tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post3195107817827060840..comments2024-01-25T07:47:23.112-06:00Comments on Hi / Zeph / 400: Lessons from Norway for passenger rail in MinnesotaMike Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15257599090818492294noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post-63165073405009077172020-10-12T10:56:47.273-05:002020-10-12T10:56:47.273-05:00I wrote this essay comparing Saint Paul’s Union De...I wrote this essay comparing Saint Paul’s Union Depot and Oslo Central Station. When built, both stations were nearly equal in teams of track capacity, yet in 2020 both stations are very different. I see that we’ve got work to do before Saint Paul Union Depot is as busy as Oslo Central Station is now.<br /><br />Saint Paul Union Depot was built in 1917 with 18 tracks, with two tracks that now have scheduled trains.<br /><br />Oslo Central Station was built in 1987 with 19 tracks, with 18 tracks that now have scheduled trains. While the USA was building Amshacks, the government of Norway was building a 19 track station.<br /><br />In 2020 Saint Paul’s Union Depot now has two passenger trains daily, with diesel trains.<br /><br />In 2020 Oslo Central Station has 940 passenger trains on the weekdays and 690 passenger trains on the weekends, with electric trains.<br /><br />At Saint Paul’s Union Depot a second daily round-trip from the Twin Cities to Chicago might happen someday.<br /><br />The Follo Line Project, planned to open in 2022, will connect Oslo Central Station to Ski Station, with much of the line in two, 12 mile tunnels. The Follo rail line is planned for at least 160 mph, decreasing travel time from Oslo to Ski from 22 to 11 minutes. The Follo Line will allow the capacity in the South Corridor from Oslo to increase from about twelve to forty trains per hour. Can you imagine if the same amount of money that is being spent on the Follo Line was spent on track upgrades around Saint Paul’s Union Depot?<br /><br />There is no direct train connection from the Saint Paul Union Depot to the Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport.<br /><br />Flytoget, the 130 mph Airport Express Train, takes passengers from Oslo Central Station to the airport in 19 or 22 minutes.<br /><br />In conclusion, I searched for and got some interesting information on Oslo Central Station. Imagine if your Saint Paul Union Depot had 940 daily trains. Saint Paul would have 49,000 fewer car trips to/from Saint Paul per day, with a reduction of 45,000 tones of CO2 emissions per year. If the Norwegian Government invests in their passenger rail network to afford 940 daily trains for Oslo, why can’t Minnesota make a similar investment for Saint Paul?<br />James Patrick Buchananhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15205917964978882398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1008568241665831715.post-24643961692463611072016-10-05T19:24:06.885-05:002016-10-05T19:24:06.885-05:00Oh this is awesome—brought me back to my plans for...Oh this is awesome—brought me back to my plans for a rail-primary trip through the country (and then heading down to Stockholm via Narvik). But I have some reservations about Norway being much of a model for Minnesota—despite similarly-sized populations in terms of distribution it’s far more like Japan, with a coastal population mostly in linear bands, ideal for train travel. Those barriers make infrastructure difficult but also constrain population and travel corridors to a smaller number of well-traveled ones—a lot of smaller origin-destination pairs are put on the same line as the big ones. Minnesota can’t kill as many birds with one stone, though I can definitely see a statewide network evolving.<br /><br />You’ve seen Hans-Joachim Zierke’s <a href="http://zierke.com/shasta_route/" rel="nofollow">Shasta Route project</a>, right? Section 10 in particular, on how rural communities are served by rail in Europe and how that model could be adapted to part of Oregon, came to mind. Still, that’s a relatively short corridor (looking over it again it’s more of a transit proposal than an intercity proposal) serving one valley that, while rural, is nonetheless hemmed in by mountains, forcing higher density than you’d otherwise find in the US.Alexandernoreply@blogger.com