Author Archives: Oren

Oren’s Reading List: MLB Players Tour Japan by Train

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Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD could be accessible by Maglev some day.  In the meantime, MARC commuter rail trains to and from Washington, DC stop behind the warehouse beyond the right field fence.

It might be hot stove season, but that doesn’t mean that there is no baseball to speak of anywhere in the world.  Major League Baseball sent an all-star team to Japan earlier this month to face off against the Japanese national team.  Although most teams travel by plane within the US during the regular season (with some exceptions in the Northeast and for intracity interleague games), the MLB all stars rode the Shinkansen between Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagoya.  Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh sounds like he might be a transit fan, and several other players offered their opinions about which corridors might be appropriate for high speed rail in the US.

To read the article about the MLB all-star team’s travels through Japan by train, click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: November 2018

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Mercedes-Benz OC500 42044

Mercedes-Benz OC500 42044

Location: Route 40 between Har HaAyit and Neot Smadar, Israel
Operator of Vehicle: Egged
Date of Photo: November 13, 2011

What is the most surprising place you’ve found public transit services?  There have been quite a few times in my travels over the years I’ve seen a bus stop in a seemingly random place and wondered how much service really comes out here and how many people actually board or alight here.  Although it makes up over 55 percent of Israel’s land area, the Negev desert is home to only about 8 percent of its population.  Yet there are bus stops throughout the desert and considering the low population densities and distances between places, many routes operate a minimum of four to five trips per day.  Why so much service?  Much of the land is used by the Israeli Army, and soldiers ride free on public transit, so they take buses to and from their bases.  In addition, the resort town of Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, has regular service to cities in the central and northern parts of the country in order to cater to vacationers.  Besides the bus, the most common ways to travel to Eilat are by plane (expensive and inconvenient for anyone not coming from Tel Aviv) or driving (on two lane roads through miles upon miles of desert).  Needless to say, the bus is a popular option, and reservations are recommended for the buses to and from Eilat.  

Why do I say those are the most common ways of getting to Eilat?  When I took this photo, I was on an organized bike ride that ended in Eilat.  It might not be the way most people get there, but it does create opportunities to get photos of buses as they cross the desert.  

For more photos of Egged Intercity Buses in Southern Israel, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: November 2018

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Breda Rehab 3279

Breda Rehab 3279

Location: Friendship Heights Station, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: August 30, 2004

This website rarely delves in to current events that aren’t transit related.  However, in thinking what photo to feature this month, my current need for a “comfort image” (think comfort food but in this case it is transit photography) as a result of current events in the wider world won out, and I am opting to feature a photo from my “home station” for much of my childhood.  The Friendship Heights station is somewhat unique in that it has entrances in both the District of Columbia and in Maryland.  When I was in high school, I would enter the station each morning in Maryland, cross in to DC to board my train, and then find myself back in Maryland moments after the train left the station.  Perhaps if you visit this site frequently, you find something comforting about being back at a specific train station or on board a specific bus route, especially if it has been awhile since you had the opportunity to use it.  For me, there is something that just seems “right” as I enter the Friendship Heights station and await a train of “legacy” cars to whisk me away to my destination.  Then once I board that train it is straight to the front to look out the front “railfan window” as I have done since I was a child.

Is there a transit experience similar to this one for me that evokes the same feelings for yourself?  Let me know by sharing it in the comments below!

For more photos of the WMATA Breda Rehabs, please click here.

Mapping Each Israeli Transit Operator’s Service Area

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The organization of transit services in Israel can be a bit confounding to people who are not familiar with how everything comes together.  It used to be that Egged basically had a monopoly in every part of the country except Tel Aviv, where the Dan Bus Company had a monopoly of its own.  Both companies were overseen by the Ministry of Transportation, and they received significant subsidies from the Israeli government to support their operations.  During Benjamin Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister in the late 1990s, he proposed privatizing transit services and increasing competition by allowing other companies, including those that had not operated in Israel previously, to bid on tenders for specific services that would be put out by the Transportation Ministry.  Egged went on strike to protest this change and brought all of Israel to a halt, but the march towards privatization and increased competition had begun.  Today, the Transportation Ministry puts out tenders for companies to bid on.  The company with the best bid package for that tender wins the right to operate those routes for a set number of years, at which point a new tender is made available for bidding for the next contract duration.

As of this writing, there are 26 companies providing transportation services under the auspices of the Ministry of Transportation, including the Carmelit in Haifa, Citipass (which operates the Jerusalem Light Rail), Israel Railways, the Golan Regional Council (which operates the transit service in the Golan Heights) and seven bus operators in East Jerusalem.  In response to a query on a Facebook group that I am a part of, I used a recent GTFS data feed download, I mapped out the starting point for each transit route in the country, and color coded those points by operator.  You can see the results of that here: 

Operators in certain parts of the country have changed over time.  For example, Ashkelon intracity lines have been operated by Dan BaDarom since 2016, but before that they were operated by Egged Ta’avurah and before that by Egged itself.  The bus routes in Tiberias were operated by Connex (Veolia) until that company ceased operations within Israel, at which point those services were transferred to Afikim and are now operated by Superbus. 

As you play with the highlighter and filters on the map above, what patterns or trends do you see?  Feel free to post any observations and/or questions you have about the map above in the comments section on this post.

Oren’s Reading List: A Train Ride Back to the Old Israel

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IC3 DMU 7203
About one month ago, after many delays and some fanfare, Israel Railways inaugurated service on the new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem High Speed Rail line, the first time that Israel’s capital city is connected to the rest of the country by a train line that is actually competitive with driving.  However, for reasons that can only be explained as politicking, the line is open despite not being ready for full operations just yet.  Trains are operating every half hour on weekdays between Jerusalem and Ben Gurion Airport, at which point passengers must transfer to another train in order to continue the rest of the way to Tel Aviv.  The power substations along the line are temporary, and several trains have gotten stuck along the line with passengers on board when the temporary electrical system is extended beyond its capabilities.  The line does not operate evenings and weekends so crews can finish the line and bring it to full operational status, which will take longer than it would if the crews could work 24/6 instead of needing to clear the tracks for revenue service each weekday.  Eventually, the trip between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will take 35 minutes and not require a change of trains.

One question I’ve often received over the past few years while this new line is being constructed is what does the future hold for the old Tel Aviv-Jerusalem train line?  This line was constructed by the Ottomans and opened in 1892, and despite the fact it takes well over 90 minutes to travel between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and carries few passengers, it has been in operation ever since the line was reopened following extensive repairs and the construction of a new terminal at Malha in Jerusalem in 2005.  While this train route may not be the fastest way to get between these cities, it is quite pretty, as the train winds its way through the hills.  However, the beautiful scenery along the route will not be enough to save the line; the segment between Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem is likely to be closed at some point in the future after the new high speed line is fully operational.

Last week in the New York Times, Matti Friedman wrote about why he prefers the old Ottoman era train route over the new high speed route.  You can read his piece here. And if you find yourself in Israel with enough time to take the scenic train route on your way to or from Jerusalem, do so.  You won’t have the chance for too much longer…

New Photos from the Land of Enchantment (& More)

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Albuquerque, NM
In August, I visited New Mexico for the first time (unless you count passing through on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief back in 2014).  Although I was only there for four full days, I did have some opportunities to photograph the transit available in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and in between.  Both cities have sizable bus networks, though the latter is larger than that of the former.  In addition, the Rail Runner Express operates commuter rail service between those same cities.  Unfortunately, for such a short stay and due to other logistical constraints, I didn’t actually ride any of these systems, though photographing them while trying to capture the local architectural styles in some of my photographs while doing so was fun!

This update also includes photos from around the DC area, including photos of MARC’s newest diesel locomotives, the DC Circulator’s new Proterra electric buses, and more!

Here is the complete list of pages with new photos in this update:

 

 

Rail Photo of the Month: October 2018

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LHB Series M2 13

LHB Series M2 13

Location: Bijlmer ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Operator of Vehicle: Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf (GVB)
Date of Photo: June 3, 2008

Sometimes, it takes so long for a transit line to open, the rolling stock you expect to see on that line at some point is retired beforehand.  If you thought the M1, M2, or M3 rolling stock (pictured here) in Amsterdam would appear on that network’s Line 52 (also known as the North-South Line) when it opened, it was probably a reasonable assumption.  After all, these cars were built starting in 1977, and Line 52 was expected to open in 2011, well within the expected lifetime of most heavy rail subway cars.  However, Line 52 encountered years of construction delays, ultimately opening this past July after 16 years of construction.  The line was built primarily using a deep bore under the IJ, through the area of the Centraal Station, and then through the center of Amsterdam.  However, despite having the line follow the street grid as much as possible, groundwater seeped in to the tunnels and some buildings collapsed, leading to those delays.  Ultimately, the M1, M2, and M3 stock was retired in 2015, so these cars never operated on Line 52, though there is one pair of this equipment that was preserved so perhaps it can be used on this route for a heritage trip sometime.

For more photos of the Amsterdam Metro, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: October 2018

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Orion V 70

Orion V 70

Location: South Eads Street at South Rotary Road, Arlington, VA
Operator of Vehicle: Alexandria Transit Company
Date of Photo: July 19, 2018

For those of you who know the DC area well, your first reaction to seeing this photo is that one isn’t supposed to be taking photographs at this location.  It is a reasonable first reaction, as this photo was taken on the Pentagon Reservation, and photography is generally prohibited there.  But notice my use of the word generally.  Photography is allowed at the September 11th Memorial adjacent to the Pentagon (though the DoD was reluctant to permit this when the memorial opened). However, this isn’t where the photo was taken.  So what’s the secret?  I did have authorization to be taking photos at the Pentagon that morning, and there were Pentagon police officers nearby at the time.  However, like many things that go on at the Pentagon, I can’t really reveal how I got this authorization or how one might go about doing so (other than to say the circumstances were somewhat unique, so anyone else trying to replicate them is likely to be unsuccessful).  

As for the bus itself, as rare as photos of DASH buses of any sort at the Pentagon might be, photos of Orion V DASH buses are becoming a rarity as well.  This specific unit is about 16 years old, is among the last high floor buses remaining in the DASH fleet.  Catch these while you can anywhere in the DASH service area, because they are due to be reassigned to the “big bus garage in the sky” in the very near future as newer Gillig Advantages arrive.

For more photos of DASH, please click here.

Bus Photo of the Month: September 2018

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Gillig Advantage 3710

Gillig Advantage 3710

Location: Campus Drive at Union Drive, College Park, MD
Operator of Vehicle: University of Maryland Department of Transportation Services
Date of Photo: March 30, 2017

The University of Maryland Athletics Department isn’t only making news because of issues regardings its football team.  Recently, the Athletics Department announced it would help to fund some weekend services on campus that would otherwise have been discontinued this fall due to budget shortfalls.  The University of Maryland has one of the largest student operated bus systems in the United States, with nearly 3 million trips annually on board a fleet of about 60 buses.  While the system is overseen by professional staff, many system functions including dispatching, training, and operating are carried out by students most of the time.  How many of those student operators might be transit fans?

For more photos of Shuttle-UM, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: September 2018

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B-IV 510

Kawasaki B-IV 510

Location: Pattison (NRG) Station, Philadelphia, PA
Operator of Vehicle: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority
Date of Photo: June 21, 2003

Since 2010, the southern terminal of Philadelphia’s Broad Street Line has been more than just a subway station.  In that year, SEPTA sold the naming rights to Pattison Station to AT&T for five years for five million dollars.  Almost instantaneously, signed references to Pattison were replaced with AT&T, which certainly makes for an odd station name in my opinion.  Making it even stranger is the fact that to my knowledge, AT&T’s only connection (no pun intended) to that station or any other SEPTA station is that the company was the only one with coverage along the underground portions of the Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line.  Last month, the naming rights were sold to NRG Energy for 5.25 million dollars and five years, and once again the signage has been changed to reflect the new name.

I believe that station names should have some connection (whether current or historic) with where they are located.  SEPTA has sold the naming rights to one other station, Market East, which is now known as “Jefferson Station.”  At least Jefferson Station is near its namesake, the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, though I wouldn’t have minded the naming rights addition to the name had it been something along the line of Jefferson Station at Market East, thereby still raising revenue while retaining the old name.  Pattison Station is surrounded by sports stadiums and parking lots, and to my knowledge, neither AT&T nor NRG has ever had a physical presence in the area.

What do you think of selling the naming rights for transit stations?  Leave a comment below.  Meanwhile, I still think of the southern stop on the Broad Street Line as Pattison, so there’s my answer to that question.

For more photos of the Broad Street Line, please click here.