Column in Orlando Sentinel by Norman Mineta, former DOT secy

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Nice find Penny! Looks like Orlando actually has Decent Print Media unlike most American Cities Now! Surprising in the Land of Rubio, Rednecks and Mickey Mouse! (was it Fred Allen that said: "Florida is Great if you're an Orange!" :giggle: )
 
The only problem with the writer's theory about how ridership in Europe took off because of a single wireless system is somewhat hard to fathom. If he is talking about GSM-R, then yes that at least is a single wireless system that is used by European railroads. But not clear what that has to do other than as a potential enabler. Since he explictly talks about PTC I presume that he is not talking about GSM-R, which is truly broadly deployed in Europe, but he is talking of ERTMS which is not very broadly deployed yet in Europe.

The European trains that run across borders carry anywhere from 2 to 5 different control systems so that they can operate seamlessly across borders. Yes Europe does have a single train control systems standard called ERTMS, but it is not all that broadly deployed yet, mainly due to cost. It is one of many systems that are in operation. Some of the most successful HSR systems in Europe do not use it yet. The TGV network for example uses TVM430 which is not ERTMS.

So while Mr. Mineta makes a good point, his example is rather shaky as a supporting evidence. If the Eurpean passenger use surge on trains had to wait for the availability of single train control system they are still waiting for such a system that is actually used broadly in Europe. The plans are to make it universal but it will take decades to get there, US will probably have PTC deployed more universally in US by the time Europe manages to get ERTMS deployed on all its main lines.

BTW, not to open a festering wound, but wasn't it Mr. Mineta that we had to fight tooth and nail to keep the Amtrak LD system alive with full dining service and all that while he was SecDOT back in 2005 under Bushh II? Maybe I am remembersing wrong. Here is what his main contributionw as to US LD Passenger Rail:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20050214/NEWS02/200015501/states-should-operate-amtrak-mineta

We got PRIIA Section 209 as an offshoot from that. Amtrak managed to rpeserve the LD network from the inevitable decimation that would have followed Mr. Mineta's plan. PRIIA Section 209 was the quid pro quo for that with Congress.
 
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What's interesting about Mineta is that, although he was no friend of Amtrak, and he served in the Bush 43 administration, he was also a Democrat. He also served a few months in the Clinton administration as Commerce Secretary.
 
jis said:
The only problem with the writer's theory about how ridership in Europe took off because of a single wireless system is somewhat hard to fathom. If he is talking about GSM-R, then yes that at least is a single wireless system that is used by European railroads. But not clear what that has to do other than as a potential enabler. Since he explictly talks about PTC I presume that he is not talking about GSM-R, which is truly broadly deployed in Europe, but he is talking of ERTMS which is not very broadly deployed yet in Europe.
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Maybe the context is that each country has one standard but not necessarily that all countries are on the same standard?
 

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