Professor Joe Sussman of MIT Speaks on High Speed Rail at UMass Amherst

Today, after hosting Lt Col James Bishop of the Westover Air Reserve base in my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class, meeting with collaborators, and having such pleasant office hours that they ran over by an hour, I managed to head to the UMass Mullins Center where a special event was taking place.

The event was organized to celebrate Transportation Professor John Collura's illustrious career at UMass Amherst. The program, featured below, which continue tomorrow morning is wonderful.

And at 3PM today I had the pleasure of hearing Professor Joe Sussman of MIT give the plenary talk which was on High Speed Rail. Professor Sussman had met with me and came to my talk last December at MIT so, of course, I had to return the favor.

Professor Sussman began his presentation by  introducing CSTSs, complex socio technical systems. He noted both nested complexity as well as evaluative complexity, where different stakeholders may measure performance of a system differently. For example, some may care about environmental justice, whereas others may care about social justice. His presentation was very clear, interesting, and well-done.

He emphasized that high speed rail is a CSTS and economic, environmental, and equity criteria all come to bear in this. He noted, which I liked very much, that "sustainability should be the overall design principle" in complex systems. He spoke of the concept of sustainable mega regions supported by high speed rail and brought out that when he received his chaired professorship at MIT in 1991 it was funded by Japanese Railways. When a group from JR landed in JFK and then took the "high speed" Acela from NY to Boston, he knew that their experience was not quite like the Japanese truly high speed rail, the Shinkansen.

He emphasized the importance of high speed rail connecting urban centers and noted that the sweet spot was for distances between 200 and 600 miles. For distances greater than 600 miles it was preferable to fly and for distances less than 200 miles it would be better to use road transport.

He brought out high speed rail in France (I have had the pleasure of riding the TGV there) and  in Germany,   He noted that the Japanese built their first high speed rail in 1964! They needed the capacity and then innovated accordingly and continue to do so.

He mentioned the political gridlock in the US as well as the capital costs associated with high speed rail although projects are under discussion in Florida, Texas, and with Chinese involvement, a link between LA and Las Vegas.

The audience very much enjoyed his presentation.

I had the opportunity to have a photo taken with Professor Sussman and with Professor John Collura, which was a special highlight for me.

I plan on attending the session tomorrow morning with speakers from Virginia Tech and Purdue. The focus will be on critical infrastructure. Thanks to my colleagues in the Transportation program for a special tribute to Professor John Collura, who is now, unbelievably, a Professor Emeritus, but still very active and busy with exciting new professional endeavors, including a big project on aviation in Westover.

A Genius Rides the Acela Alone

The title of the OpEd piece in today's New York Times caught my eye: "The Seat Not Taken."

Then I saw that it was written by John Edgar Wideman, who had been on the faculty at UMass Amherst, where I teach, and, upon "retirement," joined the faculty of Brown University, my alma mater. You can find our "connections" on the Provost's page at UMass Amherst.

The OpEd piece was haunting and painful for me to read so I had to write about it since it moved me very much.

John Edgar Wideman is a Fulbright scholar, a MacArthur Fellow (considered to be a genius award), and an author of acclaim who has received numerous awards and honors for his writings.

In the OpEd, he writes how during his commutes from DC to Providence, Rhode Island, where Brown University is located, via the Acela train, the seat next to him is often vacant.

He writes: I’m a man of color, one of the few on the train and often the only one in the quiet car, and I’ve concluded that color explains a lot about my experience. Unless the car is nearly full, color will determine, even if it doesn’t exactly clarify, why 9 times out of 10 people will shun a free seat if it means sitting beside me.

I would give anything to be able to sit next to him for the 6 hour ride on the Acela from DC to Providence or from Providence to DC to just be able to talk to him!

In the transportation & logistics class that I am teaching this semester the students and I often exchange our travel stories around the world and we have especially noted some magnificent train rides (including some high speed ones) that we have taken in Europe. We have even discussed such dreams as highspeed rail throughout the US. How painful that someone of the stature of a John Edgar Wideman feels ostracized while riding the Acela in the US!

By the way, his daughter, Jamila Wideman, who graduated from our local high school, Amherst High, and then went on to captain the Stanford University women's basketball team and then played for the WNBA, was just last week honored by the high school. She is now a lawyer and works in NYC.