The environmental impacts of biofuels are starting to be examined seriously - with some interesting results.

If you account for the energy used in the production and conversion process of some algae-derived fuels, apparently you find that it can take more energy than is produced by the resultant conversion to fuel. The energy return on energy invested ranged from 0.65 to 4.1, where values less than 1 imply negative net energy production and values over 3 are really needed for sustainability.

Production of biodiesel, and bioelectricity from direct combustion, seemed to be the most promising combinations.

Algae produce more energy/unit of land than canola or switchgrass. Use of water and emissions were less clear-cut.

An abstract of the article can be viewed free of charge, or the whole article purchased, on the Environmental Science and Technology website.

This kind of 'well-to'wheel' or 'well-to-tailpipe' comparison is invaluable.

This post comes from Fritz Plous, a good friend based in Chicago. It is his reaction to an article in the Indiana press: to see that article, look at the web-site of 'Inside Indiana Business'.

Unbelievable. The transportation authorities in Southern Indiana and Louisville are willing to consider a simpler, less expensive - 'reduced' to just $2.9 billion: get yours now! - highway bridge over the Ohio River. One lousy highway bridge! Yet the idea of spending $200 million or $300 million for a modern light-rail line baffles and frightens them.

For $50 or $60 million in track improvements and $5-$8 million a year in subsidies they could have decent train service to Indianapolis and Chicago several times a day (and for twice that they could have a couple of trains to Cincinnati, and for another $5-$8 million they could have a couple of trains to Nashville) but the idea of boarding a train is totally off the Indiana-Kentucky radar screen.

Yet they claim they want their region to grow and generate more jobs. How are they going to attract bright young employees to an all-car transportation system when all the evidence suggests this generation does not care about cars, wants to ride transit and wants to live in a real city?

These people claim they want to develop a 21st-century economy, but they keep on believing they can do it with mid-20th-century transportation.

They seem to be having trouble raising public support for the road bridge project, however. Could it be that the people of this region have started to notice that their world is changing and that another expensive highway project might not be the right approach this time?

The headline reads 'Public Push Continues for Massive Project', but that is not exactly truth-in-advertising. A careful reading suggests that the public is not 'pushing' for the bridge project, but that private interests are conducting a 'public push' to attract public support.

If they really want to 'improve travel between southern Indiana and Louisville . . . spur economic development and reduce traffic', why do they not consider some sort of commuter-rail shuttle?

Oooops! I forgot. They tore down both the stations and tore up most of the tracks into downtown Louisville, so inserting train service would be - somewhat difficult.

That is not a good omen for the economic future of the city.

In 2008, Eurocontrol published a useful update of their series of reports on challenges posed by increased air traffic. It is called 'Challenges of Growth 2008: summary report', and is available on the web-site of Eurocontrol.

The document as a whole is interesting, but two particular areas set me thinking.

Section 2.3 comments that a third of European states in the dataset had fewer domestic flights in 2007 than 10 years previously. Forecast annual domestic air traffic growth is low - less than 1% in many larger states, and 1.4% - 2.5% generally depending on the scenario chosen.

Presumably this is a result of increasing costs of short-haul flights, and increased competition from rail in particular.

Section 3.1 discusses the option of moving traffic from air to high speed rail. It considers expanding the high speed train network from 98 city pairs to over 300 city pairs, which reduces demand by 0.3 - 0.5 million flights.

I wonder what those 98 city pairs are? Are they just those (like London - Paris) which are directly linked by a high speed rail line, or do they include city pairs like Paris - Bordeaux, linked by high speed trains which run partly on the high speed network and partly on the conventional network? Information welcomed.

Theft of metal is a major problem everywhere as prices increase.

One area for thieves to strike at is the rail network. Signalling cables and control equipment is particularly targetted. Other metal work, including electric cable and rails, are also stolen frequently.

Replacing this costs money: defending the network against theft costs money.

More important is the delay and disruption caused to passengers, especially since signalling systems are designed to fail safe.

A petition has been posted on the UK Government's e-petition web-site: readers are urged to visit this and sign up.

It can be found on the e-petition web-site.

First Capital Connect (FCC) have decided that there is too much First Class accommodation on their new class 377 trains on their Thameslink route, linking Luton and Gatwick airports. There used to be a first-class section at each end of a 4-car unit: one section has now been declassified - made available to standard class ticket holders.

In one sense, I do not like this. People will only buy first class tickets if they know that the accommodation is going to be provided and policed. Only if you are well-informed about where it is going to be on the train - and, on FCC, you usually are - will you take the trouble to buy first class.

In another sense, it's good - it creates more standard class accommodation on what can be very full trains.

Moreover, the accommodation is virtually the same as it was - the only change is that the First Class stickers have been replaced by ones telling people that the compartment is for the use of standard-class ticket holders.

I rode in one of these last night, on a 12-car train. There was some disbelief that this was really standard class. I told one lady she was getting first class accommodation for standard class prices (well, I did try, FCC!), and someone else commented to her that this was a 12-car train with more room: she still wasn't happy about the service.

There is clearly more work to do before First Capital Connect becomes beloved of its customers!

What do you do with lost property - with all the stuff that is left on trains, buses and planes every day?

OK, you probably do your best to return it to its owner: if you can't, you store it for a set time, and then you dispose of it.

Some organisations auction the lost property they accumulate - a useful source of money to offset the cost of storing and managing it.

But what if the material contains sensitive, valuable or personal information? You'd hardly sell a cheque book or a credit card, would you? But what about a USB stick? Or a lap-top?

There's a bit of a fuss at the moment in Australia because RailCorp, New South Wales' transit organisation, sold 50 lost USB sticks at auction.

The purchaser, the computer security firm Sophos, had a look at them and found (besides the fact that about a third were infected with some kind of malware!) that they contained various bits and pieces of personal information - CVs, tax returns and the like. There is a press report about this on the web-site of The Age newspaper.

What does your organisation do? What is good practice here?

The Thameslink route, connecting Gatwick and Luton airports, is being transformed, under the influence of both Crossrail and what used to be called Thameslink 2000 until it got too embarrassing.

A new timetable starts today, introducing 12-car units (instead of the former maximum of 8) on selected trains. I caught one of these this morning, and managed to get one of the last seats.

Sadly, increasing the train length by a third only means 33% more seats if you measure from the right base. The new class 377 trains have 264 seats in a 4-car unit, significantly less than the 319 seats (as originally built) in the older 319 units they are replacing.

So an 8-car 319 has 638 seats, and a 12-car 377 792: that's 154 or just under 25% more seats than an 8-car 319.

I travelled in the very front car of the train, and was therefore able to see the start of the transformation of Farringdon station.

The new part of the station is stunning, and dramatically different from the rest (which, to be fair, was built in the late 1860s!). I look forward to seeing the rest similarly transformed. One passenger was taking a photo - not something you often see on Farringdon station, possibly because it is a violation of London Underground bye-laws!

Two things spoilt it.

First, there was a very obvious leak of water from an overbridge where the old and new connect. And second, if you are at the front of the train (as I was) and want to connect to the westbound Underground (as I did), it's a long walk to the Oyster Card validator! So long that I actually missed two trains finding it!

We're getting there - but aren't there yet!

Are South West Trains' Quiet Cars too discreet?

I wholly approve of Quiet Cars on trains - these add to customer choice. However, they need to be well signed - or no-one notices!

Travelling on South West Trains from Waterloo recently, I noticed the following signage.

A 'Quiet Zone' notice on the external doors, and three stickers together on some of the pillars between the windows. These were pictograms suggesting no mobile phones and no headphones, and 'Please show consideration by not using mobile phones and making sure your music does not disturb ther passengers'.

This shows a difficult compromise. Would a ban on headphones work? Users of headphones cannot hear what other people can hear, so they never know whether or not they are disturbing other passengers!

Difficult!

Any brilliant ideas from out there?

There are two entrances to Woking station, to the south west of London - one on each side of the tracks.

On the northern one there is a notice. It says (with this punctuation), 'Please note that this exit is closed 0:40 to 5:10 customers wishing to board the 04:10 service to London waterloo should cross to the other side of the station for access'.

There is no indication how one should do this, and from that entrance, you cannot see either the other entrance or the subway which leads to it.

A little more thought (and better punctuation) would have been nice!

On a train coming into Waterloo, the Conductor announced that there were no reported problems on any London Underground lines.

Excellent!

Why don't all London TOCs do this?

There is a notice on a gate giving access to the Midland Main Line near where I live. It says, 'No unauthorised access without written authority'.

Er - if I've got written authority, then I'm authorised, so the notice doesn't apply?

The notice has too many words!

The Final Environmental Impact Report and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project was published in August.

This is for a proposed new Metro line running north-south on the west side of Los Angeles. It will run from the Expo Line of the Metro at Expo/Crenshaw to the Green Line just west of Aviation Boulevard: trains will continue along the Green Line to Redondo Beach.

Connections to Los Angeles International Airport will, in the short to medium term, be little better than today. There will be a new station at Aviation/Century with a bus plaza for shuttle buses into the airport: it will be elevated, to facilitate connections with a future people-mover into the airport itself.

The downside of that is that there will be a major change of level required to reach the shuttle buses until it's built - just as there is at Aviation Boulevard today.

Another downside is that the junction with the Green Line will be north to west. So Green Line trains will continue to run from Norwalk via Aviation Boulevard station to Redondo Beach: they will not be able to serve the new Aviation/Century station. A pity.

At a more strategic level, it's also a pity that the new line will not go into the airport. There is an area where it will run in covered trench to preserve the Runway Safety Zone: a bit more covered trench - ok, tunnel - and it could have gone somewhere more central in the airport.

Equally, it's a pity that it will terminate well to the west of downtown Los Angeles.

So going from the airport, you will be able to catch a shuttle bus to Aviation/Century, the Creshaw Line to Crensham/Expo and then the Expo Line to the centre; or a shuttle bus to Aviation Boulevard, the Green Line to Imperial and the Blue Line to the city. Two changes whichever way you look - and some with BIG changes of level.

At 10:55 I tried to check in for my Lufthansa flight, at 9:40 next day. One is supposed to be able to check in 23 hours in advance (why 23 and not 24 like other airlines is not explained).

I kept getting the 'Service not available' message, and spent about 10 minutes trying to work round this before going to 'Contact us' and (after entering much personal information) sending a message asking when it would be available. I got an apology by email about 3 hours later, at 13:01.

The 'Service not available' message tells you to try again later or go to the home page: the value of going to the home page seems to be very limited, because all one can do is try to contact them (as I did) or go round the same loop again.

I tried again at 11:37, 11:55, and 12:30, with the same response.

At noon, I tried using the on-line facility on my travel agent's web-site: the Lufthansa option didn't work.

I tried again at 16:20 - no problem. Not only was I able to check in for that flight, but also for one from Frankfurt to Venice via Vienna at 15:30 - so I actually checked in six minutes before check-in opened! Moreover, having printed off my three boarding passes, I found that I was in an aisle from Vienna: I prefer a window. I was able to go back in and change. Wow!

There was much criticism in the local press about delays on the Thameslink line, connecting Luton and Gatwick airports, on 7 November.
The delays were caused by a track circuit failure at City Thameslink station - right in the middle of the route.

From my point of view, it was all quite well handled.

My train stopped for a while at West Hampstead station and the driver told us what the problem was.

We then stopped at Kentish Town, the next station, and I could see that another London-bound train was stopped in an adjacent platform.

The driver again explained what was wrong, and said that, because the problem was likely to be a bad one, he was going to unlock the doors. This he did: I got out and continued to the office by bus and tube.

OK, it was a nuisance, but I felt well informed. I was also able to reach my destination by alternative means without too much trouble, because we stopped in a station and the driver unlocked the doors.

Well handled!

I was on the Bakerloo Line of the London Underground recently and saw a lady intently studying the pocket system map which London Underground give out.

I noticed that she also had a shoulder bag across her lap. That was obviously a local souvenir - it too had the London Underground map on!

On the 13:30 Etihad flight back from Abu Dhabi recently, the boarding time was said on the ticket to be 12:30, although the gate lounge wasn't open until 12:20 (and boarding didn't start for a good 20 minutes, which was wise: the aircraft had been standing in 40 degree temperatures and the Auxiliary Power Unit couldn't cool it enough).

It's not a wonderful airport to hang around in: Terminal 3 has limited facilities.

Push-back was nearly 20 minutes after scheduled departure time: the pilot announced that this was partly due to a faulty baggage belt and then to an aircraft manoeuvering behind us (which, considering the number of flights around that time, seemed a little lame).

The forward camera, which I quite like to watch, was inoperative at both my seat and the one next to it, although on the row in front the downward camera was certainly working.

The welcome aboard announcement listed the languages spoken by the crew - which included Welsh.

After landing, we were taxiing round Heathrow for some time. We landed on the northern runway and had to get across the southern runway to Terminal 4 - and, for reasons likely to be associated with what followed, the remotest contact stand at Terminal 4. During this time, the seat-back screen gave the mileage to Makkah and also to Kingston Upon.

Kingston Upon Thames, no doubt: Kingston Upon Hull is rather further away!

When we stopped at the gate, the seat belt signs were switched off and, as usual, everyone stood up and retrieved their carry-on bags from the overhead lockers. The cabin crew then asked us all to sit down again and put our seat belts on. This, they said, was at the request of the ground staff. There was then a request for a named passenger to make himself known or proceed to the front of the aircraft (which he did): after five minutes sitting down we were allowed off. That passenger was later seen in handcuffs, being escorted away by the police.

There was a further delay unloading some of the bags - the ground staff were saying that this was because of a customs examination.

Oh, and the IRIS system wasn't working - several people went to it, tried and were sent back again. Most frustrating!

So while we landed at 17:51, it wasn't until 18:55 that I was through immigration and on my way to Heathrow Express.

I took the lift up from the Heathrow Express platform. Over the doors was an LED sign which should have told me all the things I needed to know about the floors we stopped at. Unfortunately sopmething was wrong, and the message was gibberish.

There was no queue for web check-in bag drop in the Etihad area, but the man on duty had an important message on his smart-phone to deal with so I had to wait anyway. Having waited, the process was brisk and efficient rather than friendly.

Then to the initial security check. There are two lanes close to the Etihad area with a miscellany of signs: I clearly got into the fast track one and although it was all very quiet I was told that I had an economy class ticket and would have to use the next lot of desks. Thanks.

There was no queue there either, but the two ladies on duty were busy chatting to each other, with pasengers clearly being a necessary interruption. When I handed over my boarding pass, the chat moved on to the difficulty of reading Etihad boarding passes - they needed to be held under the reader for quite a long time. I don't think I was looked at at all!

Then to the screening - well, at least someone there made eye contact. Again, the best I can say is that it was brisk and efficient. I was pleased not to have to take my shoes off.

New Jersey Transit has produced a new route map for its rail network.

You can see it on the web-site of New Jersey Transit.

The map shows some 'out-of-state' locations - like Philadelphia and New York Penn station, with some onward connections from those points.

Unfortunately it does not tell you that it is easy to get from Philadelphia to its international airport. Nor does it tell you that it's a bit less easy (but perfectly feasible) to get from New York Penn station to JFK International Airport.

A pity.

The European Commission has launched a competition for the best European multi-modal journey planner. Details are on the website of the European Commission.

The competing journey planners can be accessed through another part of the same site, or from the same page.