NewsTrust - Transportation - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

Positive Train Control Stalled Even After Deadly Nudge

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By Joan Trossman Bien - Oct. 06 (Special Report) - Positive Train Control technology that adheres to the simple premise that there should only be one train to one track is still years away from full implementation in the U.S.

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Intercity Bus Service Increasingly Popular

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Miller-McCune - By Sara Barbour - Sep. 15 (Special Report) - With lower fuel emissions than planes, downtown access to rival trains and lower prices than either alternative, could buses be the future of intercity travel?

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Should the Airbus Be Grounded?

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By William John Cox - Jun. 20 (Special Report) - Not including losses attributable to terrorism, rebellion or military action, Airbuses have been involved in 23 fatal crashes causing the deaths of 2,584 passengers, crew members and people on the ground. In addition, there have been five nonfatal accidents causing 21 serious injuries. While the overall number of accidents and fatalities are not disproportionate to the crash experience of Boeing aircraft, three of the Airbus crashes involved a separation of the composite vertical stabilizer (tail fin) from the fuselage. Five hundred, or one in five of the Airbus deaths, including 228 from Air France Flight 447, resulted from these three crashes.

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Northwest's biofuel boom goes bust ?

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

OregonLive.com - By Scott Learn, The Oregonian - Jun. 07 (News Report) - The biofuel downturn has been a national phenomenon, Van't Hof noted. Oregon's plants are likely to be restructured under Chapter 11 proceedings or sold, not shuttered. And the federal plans for more biofuel use in coming years leave Oregon in a good position to capitalize as the industry grows, he said.

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Electric cars are coming!

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Katharine Mieszkowski - May. 20 (Special Report) - On Tuesday, when President Obama proposed the first nationwide regulation of greenhouse gases, which would set limits on tailpipe emissions for cars and trucks, he jacked up the buzz about electric cars. The new regulation requires new cars and light trucks to get on average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, which is almost 40 percent more fuel-efficient than the requirements today. Automakers, which have kicked and screamed for generations about increasing fuel efficiency, stood politely by Obama, having to suck it up, as their fortunes now depend on the government. In good part, they will attempt to meet the goal with a flashy new line of cars powered by the electrical outlet in your garage.

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America refuses airspace to Air France jet citing No-Fly rules

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

DigitalJournal.com - By Michael Cosgrove - Apr. 27 (News Analysis) - The reason given was the presence on board of Ospina, a Monde Diplomatique correspondent. He has written many articles criticising the Columbian Government of President Alvaro Uribe and United States’ involvement in Latin American affairs.

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Pulp Nonfiction

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - Apr. 03 (News Analysis) - Thanks to an obscure tax provision, the United States government stands to pay out as much as $8 billion this year to the ten largest paper companies. And get this: even though the money comes from a transportation bill whose manifest intent was to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, paper mills are adding diesel fuel to a process that requires none in order to qualify for the tax credit.

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The Nano lands in India

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Royal Ford - Mar. 24 (Special Report) - Tata is calling the Nano the "people's car," but I think that was long ago taken by a German outfit called Volkswagen. In fact, the Nano sounds very familiar in its presentation: 34 horsepower, engine in the rear, rear-wheel drive, non-collapsing steering wheel, no airbags, no rear seatbelts, no ABS, no traction control, no air conditioning, no power steering.

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Saturn: 'Stay Tuned' For Brand's Future

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

clickondetroit.com - Feb. 18 (News Report) - After General Motors Corp. announced Tuesday that it's considering phasing out its Saturn brand by 2011, Saturn responded by saying it wants people to "stay tuned" for what could be Saturn's most exciting years yet.

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Back on Tracks

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Monthly - By Phillip Longman - Jan. 14 (Special Report) - By all rights, America’s dilapidated rail lines ought to be a prime candidate for some of that spending. All over the country there are opportunities like the I-81/Crescent Corridor deal, in which relatively modest amounts of capital could unclog massive traffic bottlenecks, revving up the economy while saving energy and lives. Many of these projects have already begun, like Virginia’s, or are sitting on planners’ shelves and could be up and running quickly. And if we’re willing to think bigger and more long term—and we should be—the potential of a twenty-first-century rail system is truly astonishing. In a study recently presented to the National Academy of Engineering, the Millennium Institute, a nonprofit known for its expertise in energy and environmental modeling, calculated the likely benefits of an expenditure of $250 billion to $500 billion on improved rail infrastructure. It found that such an investment would get 85 percent of all long-haul trucks off the nation’s highways by 2030, while also delivering ample capacity for high-speed passenger rail. If high-traffic rail lines were also electrified and powered in part by renewable energy sources, that investment would reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emission by 38 percent and oil consumption by 22 percent. By moderating the growing cost of logistics, it would also leave the nation’s economy 13 percent larger by 2030 than it would otherwise be.

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Detroit In The Slow Lane

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Global Pulse - Dec. 05 (News Analysis) - Can Detroit learn the lessons of its global competitors in time to survive? America's "Big Three" automakers put it this way: either Congress comes through with a multi-billion dollar bailout, or at least one of them will fail. GM, Ford and Chrysler say "small and fuel-efficient" is now their new mantra. SOURCES: SABC News, South Africa; CNN Espa

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Assembly Line

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New Republic - By Jonathan Cohn - Nov. 24 (News Analysis) - But the next time you hear somebody say the unions have to make serious salary and benefit concessions, keep in mind that they already have--enough to keep the companies competitive, if only they can survive this crisis.

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Green, slimy algae could one day run your car, hopes Bluffton entrepreneur

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Island Packet - By Liz Mitchell - Sep. 29 (News Report) - Chris Gerards of ALGBio hopes to scrape success from nature's slime by converting it into a viable source of biofuel. He's growing a local strain of freshwater algae and researching ways to develop it at the Waddell Mariculture Center, which is run by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

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Electric Cars Are the Key to Energy Independence

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By David Morris - Aug. 03 (Special Report) - We have done a great deal, from the bottom up, to increase the supply of renewable electricity. Less well known is how much we have done on the demand side of the equation, that is, the use of electricity in transportation.

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Motor City Looks To Rev Up Operations Abroad

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Council on Foreign Relations - By Lee Hudson Teslik - Aug. 01 (Special Report) - The outlook is especially grim for sales within the United States, where market share has fallen dramatically (WSJ-chart) for nearly all U.S. automakers. With average summer gasoline prices in the United States over $4 a gallon, buyers are increasingly keen on fuel efficiency, while U.S. automakers have for years focused on trucks and larger vehicles. The expense of overhauling U.S. production facilities is high, and while U.S. automakers have set up plants to produce smaller cars abroad, shipping costs make it uneconomical for them to bring these vehicles back to the United States.

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Private Jets Targeted as Symbols of Inequality

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Abid Aslam - Jun. 25 (Special Report) - Crusaders against inequality are accusing the private jet set of flying high at the expense of the environment, the national air traffic system, and lower-class taxpayers.

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JS Online: NewsWatchGM to close Janesville SUV plant by 2010

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel - By Thomas Content - Jun. 03 (News Report) - General Motors Corp. (GM) will close its Janesville sport utility vehicle plant by 2010, the Detroit-based automaker announced today. The factory is one of four GM is closing across North America, along with plants in Moraine, Ohio, Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico. GM said the closings were part of a plan to save the company $1 billion a year beginning in 2010.

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US truckers call for nation-wide shutdown

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Real News - Apr. 30 (News Report) - A convoy of trucks rolled through Washington, DC, on Monday, as part of a protest to pressure Congress into acting on high gas prices. As gas around the US hit an average of $3.66 per gallon--a full 66 cents above the price this time last year--truckers called on the US government to take action.

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GroundReport - Illinois - Tata Acquires Jaguar/Land Rover For $2.3 Billion

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Groundreport.com - By jakewriter - Mar. 26 (News Report) - Tata Motors of India has acquired the coveted Jaguar luxury brand and Land Rover segment from Ford for $2.3 billion.

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The environmental and social costs of parking your car

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:51:45 -0700

Salon - By Katharine Mieszkowski - Oct. 01 (Special Report) - The impervious surfaces of parking lots accumulate pollutants, according to Bernie Engel, a professor of agricultural engineering at Purdue. Along with dust and dirt, heavy metals in the air like mercury, copper and lead settle onto the lots' surfaces in a process called dry deposition. These particles come from all kinds of diffuse sources, such as industry smokestacks, automobiles and even home gas water heaters....Engel calculates that the Tippecanoe land used for parking creates 1,000 times the heavy-metal runoff that it would if used for agriculture. Because the surface of the lots doesn't absorb water, it also creates 25 times the water runoff that agricultural land would, which can increase erosion in local waterways.

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Automaker Rankings 2007: The Environmental Performance of Car Companies

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 09:47:11 -0700

Union of Concerned Scientists - Apr. 21 (Special Report) - The product planning decisions of a handful of powerful companies have an immense influence on the environmental health of the United States and the world. Automaker Rankings 2007: The Environmental Performance of Car Companies analyzes the bottom-line environmental performance of eight companies, which together account for 96 percent of cars and trucks sold in the United States--the world's largest vehicle market. The analysis uses sales and emissions data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation for model year 2005. Overall scores are based on a 50/50 weighting of average per-mile emissions of smog-forming and global warming pollutants from each manufacturer's vehicles. The average across all eight automakers is defined as a score of 100 and lower scores indicate less pollution.

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