Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

New trains coming to keep us on track this year. 2009 is the year Warren Buffett bought 3 rail companies, Madrid and Paris announced a high-speed rink and California gets a rail pass.

2009 was the year that Californians went down in history as voting in favour of a 800 mile high speed train system that will stop in every major city from Sacramento to San Diego. According to the High Speed Rail Authority, California is the 12th largest source of greenhouse gas emission on earth, 41% of which come from transportation. Traveling at 220 miles per hour, the new trains will reduce greenhouse gases by up to 12.7 billion pounds annually, the equivalent of removing 1 million cars from the road each year and is set for construction in 2011.

Already up and running in the same state is Los Angeles' Gold Line Estension - an eight-stop, six-mile addition to the Los Angeles Metro System. L.A is not of course know for its metro system but this new line has cleverly introduced an accompanying map for dining along the new line - click on www.metro.net/projects_studies/eastside/eastside_flavors.htm

Los Angeles' Gold Line Estension

Travel between the French and Spanish capitals is also set to become be quicker and easier from 2012, when a new high-speed rail link is set to be completed, according to an article in The Times. Paris and Madrid have signed a joint-venture deal to create high-speed rail link.The forthcoming train will connect Madrid to Paris (via Barcelona and Lyon) in under six hours.

Japan's forthcoming Environmentally Friendly Super Express Train.

Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries is developing the country’s fastest high speed train, the “Environmentally Friendly Super Express Train” (efSET). The new train will propel passengers along at 217 miles per hour, overtaking the current record-holding Shinkansen’s 186mph. The streamlined design also promises to be less noisy, more energy efficient, and will feature a state-of-the-art electrical control system.

Warren Buffett's big spending spree earlier this year - $4.4bn to be exact on three US rail companies, is credited with being in the name of globalisation. With booming demand for commodities from the East and a hunger for cheap foreign goods in the West, rail companies are the sexy alternative.

Source: The Times, Inhabitat

 

 

TAGS: warren buffett trains obama los angeles japan shinkasen high speed trains travel technology globalisation