Transit Systems Europe

Two Orange County men will be among 13 of the state's most influential transportation and environmental officials who will leave today on an all-expenses-paid, 12-day trip to Europe to study high-speed railroads, high-tech automobiles and highways and exotic alternative fuel systems. Former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, a vice president of Costa Mesa-based Arnel Development Co.

Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand inaugurated the English Channel tunnel Friday, the first land link since the Ice Age between the island of Britain and the European Continent. Both heads of state opened new rail terminals in their respective capitals of London and Paris before meeting at Calais, France, for a ride through the tunnel, which cost $15 billion and took seven years to build.

Thirteen of the state's most influential transportation and environmental officials will leave Wednesday on an all-expense-paid, 12-day trip to Europe to study high-speed railroads, high-tech automobiles and highways and exotic alternative fuel systems. The trip to Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and other cities is being sponsored by two California business organizations that say they try to preserve a cautious "environmental balance" while combatting environmental extremists.

Cheers erupted Saturday on both sides of the English Channel when British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met after knocking out a passage large enough to walk through and shake hands. "Today, for the first time, men can cross the channel underground," French President Francois Mitterrand said. "What a brilliant sign of the vitality of our two countries." The breakthrough came in a 6-foot-tall service tunnel that will be used to maintain two rail tunnels still being bored.

Cheers erupted Saturday on both sides of the English Channel when British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met after knocking out a passage large enough to walk through and shake hands. "Today, for the first time, men can cross the channel underground," French President Francois Mitterrand said. "What a brilliant sign of the vitality of our two countries." The breakthrough came in a 6-foot-tall service tunnel that will be used to maintain two rail tunnels still being bored.

Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand inaugurated the English Channel tunnel Friday, the first land link since the Ice Age between the island of Britain and the European Continent. Both heads of state opened new rail terminals in their respective capitals of London and Paris before meeting at Calais, France, for a ride through the tunnel, which cost $15 billion and took seven years to build.

Re: "A tough sell for public transit," Aug. 5: I share David Lazarus' enthusiasm for the fast Shinkansen trains in Japan. But he is too pessimistic on the American railgoer. I think we will gladly abandon our addiction to cars if given a chance. Look at all the non-drivers on the Orange bus line in the San Fernando Valley. Look at how we voted for rail bonds in the last few elections. We love rail. Despite the slowness, rail travel on virtually all the Amtrak routes is up. We would happily hop on a train to Las Vegas or San Francisco or even New York if one were available.

San Diego Transit Corp. is about to embark on an experiment that may lead to cleaner-running buses. The catalyst is a $1.3-million grant from the federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration that San Diego Transit will use to purchase seven buses powered by compressed natural gas. The natural, high-pressure gas is less polluting than gasoline or diesel fuel. Officials hope that cleaner buses will encourage more people to leave their cars at home.

Listening to climate-change talk in the U.S. and in Europe, I have to wonder whether we're all living on the same planet. Several European governments have detailed plans for cutting their economies' 1990 fossil fuel use (hence emissions of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide) by 15% or 20% by 2005. Meanwhile, President Clinton has generously offered to get U.S. emissions back down to their 1990 level--twice as high per capita as the European level--by 2008 or 2010 or maybe 2012.

Two Orange County men will be among 13 of the state's most influential transportation and environmental officials who will leave today on an all-expenses-paid, 12-day trip to Europe to study high-speed railroads, high-tech automobiles and highways and exotic alternative fuel systems. Former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande, a vice president of Costa Mesa-based Arnel Development Co.

Thirteen of the state's most influential transportation and environmental officials will leave Wednesday on an all-expense-paid, 12-day trip to Europe to study high-speed railroads, high-tech automobiles and highways and exotic alternative fuel systems. The trip to Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and other cities is being sponsored by two California business organizations that say they try to preserve a cautious "environmental balance" while combatting environmental extremists.