Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day. Riding the rails is one way to help save resources and cut down on car traffic.

Train Rider did not ride the rails today. Instead, Train Rider had to fly to an out-of-town meeting. So we do not have any updates about the MBTA/MBCR commuter rail. And neither does the traditional media/blogsphere - there is nary a story today.

I hope everyone gets to enjoy this lovely spring day. Usually it rains on Earth Day.

Happy Commuting.
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1 comment:

Keith said...

This article appeared in the Earth Day edition of Boston Metro:

Byline: Greg St. John

BOSTON. In an effort to pitch in for the environment, the MBTA is boosting its newspaper recycling capacity and adding low-emission buses and commuter rail locomotives this year.

Today, the T will use the backdrop of Earth Day to launch an enhanced recycling awareness campaign by encouraging riders to recycle newspapers.

The T has added more than 100 plastic recycling receptacles to the 300 that currently exist in rail and bus stations.

Last year, Metro helped purchase some of the plastic receptacles to assist the T's recycling efforts.

Dan Grabauskas, the MBTA’s general manager, said he has heard fewer complaints lately from riders about trash in the subway stations, but he acknowledged problems still exist in the trains and buses themselves, which is part of the reason for the new recycling campaign.

“We’re continuing our efforts to expand recycling,” Grabauskas said.

“We want to raise awareness and want people to know what we’re doing.”

Over the last eight years, the T has also invested $350 million to make its buses more environmentally friendly.

At the beginning of the year, the T had 740 buses that either ran on compressed natural gas (CNG) or clean diesel and will add 155 more by the end of 2008 — when the average age of a T bus will be four years old.

The upgrades have helped the T reduce bus fleet emissions by more than 90 percent for particulate matter and over 50 percent for nitrogen oxide (NOx) since 2000.

Also for the first time, the MBTA is buying 28 new locomotives equipped with technology that lets officials manage and cut down on locomotive idling.

Link to this story:
http://tinyurl.com/69r3le

April 23, 2008 at 10:17 AM

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