Rarely has a train caused so much trouble for its operator as the third generation ICE has for German railway operator Deutsche Bahn (DB). This was the first high-speed train to be designed by industry alone, with Siemens overseeing the creation of a vehicle that seemed to have a knack for malfunctioning. When the first trains rolled into operation 10 years ago, passengers complained of defective air conditioners and clogged toilets. Defective couplings later paralyzed ICE operations, an axle broke in Cologne in summer 2008 and recently a door flew off a train traveling at full speed.
This susceptibility to breakdowns was particularly humiliating for the Munich-based company which aimed to challenge its French competitor Alstom, a company with a glowing industrial reputation for its successful high-performance trains. Alstom holds the world record in rail travel with a speed of 575 kph (357 mph).
Why a fiasco? Because the impetus is from Siemens. Nobody even mentions Alstom.
{whispers} Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!
“Were you sent here by the devil?”
“No good sir, I’m on the level”
Siemens’ involvement with large scale projects has always resulted in disaster. They should stick to their PLCs, home appliances, etc..
I only read Part 1. How is this coming to America? Surely as a jobs program, any mass transit will be built by Americans, for America, in America?
Mass transit works in high density population distributions. The regional planning in America for the last 200 years has been to encourage low density. Change is a bitch, and if you can’t depend on the change, be sure the bitch will always be there.
Surely?
((Even 30 years ago the very best tech was designed in germany, financed and marketed in America, built in Japan, and sold in Japan and elsewhere if there was market demand? IE–even 30 years ago in many respects Japan and Europe were going high tech more than the USA))
I have worked with German Engineering firms. They are just as bad at planning, risk management, implementation, testing as the American, Canadian, etc..
German made products aren’t what they used to be.
Of course trains have replaced intra country air travel in France. It is the size of Texas with a MUCH higher population. Trains will never replace air travel in the US.
Coming to America? Where do you get that?
Most of the article has nothing to do with the trains themselves anyway. It correctly points out that you can’t have fast trains on poor or poorly designed track and poorly designed operating schemes.
#3 Their name keeps showing up in the states when ever high speed trains come up. This most likely means big campaign contributions to Congress and the White House so of course they will be the ones to get the contract bringing new jobs to, at a guess, Germany.
#7–deowll==well THAT certainly can’t be right. Our good folks are looking out for their voting based, not a big pile of cash from oversees.
Tangentially, I hear the British Government is intervening with Obama to keep British Petroleum from any overly negative impact.
More oversea’s governments and corporations somehow gaining influence in covert discussion with our Government.
Impossible I say.
High speed trains work GREAT in the United States, in ‘regional areas’. The NE section between Boston and DC. I used to love taking the train from DC to New York. In the NW from Portland to Vancouver BC is a great service area. St. Louis to Chicago, Chicago out to Des Moines. There are great regional sections where a 150mph train would be faster than air by the time you figure in airport issues and transit time.
How about high speed between San Diego, LA and San Francisco? Then LA to Las Vegas. Sure no one is going to go from Boston to LA on a train, high speed or not, but for the 2-3 hour trips it’s great. You can’t even put money on how much nicer is it to take the train from Seattle to Vancouver than fly that f**king cattle car (Greyhound in the sky). SO much more relaxing and pleasant. AND you get get up and walk around.
Wow Dvorak, you really hate trains don’t you?
But then again you should ride a bicycle more often.
Well, at least we won’t have to fly in those DAMM planes anymore!
We’re having a very big bruhaha here in Portugal because we’re building a massive new airport in Lisbon AND implementing the first TGV (High Speed Train) rail from Lisbon to Madrid.
That’s all great, except the country is broke…
Sure, government says it’s billions of Euros going to the economy (but most will go to French and German Contractors…)
Anyway. My point is: WTF building that big airport?
Oil price will never go down, it will always go up! So the cost of operating Air travel will skyrocket, while Train Travel, after the initial Very High investment, will flat out, because Electricity wont’t go up in price (We don’t have Nuclear, but France has and it is selling it dirt cheap…).
And from Lisbon to Madrid will be a 2 hour hop. Center to center. Downtown to downtown.
Madrid to Paris overnight is two and a half hours. Another Two hours to London.
My bet is on the train. Not in flying.
@#13 “Oil price will never go down, it will always go up!” – you forgot just year or two old DROP of oil prices for about 100$/bar., or about 70% down.
As for US high speed trains, it is all in the lack of business sense in Govt. run by career politicians who do not know how to do anything practical. In mid-1990s US have had chance to become major producer and techno-edge holder on high speed mag-lev propulsion systems. Production line was set and the best of the best minds from Nat.Labs’ have developed highly compact and highly efficient magnet systems for the purpose of accelerator build. These were perfectly suited to be used in high speed mag-lev trains and hundreds of scientists were pleading with Govt. to allow such use and preserve production facility. Instead, after limited number have been built for specific purpose, production line have been closed and dismantled by order of the short sighted politicians… That is the real problem. Engineering can always be done. What would inept politicians and community organizers pick is another and irrational matter.
here is link for Siemens rail.
http://usa.siemens.com/industry/us/hsr-portal/hsr-landing.html?stc=usccc021817
They have a plant in Sacramento, CA. Notice how they highlight the greener nature of their operation.
Some Spanish company called Talgo is going to make the trains for the new $810 million dollar high speed rail connection between Madison, WI and Milwaukee, WI. It is a waste of money. Their trains are also used in the Pacific Northwest.
Passenger trains used to be very popular in the U.S., but were killed off by the interstate highway system.
Siemens are also having trouble in Melbourne Australia, with their brakes failing and many other faults cropping up with their trains.
Is it jut me or does the US have a bad record on innovation anymore.
We use to own industry and technology. But lately that is just not true.
#18 jescott418 -
As I see it there are 2 reasons why we aren’t innovating like we used to:
1) Private industry doesn’t pay engineers anymore. When my dad was an electrical engineer in the 1960s and 70s he was paid as much as a doctor or lawyer.
2) Many of the talented designers and engineers go on to work in the military/industrial complex instead of working for consumer companies. There they get to develop amazing technology like UAVs, instead of better transportation systems.
Do the windows always break like that in Solvang?