Currently, the experimental Red Rail train is just a half-mile test track on steel poles with a two-carriage train carrying passengers between elevated platforms. Once the tests are complete, the government plans to extend the trail to 4.7 miles and boost speeds up to 120 km/h (75 mph). The train will offer commuters an incredibly smooth and quiet ride from stop to stop, lifting them above the gridlock on the streets below and operating even during power outages that otherwise grind the province to a halt.

Maglev technology isn’t new. It was first conceptualized way back in 1904 by rocket scientist Robert Goddard, who was just a freshman college student at the time. In 1910, French engineer Emile Bachelet applied for a patent for a rail car running on alternating-current electromagnets, and in 1935, German engineer Hermann Klemper proved that levitation without a power source is possible. It took until 1972 for the first maglev train to be built (in Germany, as an experiment) while Japan tested its electrodynamic (repulsion) magnetic train system in the same decade. In 1984, the maglev system was finally available to the public for commercial use, but it never quite took off on a large scale.

Maglev technology is sustainable, and it works — so why isn’t it more common? It partially comes down to cost and material availability. Most maglev trains use electromagnets, which require a significant amount of electricity to levitate. Permanent magnets, on the other hand, create a constant repelling force to hold the train aloft, saving at least 31 percent of the energy usually required to suspend the trains using electromagnetic levitation technology.

The rare earth elements required to make permanent magnets aren’t exactly easy to come by, and about 40 percent of the world’s known reserves are located in China (with the second-highest concentration in Vietnam). Six state-run Chinese companies produced 85 percent of the world’s refined rare earth elements in 2020. That means this impressive breakthrough will likely remain in China only, at least for the foreseeable future. As of 2022, the United States has no maglev trains at all, mostly due to a lack of federal funding. Other countries, including Japan and Germany, are currently working on more conventional electromagnetic maglev networks, but remain hampered by the high cost of construction.

“The permanent magnet maglev train offers personalized and intelligent transport, which can complement subways and light rail,” Long told China’s state-run publication PLA Daily. “In the future, it will also help to create a new engine for the high-end equipment industry and give China a new advantage in leading the world on rail transit.”

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Matt Soule, who worked for the famed aerospace company for 13 years, got the idea to create a nimble electric fleet of smart cargo trains after watching a YouTube video that came through on his feed in 2019, shortly after leaving SpaceX. Armed with a great idea, he recruited two former colleagues, John Howard and Ben Stabler, to help him found the new venture which they call Parallel Systems.

The concept is both green and efficient. Freight trains already use a lot less energy than trucking, requiring just a quarter of the power needed to keep a semi-truck going.

“But because of how rail is architected, it has its operational and economic limits,” explained Soule in a recent interview with CNBC. “…If you can break through those barriers and allow rail to serve more of these markets — that’s the opportunity.”

Thanks to labor and fuel costs, traditional rail transport generally requires long lines of 200 or more cars to make it economical, but it can be difficult to find railyards large enough to park and load these behemoth cargo chains. This reduces the number of routes these trains can travel, making them more expensive and less flexible.

That’s where Parallel Systems’ battery-electric smart platooning rail vehicles come in. The units are teamed up in pairs, each holding one end of a freight car. Together they are strong enough to carry the weight of two stacked boxcars.

With smart tech like “camera-based perception systems,” the trains are autonomous and can be linked together with other pairs to form “platoons” of cargo. They can also be programmed to automatically detach from each other at any point along the route, allowing just a few boxcars to head to a more remote location and better compete with the flexibility of semi-truck transport.

Even better, the Parallel Systems trains can be autonomously loaded by overhead smart machines in ports or depots, eliminating costly manpower and time. Sticking with trains of just 10 to 50 freight cars instead of the traditional 200-plus lines, loading will take a fraction of the time, saving even more money.

And the electric batteries will help reduce greenhouse gases, too. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, transportation creates 29 percent of all U.S. emissions each year. Although the company has not yet settled on a battery type, just by using electric power, the engines can be smaller and have the potential to be net-neutral in carbon production.

Based on Parallel’s prototype, each smart train will be able to trek 500 miles on a single charge, and only need one hour to fully reload its battery.

The trains could also help the flow of traffic around train crossings. They will already be much shorter than traditional freight trains, so they’ll go through crossings much faster, but they can also separate as needed when blocking traffic. That feature will also allow emergency vehicles to get through quicker and safer.

After a few years of research, prototyping, and test runs, the company went public on January 19th, 2022, declaring a $50 million Series A funding goal led by Anthos Capital. Soule is encouraged by the “universally positive” conversations his team has had with key players like class one railroads, ocean carriers, ports, and shortline rail holding companies.

“No matter how many PowerPoint presentations we give them, as soon as they come see it in person, you can see the lightbulb come on,” he says.

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Now, Anderson has brought those same sensibilities to a real-world environment, a 1950s-era Cygnus carriage that’s one of eleven aboard the Belmond British Pullman train that operates from London’s Victoria Station. This train, initially made famous by Agatha Christie in her 1934 book Murder on the Orient Express and the subsequent 1972 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave, is made up of Pullman coaches dating from the 1920s to the 1950s. Anderson was given free rein to transform the Cygnus carriage into his personal ideal, no doubt a treat for someone who’s so clearly enamored with old trains.

In fact, as Anderson exclaimed in a press release, “I love trains! I have often had the chance to invent train compartments and carriages in my movies – so I was immediately pleased to say ‘yes’ to this real-life opportunity, and very eager to make something new while also participating in the process of preservation which accompanies all the classic Belmond train projects.”

The carriage was already practically begging for Anderson’s touch, given that it’s named for the Greek god of balance, often signified by a swan. Anderson’s design incorporates angularity, symmetry, and intricate motifs to the Cygnus, including a pastel pink ceiling, a complement of jewel-like green tones, and ornate marquetry work like wood panels featuring sunbeams, clouds, stars, and waves. Little swans can also be found throughout the carriage in reference to its name.

“Guests can ride in Cygnus on any journey on the British Pullman, a unique travel experience that rumbles across the rails all over England,” reads the Belmond website. “Whether a murder mystery lunch through the Kent countryside or a sparkling dinner hosted by an up-and-coming guest chef, a ticket in Cygnus means you can experience the Golden Age of Travel while appreciating the beauty of modern design. With two private four-seat coupes or seats in the open carriage, the choice is yours.”

If you’re hoping to book a ride on the Belmond yourself, expect rates for an open table to start at $545 per person. Or, you can book one of two private coupes with seating for four guests, who’ll also enjoy unlimited champagne at a price of $2,455. You can even book the entire carriage for a private event hosting up to 26 guests (price upon request).

Occupying a space designed by Wes Anderson himself is certainly a rare experience, but you can also visit places that were explicitly inspired by his aesthetic, but designed by other people. The Budapest Cafe by Melbourne-based firm Biasol is one of those places, itself an eatery located in Chengdu, China that aims to capture Anderson’s visual flair. And if you dream of making over your own interiors in Wes Anderson style, we have some fun tips to try out.

The post Wes Anderson’s Restored 1950s Train Carriage Looks Like a Scene Straight Out of His Films first appeared on Dornob.

“Interchange Pavilion,” created by Studio Mark Fox, is located in the city’s South Eveleigh district, a recently revitalized commercial neighborhood that encompasses several co-mingling train track lines.

Studio Founder and Director Mark Fox took his inspiration from the meeting of these many paths. He says the art is “an idea of convergence: of track convergence, of journeys’ convergence, of stories. The project really started with a concept around the rail switch, [it] being a potentiality of moving from one track to another.”

The pavilion is an “interchanging, diverging, and then coming together again” of wood, metal, and concrete that arcs upward in curved, geometric waves. Along the ground, steel bars mimic train tracks that overlap and spread out toward the sky before angling back to touch each other once more at the zenith. The ends of the wooden railway platforms feature artistic but practical benches where passersby can rest while being subliminally asked to contemplate how their own path in life junctions with others all around them.

None of those wooden planks were individually curved or bent anywhere along the arcs, creating an extra challenge for the design studio to “divide up something that is twisting in such a flamboyant way but to…position the timber exactly where it needs to sit so we get a continuous flowing form,” says Fox.

The shape of the sculpture was vital to its aesthetic, according to Fox. “Interchange Pavilion” lies in a courtyard between multiple high-rise office buildings and needed to be geometrically beautiful from every sight line, even from above. The 1,100-square-foot installation incorporates 15 tons of glass reinforced concrete (GRC), 1,400 pieces of Australian hardwood, and 820 feet of stainless-steel ground rails, all supported in a 1,650-piece aluminum structure weighing over 14 tons.

Fox and his team used cutting-edge technology in all aspects of the concept. The wood was sliced by computer-controlled cutting machines, the GRC molds were twisted by robotic axis mills, and the aluminum was digitally fabricated. He notes that “Interchange Pavilion design and building technologies are pushed to their limits to build what might have been an unbuildable form in another era.”

The undertaking was commissioned by Australian property group Mirvac and curated by cultural center Carriageworks as part of a larger public art initiative in the South Everleigh community. The aim is to “engage with the rich histories of Eveleigh and Redfern [train station] and create distinctive contemporary urban Sydney experiences.” Previous participants have created red gum slab abstractions inside an office complex, a smiling rain cloud on a building façade, and even a city park treehouse.

Fox, a senior lecturer in Art Processes and Architecture at the University of Sydney, is also well-known for his 2017 “Interloop” work, which fashioned the historic wooden escalator steps of Wynyard Station into an undulating coil on the ceiling over the modern moving stairways. He was intrigued by the mission of the Interchange Pavilion project, however, to meld art with architecture. “That challenge of combining something that is solely about form mixed with something that has to be a functional requirement, was really quite exciting,” he reveals, adding that “it is a connection to geometry, which then in turn ideally [leads] to transmission of ideas around the previous stories, previous histories of the site.”

The post Converging Outdoor Rail Art Points to Sydney’s Radiating Future first appeared on Dornob.

A new exhibition called Urban Miniatures takes the kind of street art you’ll commonly find in places like London, New York City, Lisbon, and São Paulo and literally shrinks it down. The curators took a Hornby train set and a collection of tiny (like, really tiny, not shed-tiny) houses, and asked a lineup of 40 well-known international graffiti, urban, and contemporary artists to customize each piece, producing “a subversive model city.”

Needless to say, this isn’t your average miniature Christmas village or museum diorama. Each diminutive work bears the tell-tale stamps of the artist who customized it, and if you’re familiar with street art, you’ll recognize some right away. There’s an optical illusion mural from Peeta, black-and-white wheat pasting by DONK, and abstract geometry by Mark McClure.

There’s something really fun about zooming in to examine a high-rise or bodega that can fit in the palm of your hand and taking in all of the practically microscopic details, like graffiti tags, trash, the weathered edges of an old sign, and the texture of the tiniest cobblestone wall. The train cars are especially cool, including an NCB freight car customized by TinyScenic to include a swimming pool, floats, lounge chair, and palm tree. Plus, the train set actually runs along its tracks at the show.

The full roster of artists also includes Adam Bridgland, Ange Bell, Art+Believe, Ben Allen, Ben Frost, Candice Tripp, Carl Cashman, Chum101, Cosmo Sarson, Dave Buonaguuidi, David Bray Frea Buckler, Jerome White, Jo Peel, Maxim, Katrina Russell-Adams, Louis O’Haara, Louis Masai, Pure Evil, Regman, SheOne, Shuby, Static, Tim Fowler, Tinsel Edwards, Victoria Homewood, Will Barras, Zevs, and many, many others.

You can see the Urban Miniatures show in person now through December 22nd, 2019 as part of the Artists Open Houses Christmas Festival in Brighton, England, or check out featured works on Instagram. To support individual participating artists, check out the PaxtonGlew online store, which includes limited edition prints, models, and more.

PaxtonGlew consists of duo Emily Paxton, a photographer, educator, and creative, and Pam Glew, an international textile artist. This show marks their curatorial debut.

The duo’s official website notes: “Emily and Pam met in 2004 in Brighton, where they worked as Photography and Art technicians. Since then they have remained good friends, worked as educators, started families, and continued their creative careers. Emily is a freelance photographer and lecturer who has curated pop-up exhibitions and taught numerous people their way around a camera. Pam has exhibited internationally as a textile artist and has been commissioned by brands including Armani, Ralph Lauren, and Microsoft.”

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When it comes to other high-speed rail networks in the U.S., there is far more talk than there is actual construction and completion. There are many reasons for this, including cost and overall lack of political will. Compared to most European and Asian countries, America is a sprawling land with incredibly large distances between its major cities. The relative closeness of the cities in the northeastern part of the country is actually one of the main reasons that the Acela Express has been such as success. On a region-by-region basis, focusing on key corridors that would be most profitable for the operators, high-speed rail can work in America. Some places are already learning from that and nearing the point of putting talk into action. A few lines are even in operation.

Since January of 2018, Brightline high-speed trains have been operating between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, whisking passengers between the cities in 30 minutes flat. Brightline also links Miami and West Palm Beach in 60 minutes. By 2021, that same line will run all the way to Orlando International Airport, linking Florida’s busiest transportation hub with its largest city.

Brightline’s success in the “Sunshine State” has even allowed it to branch out to sunny Southern California, where construction on a Los Angeles-Las Vegas line is set to begin in 2019. Angelenos will be able to travel 185 miles from Victorville, California to Nevada’s largest city by as soon as 2022.

Dallas and Houston will also be connected by a high-speed train by 2024, turning a four-hour car ride into a 90-minute rail experience. By 2033, the California High-Speed Rail Authority hopes to have a Los Angeles-San Francisco line ready to cut existing rail travel between those cities from 10 hours down to less than three.

Florida, Texas, and California are all big states with large populations. In terms of geographic size, they are each comparable to many European and Asian countries. Making high-speed rail work in those states is simply a matter of adding another transportation option to routes which have historically been traveled by car, bus, traditional rail, and/or air. In places where trips between cities are possible via a multitude of ways, high-speed trains can work. It would be tougher to see high-speed working between New York and Los Angeles, or between Boston and San Francisco, because very few people drive, take a bus, or use traditional rail between those cities. For such long distances, flying will continue to be the quickest and most hassle-free option. But between Miami and Orlando, Dallas and Houston, Los Angeles and Vegas, and even between Portland and Seattle, it can definitely work.

The post It’s Full Steam Ahead for High-Speed Trains in the U.S. first appeared on Dornob.

In September 2018, that reality finally arrived, right on time and on schedule in northern Germany. Quietly embarking on a 62-mile journey at 87 mph between four towns (Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude), the Coradia iLint is now officially the world’s first operational hydrogen train. The train can carry up to 300 passengers, is fueled up with hydrogen at the Bremervoerde station, and marks the first of 14 more trains Alstom plans to add to the fleet by 2021. The current contract for the energy supply and maintenance of these trains goes until 2047.

The creation of the Coradia iLint represents Alstom’s commitment to being a leader in clean mobility — which is exactly why countries like Canada, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, and France are considering getting the company to build hydrogen trains for them, too. France wants the trains running in their system by as early as 2022. Eventually, countries want to replace their entire stock of carbon dioxide-emitting diesel trains with electric models. In Germany, where the Coradia iLint is currently running, there are still over 4,000 diesel-powered trains in operation.

As successful as Coradia iLint has been, it is still only a small success story, and we should take care not to get too ahead of reality. As much as countries would like to jump on the hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) train right away, there are a couple issues with the technology that are preventing its widespread adoption. For example, battery technology would have to advance significantly for trains to travel more than 600 miles before recharging. Right now, it travels 62 miles in northern Germany, but can they travel longer distances across multiple borders? Then there’s the weight issue, which prevents most existing trains from being retrofitted to run on hydrogen. If countries are seriously considering hydrogen trains, they need to understand that a lighter fleet will be required. In Toronto, where the regional transit agency runs a fleet of bilevel trains, the massive costs of converting the system into a hydrogen-based one has already raised concerns. It would cost the transit agency over $13 billion Canadian dollars to purchase just 70 hydrogen locomotives and 84 sets of four hydrogen carriages.

Although the initial cost of hydrogen-powered trains is the main thing people fear, those same trains are cheaper to maintain than their diesel-powered counterparts, making them good investments in the long run. But as is the case with every other form of clean energy, too many stakeholders are failing to look beyond the setup costs. Nevertheless, the industry shift has to start somewhere, even if it is only a small one. That’s what makes the Coradia iLint’s debut a notable event. It forces other transit companies and countries to examine their own systems for the use of clean-energy technologies. Once it’s been in action for a couple of years and the benefits begin to accrue, hydrogen trains will probably start working in your area, too.

The post Why the World’s First Hydrogen Train is Well Ahead of the Curve first appeared on Dornob.

In Tilburg, a city in the southwestern part of the Netherlands, Civic Architects pulled out all the stops to animate the underside of one overpass linking the city center with a once neglected, now redeveloped part of town known as De Spoorzone. Officially called the Willem II Passage (an extension of Willem II Street), it serves as a safe and convenient cultural space and point of connection.

Just behind the passage’s structural concrete walls rests an inner façade chalk full of familiar elements — all of them presented at familiar scales but comprised of unfamiliar materials. Civic Architects consulted Van Tetterode Glass Studio and Philips Lighting about the 30,000 LEDs they ended up morphing into an interactive wall, all of them enclosed behind a glassy bond of sculptural bricks for a crystalline appearance. Programmed with an algorithm that’s responsive to pedestrian movement, time of day, and weather, the wall transforms into a living surface of diffused light without warning, accompanying people as they go by.

The passage serves as an inviting link between two areas — one that people do not fear passing through. The architects opted for glass bricks instead of a more high-tech material because they wanted to bring a human scale to the underside of an otherwise oversized piece of infrastructure. The bricks have an almost natural look to them, despite their having been stacked in an overtly purposeful pattern. The result is a continuous visual connection between the passage and Tilburg’s other architectural wonders, particularly the ones on Willem II Street. People have become so comfortable with the passage that they’ve even started using it for cultural activities and events.

For years, much has been written about unwelcoming urban spaces and their lack of safety. How urban planning and design have failed vulnerable users of the city like minors, the elderly, and the disabled. How smaller conveniences that tend to make a place more user-friendly often get forgetten. Bus stops are too far from each other, parks and plazas don’t have enough seating, and the underbellies of bridges are far too dark. All of these things are all examples of how urban design can end up being a major obstacle to a city’s inhabitants.

Luckily enough, the Willem II Passage is far from being any kind of obstacle. Unless people are in a hurry, there is no reason to hurry when walking through it. They may even find enough time to have a little dance, with the train rattling above and the high-tech wall around them mimicking their every move.

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We all have moments when we wish we could just shut out the world, especially when we’re desperate to sleep in a public place – like airport lobbies during long layovers. You can put a hoodie over your head and earplugs in your ears, but they won’t cushion you as you sleep, or soothe you like your dark, comfortable bed at home can.

A new product claims it can change all that, offering a “napping revolution.”

“Ostrich offers a micro environment in which to take a warm and comfortable power nap at ease. It is neither a pillow nor a cushion, nor a bed, nor a garment, but a bit of each at the same time. Its soothing cave-like interior shelters and isolates our head and hands (mind, senses and body) for a few minutes, without needing to leave our desk.”

No sight, no sound, just sleep.

Designed by Kawamura Ganjavian, this versatile go-anywhere object lets you slip into a gentle snooze wherever you may be – on the road, in the sky, inside a train or outside in the sun.

“In today’s working environment, lack of sleep has become almost chronic, and it has serious consequences on our physical and emotional wellbeing. We knew there had to be a healthier and more effective solution than excess caffeine consumption. Our motivation was to uncover this solution by designing a product that profoundly improved people’s personal and professional lives on a global scale.”

A bit bulky on the move, perhaps, but that added padding keeps your head nice and warm (as well as free from outside lights and sounds) in any situation. Could be especially nifty for those secret naps one takes at work – duck out to an unused conference room or remote cubicle, throw it over your head and just hope you don’t get caught.

The post Ostrich-Inspired Pillow for Napping first appeared on Dornob.

When Swedish architects Jagnefalt Milton submitted their proposal for this master-planning design competition, they were not sure anyone would take the idea seriously. To their surprise, the jury applauded their innovative approach that involved appropriating existing rail lines to create an entirely portable civic system full of nomadic architecture.

The idea is to enable seasonal retreats as well as event-specific mini-cities, complete with housing, hotels, swimming pools and even concert halls… all assembled from boxes that can be shifted around via the extant railway network as needed. Cargo container homes have recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest for similar reasons, but this proposal takes things a step further in combining conventional modular design materials and methods with easy overland shipping possibilities.

Drawings for the proposal are beautifully minimalist. Associated renderings are dark and moody, but utterly realistic at the same time. One can’t help but believe that this is not just another concept or idea, but has real-life potential tied in with a dream-like vision for the future. It certainly could have applicability to situations where nomadic lifestyles become required due to climate change, but it doesn’t have a dystopian feel, which is refreshing.

“Our master plan proposal for the Norwegian city of Åndalsnes turns the old industry train tracks into a new kind of infrastructure for mobile buildings that can be rolled back and forth depending on seasons and situations. For example, we propose a rolling hotel, a rolling public bath and a rolling concert hall.”

“According to the Jury Report the jury appreciated that we did not propose new city blocks, public squares, boardwalks etcetera, but instead focused entirely on the existing rail road network and created something unexpected from it. They were also moved by the presentation material which they thought had a surreal mood with a magic and Tarkovsky-esque atmosphere that contrasted well with the sober and technical plans and axonometric drawings.”

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