Transport & Infrastructure News and Discussions

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Barn-shaped home produces almost twice as much energy as it needs
By Adam Williams
March 01, 2025

Commissioned to create a family residence in an area known for its cold, snowy winters and hot summers, Florian Busch Architects has completed the House W. Taking the form of a timber barn-inspired structure that's partially covered in solar panels, the home's energy efficient design allows it to harness almost twice as much power as it requires annually.

House W is located in Nakafurano, Hokkaido, Japan. The home is situated on the site of an old farmer's barn and is surrounded rice paddies and asparagus fields, so draws inspiration from this setting.

The exterior is part-finished in a solar skin that allows it to run off-the-grid (together with a battery array). A studio representative told us that there are 56 panels installed, resulting in a total capacity of 23 kW. This is combined with a heat pump that's connected to a nearby water source and offers a relatively constant temperature throughout the year, allowing it to run the underfloor heating as well as producing warm water for the house.

https://newatlas.com/architecture/house ... rchitects/

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First electric seaglider finally hits the water with real passengers
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
March 10, 2025
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/regent-vi ... gers-test/

Rhode Island-based startup Regent Craft has successfully completed the first test of its full-size electric seaglider with passengers on board, validating the company's idea for a new kind of ocean-faring vessel.

The seaglider takes advantage of what's called the wing-in-ground-effect – where a winged vehicle experiences less aerodynamic drag when it's close to the surface it's flying above, like the ground or a water body.

With its numerous propellers mounted on a blown wing, the Regent Viceroy Seaglider promises to carry 12 passengers and two crew (or 3,500 lb/1,600 kg of cargo) over at least 180 miles (300 km) at a 180 mph (300 km/h) cruise speed, flying at ultra-low altitudes of just 30-60 ft (9-18 m) above the water.

Here's a clip from last week of the full-size prototype's first test out on the water, with passengers in tow:

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A vast undersea tunnel is being built that will change the road and rail map of Europe

Updated 10:25 AM EDT, Wed March 12, 2025

On the shores of the Baltic Sea, in the south of Denmark, a vast engineering marvel is taking shape — piece by giant concrete piece — that, when finished, will drastically redraw the road and rail maps of Europe.

The Fehmarnbelt tunnel may not have grabbed the popular imagination in the same way as the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France did more than 30 years ago, but this structure is just as impressive, if not more so.

Linking Denmark and Germany, the Fehmarnbelt will carry two-lane road highways under the water in both directions, plus two electrified rail lines — a multiple tube thoroughfare that will plunge beneath the waves of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

At 18 kilometers (11.2 miles), it’s nowhere near as long as the 50-kilometer (31-mile) Channel Tunnel, but in many other ways it’s bigger. The project will, in fact, be the world’s longest road and rail tunnel, and the world’s longest immersed tunnel.

[...]

Last month, in February 2025, the first precast concrete tunnel sections, called elements, left the factory in Rødbyhavn, on the Danish side of the tunnel, completing Part One of a groundbreaking journey from land to sea that is scheduled for completion in 2029.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/fehmarnbelt- ... index.html

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White House forces out CEO of passenger railroad Amtrak

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-pas ... 025-03-19/

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Lower Thames Crossing approved by government

25 March 2025

The largest road tunnel in the UK will be built after a £9bn plan was approved by the government.

The Lower Thames Crossing would link Tilbury, Essex, and Gravesend in Kent by two tunnels running underneath the River Thames.

National Highways hoped the road would reduce traffic at the Dartford Crossing by 20% and open by 2032.

Jim Dickson, the Labour MP for Dartford, said the decision would "finally deliver a solution to the traffic chaos" faced by motorists.

The 14.5-mile (23km) road would link the A2 and M2 in Kent with the A13 and M25 in Thurrock.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crewy5472gxo

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Kawasaki unveils a hydrogen-powered, ride-on robot horse
By Loz Blain
April 06, 2025

https://newatlas.com/automotive/kawasak ... bot-horse/
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has pulled the covers off perhaps the most outrageous concept vehicle we've ever seen. The Corleo is a two-seater quadruped robot you steer with your body, capable of picking its way through rough terrain thanks to AI vision.

I mean look, sure, you could go buy yourself a horse. But some horses are very cheeky, and have you seen what comes out the back end of those things? All that'll come out the back of the Corleo robot is fresh, clean water as a combustion product from its clean-burning, 150cc, hydrogen-fueled generator engine. Possibly chilled water, from an underslung dispenser – that'd be nice on a mountain picnic.

This is the latest concept vehicle from Kawasaki Heavy Industries – not the motorcycle division specifically, and I'm OK with that. I think the parent company would be wise to keep this machine far from any "Ninja" stickers that might give its AI brain the idea that it should learn martial arts.

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[firestar464]

no lol

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Sleek scale-model hydroplane rises and rides on the water in new video
By Michael Franco
April 17, 2025

https://newatlas.com/marine/hydrajet-sc ... ydroplane/

While hydrofoils lift out of the water thanks to an underwater fin, hydroplanes zoom along by riding directly on the surface of the water. A slick carbon-fiber scale model from startup CovaConcepts shows off the latter concept in a fun new video.

Both hydrofoils and hydroplanes are designed to make water travel faster, more efficient, and in many cases, more thrilling, but they do this in different ways.

Hydrofoils have one or more blades, known as foils, that sit beneath the water's surface. As an underwater propeller produces thrust, the foil provides lift and the boat or board above it rises up out of the water. This creates a condition where a passenger is effectively riding well above the water even though a part of the boat remains submerged. Because the boat is above the water's surface, and the engine and foil are below, hydrofoils provide extremely smooth rides, and are virtually immune to the water's chop. Drag is also reduced dramatically because most of the boat isn't touching the water at all.

Hydroplanes, on the other hand, also move by propellers in the water beneath their hulls. But when a hydroplane gets moving, the hull's design is what provides lift. As the speed increases, the wing-like shape of the boat causes it to rise slightly out of the water and basically skim across the surface on a cushion of air. Because hydroplanes have much more contact with the water's surface than hydrofoils, though, the ride can get a bit bumpy as you can see in this video of an H1 Hydroplane Racing competition in Madison, Indiana.

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All Aboard the Future of California Rail
by Joe Mathews
April 22, 2025

Introduction:

(Zócolo) As the late afternoon train took me west across San Diego’s North County, winds from the Pacific slowly gained strength, whistling as they hit the side of the front car.

Through the large windows, the tracks grew so bright in the setting sun that I had to squint whenever I looked ahead.

Californians with the bad luck to live far from San Diego may never have heard of the Sprinter train. It’s their loss. And not just because of the gentle, picturesque ride it offers on its 22-mile route through the canyons of the Highway 78 corridor, from the mesas of Escondido to the Oceanside coast.

But rather because Sprinter, operated by the North County Transit District, is a rare source of transportation inspiration during a time of pitch-black pessimism.

California’s 200-plus transit agencies are often said to be in a “death spiral,” suffering from diminished ridership, faltering revenues, service cuts, and public perceptions that their trains and buses are dangerous and dir

Read more here: https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/all ... ia-rail/

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Phantom 3500 swaps windows for super-efficient transonic flight
By David Szondy
May 16, 2025
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/phantom-3 ... ic-flight/

Who needs windows when you can have superefficient transonic passenger flight? That seems to be the reasoning behind Otto Aviation's Phantom 3500 jet aircraft that dumps the portholes in favor of super-laminar flow to lose weight and burn less fuel.

Ask an aerospace engineer what they honestly think of windows on an aircraft and you'll get a look more suited to Captain Ahab discussing Moby Dick. In other words, engineers don't like windows. They really don't like them.

That's because the ideal aircraft fuselage should be a seamless cylinder. Putting in windows violates the structural integrity of the hull, producing weak spots where stresses can concentrate. They also add weight, reducing fuel efficiency. Then there's the fact that windows mess with the flow of air over the skin, increasing drag.

[wjfox]

We had to be on last run of UK's longest train route

16 May 2025

It is a route which has operated for more than 100 years, but for the UK's longest direct train service linking Aberdeen and Penzance it is finally the end of the line.

The connection - first established back in 1921 - is 775 miles (1,247km) long.

However, the packed train from the north east of Scotland on Friday morning was the last to run the route, and arrived in Cornwall more than 13 hours later at 21:40. Operator CrossCountry said the decision to end the service was aimed at a "more efficient timetable".

One passenger, Aimee Smith, 40, had made the journey to Aberdeen specifically so as she could join the final trip south and be part of rail history. "All good things do come to an end," she told BBC Scotland News.

It is believed the end of the service means the connection between Aberdeen and Plymouth is now the longest direct route, at 695 miles (1,118km).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c753zzvd6gno

[caltrek]

U.S. Public Transit in Crisis
by LeeAnn Hall
May 21, 2025

Introduction:

(Other Words) Transit is essential. It’s how we get to health care appointments, parks, school, and work.

Essential workers, small businesses, and under-served communities throughout the country depend on transit. Transit is a key component of economic opportunity, jobs, and a more environmentally sustainable society — and it’s a road to equity for disconnected communities.

But from coast to coast — in big cities and in rural areas, in red and blue states — transit agencies are facing massive budget shortfalls and reducing service. And recent actions by the Trump administration — from Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the federal government to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy threatening to withhold key federal funding — will worsen a bad situation.

Transit is always essential. But that’s particularly true in times of great economic uncertainty, like we’re currently experiencing.

When people can count on the bus or train to get where they need to go, they can easily access jobs, education, medical care, culture, goods and services, and the daily life of their communities. They benefit from greater economic mobility and lower household costs.

Read more here: https://otherwords.org/public-transit- ... fix-it/

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Saudi's latest ambitious project: A bridge across the Red Sea to Egypt
By Adam Williams
June 06, 2025
https://newatlas.com/architecture/saudi ... -crossing/

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are reportedly planning to build a bridge – or possibly a tunnel – across the Red Sea to connect the two countries. The ambitious proposal is part of a larger effort to boost tourism and trade, and to support Saudi's ongoing Neom giga-project.

No official announcement has been revealed yet and there are not even any official images available. However, Reuters reports that Egyptian transport minister Kamel al-Wazir recently told a conference in Egypt that the planning stage for a bridge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has been completed, and that his country is ready to implement it at any time. The minister also mentioned the possibility of there being a tunnel instead of a bridge.

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Eurostar trains from London to Germany and Switzerland planned in 'golden age for international sustainable travel'

Eurostar trains will be running directly to Geneva and Frankfurt from the ‘early 2030s’ under the operator’s plans

7 hours ago

Eurostar hailed the arrival of a “new golden age of international sustainable travel” as the rail operator unveiled plans to launch direct services linking London St Pancras with Germany and Switzerland.

A fleet of up to 50 new trains – costing around £1.7 billion – will serve new routes between the capital and both Frankfurt and Geneva from the “early 2030s”, the operator announced on Tuesday.

Journey times would be about five hours between London and Frankfurt, and five hours and 20 minutes between London and Geneva.

It has not been decided what stops the services would make - such as Cologne for trains to or from Frankfurt - and whether passengers would be able to get on and off en route.

Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave told the PA news agency many passengers are prepared to take longer train journeys rather than flying as they “want to travel more sustainably”.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo ... 31975.html

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