Corona

Thanks John, good to see you have internet access .
hows the Corona situation there , contained , or no real data ?

Thanks, David. LIke much of Africa, coronavirus has been slow to spread in Kenya, with only a few cases so far. The government is taking measures, eg curfew from 7 pm to 5 am, banning public gatherings, closing schools and bars, encouraging people to work from home, social distancing, handwashing, etc, and has banned all movement in and out of Greater Nairobi and three coastal counties. People have been fined for not wearing a mask in public, and arrested for holding parties. But it's very difficult for poor people living in crowded shanty towns to practice social distancing, so we're still waiting to see if it escalates. If it does, the health services are likely to be overstretched.

We're fine. We live on our own property in the bush 60 km from Nairobi, and we can still go shopping in our nearest small town 25 km away. My wife is working from home, and I'm semi-retired so I'm actually enjoying being at home and working on my model railway. It's progressing much faster than I had expected, as I've been working on it up to six or seven hours a day the last few weeks. I've posted about it here on Railroad.Net (https://www.railroad.net/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=169661) and also on the Friends of the Rail Forum (http://friendsoftherail.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=365). I've just updated it today with a lot more photos.

Germany is starting to go back to regular schedules depending on state - most begin either next week or two weeks later on May 3rd.

well one plus of the corona rail closure here in Israel is that
they were able to complete electrification from the airport to Tel Aviv central
months ahead of schedule.
they are now starting to work north to the originally planned endpoint for the first
phase of wires - hertzliya

That's good to hear , Flexliner. I kinda wish NZ had allowed construction to continue under our lockdown .
We may go to a less restrictive lockdown next week , which will allow contsrtuction to resume . with safe distancing practices.

One from New Zealand:

Greens say high-speed rail project could help economy recover after COVID-19 pandemic

The Greens are pushing fast intercity rail as the type of climate-friendly, job-creating project that should be prioritised post-COVID-19...

Thanks John , I started a thread on it up that way a couple.
Its a good idea , getting little press here , unfortunately.
Hopefully, they will roll it out at election time , and get some debate going on it. They need a point of difference from the Labour party , which is so popular with Aderns handling of the virus , they could probably govern alone.
The construction industry would prefer roads , but this is more sustainable.

Ive changed the greem party thread to: Post Covid-19 rail projects, to cover all such proposals / plans worldwide. Should be just under this one .

Germany: As I can say by now, Public Transport in the Heidelberg-Area is about to resume to normal schedule (5/10 Minutes Headway) , expect the night-services, those will remain suspended. Means, services end around 00:30, normally around 01:50. But you must wear a protective-mask while on your way.

Thanks Motorman, Increased frequency should mean less crowding , and less people standing around waiting for a train / tram .
New Zealand moves to level 3 today , which should mean more public transport riders , as more people return to work .

Hi David,
when the services were thinned out in the last weeks to a 20 Minutes headway, which meant almost 50%, the "surplus" single trains were coupled to double units the whole day, so there was a 200% capacity during a 50% service. Routes 1, 4/4a (combined) and 5 (4/4a and 5 are the "Interurbans" here) have platforms long enough to accomodate double units. These double units were really less crowded, so

Increased frequency should mean less crowding

worked perfectly. Lesser used bus routes were abandoned, and most of the articulated buses ran on the remaining routes.
I think ist was handled quite professional.
I had my first shift yesterday, back into almost "normal" service, an I was really stunned when I noticed that almost 100% of the riders are wearing masks now, which is mandated by government rules at the moment.