Sea-Tac plows ahead with Part 150 study

The Port of Seattle announced today that a contract had been signed with the aviation consultancy Landrum & Brown, to manage the pending Part 150 (noise reduction) study at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.   The Port's news release appears below.

The contract was negotiated privately with the consultant, without input from the communities and local governments who suffer harm from the Airport's noise.   We have not yet seen the actual contract, but the proposed scope of work for that contract, as we have seen it in the last couple of weeks, fails to address about two-thirds of what can & should be done in a study like this.  RCAA's request for disclosure of the actual contract is pending with the Port.  More on this as soon as we have solid information.

Text of the news release

The Port of Seattle has finalized its contract with Landrum & Brown, an aviation and airport planning firm, hired to assist the Port with the management of Sea-Tac Airport's Part 150 Study. Learn more about the Part 150 Scope of Work (103 KB, PDF - http://www.portseattle.org/downloads/community/environment/Part150-scopeofwork.pdf) which includes the project schedule and a detailed description of the work items required for completion of the study.
 
The date and the location of the first public workshop, open to all, will be announced soon.

Oh, no, that's impossible !

High-speed rail?  Never, oh, never !  That's impossible !

That's what we hear when advocating high-speed rail as one measure to take the pressure for expansion off of over-crowded airports.  

The Federal government helps, by setting a 79 m.p.h. absolute top speed limit on rail in our State.  

But, amazingly -- unbelieavably -- trains CAN & DO go faster than 79 m.p.h. in foreign countries.  Such as China.  See the following article posted on the "Aviation Watch" list earlier this month, & originating as shown. 

High speed rail

Posted by: "Charles R. Miller" atandsf@sbcglobal.net santaferr
Sat Jan 2, 2010 5:52 pm (PST)


Hello, Everyone,

A new HSR route with trains running at 217mph has opened, but not in the United States. Here's a short report from Trains News Wire.

Chuck Miller

China launches world's fastest train


Published: Monday, December 28, 2009
BEIJING — China launched what it says is the fastest train in the world Saturday, with trains running at an average speed of 217 mph on a route covering 664 miles in three hours, Agence France Press has reported. The route links Guangzhou and Wuhan, China, roughly the same distance apart as Chicago and Little Rock, Ark.

Work on the project began in 2005, with the idea of linking Guangzhou with Beijing. Guangzhou is a business hub in southern China, located near Hong Kong. Test runs began earlier this month, and the first revenue trips operated Saturday.

China launched its first high speed train in 2008, a service that connects Beijing and Tianjin. The Chinese government has plans to complete 42 high speed routes by 2012 in an effort to reinvent the country's transportation system. Siemens, Bombardier, and Alstom contributed technology for the new line.