By John Ruberry
During those rare occasions I get into a political discussion with leftists, often the back-and-forth veers into a predictable detour–whether the topic is health care, energy, or the environment–with this reply, “But in Europe they do it this way.”
For the most part, I don’t care how things are done in Europe.
One exception is Latvia, where Mrs. Marathon Pundit was born–and both of us visited this EU nation last summer.
What is the biggest story in Latvia in the first week of 2024?
The failure of new electric trains there, replacing old electrics. The new trains are operated by a company called Vivi. and the trains were built by Skoda Group, a Czech company.
From Public Broadcasting of Latvia last week:
On Tuesday morning, trains were delayed by up to three hours on the Rīga-Skulte line. Latvian Radio correspondent Viktors Demidovs was among those inconvenienced by the delay.
“I saw the new electric train at the station Garciems. I pushed the button to open the door but nothing happened. The conductor opened it manually. There was complete darkness in the train and climate control was not working either. [..] It turned out the train had been standing there for half an hour.”
Vivi representative Sigita Zviedre said there had been an issue with the power collector and the train’s battery had run out.
Vivi also stated that Latvia is not unique in finding deficiencies with new trains after putting them in traffic and said that Lithuania and Estonia had faced similar issues at the beginning.
For emphasis, I’m repeating part of the last sentence of the third paragraph, “…the train’s battery had run out.”
Commuters rely on these trains, and not surprisingly, their malfunctions are a major inconvenience for many of them. Some passengers have been to forced to hail taxi or Uber rides to get them to their destination, and for now, Vivi is offering to reimburse those riders inconvenienced.
Of the 11 Vivi trains that are supposed to be operational, according to Public Broadcasting of Latvia, only six are currently running. While yes, with any new transportation product, some minor and infrequent hiccups are expected, but five of eleven trains not running is too high of a failure rate for just about everyone. Imagine if we were talking about new automobiles instead–and it’s a model that you were considering buying.
Okay, you are very likely reading this blog post from everywhere else but Latvia. What does this have to do with me?
Remember what I said that leftists are obsessed with how things are done in Europe. And they want to replicate, failures and all, the European way here. By the way, much of the funding for Vivi trains comes from the Cohesion Fund of the European Union.
Electric trains, failures and all, may be coming here.
Here’s an op-ed from Forbes, written by “climate futurist,” Michael Barnard:
North America has a railroad problem that the rest of the world doesn’t have. As a result, a lot of North Americans think it’s too expensive to electrify that mode of transportation. As we explore electrifying everything everywhere all at once as a key wedge in solving global warming it’s time to debunk that notion.
Why am I singling out North America and North Americans? Because the Americas are singular in their lack of ability and willingness to do what the rest of the world has already mostly done.
Climate futurist? Yep. That’s a thing among those pushing the green agenda. And of course, I’ve noted before that liberals adore trains because they only go where there are rails.
In a practical way, it’s beneficial in North America to see how Latvia is enduring its electric train problems.
Meanwhile, the electric trains debacle is a Latvian cultural phenomenon.
Jānis Liepiņš adds another song to the many tunes about trains, although his mournful ballad, “Dzeltens Melns” (Yellow Black), unlike most train songs, does not celebrate riding the rails. Because of course, when you sit in a Vivi train car, the yellow and black cars often sit still as well.
Mrs. Marathon Pundit also noticed that Latvians on social media are quipping that instead of Vivi, the new electric trains should be named Vai-Vai, which translates into “Ouch-Ouch.”
UPDATE January 9:
The temperature this morning in Riga, Latvia was 32 degrees Fahrenheit (Zero Celsius). The “impact of frost” is being blamed for some Vivi electric trains not running today. Latvia is northern Europe and it borders Russia. It can get much colder than it is today there.
From Public Broadcasting of Latvia:
Due to the ‘impact of frost’ on the new electric trains as well as health issues of drivers, several trains in the directions of Sloka and Skulte have been canceled on Tuesday, January 9, passenger carrier Vivi said on Facebook.
And what are these ” health issues of drivers?”
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
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