airrailtoday

There is a family friendly security lane at Terminal 5 at Heathrow. When I went through on a recent Saturday morning there were plenty of people about - but few families. Result: 4 people staffing the lane standing around waiting for custom while at the other security lanes, people had to wait. Not a downside of a family lane as such, but a downside of queue management. Read Full Story

Virgin Atlantic are gradually introducing a system called Travel Tip Catcher - initially on their first two A330s. Passengers can use the touch-screen in-flight entertainment system to read tips about their destination. They can also send their own messages, search reviews, filter by category and rate information from other passengers. Read more on the vtravelled blog. Read Full Story

I've just been sent a 2009 article from the Los Angeles Times - 'LAX parking lot is home away from home for airline workers'. Apparently in Parking Lot B at the airport there is a nest of about 100 mobile homes. They are occupied by aircrew, mechanics and other airport workers: it saves a very long commute or the expense of an apartment near to the airport, for people whose main residence is some distance away. Such is the demand for accommodation that there is a waiting list. The area... Read Full Story

Rome's Leonardo Express has new trains - four Alstom Minuetto emus, of which two were delivered in December. There are good and bad points about the service. Among the good - the trains are low floor with level access from platforms (although with some areas accessed by internal steps), they go from a more convenient platform at Termini station (24, rather than 25 - a shorter walk from anywhere!), and there is a guaranteed service (by bus) in case of strikes. Among the bad - trains have... Read Full Story

You can get by rail from New York Penn Station to both JFK and Newark Liberty International Airport without too much trouble. But only if you know. Because provision of information about this within the station is very limited. There are plans to expand passenger handling facilities at the station by building an extension - the Moynihan Building - in part of the former US Post Office (the Farley Building). Last time the station received a major upgrade (1963), it handled 200,000 commuter... Read Full Story

Car-sharing as an alternative to single-occupancy driving is quite common, and is promoted by many companies (like BA and BAA) to reduce their carbon footprint. It does rely on people making much the same trip at much the same time on most days. I saw a study of a system which could be used on a much more off-the-cuff basis. It was in Transportation Research Record 2217, in an article entitled "Real time ridesharing" by Andrew Amey and colleagues. The aims of the project were to... Read Full Story

Theft of metal - particularly copper - is a major problem for railways among others. Cut a signal cable and you stop trains! As I have reported before, several protective measures are being implemented - physical and legal. Among recent ones I have seen are: copper thieves being charged with economic sabotage rather than just theft (in South Africa); securing lineside infrastructure - anchoring and burying cables, and CCTV protection in vulnerable areas; remote monitoring systems... Read Full Story

The international railway union UIC has launched a project aimed at reducing trespass and suicide on railways. The RESTRAIL project is part of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of the European Union. Best practice in prevention, high-risk access points and countermeasures will be analysed, with the end product being a toolkit of steps to reduce the problem and to mitigate consequences. For more information and to keep up to date with this vitally... Read Full Story

I am always impressed by Utah Transit Authority, in Salt Lake City - now busy building their Airport Light Rail Line, likely to be completed this year. Paul O'Brien, their Rail Services General Manager, gave an impressive presentation on their use of social media at the recent annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Apart from the content of his presentation (excellent - entertaining and with real content) I was impressed by the style. Yes, he used a Powerpoint presentation... Read Full Story

Many local buses in the US are equipped with racks on the front, to carry up to three bikes - something I have yet to see on this side of the Atlantic. It brings problems as well as benefits - particularly the problem of delay, while they are loaded and unloaded. Another problem is that - amazingly - they are sometimes not collected by their owners at the end of their bus ride. The local transit agency in Columbus, Ohio, recently managed to dispose of 49 abandoned bikes in an... Read Full Story