tel: (0)131
226 4693
(switchboard)<BR>
(0)7952 464335 (mobile)<BR>fax: (0)131 220
0232<BR>www: <A>http:/www.cbuchanan.co.uk/</A><BR>_______________________________<BR></FONT></SPAN></P>
<DIV> </DIV><BR>
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<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B>
sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org]
<B>On Behalf Of </B>Todd Alexander Litman<BR><B>Sent:</B> 04 May 2006
01:59<BR><B>To:</B> et3@et3.com; Asia and the Pacific sustainable
transport<BR><B>Subject:</B> [sustran] Re: "India is on the road to a transport
revolution"<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><FONT size=3><BR>Dear Mr. Oster,<BR><BR>I find your comments
inappropriate. Nobody has ridiculed you or your ideas and it harms our discourse
when you insult others. There is no reason to compare rail and highway
investments with a simple mathematical formula - it is an economic problem.
People are not randomly distributed over the landscape, we tend to congregate in
certain area. On high-density corridors it costs less per passenger-mile in
total (taking into account vehicles, vehicle operation, rights-of-way, and
parking or terminals) to transport by rail than by automobile. Developing
country cities have the density, financial limitations and other attributes that
make it infeasible for a major portion of the population to rely on automobile
transportation. In such conditions rail investments are likely to be more cost
effective and equitable than highway investments. <BR><BR>I think you are quite
wrong to imply that railroads are receiving excessive public subsidy. Here in
North America rail bear cost burdens, such as paying rent and taxes on
rights-of-way, that automobiles do not, and railroads maintain their own
terminals while automobiles rely on subsidized parking at most destinations.
Similarly, a typical urban transit user receives less total per capita subsidy
(including public expenditures on transit services, roads and parking
facilities) than a typical motorist (see <A href="http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf">http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf</A> ).
<BR><BR>I realize that you are an advocate of a new transportation technology (I
suggest in future you spell out ETT, most readers have no idea what it means)
which you believe is superior to alternatives. That's fine. If it proves to be
as good as you say it will find its role in the overall transport network. But
please don't think that deriding alternatives is an effective way of promoting
your ideas. Simply show us independently-verified proof.<BR><BR><BR>-Todd
Litman<BR><BR><BR>At 05:08 PM 5/3/2006, Daryl Oster wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite>Railroads were designed (optimized) to haul massive
loads between two<BR>locations. Their efficiency goes down considerably
when they are called<BR>upon to service a high number of access
points(nodes).<BR><BR>It is well documented in network theory that the
usefulness of a network is<BR>proportional to the number of nodes
squared. <BR><BR>The cost of servicing a transportation access point
(node) with rail is more<BR>than ten times the cost of servicing it with a
road; therefore the cost of<BR>accessibility of roads is more than a hundred
times better than the cost of<BR>accessibility of rail. <BR><BR>Of course, the
proof of this is ancient history in the US and most of<BR>Europe; trains had a
95% share of the value of cargo transport in 1910 in<BR>the US, and now they
have less than a 20% share, and even airplanes carry<BR>more cargo value than
trains do. The very high node access cost of train<BR>access (both money
and time) is the main reason. <BR><BR>There are many well intended
do-gooders who mistakenly promote rail as<BR>having accessibility advantages
over cars/roads - this view is proven false<BR>upon technical analysis AND in
the vast majority of the many markets where<BR>it has been tested. The
false view that trains offer better accessibility<BR>is carefully fostered by
the rail industry that has a huge vested interest<BR>in maintaining the grip
on the mammary of government funding. <BR><BR>The truth is that cars on
roads provide much better access to transportation<BR>than trains, and those
who seek equity for the poor would be better advised<BR>to build roads and
provide cars than to provide trains. This is why trains<BR>have been
displaced to niche markets by the car in developed countries.<BR>Passenger
trains only survive by firmly latching onto the mammary of<BR>government to
prevent the birth and nurture of more sustainable<BR>transportation
technology. This is why most people in developing countries<BR>aspire to
use motorcycles and or cars. <BR><BR>Virtually all societies frown on a
toothless grandpa or grandma nursing from<BR>their daughters mammary while the
new born baby grandchild goes unfed. Why<BR>is it that the rail industry
is not admonished for doing the same thing??<BR><BR>It is obvious that there
are problems associated with the adoption of the<BR>car, and that a better
form of transportation is needed. Grandpa rail would<BR>have us believe
that rail is better than cars, and with self serving lies<BR>railroaders
promote government funded train transportation projects, and<BR>government
funded rail operating subsidies. <BR><BR>What IS needed to solve the energy
and environmental sustainability<BR>limitations of cars is to implement
transportation technologies like ETT<BR>that offer at least a ten-fold
improvement in transportation value. <BR><BR>Compared to trains, planes,
and automobiles; ETT requires less than 1/50th<BR>as much fuel, and creates
1/50th as much pollution per passenger kilometer.<BR>The cost of providing ETT
accessibility is about 1/4th the cost of providing<BR>freeway accessibility;
and less than a tenth the cost of providing rail<BR>accessibility.
<BR><BR>For the task that trains were optimized for (moving tons of coal from
mine<BR>to points of major use) ETT can be implemented and operated for about
the<BR>same cost, leaving the ONLY advantage of trains to move loads that
cannot be<BR>reduced to weighing more than the 400kg payload of an optimally
sized ETT<BR>capsule. Such loads represent less than 5% of cargo
transported by rail. <BR><BR><BR>Daryl Oster<BR>(c) 2006 all
rights reserved. ETT, et3, MoPod, "space travel on earth"<BR>e-tube,
e-tubes, and the logos thereof are trademarks and or service marks<BR>of
et3.com Inc. For licensing information contact: POB 1423, Crystal
River<BR>FL 34423-1423 (352)257-1310, et3@et3.com , <A href="http://www.et3.com">www.et3.com</A><BR><BR><BR>> -----Original
Message-----<BR>> From:
sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com@list.jca.apc.org<BR>> [<A href="mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com@list.jca.apc.org">
mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+et3=et3.com@list.jca.apc.org</A>] On Behalf
Of<BR>> Sunny<BR>> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 10:04 AM<BR>> To:
Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport<BR>> Subject: [sustran] Re:
"India is on the road to a transport revolution"<BR>> <BR>> Dear
John,<BR>> <BR>> In my opinion if the problem is shipment then it can be
fulfilled with<BR>> out building new road and by efficiently using the
existing railway<BR>> network or by adding new goods/cargo trains, this can
even generate<BR>> income and jobs thereby benefiting the jobless both at
the source and<BR>> the destination, expanding our highways and bringing
more larger and<BR>> multi-speed gear boxes will only be a burden as they
have to be imported<BR>> and their number will be very small for an
investment like increasing<BR>> the overall highway structure for which the
large truck users might not<BR>> legally contribute anything. On comparison
to Bangkok I have recently<BR>> been on road to Chiang Rai, the north of
Thailand and to my surprise I<BR>> have not seen even one toll post
charging the cars which I am familiar<BR>> with in India and my friend was
driving never less than 100 kmph.<BR>> <BR>> Using the railway as I said
earlier will reduce the unemployment and<BR>> also the travel time as there
will be a pressure for quality on the<BR>> railways, better roads might be
a good answer but roads built solely for<BR>> freight will not be a good
answer, if anyone is familiar with HIV in<BR>> India it can be found that
the HIV cases are more among the lorry<BR>> drivers. I would be thankful if
anyone can throw more light on this<BR>> issue, I think Eric would be the
one as I have seen him as a moderator<BR>> on GATNET.</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><BR>Sincerely,<BR>Todd Alexander Litman<BR>Victoria Transport Policy
Institute (<A href="http://www.vtpi.org">www.vtpi.org</A>)<BR>litman@vtpi.org<BR>Phone &
Fax 250-360-1560<BR>1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7,
CANADA<BR>Efficiency - Equity - Clarity<BR> <BR></FONT></P></BODY><!--[object_id=#cbuchanan.co.uk#]--><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT color=#0000ff>
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