Informed but opinionated commentary and analysis on urban transportation topics from the Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal. Names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

Our Mission: Monkeywrench the Anti-Transit Forces

 
Say It Ain’t So!!! A Subway Named RUBIN!

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity: and I'm not so sure about the universe. Einstein


From the Cabalmaster:

Say It Ain’t So!!!

One of our favorite targets for (well-deserved) riposte and ridicule is about to have a subway named after him!

We’re referring to the inimitable Thomas A. Rubin, CPA, CMA, CMC, CIA, CGFM, CFM (think you could squeeze “KGB” or, more poetically, “NKVD” in there, Tom?).

Nürnberg, Germany, has a two-line, 25-km (15-mi) subway (U-Bahn) system. It uses conventional heavy-rail technology, and trains are almost identical to those used in München – except for color scheme. A planned third line (U3) was postponed, probably due to cost. The plan has been revived and has been dubbed “RUBIN.”

RUBIN is the German acronym for “Realisierung einer automatisierten U-Bahn inNürnberg.” This translates as “Implementation of an automated Metro System in Nuremberg.”

No, no, no, a thousand times no, we are NOT making this up!

Check out these links: www.rubin-nuernberg.de and www.smaragt.de. Both have pages in English.

A subway named RUBIN . . . what next?

Well, how about an informal contest? Can anyone out there in cyberland come up with a subway- or transit-related acronym, in any language, based on “RANDAL” or “WENDELL”?

We Opinionated Ones will (gleefully) post any entries – suitable for a family-oriented blog – that tickle our collective funny bone.

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 5/28/2004 05:17:00 PM

 
OTHER TRANSIT BLOGS – 1

Home of More Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity: and I'm not so sure about the universe. Einstein


From the Cabalmaster:

As Intrepid Websurfers know, there are other blogs online with a transit-oriented theme.

(Other than the one you’re reading, right this very moment.)

No, we here at The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal are NOT the only bloggers dedicated to truth, justice, and quality public transportation.

One of our favorite transit blogs is “The Third Rail,” thirdrail.smorgasblog.com. It tends to emphasize East Cost coverage (. . . yeah, East Coast . . . ya got a problem wid dat???) with lively editorial commentary. Here’s a choice excerpt:

“And stay out!

“So the Republican National Conventioneers won't use the subway for their convention this summer (well, not quite summer, more like week before 9/11).

“So what. New Yorkers don't want you there anyway. Speaking as a former long-time straphanger, I can firmly say I wouldn't want to find myself rushing down a flight of stairs in an attempt to catch an uptown N train to find Rick Santorum blocking the passage, lecturing his friends on how the smell is a sign of liberal decadence and the decline of western civilization.

“I don't care.

“And if he remained in my way, I would not hesitate to shove him.

“One of the things that makes drivers so unwilling to switch to transit is that they don't like being around people they don't know without a pane of glass separating them. Conventioneers probably don't want a rude awakening about life beyond their subdivision, so it isn't up to New York to give it to them.”


Another choice excerpt:

“Blinded by the (length of your) flight

“Or, why slow and steady sometimes does win the race

“From an article on the financial failure of the Channel Tunnel :

“‘And then there are rivals that barely existed in 1994: budget airlines.
There are 50 daily round-trip flights between London and Paris, most of
them much cheaper than a Eurostar ticket; many travelers think planes are
quicker even though the train is much faster city center to city center.
The rail journey between central London and central Paris is two and a
half hours; while the flight itself is only an hour, once airport travel
is taken into account, the journey is much longer.’

“I also find this phenomenon true in the U.S. You can take a 3.5 hour train ride from the middle of Boston to the middle of New York City. For more money (depending on special deals, time of booking and time/date etc...), you can take a 45-minute airplane ride from the periphery of Boston to the periphery of New York City. Add to that 30-minute cab rides at both ends and the suggested two-hour advance arrival for domestic flights, you don't really get where you're going any faster. Even if the plane cost as much as the train, the cabs would easily make the journey more expensive.

“So why do people take the plane? They like it for the same reason people set off from a green light like it's a drag race even if they can see they will have to stop for a red light and will leave the next intersection at the same time a slower driver will. When it comes to travel, man is not a coldly rational homo economicus - he wants to reach maximum speed instead of minimum time, even if time has value.”

A transit blog with “’tude” (attitude). We love it!!!

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 5/22/2004 06:29:00 PM

 
We Get Feedback – And We Stand Corrected!

Home of More Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity: and I'm not so sure about the universe. Einstein


From the Cabalmaster:

Unlike some of our favorite targets for riposte and ridicule (Tom Rubin . . . Randall O’Toole . . . Jonathan Richmond . . . the late John F. Kain . . . and most of all, Wendell Cox) we here at The Secret Worldwide Transit Cabal DO respond to feedback – even (gasp) to CRITICAL feedback.

A while ago, we ran a post titled “Beograd’s Phantom Subway.” This drew a response from “Christopher L” that said, in brief, NOT TRUE – the “unfinished” station was completed and is part of the “Beovoz” suburban network.

First, a bit of background. Beograd was once one of the smaller European capitals, but it now has 1.4 million people, with a metro area population approaching 2 million. Suburban railway services cover more than 320 km (200 miles) of route. These include a 52.4-km (32.5-mile) inner-suburban network, known as “Beovoz,” that has four services and three outer terminals. We provided a link www.beograd.co.yu/english/upoznaj/saobrac/beovoz/index.htm to the “official” English page; this includes photos, a map showing Beovoz lines in Beograd proper, and links to timetables.

The “Beovoz” network uses an underground link that extends southeast to Beograd Cental station, then turns northeast, skirting the historic city center. Information available online is incomplete – and sometimes, contradictory. Two Beovoz stations near the city center, Vukov Spomenik and Karadjordjev Park, are definitely underground – we’re not certain about Beograd Centar. The tunnel length is stated as 13 km (8 mi), but we doubt this is correct – the figure may refer to the total route length built as part of the “Beograd Junction” railway project. Vukov Spomenik station opened in 1995. The historic, stub-end Beograd station remains in service and is used by all international trains web.mit.edu/most/www/ser/Belgrade/railway.html.

But Beovoz was not the only rail project in town . . . well, maybe. We had heard of a separate “Beograd Metro” project. A mid-1970s project for an extensive network of subways and suburban railways stalled during the early 1980s, perhaps owing to financial considerations. We do not know if metro construction was started. But we did figure out that the photo, allegedly of the one station that was finished (www.subways.net/yugoslavia/station.bmp This 708k graphic!!) is in fact Vukov Spomenik. Thanks to “Christopher L.” for this link www.pbase.com/image/6939995 to photos including one showing people using those escalators shown in the “other” view. (But note also the misleading photo caption “Belgrade Metro Station.”)

As for the statement in the article “Loss of Memory? – New Urban Condition of Belgrade” by Srdan Jovanovic Weiss (www.normalgroup.net/turbo/tnprobe.html), this is either an error, a reference to something other than Beoovoz and the Vukov Spomenik station (that is, to the planned but not built “Metro” project) – or dezinformatsiya. We’re not sure which.

Other views of Vukov Spomenik station are here www.sicip.co.yu/vuk_und.htm and here www.sicip.co.yu/vuk_undg.htm. This page is part of the website of the Serbian form “Institute of Transportation CIP.” Among the “Topmost Projects” is . . . surprise, surprise . . . high-speed rail lines (www.sicip.co.yu/hsr_ser.htm.)

No, not the “Serbian version of the Japanese Bullet Train,” in spite of the graphics on the page. Trains would obviously be capable of operating away from the dedicated high-speed network – as French TGV and German ICE trains do, but Japanese shinkansen trains cannot.

In sum, it would appear that the story of “Beograd’s Phantom Subway” is a “transit urban legend” – perhaps propagated by critics of the previous Serbian regime. We hope to find detailed articles on the Beograd Junction project, the Beovoz network, and the planned light rail system in Beograd.

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 5/21/2004 01:22:00 PM

 
MISCELLANEOUS CABAL RANTINGS & BRAIN FARTS

Home of More Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity: and I'm not so sure about the universe. Einstein


From the Cabalmaster:

NEW BUSWAY IN JAKARTA

www.itdp.org/STe/ste12/index.html#transjakarta

Apparently this new busway has failed to attract the number of predicted passengers, likely for similar reasons why some rail lines fail to attract their predicted patronage.

PETER GORDON’S GOT A BLOG,
GOT A BLOG,
GOT A BLOG!

www-rcf.usc.edu/~pgordon/blog/.

(oh wait a minute we already publicized this!) Now see here Dr. Gordon, you can’t accuse us of not putting up links to our opponents!

NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED:
PASADENA – MONTCLAIR GOLD LINE EXTENSION

The Metro Gold Line Construction Authority was formed in 1999 to build a light rail line between Los Angeles, Pasadena and Montclair. The first segment, between Union Station, Pasadena and Sierra Madre Villa was opened in July 2003.

The Authority has launched a new website www.la-pasblueline.org

IS IT SOMETHING WE’VE SAID???

Randal O’Toole, whom we’ll call The Veritable Viscount of Verbosity:

WE’RE NOT THE ONLY ONES WHO SHOULD QUIT WHILE WE’RE AHEAD!

Not by the hairs on his chinny-chin chin.

Instead . . .

he’ll huff, and he’ll puff . . . and
he’ll huff, and he’ll puff . . .

(just what you’d expect
from a steam train buff*!)

(*”alleged” steam train buff, that is . . . good ol’ Randal has not responded to an earlier post – with newspaper citation -- in which we raised this issue.)

But don’t bother trying to explain this to Randal. All you’ll get is some remark disparaging your “jealously guarded ideology” . . . or something equally idiotic.

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 5/11/2004 05:44:00 PM

 
RAILWAYWOMEN: INTERESTING SITE

Home of More Transit Links Than You can Possibly Check(tm), Unless you have no life other than websurfing

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity: and I'm not so sure about the universe. Einstein


From the Cabalmaster:

We Opinionated Ones came across this one while researching another topic (. . . which may, or may not, have anything to do with cheap shots at Wendell Cox . . . ).

“Railwaywomen” (www.railwaywomen.co.uk) (nothing like "highwaymen" we're sure) is billed as “The central repository for information in women workers on Britain’s railways from 1830 to the present day.” The webmaster, Helena Vojtczak, was the first woman employed as a conductor (“guard”) by British Rail. Her book, titled “Railway Women,” is planned for publication in autumn 2004. The primary focus is on the UK, but other countries will be covered. One of the interesting facts is that during World War II (or the “Second World War” as they say in the UK), some 114,000 women worked for UK railways. This figure was about the same as the total number of railway employees in 1989.

(. . . one of the more interesting sites we’ve stumbled across while – perhaps – preparing cheap shots at Wendell or other favorite “targets!”)

posted by The Cabalmaster, Master of All Transit-dom 5/11/2004 05:12:00 PM