From Pole to Pan in Toronto

NO, we are not talking ‘pole dancing’ but another kind of ‘pole’ dance happening in Toronto. The use of panto-graphs or “pans” for the collection of electrical power has been around a long time and now it is Toronto’s turn to switch from the old trolley pole to a modern pan. Sadly, some of our [...]

Requiem For The Massey Tunnel Replacement Bridge

The Massey Tunnel Bridge replacement project is again in the news, as the massively expensive replacement bridge for the Massey tunnel has been mothballed. Now, the CBC has found hugely expensive financial irregularities with the new Port Mann Bridge, and the air of political corruption hangs heavily in the air. Was the proposed mega bridge [...]

Premier Horgan’s TransLink Dilemma

  The new NDP government must reassess TransLink’s grand transit schemes and the lack of any real regional transit planning, except for their two grossly expensive vanity projects. The Broadway subway, a classic Vancouver “vanity project“, now rumored to cost around $4 billion, will offer no real advantage to transit customers, yet greatly increase the [...]

Heritage Tram for Richmond?

Most of us have forgotten that Richmond once supported an interurban service from Steveston to Vancouver and New Westminster and now the city of Richmond is investigating a heritage line to operate the interurban. Rail for the Valley wishes everyone good luck with this endeavor. With the then new Oak St. Bridge in the background, [...]

The Perils Of A Proprietary Railway

ALRT/ART is what we call a proprietary railway and because Bombardier Inc. hold the technical patents for ART, they are the sole supplier of ART cars, as they can always undercut the competition, who must design a Linear Induction Motor powered car from scratch. Designing a specialty transit vehicle from scratch is a very expensive [...]

Seeing Is Believing – Why Doesn’t Translink Understand The Simple Facts Of LRT?

Courtesy of Mr. Haveacow from Ottawa. Zwei, I am sending you a very telling photograph. Its near Blair Station and the Ottawa LRV is undergoing testing. Notice the complete lack of paint effects and graphics as well as the fact that, many of its portals and access panels are in the down position, so equipment [...]

Premier Horgan, Can You Change Metro Vancouver’s “SkyTrain” Culture?

Ah yes, our honest and hard working and sole supplier of ART cars (SkyTrain) and ALRT/ART parts, Bombardier is back in the news. One wonders why Metro Vancouver and TransLink keeps planning building with the obsolete proprietary ART mini-metro system, complete with steam roller planning and mock (possibly illegal) bidding? One wonders why real public [...]

What The Hell Is Going On At TransLink?

Zwei knows that there are huge issues with TransLink’s mega-projects, but does this ponderous bureaucracy have a clue what it is doing? I don’t think so. Past comments from Mr. “haveacow” from Ottawa has the cost of the Broadway SkyTrain subway passing the $3 billion mark and two thirds of the Surrey’s $2.5 billion LRT’s [...]

Achy Breaky SkyTrain Cars!

Seems some serious corrosion problems are plaguing the TTC’s ICTS cars, which are the same as our SkyTrain Mk.1′s and I hope TransLink will take some time and investigate! The Mk.1′s do have a history of corrosion, so I would think it would be expedient to check and see.    Scarborough RT vehicles need repairs [...]

“Puff Story” – Headline Grabber!

So, are you reading this post because of the photo? (no one was killed in the accident shown) If you are, you were drawn in by a “headline grabber”, or a story or picture to ‘grab’ the reader to read further. Sorry to disappoint , but we continue with so called transit report cards. Zwei [...]