Meeting Details: End of semester dinner
Tuesday May 2nd, 7pm, Bandit Tacos and Coffee
(The old Milwaukee Road Train Station)
640 West Washington Ave, Madison
Faster Headlines
Wheels on Steel:
Forbes
Orlando Weekly
PBS
AP
Youtube | Infra
Up in the Air:
Forbes
Brightline and the Airlines
With Brightline now testing their trains at 130mph to Orlando, and likely will begin service from Miami to Orlando International Airport later this month. So what is the next steps? A
Brightline has been developing partnerships for the last mile transportation
from the station for well over a year. This has included everything from Uber to TriRail in Florida and is doing the same thing on the west coast with partnering with Metrolink
(San Bernardino Line) at their Rancho Cucamonga station. This brings up the
question of the next step in partnerships.
Once Orlando is up and running, I would expect to see an airline partnership in
the works. The question is with which airline? At Orlando Southwest is the
largest carrier and they don’t do interline agreements. It will be interesting to
see if Brightline develops an agreement with Spirit, which is the second-largest
airline in Orlando and the predominant carrier in Fort Lauderdale. Then there is Delta who is 3rd largest in Orlando and 4th largest at Fort Lauderdale. Delta would be an easy fit since they already interline with high-speed rail carriers in Europe. However, then there is the wildcard of jetBlue, who has the same hip style that Brightine is trying to emulate.
However, what caught my interest was an article in a business journal about
Brightline West’s Rancho Cucamonga Station and a transfer to Ontario Airport.
This makes the second Brightline station with an airport connection. Spirit is
also 2nd largest airline at Ontario Airport in California (Southwest is again #1).
So, it will be interesting to watch what Brightline will do with the airlines. Then
we may see the beginning in the United States of the airline interchange
agreements that we saw in Europe in 2022.
We asked ChatGPT to write a story: (continued from previous issues):
"Marco the maglev meets an old train on the island named Doug the Diesel"
Once upon a time, on the Island of Sodor, Marco the Maglev was zipping around, exploring new areas of the island. He loved the thrill of adventure and the excitement of meeting new trains.
One day, while traveling through a dense forest, Marco came across an old train named Doug the Diesel. Doug was coughing and wheezing, and as Marco got closer, he could see that black smoke was billowing from Doug's chimney.
"Hey there. Are you okay?" Marco asked, concerned.
Doug sighed heavily. "No, I'm not. I've been having trouble with my engine for a while now. It burns diesel fuel to move, but lately, it's been causing me to cough and emit black smoke."
Marco had never seen a diesel train before, but he was curious about how they worked. Doug explained to Marco that his engine was different from Marco's maglev technology. Doug's engine burned diesel fuel to create energy, which then propelled him down the tracks.
As they were chatting, Captain Cole, the old train captain, happened to pass by. When he saw Doug emitting black smoke, he muttered under his breath “Agh, diesel trains are so expensive and unreliable”.
Marco was surprised and upset by Captain Cole's comment. It reminded him of how people used to judge him in the Big City for being different. Marco knew that it wasn't fair to judge someone based on their technology or appearance.
"Doug, don't let Captain Cole's comment get you down. Let's go to the Medical Station and get you some help," Marco said, determined to help his new friend.
Together, Marco and Doug made their way to the Medical Station, where the kind train doctor examined Doug's engine and prescribed some medicine to help clear his cough.
As they left the Medical Station, Marco couldn't help but think about how important it was to care for one another, no matter what type of train they were. He realized that it wasn't about the type of technology they used, but about the kindness they showed towards each other.
And so, Marco and Doug the Diesel became great friends, and Marco learned that by caring for one another, they could all help make the Island of Sodor a better place for all the trains who called it home.
The Faster Badger is produced by students at the University of Wiscosin-Madison to help break through the misconceptions of high speed rail and high speed transportation. This blog is for educational purposes only and all opinions presented are of the students.
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