trains

11.22.09

Three Extreme High-Speed Rail Concepts for Las Vegas

Las Vegas developers hear proposals for new transportation methods to hook up visitors from LA

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 10.23.2009 at 11:15 am 8 Comments

Cars to Trains: Who needs roads? AVT

Slot machine junkies and poker sharks could soon ride one of three futuristic high speed trains from Los Angeles to casino mecca Las Vegas. But that's assuming developers get on board with a tubular rail, a maglev transporter for cars, or an air-cushioned train.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > Las Vegas, maglev, rail, solatrek, Sunlight Bullet Expressway, trains, transportation, tubular rail

World's First All-Electric Locomotive Has Over 1,000 Batteries, Runs 24 Hours On a Single Charge

By Adrian Covert Posted 10.07.2009 at 3:21 pm 12 Comments

Norfolk Southern is the latest company to push a piece of heavy industrial machinery into green territory with their 100% electric NS 999 locomotive. The zero-emissions train makes use of 1,080 12-volt batteries that allows it to run for 24 hours on a single charge--all while carrying the same load as a conventional locomotive.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > electric locomotive, environment, green, locomotives, norfolk southern, trains, transportation

Strange Life Forms Populate the Earth

Interesting creatures found in Texas field, Africa

By M. Farbman Posted 03.24.2009 at 9:32 am 2 Comments

Large, slimy discoveries are not surprising finds in a cow field. Researchers found the largest known colony of clonal amoebas in a pasture near Houston, and the billions of single-celled organisms could help scientists better understand how these social amoebas cooperate over such a large spatial distance. (FYI, for other people with hopeful imaginations, the colony looks nothing like The Blob, or Slimer from Ghostbusters.)

Also in today's links: super-high-speed trains, the homeless can hear you now, and more.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > amoebas, animals, cellphones, elephants, links, microbiology, missing links, stephen hawking, trains

Extreme Engineering: A Tunnel Through The Alps

Even the worst economy in decades can’t suppress the human urge to build. Today’s most ambitious projects are bigger and wilder than ever!

By Rena Marie Pacella Posted 02.24.2009 at 4:18 pm 0 Comments

Name: Gotthard Base Tunnel
Where: Swiss Alps
Cost: $8 billion
Estimated Completion: 2017
The challenge: Dig the longest tunnel ever, perfectly level, through the base of the Alps

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > engineering, extreme engineering, march 2009, switzerland, the future of building, trains

Man Flushes Arm on Bullet Train

Frenchman gets arm stuck in speeding British loo, Internet laughs; but is the tale even scientifically possible?

By Stuart Fox Posted 10.27.2008 at 4:43 pm 2 Comments

Jack Handy once mused that if you drop your keys into molten lava, you should probably just let them go. Apparently, the same is true for cellphones dropped into toilets on trains. As first reported on the BBC, a 26-year old Frenchman got stuck up to the shoulder in a high speed TGV train toilet after dropping his cellphone into the bowl.

The BBC article claims the victim “fell afoul of the suction system,” but some think that claim is either incorrect or raises more questions than answers.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > bathroom, bullet trains, high speed, stuart fox, tgv, trains