Moving Toward Sustainable Prosperity

As city populations grow and the streets become more congested, a paradigm shift to sustainable transportation couldn’t be timelier

Transportation emits ~80% of the harmful air pollutants; we must decrease emissions to improve health & sustainability

On January 5, the Financial Times* reported that China was considering merging its two large state-owned rail manufacturing companies: the China North Locomotive and Rolling [Read More...]

Spain has committed to building an ambitious high-speed rail network — part of an overall decision to prioritize public transportation investments over highway spending. The country’s crisis will severely test its ability to achieve its ambitions, but it is providing leadership that the United States–confronted with crumbling infrastructure and over-reliance on automobiles–could learn from.

Spain now has the longest high-speed rail network in Europe, surpassing France. Yet France still has a huge lead in terms of passenger travel. European countries remain among the world’s passenger rail leaders. But relative to population, Japan is the overall champion.

As climate negotiations were getting under way last week in Cancún, Mexico, I found myself some 6,600 kilometers to the south, in São Paulo, Brazil. [Read More...]

Here is another installment in our series of blog posts on rail developments.  Like the earlier posts in the series, this is drawn from our [Read More...]

According to the consulting firm SCI Verkehr, worldwide operations and capital budgets for passenger and freight rail were a combined $590 billion in 2008. Another [Read More...]

As U.S. investment in rail and transit has shrunk over the decades, other countries have stepped in to fill the gap. Many countries in Europe [Read More...]

Our previous blog post announced the release of two companion reports assessing the state of the rail industry worldwide and in the United States. Here, [Read More...]

This blog post was co-authored by Michael Renner and Gary Gardner The Worldwatch Institute has produced two companion reports that assess the state of rail [Read More...]

In southwestern Germany, opposition is building against a huge railway construction project–dubbed “Stuttgart 21″–that is a poster-child of an over-dimensioned megaproject. A violent police crackdown has only steeled opponents’ resolve, and upcoming elections could oust the party that has governed the state of Baden-Württemberg for decades. The battle over Stuttgart 21 is no longer just about a railway project.

Rail advocates found reason to cheer when President Obama announced a “comprehensive infrastructure plan to expand and renew our nation’s roads, railways and runways.” Though [Read More...]

In quick order, China has climbed to the top of global rankings of producers and consumers of such key commodities as steel, aluminum, cement, and [Read More...]

In Shanghai, alternative sources of energy are combined with alternative means of travel at Hongqiao Railway Station. The station is part of the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed line. Its awnings are covered with solar PV panels.