Haugalandet er et område i utvikling, noe som er bra. Vi trenger flere småsamfunn for å oppretholde lokalproduksjon. Men på grunn av denne utviklingen er det planlagt en god del veiprosjekter. Dette er et blindspor som man ikke kommer noen vei med. Vi må; mens vi enda har sjangsen satse på alternative løsninger som foreksempel bybane og bedre busstilbud. Vi må satse på det som har en fremtid.

Menneskene har alltid prøvd og feilet, nå holder vi på å feile igjen. Når skal vi ta lærdom og satse på fremtiden

Det finnes alternativer til forurensende vei, en av dem er å bedre busstilbudet, slik at bussen går ofte, er punktlig og ikke koster mer enn hvis man hadde kjørt bil den samme strekningen. Busstoppene må rustes opp, og det må være informasjon på hvert busstopp om når bussen kommer, og om den er forsinket. Min konklusjon er at ingen gidder å ta bussen når den er mye forsinket, er dyr og rutene er et eneste kaos. Derfor mener jeg at det er politikernes ansvar å legge opp til at mannen i gata kan være miljøvennlig.

Men så kommer spørsmået: hvorfor er busstulbudet så dårlig i Haugesund? Det er fordi de som har lagt opp rutene sitter i Stavanger. Der ble busstilbudet lagt opp slik at bussene går i sirkler, noe som fungerer veldig bra. Alle som har sett et kart over Haugalandet ser at dette ikke fungerer der. Området er langstrakt med Skudeneshavn i den ene enden og Sveio i den andre. Så har man i tillegg noen avstikker opp til Raglamyr, Brakahaug og Amanda. Bussen fra sentrum til Amanda tar nå 20 min, og er du uheldig ender du opp på en rute som bruker nesten en time. Dette er ikke slik det skal være, men hvem har skylden? Kolumbus har fått mye kritikk og Veolia og fylkeskommunen har gått fra det nesten gratis. Det er fordi de fleste tror Kolumbus er et privat selskap og Veolia styrt av fylkeskommunen. Dette er feil, Kolumbus er statlig og veolia privat. Noe som har sendt all kritikken til feil folk.

Det har vært mye debatt rundt Karmsundsgaten i Haugesund, her er svaret enkelt. Bygg en midtrabatt, og man vil unngå front mot front kolisjoner, og at folk blir påkjørt når de løper over veien, av den enkle grunn at man ikke kan løpe over veien. Busstilbudet må også utbedres kraftig for å få vekk kaoset fra rushtrafikken, en mulighet er å tilby gratis buss i rushtiden noe Petter Steen jr. lovet under lokalvalget, men ikke har blitt gjennomført.

Changing gears, after a two week strike set up by union members who operate the Viva bus service all across York Region, it seems that they have accepted the offer and it is anticipated that full VIVA service will be back up and running this weekend. It seems that people in York Region are coping with the situation, quite similar to our strike in the Durham Region back 2 years ago. The strike will be distant memories for me of course.

References:

"Viva strike over." Vaughan Today. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.vaughantoday.ca/story.php?id=1133>

"Drivers vote to end Viva bus strike in York." Toronto Star. 10 October 2008. 10 October 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/515754>

SEKO Klubb 119:s medlemsmöte den 25/9 diskuterade artikeln om Veolia som publicerats i SEKO tidningen 9/2008.

SEKO Klubb 119 vill dementera följande uppgifter som står i artikeln.

1.Veolia sparkade vår klubbordförande, Per Johansson, 2005. I artikeln påstår Veolia att de nuvarande cheferna inte var med på den tiden, men att de ser det som ett misslyckande från både företaget och facket. Det är samma argument som Veolia använt sen dess. SEKO Klubb 119 ser detta på ett annat sätt. Veolia sparkade vår klubbordförande för att tysta klubben. SEKO klubb 119 riktade kritik om säkerheten och tryggheten i tunnelbanan både mot Veolia (dåvarande Connex) och SL. När Veolia sparkade Per Johansson, hoppades Veolia att de skulle lyckas med att tysta kritiken och att klubben skulle bli en lydig samtalspartner. 

2. Förhållandet är mindre konfrontativt från båda sidor nu, påstår Tomas Wallin i artikeln. Detta stämmer till viss del då pga rädsla bland de anställda efter Veolias avsked av vår klubbordförande. Situationen sen dess har ändrats då det pågår en upphandling av tunnelbanan och Veolia vill undvika oro på arbetsplatsen i form av  t ex vildastrejker som 2005. Den största anledningen till att Veolia inte är lika konfrontativa är för att de vill vinna upphandlingen. SEKO klubb 119 har alltid jobbat för en bra säkerhet och arbetsmiljö för de anställda och resenärerna. Oavsett om detta anses konfrontativt eller inte så fortsätter vi med vårt arbete.

3. Att Veolia skulle ha åtgärdat arbetsmiljöfrågorna stämmer inte. Även om arbetsmiljöarbetet utförs på ett mer systematiskt sätt idag så har vi fortfarande samma problem med frontrutorna på C20, larmtelefoner i tunnlar som inte fungerar och gamla vagnar som drabbas av rökutveckling, som för tre år sen.

SEKO Klubb 119:s medlemsmöte den 25 september 2008

Se hela artikeln på sidan 12 på SEKO tidningen

Eller här...

I am not sure if the union members of the ATU for VIVA are living in a cavern somewhere but there is a global economic crisis. This strike has gone on for long enough. It is time to GET BACK TO WORK and figure this out now! Viva is York Region’s express bus rapid transit service, supplementing YRT’s local services. York has contracted Veolia to operate its 90 Viva buses for about $20 million annually. I think we've had enough of this strike! It is time for transit to become a priority for our politicians. Make transit an essential service!

Time to make York Region Transit an essential service

Update: Hooray! The strike is over! A two-week strike by 170 Viva bus drivers in York Region is over. Drivers voted Friday to accept Veolia Transportation's contract.

I was reading a brief article found in the Windsor Star (yes, I know this doesn't have to do with me locally) and I found an article that caught my particular attention - a multi million dollar project (under the Let's Get Windsor-Essex moving strategy) to improve access to the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry (a popular service for truckers who carry dangerous goods and oversized loads across the Detroit River) has substantically grinded to a sudden halt.

A stretch of road leading to the truck ferry has been owned by a private owner and this has been subjected to a controversy. The province of Ontario (along with the Ministry of Transportation) and the private company called "Morterm" has been arguing who get what and for what cost. It appears that the province wants to buy the property and to resolve all matters at all costs.

The Detroit-Windsor truck ferry is a very popular service for truckers on seeking alternatives to cross the border with dangerous goods. Since the Ambassador Bridge and the Windsor-Detroit tunnel is completely banned to all dangerous goods, the nearest border crossing that allows that is the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia.

Truckers meanwhile, find "devious" ways to bypass the Bridge's restrictions. They even have to remove hazardous materials placards off their trucks so they can pass through the bridge without getting detected. THIS IS DEFINTELY A SERIOUS BREACH OF RULES TO NOT ONLY TO THE AUTHORITIES WHO OPERATE THE BRIDGES/TUNNELS, BUT TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AS WELL. This reminds me from a movie called "Daylight" when a illegal truckload was carrying toxic waste across the tunnel and through all of a sudden, a series of chain reaction triggered a massive explosion.

Think back to 1999, a massive tunnel fire down at the Mont-Blanc Tunnel (linking France and Italy) killed at least 30. It took three full years to improve the tunnel's security and many other related things.

Back in Windsor, while the issue is still ongoing, there must be a way to discourage truckers who camouflage their trucks and removing their hazardous material placards to prevent such an incident from happening.

In other news, it seems that there will be no end in sight for the York Region's VIVA transit service. Talks have been walked off and the strike will go on indefinitely. It seems that many transit riders are finding ways on getting to and from their destination without the use of VIVA......will there be some light at the end of the tunnel? We'll see.

References:

"Truck ferry asks MDOT to rekindle hazmat enforcement rules." Today's Trucking. 18 September 2008. 2 October 2008. <http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=20286>

"Ambassador OKs banned hazmat cargo on bridge." Today's Trucking. 12 April 2006. 2 October 2008. <http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=16102>

"Truck ferry enhancement plan stalled." Today's Trucking. 2 June 2008. 2 October 2008. <http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=19733>

"30-metre private road holds up $5 million border project." Windsor Star. 1 October 2008. 2 October 2008. <http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=b10b543b-123a-4b25-be54-d70efe5dc826>

"Truck ferry project stalled." Windsor Star. 2 October 2008. 2 October 2008. <http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=e6d7d029-3521-48f4-a02f-ae9bb943d652>

"Long Viva bus strike expected as talks stall." Toronto Star. 2 October 2008. 2 October 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/510094>

"Commuters In York Region Warned Viva Strike Could Last A While." CityNews.ca. 2 October 2008. 2 October 2008. <http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_27510.aspx>

A Metrolink engineer sent a text message from his cellphone 22 seconds before he collided with an oncoming freight train in an accident that killed 25 people and injured 135 others last month, federal authorities said today.

Engineer Robert M. Sanchez sent the message at approximately 4:22 p.m., just before his Metrolink 111 train slammed into the Union Pacific freight train on Sept. 12 in Chatsworth, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a written statement. He also received a message about a minute earlier, the agency said.

....

The safety board today cautioned that its disclosures were preliminary.

"The precise timing and correlation of these events is still underway," the NTSB said. Two key questions were whether Sanchez had left the station when he sent his last text message and how close he was to the point of impact with the Union Pacific train.

It's extremely disheartening to read this, to be blunt. As noted, there's still questions, so while the impulse to completely damn Sanchez is incredibly understandable, more must still be considered. However, I feel disheartened not out of a sense that Sanchez is being inaccurately blamed -- while his union and his family are understandably arguing against this, frankly I think the circumstantial evidence is growing far stronger, not weaker -- but because Sanchez would have done something like this so often in the first place, as the story notes.

More to say about this later, perhaps.

I've stumbled upon checking out the "Bring the Warped Tour to Edmonton" facebook group and I have found a particular thread that caught my particular attention. A fellow Edmontonian has discussed that the Warped Tour will be at Edmonton's Northlands Park sometime in August 2009. Apart from this, here are some more Canadian cities where the Warped Tour will be held next year:

Edmonton
Montreal
Saskatoon
Mississauga
Toronto
Vancouver

For my part, while I'm greatly supported by the group's move, we need to have a stronger voice for not only myself, but for our fellow Edmontonians. We are putting public pressure on Sir Kevin Lyman on having the tour being held not only in Edmonton, but the tour back in Toronto. We don't want the tour to end up in Barrie for sure! So far, nothing has been announced. As for Vancouver, which previously left out from this year's edition of the Warped Tour, hopefully things will be better for them and to provide an opportunity for them to get their fix of punk rock for sure.

While I congradulate the move that the Warped Tour is going to back either in Toronto or Mississauga, the people in Edmonton are "flexing their muscles" on demanding that the city should deserve their right on having the Warped Tour up there, as Calgary's Race City Speedway has since been closed. Despite, Kevin Lyman's objections on having a Warped Tour date in Edmonton back in 2007, the people there are grinding their gears on having a tour up there.

According to an interview that a local newspaper had conducted in 2006, Kevin Lyman stated:

"It's such a nightmare for me; I cannot figure out how to get to Edmonton.t's three hours, four hours too far to get there with this entourage of people we have to keep on this road...It's become such a monstrosity to move around - there's 800 people. If we go up to Edmonton, it adds almost two days to the tour. In a sad way, sometimes, I do have to look at it from a business standpoint."

This, in relation to other associated costs is going to be costly for the Warped organizers. Right now, my work on building a report titled, "Public Transit and the Warped Tour" is currently ongoing. I intend to present this report to Kevin Lyman anytime soon. Stay tuned.

Changing Gears, a Provincial mediator is currently negotiating with the union representing VIVA's bus rapid transit system in York Region. It's been almost a week after a fully-fledged strike is in place for the region, (almost completely) paralyzing the transit system in York Region. As YRT (York Region Transit) does not have the extra power to provide for passengers, the passengers are bracing for impact.

Talks will start sometime this week.

References:

"Viva Talks To Resume This Week, End Of Adult Tickets For TTC." CityNews.ca. 29 September 2008. 29 September 2008. <http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_27348.aspx>

"Talks to end strike by Viva bus drivers to be held Wednesday." The Canadian Press. 29 September 2008. 29 September 2008. <http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hMtvvufvvcAkjpspUcxhocF50zjg>

"Viva Union, management to meet Wednesday with mediator." YorkRegion.com. 29 September 2008. 29 September 2008. <http://www.yorkregion.com/article/81994>

"Viva talks set to resume." Toronto Star. 29 September 2008. 29 September 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/508212>

Le parrain des eaux de seine

Rappelons d'abord, l'envergure de cette homme avec ses multiples casquettes, il est actuellement:
- secrétaire d'État auprès du ministre du Budget, chargé de la Fonction publique (depuis 2007)
- président à vie du "Club des Parlementaires Amateurs de havane" (depuis 1991)
- président du Mouvement national des élus locaux (MNEL)
- président du Global cities dialogue
- député-maire d'Issy les Moulineaux, ville jumelée avec un des districts de la ville de Pékin
- vice-président du groupe d'étude sur les problèmes de l'eau à l'Assemblée Nationale
- vice-président du groupe d'étude sur les voies d'eau et les voies navigable à l'Assemblée Nationale
- président du comité de bassin Seine-Normandie (Agence de l'eau Seine-Normandie)
- président du Syndicat des eaux d'île-de-France (SEDIF)
- co-président avec Charles Pasqua du syndicat mixte de l'île Saint-Germain pour la gestion de la Fondation Hamon
- président de la communauté d'agglomération Arc de Seine (Issy les Moulineaux, Meudon, Vanves, Ville d'Avray et Chaville)
- vice-président du Syndicat mixte des Coteaux et du Val de Seine
- vice-Président des groupes d'amitié avec l'Arménie, la Chine, l'Iran et Cuba, pour un homme de droite, c'est plutôt original
- président du groupe d'amitié entre la France et la Corée du Sud à l'Assemblée nationale.
(sources wikipédia aisément vérifiables sur d'autres sites dont celui-ci et celui-là)

Ou l'art de cumuler les mandats, et les revenus quand il y en a, en toute discrétion...

Mais il y a plusieurs tâches dans la carrière admirable de cet homme pour le moment intègre puisque présumé innocent malgré ce qui suit.
Tout d 'abord, il est mis en examen pour "détournement de fonds publics, faux et prise illégale d'intérêt" dans l'affaire dite de la Fondation Hamon. Y serait d'ailleurs mêlée de près ou de loin, Charles Pasqua, Rachida Dati et...Nicolas Sarkozy.
De plus, il est soutenu par la communauté corse, communauté à la réputation sulfureuse, de part la suprématie de Charles Pasqua sur la région pendant de longues années.
Enfin, sa présidence du Syndicat des eaux d'ïle de France, fameux SEDIF, est très critiquée.
En 2008, son mandat avait d'ailleurs été remis en question en raison de son opposition sur le fait que la gestion de l'eau redevienne publique. Processus auquel l'ami Santini était un farouche opposant.

Et justement l'association de consommateur UFC Que Choisir a remis cent balles de la nourrin cette semaine après avoir recalculé la facture que paye le SEDIF (et donc les contribuables) à Veolia, entreprise privée chargée du traitement et de recyclage de l'eau du robinet pour les Hauts de Seine mais surtout toute l'Ile de France.
L'association dénonce ce contrat signé en 1962 (sic!) qui est surfacturé à hauteur de 30% soit 18 millions d'euros. Déjà en juin dernier elle avait protesté contre ce même contrat qui possède un taux de profit faramineux (58.7 euros sur une facture d'eau de 100 euros est un pur profit pour Veolia).
Etrangement l'eau gérée en régie municipale comme à Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand ou Grenoble est la moins chère en France.
Pourtant elle est soumise aux mêmes normes françaises et européennes sanitaires.

Evidemment la contre-attaque du plus célèbre fumeur de havane de France ne s'est pas faite attendre en critiquant la méthode de calcul qui ne prend pas en compte toutes les formes de réparation et de maintenance fournies par le groupe Véolia ainsi que des paramètres propres à la région Ile de France (dureté de l'eau, âge et densité du réseau etc...)

Au final, l'UFC Que choisir estime que la probable arnaque, puisqu'il faut appeler un chat un chat, permet d'augmenter de 50 euros chaque facture de chaque usager, et changer de gestionnaire en repassant à une régie publique pourrait faire économiser entre 30 à 50 millions d'euros.
Les attaques répétées de l'UFC, quasi annuelles, et étayées par les données du Ministère de l'Ecologie sur tous les paramètres de la facturation de l'eau, comme les paramètres locaux (suivant la qualité initiale une eau n'est pas traité de la même façon suivant les régions), font qu'un sérieux doute plane sur la gestion opaque qui lie le SEDIF au groupe privé Véolia depuis le début des années 60!
Et la ligne de défense de "dédé", comme ses confrères parlementaires le surnomment, ne tient donc pas.

Pour rappel, le frère d'André Santini, Dominique Santini est l'ancien directeur de l'immobilier à l'ex-Compagnie générale des eaux, renommée en Vivendi Environnement puis Veolia.
Un hasard plus que troublant...

Pour aller plus loin:
Pourquoi le mètre cube est à 4 euros en Ile de France, au lieu de 2 euros 70 en moyenne.
[dailymotion id=k5JtLk0RoZYLBWuRPH]
Merci à la rédaction d'AgoraVox

Plus d'infos sur l'article du nouvelobs en juin 2008 et environnement 2B pour cette enquête de septembre 2008.
Autre enquête de l'UFC en octobre 2007 contre le prix de l'eau, sur lemoniteur.fr

The key things to note:

Spurred by the deadly head-on crash of two trains in Chatsworth, congressional negotiators agreed Tuesday to a groundbreaking rail safety reform bill requiring many passenger and freight trains to be equipped with technology that can automatically prevent collisions.

....

The compromise legislation will be put to a vote in the House today and then go to the Senate before Congress is scheduled to adjourn Friday.

The bill would provide $50-million to help pay for the technology, cap the number of hours that freight train crews could work each month at 276 hours -- the current limit is more than 400 hours -- and require the U.S. Department of Transportation to draw up limits for passenger crews. In addition, the bill would require the Federal Railroad Administration to add safety workers.

Nothing to object to in any of this, I think. It's good to keep in mind that this is neither an exact guarantee against a repeat of something like this, nor meant to be an immediate fix (Feinstein herself is quoted at her frustration that the deadline will be 2015). But it's a recognition that standards need to be improved where possible, and there now seems to be a broader consensus in accepting the positive train control technology standard. At the least, it puts David Solow's previous -- and admittedly, pre-crash -- argument about 'flexibility' to bed once and for all. (Also, $50 million is chump change against $700 billion, say.)

There were some tart words from both Feinstein and Boxer about it all, too -- reminds me why I enjoy having them as my senators:

The senators repeatedly expressed frustration over the fact that in Southern California, Metrolink and Union Pacific have to rely solely on single engineers as the last defense against collisions.

Rail industry officials said the most advanced technology is not yet developed enough to dependably work in Southern California's complex web of passenger and freight traffic.

"I can't understand it, I can't be sympathetic with it," Feinstein said during the briefing. "It's an incredible frustration to say you can continue to operate passenger and freight on the same single track with no collision-avoidance system."

....

Boxer questioned [Joseph H. Boardman, head of the Federal Railroad Administration] about what he could do immediately to help improve safety on rail lines in Southern California.

Unsatisfied with Boardman's answer that he couldn't do anything dramatic immediately, Boxer replied: "So you can't do anything about safety?" then added a few moments later "What powers do you have? What's your job? You're sitting there saying you can't tell them to do anything?. . . . You have the power, you don't want to do it, you'd rather work with the railroads."

....

Feinstein left the hourlong hearing clearly exasperated with what she heard, calling the Federal Railroad Administration "an old boys' club" in an interview.

"I think they sit down and talk to the railroads," Feinstein said. "I think they do what the railroads want."

In a statement after congressional negotiators had agreed on the rail safety bill, Boxer noted that, "The Federal Railroad Administrator has the ability under this bill to speed up the timeline" for the installation of automatic breaking systems, "and I trust he will do it."

One does trust.

WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance

• The engineer of the Metrolink train -- this profile of his life is worth reading, and shows he bore some heavy burdens -- had indeed sent and received texts on the day of the crash, though there is no official word yet on whether he had done so just before the crash, as has been claimed. Should the investigation show this to be the case -- and at this point, the investigators have ruled out problems with the trains or the signals -- it would be depressingly clear that for whatever reason the engineer put himself and his passengers at unacceptable risk. The proposed policy change to forbid personal wireless communications among train crew members that the CPUC appears set to implement is quite logical given the circumstance.
• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has replaced two members of the Metrolink board, claiming that the board's actions with regard to spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell were collectively flawed. The mayor claims that the two replaced members weren't specifically being singled out but it's hard to assume otherwise, frankly.
• Attention is now focusing in Congress on the question of positive train controls as a safety backup, and whether it should be specifically required in all cases. David Solow, the Metrolink CEO who was involved in the Tyrrell weirdness of the weekend, testified last year in front of Congress that 'flexibility' was key -- perhaps a logical argument to make given the complexity of the train systems around here, but now politically unacceptable.

MetroRiderLA has posted an opinion piece in support of Tyrrell which also serves as a thoughtful reflection on the nature of Metrolink as an organization that is well worth the read. To quote it briefly:

I’ve talked to Board members, staff, and passengers, and there is a unique bond between the passengers and the staff, which has survived previous incidents, annual fare increases, and other issues. And sometimes, you have to face up to the reality of what happened, and try to start the healing process. The odds of the story changing are very slim, probably slimmer than the chance of the collision happening in the first place.

After an incident, there is a lot of speculation. Could it be the Union Pacific’s fault? A case of terrorism? (After all, almost simultaneously to when she made the statement, a special Board meeting was held regarding a potential threat to public safety.) Tyrrell needed to reassure commuters by telling all of the facts she knew. NTSB investigations usually take over a year and at the end they tell everyone what they already know. Meanwhile, a lot of goodwill is lost.

The LA Times Bottleneck Blog has been posting a variety of stories, unsurprisingly.

I have little more to add than what I said in the original post I made: "...if the error can be traced, responsible parties held accountable and new features done to work against a repeat, then let it all be done, and it should be done — there must be answers, as clear as possible." It's still early days, of course, but it is beginning, and none too soon.

---

Earlier today, as expected, the CPUC has now banned the use of cellphones for on-duty rail workers. I can sense where there can be possible objections or modifications to this policy worked out over time -- it could be argued, I think rightly, that there is a need for contact in case someone close to an on-duty worker needs to get hold of someone urgently, but if the policy is made plain that when a worker is on-duty that only emergency contacts would be allowed, and that anyone attempting to contact someone on-duty would need to be aware of this in turn, then I think a reasonable balance would be able to be struck. Too late for this long overdue change to be made, but better late than never -- it certainly has been an eye-opener to realize that there was no such policy like this in place beforehand, but I fear that is always going to be the case when technology outstrips necessary adjustment in regulation.

That same link details the funeral of police officer Spree DeSha. Without wanting to make her a symbol -- from what I can tell in the reports and memories that have been posted, she was a low-key and no-nonsense person and officer who would have been embarrassed by what she considered to be outsized attention -- I think it is a sign of some sort of progress, quietly but ever onward, that full honors from the police, church and city were granted to someone who also just happened to be lesbian, and whose partner, shown in the LA Times photo below, also works for the LAPD as a full officer. This is as it should be. No further qualifiers are necessary.

Rest in peace.

---

UPDATE Friday 19 -- three brief LA Times stories to note: first, one on the teenage railfans who apparently knew the Metrolink engineer. My only comment is that I fully understand both the impulse of total fandom in general, as well as acknowledging how they feel like they've gotten a raw deal in the press. It's a rough lesson to learn, but still worth learning.

Meanwhile, this story of a crash between a Blue Line train and a bus is really what Metrolink and the MTA in general doesn't need right about now. Bottleneck Blog has more.

Finally, a vigil is being held tonight in Chatsworth:

The girls decorated several hundred tea lights that they will hand out to participants to recognize the survivors of the crash -- which occurred just steps away from some residents' homes -- and special candles representing each of those who died, Daniels said.

The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. at 10046 Old Depot Plaza Road.

The location via Google Maps is here.

(And a last addition for the day -- the story of Paul Long, his fellow pastor, and a final sermon. I am irreligious, but I am not made of stone, and this is a moving story of a passing, and a remembrance.)

---

UPDATES Saturday 20 -- two very good new pieces to note at the LA Times -- first, an overall report on how the investigation will be done:

"It's a very deliberative, careful process," said agency board member Kitty Higgins, who responded from Washington, D.C., with the safety board's 17-member "Go Team."

The group, which includes rail experts, electrical engineers and psychologists, was on call when the Sept. 12 crash occurred and flew to Los Angeles the next morning.

....

The NTSB is one of the smallest federal agencies in Washington. It has 400 employees, half of them dedicated to investigations. Typically, it investigates about 2,000 aviation accidents each year and about 500 other accidents on railways, highways and waterways.

The NTSB has no enforcement authority and relies largely on the thoroughness of its investigations and final reports. "The only thing the board has is its credibility," said James E. Hall, who chaired the agency's five-member board of directors during the Clinton administration.

....

To leverage its limited resources, the agency relies on the "party system," which Workman and his investigators launched at the scene.

Every party involved in the Chatsworth collision -- Metrolink, the Los Angeles Fire Department and the union representing the Union Pacific engineer, among others -- has been asked to take part in the investigation.

Second is this revealing story about Metrolink -- while I knew it was separate from the MTA and similar organizations like the OCTA, I had no true idea of how much of a red-headed stepchild it is in terms of funding via the many counties it works with. As a jury rig organization, personally I think it's actually done extremely well overall, but it sounds like it is seriously time to consider what can be done to improve both its budget and its overall governance.

As I've said before, if something can be done to improve on this tragedy, to take lessons learned and apply them, then some good can come out of it. But it is starting to sound like it is not just simply a question of safety equipment and training, but deeper institutional review. It is one thing to support the goal of mass transit, and I have a good general faith in Metrolink's employees (or, as I now more clearly understand, its many subcontracted employees), but it is another to support blindly.

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It's understandable that there's a lot of attention on the aftermath of Hurricane Ike right about now -- in terms of power outages and simple wreckage alone, it was a monster -- but out here in the LA area the big thing on my mind is the horrific crash yesterday involving a Union Pacific freight train and a Metrolink commuter train. A head-on collision at high speed, perhaps the most horrifying prospect one could imagine when it comes to train accidents:

Metrolink's Train 111, en route from Los Angeles' Union Station to Moorpark, had just left the Chatsworth station when the crash occurred at 4:23 p.m. on a 45-degree bend. The engine of the freight train embedded itself in the front Metrolink carriage as both trains derailed, sending one of the train's three cars full of homebound commuters keeling onto its side. An earsplitting concussion rocked nearby homes, followed by screams from those aboard.

"I saw it coming," said Eric Forbes, 56, an administrator at Cal State Northridge who was riding in the second or third car of the Metrolink train when he glanced out the window to see the freight train bearing down. He spoke later at a nearby triage center, his raspy voice swelling with emotion as he was wheeled on a stretcher to an ambulance.

"There was no time to stop," he said. "The next thing I knew I was in a seat in front of me. It was horrible."

....

Tom Dinger, an engineer who retired last year from Amtrak after a 43-year railroad career, said normal procedure called for the northbound passenger train to pull into a rail siding at the Chatsworth station to allow the southbound freight train to pass. He said he had steered through that stretch of track hundreds of times. Between Chatsworth and Simi Valley there is only one set of tracks because of narrow tunnels that trains use to go through the Santa Susana Pass.

The death toll is currently at 18 but could well rise, as they are still carefully working through the wreckage given the possibility of other survivors.

Further LA Times stories include some survivor recollections, including the note that "there are no seat belts, since Metrolink trains are not designed for sudden stops," something which I had observed plenty of times before but had not heard a rationale for, and a Bottleneck Blog post with a pertinent observation:

Last night, I was able to reach Richard Stanger. He was executive director of Metrolink in its infant years from 1991 to 1998 and now works as a transportation consultant. We spoke about the railroad's history and how it came to be that commuter trains and freight trains must often share the same set of tracks.

The Metrolink tracks probably carry "more freight traffic and commuter traffic than just about anywhere else in the country," Stanger said. "It's all very highly regulated and signalized and very carefully watched by dispatchers daily. There have been hundreds of thousands of freight and Metrolink trips in the last 16 years, so it's extraordinary when there's an event like this. At this point, it's too early to know the reasons behind the crash."

...

Friday's crash occurred on a stretch of single track that extends from just north of the Chatsworth Station through the Santa Susana Pass. There is double track again just west of the pass on the edge of Simi Valley. Was the single track through the pass a big problem through the years? I asked him.

Stanger said it had not been. The two tunnels that carry the single track under the pass were constructed in the early 1900s; building a new tunnel would be costly. Also, he said, though there is some freight moved on the Ventura line, it's not nearly as much as on the tracks east of Los Angeles -- those are the lines that deliver goods to the rest of the country.

"It would be ideal if it was double-tracked. Nevertheless, the signal system is designed to keep trains from being on the same track at the same time," Stanger said, "and it has done that year after year."

The coldest comfort for anyone affected by this, of course -- not comfort at all. Reactions over at MetroRiderLA make for interesting and varied reading in the comments but I would have to agree with one poster who says:

If you know me, you know that I’m certainly not a believer in “100% risk-free” anything. I admit, my comments are emotional, but I also believe that there was probably basic negligence that lead to this accident. I could be wrong, but it seems that way initially. If in fact it is discovered that it was caused by a negligent operator or faulty piece of equipment, certainly a failure occurred. You then “fix” the cause of whatever caused the operator to be negligent (better training, management, equipment, etc) or “fix” the faulty equipment (new vendor, more maintenance, new technology, etc.)

Again, that reads coldly, but it also seems to match with what is initially known -- an accident like this, of this nature, for the first time in sixteen years of running Metrolink on this particular line simply doesn't sound like something that was inevitable due to the nature of the tracks themselves. It is also quite possible, especially if the cause was human error, that an exact answer will never be known.

I've only been on that stretch of track once, two years back on my trip up and down the West Coast, via Amtrak rather than Metrolink. I can't say I ever thought that there was going to be a problem, and if you read the survivors' stories in particular you get a sense that they never did either -- there was a comforting regularity, an acknowledgment of other fellow riders and a sense that the weekend was here and it was time to relax. To be frank, this is as it should be -- one cannot and should not live in constant fear that life may be about to trip you up, even when the risks are clear (to bring Ike into it again briefly, last night a friend expressed surprise that people would choose to live in such an exposed place for hurricane impact like Galveston, to which I immediately responded, "You realize we're living in an earthquake zone, yes?").

Back in 2005 -- to focus on an even grimmer situation than yesterday's accident -- I arrived in London literally a day after the disastrous bombings in the Tube/bus system there, which claimed the life of an acquaintance of mine. Sensing the silence and nerves among the fellow passengers on the lines I was riding was there and palpable, but nonetheless riding continued, and upon my next visit in 2007, while associations were still inevitable, things felt more relaxed almost by default.

None of this is meant to minimize the horrific trauma that's occurred, and were I a survivor I would likely be still in unsettled shock now and for a while to come. But I suppose I'm not directing this post to them or their loved ones -- or those who have lost loved ones -- so much as to anyone else reading this and wanting to assume the worst about the transit system around here, or non-car travel in general. It's an obvious thing to say but if there was clear negligence and a failure of something somewhere, and if the error can be traced, responsible parties held accountable and new features done to work against a repeat, then let it all be done, and it should be done -- there must be answers, as clear as possible.

But that's no reason to beat down on alternate transit, or to suspect it. As noted, there are risks, they are run. To quote another commenter from MetroRideLA again, from a position far more invested than I have in such things:

I lost a loved [one] seven years ago yesterday in lower Manhattan, owing to air travel being abused. I have since flown a few tens of times across the continent....For all the fatal accidents....I refuse to not ride the rails nor take air travel (when it is relatively affordable) as well as do what I love best: drive across the continent thanks to Auto Driveaway.

And why not?

---

UPDATE -- earlier today this report appeared, which, if accurately describing what happened to cause the crash, is very, very depressing:

A spokeswoman for the Metrolink commuter rail service says the probable cause of the collision that killed at least 23 people was the failure of a Metrolink engineer to stop his train at a red signal.

Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said Saturday the engineer worked for a subcontractor that has been used by Metrolink since 1998.

She said she had no further details about the signal's location and wouldn't say if the engineer had survived Friday's crash.

There are questions that immediately leap to mind -- who was this engineer? the subcontractor? how experienced was the engineer? had there been any past incidents similar to this one? -- and the language is one of probability rather than of direct sureness, but if this holds -- and it is shown that the equipment was working properly but that a signal was somehow ignored or missed -- then this tragedy is all the more profound.

UPDATE 2: the LA Times has some more details:

"We want to be honest in our appraisal," [Tyrell] said at the scene of the crash...."Barring any information from the NTSB, we believe our engineer failed to stop and that was the cause of the accident," she said, referring to the National Transportation Safety Board. "Of course, it is your worst fear that this could happen, that the ability for human error to occur could come into the scenario."

She said the engineer, whom she did not identify, was a subcontractor with Veolia Transportation and a former Amtrak employee. Tyrrell said she believed that he had been killed in the crash but that she could not confirm the death. She said she did not know why a series of safety measures and controls along the way, including communication with dispatchers, failed.

Veolia Transportation's website is here. From 'Who We Are':

Veolia Transportation is North America’s largest private transportation provider. We are also one of the only companies to provide a complete range of transportation solutions; from commuter bus to rail; from private hire to paratransit; from bus-rapid-transit to shared ride transportation. We like to think we have a solution for all transportation needs.

And so forth.

UPDATE 3: The engineer mentioned by Tyrrell is confirmed to have died in the crash. NTSB officials have followed up Tyrrell's statement by noting that the cause is still under investigation.

UPDATE 4: This LA Times piece on the emergency responders is essential reading. All mentioned in it should take honest, full pride in being ready for the kind of task that many of us will hopefully never have to encounter, and some of the details are simply harrowing. To quote a small part:

He began to make dismal calculations. Two or three could be extracted quickly. Six or seven were dead.

"About eight or 10," Nagel said, "were alive but weren't going to make it."

Barrios lives in Moorpark; many of the crash victims, he figured, lived in his community. One man screamed for help; all they could see was his hand sticking out from under another passenger's body. Others were shouting: "Get me out! Get me out!"

"You know these people were going home to their families," Barrios said. "But they're not going home."

UPDATE 5: If this report is true, words quite fail me:

According to preliminary reports, the Metrolink engineer may have been text messaging from the cab of the train moments before the devastating crash.

The engineer is said to have been exchanging messages with 15-year-old train enthusiast Nick Williams in the hour and minutes leading up to the accident. The messages were apparently mundane in character -- mostly about where the engineer was and where he was going.

The engineer supposedly sent a third and final text message to Williams with a time stamp of 4:22 p.m. The accident happened just one minute later, at 4:23 p.m.

It remains unclear whether the message was sent right at 4:22 p.m. as the time stamp indicates, or if it was sent some time before then.

...

A Metrolink spokeswoman expressed disbelief that the engineer might have been distracted by a cellphone.

"That would be to me unbelievable," Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said. "I cannot imagine a scenario where a Metrolink engineer would be texting someone while driving a train."

Frankly I cannot either. Again, we must know more. This story adds further information.

UPDATE 6 -- some more information regarding signals and the route:

"That is a daily freight train. It's a regular traveler on those tracks," said Francisco Oaxaca, a Metrolink spokesman. He said the spot where the two trains pass can vary, depending on whether the freight train is running early or late.

"It was often either waiting in that area or we'd have to pull off and wait for it," said Mike Custodio, 37, an assistant city attorney who rides the 3:35 p.m. train on Fridays.

Shortly before the crash, the Metrolink train was stopped on a siding at the Chatsworth station. The red signal, apparently near the point where the commuter train returned to the single, shared track, was believed to be working properly, Tyrrell said. Those signals are controlled from the Metrolink dispatch center in Pacoima, where train positions are constantly monitored.

The engineer is responsible for checking signals and abiding by them, Oaxaca said. Typically, when an engineer encounters a signal, he radios the train's conductor, who is supposed to radio back confirming the signal's color.

It wasn't clear if that procedure was followed Friday. "That's going to be part of our investigation and that's what we're working with the NTSB on," Oaxaca said.

UPDATE 7 -- further details regarding the signal have been reported by the LA Times:

On Friday....the Metrolink train continued north before the freight train had passed, tripping an alarm at the commuter line's dispatch center in Pomona.

A Metrolink dispatcher called the train and reached the conductor, according to a Metrolink spokesman.

But by then, the crash had already occurred on the curve leading west toward Simi Valley, killing the engineer.

Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said that officials were still investigating what triggered the alarm.

UPDATE 8 -- things are rapidly getting convoluted in terms of the question of the engineer and the signal, and the impressions being generated are not exactly positive. For instance:

National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said a computer reading indicated the last signal before the collision site was displaying a red light. But she said investigators wanted to make sure it wasn't a false reading.

Higgins criticized Metrolink for saying Saturday that an engineer had been at fault for failing to heed the red signal, causing the crash with a Union Pacific freight train that so far has claimed 25 lives and left 135 injured, 40 critically.

"I don't know on what basis Metrolink made that statement. We really work very hard not to jump to conclusions," Higgins said at a Sunday news conference in Woodland Hills.

....

The train passed four signals between De Soto Avenue and Nashville Street that, if working correctly, would have flashed yellow or red to warn the engineer to slow and stop.

The engineer, stationed at the front of the train, and conductor, stationed at the back, customarily call each other to repeat signals seen by the engineer, Higgins said. Officials have listened to recordings and found no indication that the engineer and conductor exchanged information on the last two signals, one of which should have been flashing yellow and the other red. The investigators were unsure whether "dead zones" might have interfered with such communication.

Higgins also disclosed that the Metrolink train "blew through" a switch controlling a junction with a railroad siding closest to the accident site. A data recorder said the Metrolink train was traveling at 42 mph when it passed the switch.

NTSB officials have interviewed a Metrolink dispatcher based in Pomona who said he had set up the signals and the switch so that the Union Pacific freighter and the Metrolink train could pass without incident. But Higgins disputed a Metrolink assertion that the dispatcher had tried to contact the train about a potential collision course, a message that allegedly arrived too late.

"By the time the dispatcher realized there was something wrong, the accident had already occurred," Higgins said. She added that the conductor, who was seriously injured, called the dispatcher to notify him of the accident. The conductor had not been interviewed by her agency, she added.

Tyrrell, meanwhile, has now resigned from her job, as Bottleneck Blog reports:

...yesterday, the Metrolink Board of Directors met in closed session, and after they emerged Ron Roberts, the chair of the Board, issued a statement -- first reported on this blog -- saying that the National Transportation Safety Board believed the assignment of blame was premature and that the board agreed.

....

Here's what Tyrrell told me:

"I felt the damage to my reputation is so great, I could not work for these people anymore," Tyrrell said. "If I am not mistaken, the engineer blew through a light. The media got on top of this story apparently so unaccustomed to a public agency telling the truth they started to spin it that we were trying to throw all the blame on the engineer. Metrolink is responsible for the engineer, they are responsible for overseeing the contractor. Talking about the human error aspect of this is not a way to shift blame from Metrolink -- Metrolink is still the responsible party to oversee the contract with the engineer and the conductors."

Tyrrell said that she listened in on the board meeting yesterday by telephone, as did most of the board. The board was in closed session most of the time, so Tyrrell would not provide details of what was said in the meeting.

"I am not at liberty to discuss the contents of the board meeting, but I think I can reveal they were unhappy without violating any confidentiality. I was a listener -- it was a telephone conference. I did not participate, I was not asked to participate, I was asked to attend the meeting."

She said Metrolink's CEO David Solow gave her the authority to make statements to the press on Saturday about the cause of the crash.

"He told me to go ahead...I felt that when my reputation was called into question in the national media by Ron Roberts that there was no going back as far as I was concerned. I believe that David Solow's decision to allow us to go public without waiting for the NTSB to point the finger was a brave and honorable thing to do. We have a basic difference here that can't be resolved. I see no way I can represent them and maintain my own standards. They are free to conduct their own business as they see fit."

Needless to say, this whole thing has just turned extremely bizarre.

UPDATE 9 -- of the many sad stories that have emerged, this is one of the saddest.

UPDATE 10 -- Tyrrell's situation seems to be approaching whiplash now:

But late Monday, the tides began to turn again, this time in her favor.

Michael R. Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, which is the principal state agency for rail safety, announced an investigation into the crash that would include "interviewing the former spokeswoman for Metrolink who resigned from the agency, allegedly after her candor in assessing responsibility for the accident was questioned by her superiors."

Supervisor Mike Antonovich said through a representative that he plans to propose that the Metrolink board reconsider her resignation.

"Denise Tyrrell is in the middle of a chaotic and stressful situation and we don't want her to resign under those conditions," said Kathryn Leibrich, Antonovich's chief of staff.

"The supervisor would like to suggest that Metrolink reconsider her resignation," Leibrich said.

UPDATE 11 -- Busy day for me today so just a quick LA Times link noting that reenactments are under way, among other details.

Further updates have been added to a new post.

De Veolen kosten normaal €4,20, ik geef ze weg (incl. verzendkosten) voor €2,50 per stuk, bij minimum afname van 3 stuks.

De dagkaarten voor CXX kosten normaal €10,00 per stuk, hier kun je ze krijgen voor €6,00 per stuk, bij minimum afname van 2 stuks, ook inclusief verzendkosten.

Bij interesse, mailen naar brainster apenkrul gmail puntje com

Air France-KLM said on Monday it plans to move into high-speed passenger rail transport in a venture with French transport, waste and water firm Veolia.

The Air France unit of the airline group said that it and Veolia were studying such a venture for when European rail passenger traffic is liberalized on January 1, 2010.

However the company said in a statement it could not confirm a newspaper report that the deal could be signed on September 15.

Air France-KLM said at the beginning of July that it was in discussions with Veolia about a partnership to create a new high speed rail player in Europe.

High speed rail travel is currently mainly in the hands of state-owned rail companies such as SNCF or Deutsche Bahn, or joint ventures between these operators such as Eurostar and Thalys. Private group NTV plans high-speed travel in Italy.

(Reuters)

Environnement

Vers un monde de rareté en 2025  Deux rapports, commandés par l'association des entrepreneurs français sensibles à l'environnement (EPE), explorent les pistes de nouvelles gestions pour les ressources naturelles et pour l'eau d'ici 2025. Lire les deux rapports : Les ressources naturelles à l'horizon 2020 L'Eau à l'horizon 2025

Air Liquide, Areva, Coca-Cola, Leclerc, Solvay, Rhodia, Renault, SNCF, Vinci, Veolia : toutes souhaitent savoir de quoi aura l'air le monde en 2025. L'association française des entreprises pour l'Environnement, dont elles font partie, avait mis en place courant 2006 une commission « Prospective environnementale ». Objectif : contribuer à la recherche de solutions durables dans cinq domaines; la gestion de l'eau, l'économie des ressources naturelles, la biodiversité, les ressources énergétiques et l'évolution des comportements de consommation. Mercredi 3 septembre,  les chercheurs et ingénieurs de la commission ont présenté leurs premiers travaux sur les ressources naturelles et sur l'eau.

 « Moins de 3% de l'eau dans le monde est douce, dont 2,5% immobilisée sous forme de glace : l'humanité ne peut compter que sur les 0,5% restants pour répondre à ses besoins» rappelle l'étude prospective. Aujourd'hui, l'eau prélevée a trois usages : 70% pour l'agriculture, essentiellement à des fins d'irrigation ; 22% pour la production d'énergie, que ce soit de l'hydroélectricité ou de l'électricité thermique ou nucléaire; 8% pour les usages domestiques.

D'ici 2025, la population mondiale devrait dépasser les 8 milliards de personnes : la même quantité de ressource doit être partagée entre une population toujours plus nombreuse. Du côté des activités humaines, l'industrie, davantage que l'agriculture, causera la majeure partie de l'augmentation de la consommation d'eau d'ici 2025, prédit le rapport.

Le Groupe d'experts Intergouvernemental sur l'Evolution du Climat (GIEC) estime le réchauffement climatique à l'horizon 2025 à +1,6°C par rapport à la période préindustrielle. En vue, une complète disparition des petits glaciers dans les Andes, menaçant l'approvisionnement en eau de 50 millions de personnes, voire une réduction potentielle de 20-30% de la ressource en eau dans les régions vulnérables (sud de l'Afrique, Méditerranée). « D'ici à 2025, le nombre de personnes vivant en-dessous du seuil de stress hydrique atteindra 3 milliards, contre « seulement » 700 millions aujourd'hui, le problème s'intensifiant en Afrique subsaharienne, en Chine et en Inde », prévoit le rapport.

Quelles technologies pour l'eau en 2025. Les auteurs passent en revue les nouveaux outils technologiques en cours de développement pour augmenter la quantité d'eau douce disponible sans nuire à d'autres utilisateurs - recyclage et filtration de l'eau, récupération et réutilisation des eaux de pluie, dessalement d'eau de mer -, ou réduire son utilisation - accroissement du rendement agricole, réduction de l'intensité hydrique de certains procédés industriels, et systèmes de détection des fuites dans les réseaux. Ils se penchent en particulier sur les applications industrielles de ces procédés.

Le juste prix de l'eau potable. Les prix de l'eau potable ont augmenté en moyenne de 8% dans le monde au cours de l'année 2007, constate le rapport, et cette tendance devrait se poursuivre dans la plupart des pays dans les années à venir.

Les matières premières

« Les démographes estiment que la population mondiale va croître linéairement jusqu'à atteindre 9 milliards d'individus en 2050. En parallèle, les économistes fondent nombre de leurs modèles sur une multiplication par quatre du PIB mondial à l'horizon 2050 » précisent les auteurs. Pour faire face à la rareté des matières premières, les entreprises doivent intégrer dans leurs stratégies de court, moyen et long terme l'éco-conception de leurs produits et services, favoriser le recyclage, valoriser les matières en fin de vie et surtout privilégier l'éco-fonctionnalité. Quatre pistes explorées de façon pratique et appliquée à l'industrie dans le rapport. A.L.

Veolia Transport oddaje pole kolejowej konkurencji, choć ta jeszcze się nie pojawiła.

Reaktywacja połączenia kolejowego Bydgoszcz-Chełmża wzbudza niepokój. Nie wiadomo, kto przewiezie pasażerów, a toruński dawny PKS już likwiduje część kursów na tej trasie.

Veolia Transport Toruń od tygodni uprzedza, że 1 września z trasy Toruń - Bydgoszcz wypadnie w sumie siedem kursów na różnych odcinkach, między innymi przez Chełmżę i Unisław (patrz: komunikat Veolii).

- Nasze dzieci będą czekały do wieczora na powrót z toruńskich szkół - alarmują mieszkańcy podtoruńskiej Nawry, która leży na feralnej trasie. Takiej sytuacji obawia się między innymi Maria Kiliszek, której córka uczy się w IV LO w Toruniu.

- Zlikwidowanym autobusem Chełmża - Nawra o 16.10 wracało ze szkoły nie tylko moje dziecko - mówi. - Kolejny autobus jest po godz. 19. Młodzi będą czekać na powrót aż do wieczora. Przecież to niebezpieczne. Kiedy niby mają się uczyć, odpocząć? - pyta zaniepokojona matka.

- Wyparła nas silna konkurencja - przyznaje bez ogródek Tomasz Fic, prezes Veolia Transport Toruń. - Kolej od września uruchomi na tej samej trasie - Chełmża - Bydgoszcz nowe połączenia. Musieliśmy ograniczyć przewóz, bo nie mamy szans z takim rywalem. Nam nikt nie dopłaca do przewozów.

Urząd Marszałkowski, który po ośmiu latach reaktywował połączenie kolejowe Bydgoszcz-Chełmża zapewnia, że pociąg w Nawrze zatrzyma się, ale kłopot w tym, że najwcześniej po 15 września.

- Postępowanie przetargowe przedłuża się. Informowaliśmy Veolię Transport o tej sytuacji - mówi Beata Krzemińska, rzecznik Urzędu Marszałkowskiego w Toruniu.

Prywatny przewoźnik nie myśli na razie o przywróceniu połączeń. - Ustaliliśmy już grafik, w jednej chwili tego zmienić nie można - mówi prezes Veolii.

Urząd Marszałkowski obiecuje jeszcze jedną interwencję w tej sprawie.

Warto wiedzieć

• Firma, która wygra przetarg, będzie zobowiązana do podstawienia sześciu par połączeń w ciągu dnia na trasie Bydgoszcz Główna - Chełmża. Dwa razy szynobus pokona krótszy odcinek z Bydgoszczy do Unisławia Pomorskiego i z powrotem.
• Do ogłoszonego przetargu stanął Kujawsko-Pomorski Zakład Przewozów Regionalnych oraz spółka Arriva PCC, obsługująca ok. 30 procent połączeń kolejowych w województwie.

Alicja Cichocka

Źródło: Nowości

L’inceneritore di Pietrasanta è stato imposto con la forza dalla Regione Toscana nel 2001. Già nel 2003 l’impianto che tratta 170 T/g venne chiuso perché responsabile di aver “sforato” i limiti per l' emissione di diossine e furani (ed IPA). Fatto ripartire dovette accettare “il controllo in continuo” (per la verità previsto su di una delle due linee) delle diossine applicando il metodo AMESA. All’inizio del 2008 (febbraio) tale controllo fa registrare uno “sforamento” di due volte e mezzo i limiti riguardanti le diossine che contestato dal gestore trova l’ARPAT “comprensiva” nell’imputare questo dato alla “provetta sporca”. Si susseguono assemblee e riunioni da parte di Comitati ed Ambiente e Futuro a cui le Istituzioni continuano a fare “orecchie da mercante”. A giugno è la stessa VEOLIA ( la multinazionale francese che ha rilevato il GRUPPO TERMOMECCANICA ex gestore anche dell’inceneritore di GIOIATAURO) che CHIUDE LA LINEA 2 (la stessa “incriminata” a febbraio) perché “avrebbe emesso troppo ossido di carbonio”. Naturalmente tutte le istituzioni minimizzano affidandosi agli “scarsi rischi connessi ad un’eccessiva emissione di CO”. Ma giusto il 10 agosto l’ufficio stampa della provincia di Lucca ammette che “ il controllo in continuo delle diossine messo in atto dalla seconda metà di giugno al 15 luglio sulla linea 1 ha rivelato valori 4 volte superiori ai limiti di legge. A QUESTO PUNTO LA MAGISTRATURA, SI APPRENDE, AVEVA GIA’ APERTO UN’INCHIESTA PER SOSPETTA MANOMISSIONE” DEI DATI DI CONTROLLO. La stessa ARPAT (Agenzia Ambiente della Toscana) nell’incontro del 18 agosto in Provincia ammette che i dati delle emissioni della stessa linea 2 (quella che ancora funziona) “vanno bene ma eccedono i valori di legge per il CO e il COT di cui, alla luce del sistema di controllo in continuo fino ad oggi messo in atto dall’azienda, VANNO MOLTIPLICATI PER 10”. Detto in altre parole si riconosce che l’azienda HA TRUCCATO I DATI e che la stessa linea 2 sta funzionando male. ORA QUELL’IMPIANTO VA SUBITO CHIUSO! Si è fatto “beffe” della salute dei cittadini e dello stesso “potere di controllo” delle istituzioni. Dall’incontro del 18 agosto è probabile che questa strada venga fatta propria dalla provincia (era presente l’Assessore all’ambiente Maura Cavallaio, tra l’altro residente a Pietrasanta, che si è detta “molto amareggiata per la vicenda” riconoscendo senza mezzi termini le “ragioni” da sempre sostenute dai cittadini) che anticipando il periodo di “chiusura straordinaria” dell’impianto previsto a ottobre ne approfitterà per APRIRE (ad impianto chiuso) UN PERIODO DI VERIFICA TECNICA AMMINISTRATIVA sull’intera vicenda.
Vicenda che, nella sua tristezza, ha dei risvolti positivi. Infatti si è rivelato alla lunga vincente aver imposto il “controllo in continuo” per le diossine oltre a non aver mai mollato nel richiedere con dettagliate cognizioni di causa spiegazioni in merito alle emissioni poste costantemente sotto i “riflettori pubblici”.

 Some interesting facts about water elaborated on by the film:

• Of the 6 billion people on earth, 1.1 billion do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.
  (www.charitywater.org)
•  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently does not regulate 51 known water contaminants. (www.foodandwaterwatch.org)
• While the average American uses 150 gallons of water per day, those in developing countries cannot find five.
  (www.charitywater.org)
• The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.
  (www.water.org)
• According to the National Resources Defense Council, in a scientific study in which more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water were tested, about one-third of the bottles contained synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. (www.nrdc.org)
•  Water is a $400 billion dollar global industry; the third largest behind electricity and oil. 
  CBS News, FLOW.

Here's a trailer for the film:

intervista a don santoro intervenuto alla conferenza: dalla parte degli ultimi a bologna.

UN VIDEO CHE PARLA DELLE VERE RESPONSABILITà DELL'EMERGENZA RIFIUTI, OVVERO MALAPOLITICA, CAMORRA E UNO SMALTIMENTO DI RIFIUTI TOSSICI DA PARTE DEL NORD ITALIA E ALCUNE INDUSTRIE EUROPEE NELLE DISCARICHE ABUSIVE E NON DELLA CAMPANIA GESTITE DAI CAMORRISTI. DA VEDERE ASSOLUTAMENTE, MEMORABILI GLI INTERVENTI DI SAVIANO IN PROPOSITO. BUONA VISIONE

UNA INTERVISTA SPECIALE A PADRE ALEX ZANOTELLI

Il meetup amici di neppe grillo di arezzo in occasione della grande manifestazione popolare del 29 settembre 2007 sono riusciti a portare don santoro, il comitato di montale e padre alex zanotelli a badia al pino e ad arezzo.

Abbiamo fatto una breve ma significativa intervista a padre alex zanotelli in occasione del trasferimento via treno da badia al pino ad arezzo, ascoltatelo, ed ascoltatelo anche negli altri filmati che abbiamo inserito nelel rete.

Un grazie veramente di cuore a tutti i numerosi partecipanti, teniamo alta la guardia!

a cura del meetup amici di beppe grillo di arezzo

8 ottobre 2007

Intervista al missionario comboniano Alex Zanotelli, realizzata nella primavera 2006. Temi trattati: politica sociale dell'Unione, posizione di Prodi nei confronti della TAV in Val di Susa, invito alla sobrietà felice.
www.giorgiosimonetti.net

Connex Koleje Polskie, filia francuskiego przewoźnika Veolia Transport, złożył w Urzędzie Transportu Kolejowego prośbę o ponowne rozpatrzenie wniosku o przyznanie licencji na pasażerskie przewozy kolejowe. Dwa tygodnie temu urząd odmówił mu prawa do operacji kolejowych w Polsce.

Francuska firma zainteresowana jest przewożeniem pasażerów na trasach regionalnych, na których obecnie dominują PKP. Jednak nie może tego robić bez licencji. UTK natomiast nie wydał firmie pozwolenia. Powód? Według urzędu firma nie przedstawiła wiarygodnego oświadczenia o posiadaniu w Polsce taboru, którym może przewozić pasażerów. Nie dostarczyła również wiarygodnego sprawozdania finansowego oraz planu działalności.

Inaczej na tę sprawę patrzy jednak Connex. - UTK otrzymał od nas sprawozdanie finansowe obejmujące bilans, rachunek zysków i strat oraz zestawienie przepływów pieniężnych za 2006 r. - informuje Anna Wojtasiewicz z Veolia Transport. Przyznaje jedynie, że firma nie dołączyła do tych danych opinii biegłego rewidenta. - Jednak stosownie do zapisów umowy spółki oraz przepisów ustawy o rachunkowości sprawozdanie finansowe nie wymaga opinii i raportu biegłego rewidenta - przekonuje Wojtasiewicz. I dodaje, że spółka wielokrotnie wyjaśniała urzędowi, że nie może obecnie precyzyjnie określić ani taboru, ani kwalifikacji pracowników niezbędnych do wykonania działalności przewozowej. - Zleceniodawcą większości usług przewozu osób w regionalnym transporcie kolejowym na terenie Polski są samorządy województw, i to one, a nie wnioskodawca, określają specyfikację warunków świadczonych usług - wyjaśnia przedstawicielka Veolii.

Francuski przewoźnik ma doświadczenie w prowadzeniu tego typu przewozów poza granicami Polski. Działa nie tylko na rynku francuskim, ale także w Niemczech. Tamtejszy oddział Veolia Tranport jest największym konkurentem Deutsche Bahn - przewozi ponad 43 mln pasażerów rocznie.

Instytucja nadzorująca krajowy rynek kolejowy na rozpatrzenie wniosku ma miesiąc, ale jak zapewnia Wiesław Jarosiewicz, prezes UTK, z udzieleniem odpowiedzi urząd nie będzie zwlekał i wyda ją najszybciej, jak to będzie możliwe. Ma też nadzieję, że tym razem wreszcie dokumenty będą kompletne. - Z radością powitamy na polskich torach nowego przewoźnika - przekonuje Jarosiewicz. Obecnie w Polsce liczba kolejowych przewoźników pasażerskich jest wciąż niewielka. Usługi świadczą PKP Intercity, PKP Przewozy Regionalne, SKM Warszawa, SKM Trójmiasto, Koleje Mazowieckie, WKD oraz Arriva PCC.

Cezary Pytlos

Źródło: Dziennik (za Rynek Kolejowy)