Comments on: The Times’ Thickheaded Train Tag Team http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/08/14/the-times-thickheaded-train-tag-team/ Your daily source for national transportation policy news and analysis. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: BruceMcF http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/08/14/the-times-thickheaded-train-tag-team/comment-page-1/#comment-78801 BruceMcF Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:06:22 +0000 http://dc.streetsblog.org/?p=19261#comment-78801 Clearly, while afraid to work outside of a blinkered mainstream mathematical modelling approach, Eric can see that some of the most interesting questions cannot be addressed effectively within its narrow confines. So he is trying to discredit it from within. Now, not very plausible ... but it DOES fit with the evidence of the article. I blogged on his earlier foray into examining the CO2 emissions of the California HSR system, with a deliberate policy in place to reduce the emissions due to their electricity consumption ... by reference to a study of UK HSR options that relied on higher CO2 emitting electricity per kWh than California and explicitly place special programs to reduce CO2 emissions for specific transport modes outside the scope of the study. That was where he said that "these studies do not look at the CO2 impact of construction" when the main study he linked to included CO2 impact of construction in a diagram ... AFAIR, on page 2. Actually, considering the way that his columns seem so underinformed for an area that is supposed to be inside his specialty, the more plausible explanation is that Eric Morris is trying to branch out to areas of transport outside his prior research focus, and has underestimated the need to get up to speed on the mode-specific details. Clearly, while afraid to work outside of a blinkered mainstream mathematical modelling approach, Eric can see that some of the most interesting questions cannot be addressed effectively within its narrow confines.

So he is trying to discredit it from within.

Now, not very plausible … but it DOES fit with the evidence of the article.

I blogged on his earlier foray into examining the CO2 emissions of the California HSR system, with a deliberate policy in place to reduce the emissions due to their electricity consumption … by reference to a study of UK HSR options that relied on higher CO2 emitting electricity per kWh than California and explicitly place special programs to reduce CO2 emissions for specific transport modes outside the scope of the study.

That was where he said that “these studies do not look at the CO2 impact of construction” when the main study he linked to included CO2 impact of construction in a diagram … AFAIR, on page 2.

Actually, considering the way that his columns seem so underinformed for an area that is supposed to be inside his specialty, the more plausible explanation is that Eric Morris is trying to branch out to areas of transport outside his prior research focus, and has underestimated the need to get up to speed on the mode-specific details.

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