I stand with Dong Dang's transit riders

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gets off his train in Dong Dang, Vietnam on Tuesday. In preparation for his arrival, authorities had closed the station to the public since the previous day. (Photo courtesy of The National)

Dong Dang, Vietnam has an elegant rail station that puts America’s Amshacks to shame. Like so many transit hubs around the world, the small-town station near the Chinese border provides essential connectivity to the region it serves. Daily intercity trains travel to and from Hanoi, taking about four-and-a-half hours to complete the trip, and overnight trains to China also pass through.

But during the early part of this week, the station was closed to passengers. The reason: a guy from up north was approaching on a slow southbound train, headed down to Hanoi to meet a guy who hates trains regardless of their speed of travel.

Yep, Kim Jong-un chose rail as his transportation mode for travel to his summit with Donald Trump. Chinese analysts predicted Kim’s trip would cause major disruption to their country’s train network, even affecting its extensive high speed rail system. The Korean State Railway’s Pyongui (Pyongyang-Sinuiju) line was also undoubtedly crippled. If the Supreme Leader hopes to persuade the admins of the New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens Facebook group to allow posts that mention his country, these delays didn’t help his cause.

But Dong Dang experienced the greatest injustice. Kim treated the town as his personal Bakersfield, terminating his armored train there and transferring to a road-based option (in this case, a limo) to continue on to Vietnam’s capital. To accommodate his paranoia, officials shut down the station a day before his Tuesday morning arrival. 

    

The New York Times and other media outlets incorrectly reported that Kim couldn’t proceed to Hanoi by rail because a break of gauge prevented his train from operating on Vietnam’s tracks. While it’s true that China (like North Korea) has standard (4 ft. 8.5 in.) gauge tracks and Vietnam has narrower meter-gauge tracks, the Hanoi-Dong Dang line’s dual-gauge design allows it to carry trains built for either country’s track geometry, facilitating relatively seamless international mobility.

Thus, it’s not clear why Kim’s train had to offload in Dong Dang. But because it did, any stranded regional rail riders hoping to take the bus to Hanoi were also out of luck, as the road to the capital closed for eight hours to accommodate the leader’s motorcade.

Dong Dang's rail station on a better day. (Photo courtesy of Yhxc57082, via Wikipedia)

I’ve dealt with WMATA weekend track work, fumed aboard buses stuck in car congestion, and sat on Amtrak trains slowed by freight. I’ve even experienced politician-related transit disruptions, as Trump and Vice President Mike Pence occasionally give speeches at DC’s National Building Museum during which the Secret Service obstructs access to Metro’s Judiciary Square Station.

But I’ve never had to tolerate a service suspension caused by a totalitarian dictator.

So, as the world watches this week’s events in Hanoi, my thoughts are fixated on the transit riders of Dong Dang. Tonight, I feel their pain.

In the wake of an ambitious ballot measure’s defeat, better mobility can help Nashville find its identity

Nashville's Union Station hasn't seen any passenger rail service since 1979. (Photo by me)

On May 1, 2018, the people of Nashville, TN decided the transportation options I prefer weren’t for them. Yes, propaganda from Koch-funded groups like Americans for Prosperity may have influenced some perspectives, and ex-Mayor Megan Barry’s demise certainly didn’t boost the cause. But in the end, it was the region’s residents who took time out of their day to head to the polls and send a message that I interpreted as a powerful rejection of my way of life.

However, I ignored that message, traveling to the Music City for a weekend trip earlier this month.

My Southwest Airlines plane flew over a lot of large parking lots during its descent into Nashville International Airport. (Photo by me) 

As my flight from DC descended into town, providing panoramic views of strip malls and parking lots as it outran the Green New Deal’s End of Air Travel, my expectations were low. Though I was excited to see my relatives who I was to meet there, I figured I was in for yet another car-based family trip. I was also still mad that the city had been granted an MLS expansion franchise at the expense of Sacramento Republic FC, which won the United Soccer League title in its debut season.

And as for the city’s music, my prior exposure to the country genre was mostly limited to the modern-day ballads that worship guns, pickup trucks, Bud Light, and women in tight jeans.

Thanks to my previous transportation experiences in the South, which include a three-hour Amtrak delay in Anniston, AL and a lot of long walks across the cavernous transit gaps of Charleston, SC, I was not surprised when, upon landing just before 10pm, I learned the next Route 18 bus from the airport to the city center would not arrive for another 50 minutes.

Nashville International Airport's bus stop. (Photo by me)

The bus arrived 12 minutes behind schedule and traveled via an interstate to Music City Central Station, a short walk from the hotel bar where my father, cousin, and her fiancé awaited. After a shot of whiskey at the bar, it was time to go explore the city that had broken so many urbanist American hearts.

Over the next three days, I would learn that the ill-fated transit referendum was just one small piece of a sophisticated city’s effort to reclaim its identity.

   

Ride-hailing vehicles and taxis congest Nashville's Lower Broadway. (Photo by me)

We got our first glimpse of the opposing forces straining Nashville that first night on Lower Broadway, a nightlife corridor with ride hailing-created congestion that dwarfs even DC’s notorious U Street or Connecticut Avenue.

Our first stop – Robert’s Western World – showed off the best of Nashville’s vibrant culture, as a crowd of people from all walks of life chatted, drank, and danced to an eclectic, high-quality array of live music. But our second destination – Honky Tonk Central – aimed solely to be trendy. It’s possible that we just caught it on a bad night, but during the one beer we endured there, a homogenous crowd of twenty-somethings robotically moved to off-key renditions of formulaic songs whose titles begin with “Sweet.”

A rendering of a proposed development project in Nashville. (Photo by me)

The morning light the next day revealed the full scope of the city’s identity crisis.

Though the defeated transit expansion plan had strong upsides, some questioned its emphasis on city-center economic development. But even without transportation infrastructure improvements to support them, the economic development projects seem to be proceeding unabated. Brand-new apartment and condo towers surround the downtown area and countless more city blocks sit razed, presumably awaiting similar construction.

A sign notifies the public of an upcoming hearing on parking requirements. (Photo by me)

These new projects have positive aspects. For example, on our way to see the city’s Parthenon (a full-scale replica of the one in Athens, minus the metro station), we walked past a sign at one proposed condo site informing the public of an upcoming hearing on the developer’s request to reduce the site’s minimum parking requirements.

But overall, it seemed that buildings are just being plopped down at random, without a grander vision to integrate them into well-connected, mixed-use neighborhoods. Though many pre-existing structures could, with the right improvements, effectively mix traditional aesthetics with modern culture – much as aforementioned Robert’s did – they’re instead being torn down blindly.

Nashville's Music City Central Station. (Photo by me)

Nashville does have a deeper character, but to find it, we had to look beyond the city center’s glitz. For example, the Gulch neighborhood, otherwise a largely stale mesh of concrete, glass, and asphalt sandwiched between three interstates just southwest of downtown, contains the Station Inn, a legendary, but intimate music venue with acts guaranteed to impress on any given night. 

A closed sidewalk in Nashville. (Photo by me)

Venturing farther outside the urban core, we found predictably bike- and pedestrian-hostile streets, but also a variety of unique restaurants, stores, bars, and breweries.

In finding our way to, from, and between these destinations, we strongly felt the forces behind the city’s identity crisis.

Nashville’s transportation infrastructure – a network of highways and wide arterials that feed into large parking lots – is designed primarily for personal auto use. Ride-hailing companies have piggybacked on this infrastructure, of course.

When my dad and I boarded Route 4 at the Vinyl Tap record store and bar, we were the only riders on the bus. A few other passengers got on as we progressed toward the city center. (Photo by me)

Bus routes do utilize the highways and arterials, comprising a hub-and-spoke system that operates at limited frequencies and converges at the aforementioned Music City Central Station. Since we were staying close to the downtown transit center, buses effectively served most of our mobility needs for the weekend. But most people seemed to have little idea the bus system was there.

A bus stop bench near Wilburn Street Tavern mocks the annoyances of driving. (Photo by me)

The city seems to want something more than this status quo. Bus stop benches even featured tounge-in-cheek messages intended to entice drivers to try transit, such as “parking schmarking” and “driving is boooring.” But – as with the ongoing downtown-area redevelopment – the focus seems to be primarily on plopping new things down, without considering how they can enhance what’s already there and effectively fit into peoples’ lives.

A drive-thru liquor store and a cyclist forced onto the sidewalk by a lack of adequate infrastructure comprise a fitting background for the BRT Lite station across the street from Smith & Lentz Brewing Company. (Photo by me)

For example, one bus route we rode (Route 56), advertised as “BRT Lite,” featured modestly upgraded stations. But the stops required challenging street crossings to access, and the route lacked the short headways and dedicated lanes needed to support the top-notch service riders deserve from a product sold as Bus Rapid Transit.

Scooters in Nashville's city center. (Photo by me)

Shared e-scooters dotted the streets, but as with the BRT Lite line, the city hadn’t invested in the dedicated infrastructure needed to safely and efficiently accommodate them. 

Due to its poor placement, this Nashville B-Cycle station obstructs bus riders. (Photo by me)

The dock-based bikeshare system, Nashville B-Cycle, seemed even more haphazardly deployed. For example, one of the system’s stations in the Gulch stood right in a bus stop, obstructing us from getting off our Route 17 bus rather than serving as the effective first and last mile connection it presumably was intended to.

Nashville's Union Station, a relic of a better transportation past, contrasts with the auto-dependent environment in the foreground. (Photo by me)

The city’s approach to longer-distance mobility also focuses too much on appearances at the expense of substance. Nashville Union Station has been magnificently restored – as a Marriott hotel. Meanwhile, the city has remained without intercity rail service since the Jimmy Carter administration cut Amtrak’s Chicago-Miami/St. Petersburg Floridian in 1979.

Intercity bus service hasn’t stepped in to fill the gap. For example, my dad traveled on to Asheville, NC from Nashville, but was forced to rent a car for the trip because the sole bus option connecting the two locations, operated by Greyhound, departed at 1:30am and required a transfer.

Nashville's Route 56 bus, advertised as Bus Rapid Transit, takes on riders at Music City Central Station. (Photo by me)

The rejected ballot measure would not have solved all of Nashville’s urban planning challenges. For example, the new rail and BRT lines would have converged in the city center, as the existing transit system does, while the spoke-based activity hubs we enjoyed would have remained relatively unconnected to each other.

Despite this, the proposed infrastructure improvements would have brought Nashville some of the substance it needs to reclaim the identity it currently can’t find. The resulting connectivity would have allowed the city to develop in a more natural manner, bringing old and new together.

Musical notation on the bus shelter in front of Nashville Municipal Auditorium. (Photo by me)

Fortunately, though transit planners can put referenda before voters as many times as they want, they only have to win once to make those plans reality. It’s inevitable that one day, Nashville will obtain the funding it needs to bolster its transit system. 

Until then, however, it will be experiences like the one we had at Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack that continue to define Nashville’s mobility and culture. Situated in an outlying strip mall, it was one of the few places we visited during the trip that we got to via ride-hailing instead of by bus. However, dark windows greeted us when we arrived, and we soon learned that recent damage to the structure had necessitated a long-term closure.

The cause of the damage: a car that had crashed into the building several weeks earlier.

Gavin Newsom will take a segment-based approach to high-speed rail construction. To succeed, these segments must be effectively integrated into California’s existing intercity transit system.

California's under-construction high-speed rail line parallels existing conventional lines in the Central Valley. (Photo courtesy of the Sacramento Bee)

Gavin Newsom, then the Lieutenant Governor of California, announced in early 2014 that he opposed the state’s high speed rail project. At the time, criticizing the rail line was a trendy thing for state politicians to do because a group of opponents from Kings County, led by agricultural kingpin John Tos, had just scored a big win in court that seemed to put the project’s future in doubt.

But since then, large-scale construction has begun. Tos and Company have racked up a lengthy legal losing streak, their beginners’ luck long gone. Heritage Foundation Distinguished Fellow Elaine Chao even capitulated, releasing federal funds for the ongoing electrification of Caltrain that will allow high-speed trains to serve San Francisco.

A native of San Francisco – part of a metro area home to countless trendy transportation companies including Uber, Lyft, Tesla, Lime, and Skip – Newsom knew to go with the flow, flip-flopping to establish himself as a supporter of the project during his successful gubernatorial campaign last year.

Newsom used this week’s State of the State address to establish himself as the project’s new leader. But his plan to take a more segmented approach than his predecessors – focusing on completing the under-construction Central Valley section between Merced and Bakersfield while holding off on extensions to San Francisco and Los Angeles until sufficient funding is obtained (though environmental reviews for those sections will continue) – did not come across articulately. His prior opposition to the rail line didn’t help clarify his message.

To set things straight, the Newsom administration should develop a plan to ensure that, upon its opening, the initial high-speed rail segment is effectively integrated with California’s existing statewide train system.

Other countries have built high-speed rail systems in segments, but have maximized those segments’ utility through effective integration with pre-existing conventional rail systems

A TGV train on France's LGV Rhin-Rhone, near Belford-Montbeliard. Trains that traverse this line typically continue onto conventional lines to reach their destinations. (Photo courtesy of Departement du Territoire de Belfort)

Until this week, the state’s plan had been to first build out and operate high-speed trains on the San Francisco-Bakersfield section of the line. Later extensions would then complete the core Phase 1 route to Los Angeles and, eventually, Phase 2 branches to Sacramento and San Diego.

In some respects, Newsom’s decision to truncate the northern end of the initial operating segment to Merced brings California’s high-speed rail construction more into line with buildouts of comparable routes overseas. 

For example, France’s 87-mile LGV Rhin-Rhone between Lyon and Strasbourg, which trains traverse at around 200 mph, has only two stations, which serve mid-size cities that resemble those on California’s Central Valley segment: Besancon (metro area population: 250,000) and Belfort-Montbeliard (combined population: 300,000). Also, Eurostar trains used conventional tracks in Britain for the first thirteen years of their existence and still must reduce their speed through the Channel Tunnel, which is shared with slower auto and freight trains.   

Lines like these have been built out in a manner that effectively integrated their earliest segments into the larger rail network. Pre-existing electrification of the conventional passenger rail lines those segments connect to has given them a boost, as trains can seamlessly switch between regular- and high-speed tracks to provide through service. For example, I took a TGV train from Lyon to Frankfurt and back last year that used the entire LGV Rhin-Rhone, a portion of the 190 mph LGV Sud-Est (which connects Paris and Lyon), and conventional tracks in France. Then, once in Germany, the train reached upgraded tracks and sped back up to over 150 mph to complete its trip.

As new high-speed segments open, travel times steadily shorten, though it’s still possible for some trains to deviate via conventional lines, serving communities that lack direct high-speed connections or allowing for track maintenance.

To eliminate uncertainty, Newsom’s administration should unveil a step-by-step plan to integrate high-speed segments into the state’s existing rail network

Hanford, CA's Amtrak station, as seen from a San Joaquins train. (Photo courtesy of Seat 38A)

Newsom framed his approach to the under-construction high speed rail segment as an economic development project for the Central Valley. And it’s true that connectivity to long-neglected locales like Fresno, Hanford, and Bakersfield is one of the project’s strongest upsides.

But the governor failed to elaborate on the initial operating segment’s greater role in Californian mobility. As a result, CityLab writer Laura Bliss saw disheartening similarities between the Merced-Bakersfield line and the short-line, mixed-traffic urban streetcars that, while intended to stimulate economic development, provide a transportation product of questionable quality. And transit opponents, who have long tried to convince people that the high-speed rail project is a “train to nowhere” that will never extend beyond the Central Valley, celebrated what they hoped was the truncation that would imprison intrastate travelers on I-5 forever. 

Fortunately, Newsom has one of America’s strongest intercity rail networks to work with as he moves forward with his plan. California’s three main Amtrak corridors all rank among the national system’s seven most heavily ridden routes. One of these lines, the Oakland/Sacramento-Bakersfield San Joaquins, serves many of the same communities the high-speed route will. In addition, the once-a-day Coast Starlight train – still the only one-seat rail option between the Bay Area and Los Angeles – draws more riders than any other long-distance line in the country.

To integrate the initial high-speed line into this extensive system, the state must overcome substantial challenges that the above-mentioned overseas routes did not face. Specifically, none of California’s existing intercity rail system is electrified, and no passenger trains operate between Bakersfield and LA.

Connecting to Northern California

A diesel engine pulls a TGV train on a non-electrified section of tracks in France in 2003. (Photo courtesy of Au fil des rails)

Unless the rail lines that connect Merced to the Bay Area and Sacramento are electrified soon – an unlikely prospect – the state will have to find a way to integrate high-speed trains with those lines’ existing diesel-powered passenger service.

Currently, only San Joaquins trains stop in Merced, but planned Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) extensions will bring additional service to the city in the near future. There are three main ways the initial high-speed segment can enhance these routes and bring meaningful improvements to riders:

• Timed transfers between conventional and high-speed trains: Passengers would have to change trains in Merced, but scheduled layover times would be minimal. This would allow the two distinct types of rail service to operate using separate technologies and specifications that best fit their purposes. It also could facilitate shorter headways, because the San Joaquins could dedicate a larger share of its equipment to the northern portion of its route. However, the conventional trains would still be subject to the same restricted speeds and freight congestion that San Joaquins and ACE trains face today, making it challenging to maintain reliable timed transfers to high-speed trains and potentially suppressing ridership.
• Through trains that switch between diesel and electric power: Passengers would enjoy a one-seat ride, and their train would swap locomotives at Merced. Numerous rail routes around the world, including Amtrak trains traveling from the Northeast to Virginia and points south, operate in this manner. However, time spent stopped during the swap could be lengthy – Amtrak’s scheduled dwell times for its locomotive swaps in Washington, DC range from 20 to 50 minutes, for example, and power to the passenger cars (including air conditioning) turns off during the procedure.  Other countries have found ways to resolve this issue, such as simply tacking a diesel locomotive onto the front of the electric one rather than swapping the two engines.
• Diesel operation on the full line: Passengers would enjoy a one-seat ride on conventional diesel equipment traversing the full Northern California-Bakersfield route. On the high-speed segment, it’s not likely that such trains would be able to reach maximum track speed, but they would still travel much faster than the 79 mph speed limit of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks they traverse today. Caltrans recently ordered new diesel-powered trainsets for the state’s Amtrak routes (scheduled to begin service in 2020) that are capable of 125 mph, matching the top speed of the East Coast’s Northeast Regional (the U.S.'s most heavily used intercity train). However, even though 220 mph electric trains would ply the line following further extensions, the initially reduced operating speeds would cause opponents to complain of a “bait-and-switch” and put California at risk of missing out on its fleeting opportunity to be the first U.S. state with true high-speed rail service.

Connecting to Southern California

Today, Central Valley rail passengers continuing on to Southern California destinations must transfer to buses in Bakersfield. (Photo courtesy of The SubwayNut)

Providing effective connectivity between the initial segment’s Bakersfield terminus and LA will prove more challenging than in Northern California. As mentioned earlier, no regularly scheduled trains continue south from Bakersfield, forcing passengers to transfer to buses susceptible to severe traffic congestion-caused delays to reach their destinations. Union Pacific won’t likely permit passenger service on its existing tracks in the near future, and even if they do, the projected 7-hour Bakersfield-LA travel time via those tracks would repel many would-be riders.

Newsom’s administration can help boost the quality of the existing bus service by pushing for dedicated lanes and better cooperation between the multiple providers (such as Amtrak and Greyhound) who help fill the Bakersfield-Southern California transportation gap. Currently, California state law prohibits riders from booking Amtrak trips involving only Thruway buses, limiting riders’ options and flexibility. Thus, the governor should work with legislators to change this and ensure the bus and rail systems complement – rather than compete against – each other.

But given the pressing nature of this gap, Newsom should plan to prioritize a south-of-Bakersfield extension for his state’s second high speed rail segment. This segment would connect to Lancaster and Metrolink’s Antelope Valley Line to LA, which could be integrated with high-speed rail in a manner similar to the proposals for Northern California described above. Furthermore, a long-discussed high-speed line that will initially connect Victorville, CA to Las Vegas now seems closer to reality than ever after Brightline, which already operates a rail line in Florida, took over that project; extending the second segment of California’s line farther to the east would allow for a direct connection between these two routes.

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Completing this segment, which will traverse the mountainous Tehachapi Pass, would put the most expensive and challenging-to-build high-speed segment behind us and erase any lingering doubt that the state can finish the full San Francisco-LA route.

*** 

California's primary recent contribution to our mobility has been a series of venture capital-funded products, like ride-hailing and shared e-scooters. While these options can be a useful component of a transportation system, they have not helped my home state alleviate its crippling traffic congestion or lower its skyrocketing housing prices.

To make it easier for people to get where they need to go and improve quality of life, California must develop a network of modern transportation infrastructure. The state's cities are doing this at the local level, passing ballot measures to improve and expand their transit systems. At the statewide level, fast, reliable, and efficient intercity trains are needed to connect those local systems to each other.       

China, Russia, and even Saudi Arabia all have proven capable of completing full-length high-speed rail lines. By ensuring each new project segment bolsters California's already-extensive passenger rail system, Governor Newsom can help his state – which would already be the world's fifth largest economy if it were its own country – keep pace.