As InnoTrans 2014 drew to a close on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, show sponsors claimed the event was “the best InnoTrans to date” and hailed the Berlin-based event as a “major success.”
Beset by delays throughout 2014, the launch of revenue service on Seattle’s First Hill streetcar line is now tentatively set for this November.
More than two years ago, this rail advocate held to the belief that “Streetcars belong. Even on the street.” I maintain this belief now more than ever, in the face of a rising tide of streetcar critics intent on scuttling the mode as it regains a solid foothold in North America. Make that “because it’s regaining” a solid foothold in North America. On the streets of North America, their stomping grounds, where, so some assert, they shouldn’t be in the 21st century.
Modal options, some only distantly related to rail, some purportedly transcending rail, will be featured at the “Future Mobility Park” hosted by InnoTrans 2014, scheduled to take place Sept. 23-26, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.
The state of Illinois said Monday, Aug. 4, 2014 it and Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS) had reached a “key milestone” in developing intercity passenger rail service linking Chicago and the Quad-Cities of Moline and East Moline, Ill., and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa.
