Light rail closer to reality for Surrey, Langley – From Newsradio 11:30
Some positive news – well maybe, but we have all heard this before. If TransLink is involved with light rail planning for Surrey, it will fail for sure as TransLink couldn’t even plan for an outhouse, let alone understand its function. TransLink is famous for gold-plating proposed LRT that the cost becomes more than an elevated SkyTrain mini-metro!
‘Zwei’ would be happier if TransLink and South Fraser mayors engage real transit consultants, who have a real knowledge of modern LRTAi??forAi??proposed LRT planning. May I suggest David Cockle and Leewood projects for this task, as they have ample knowledge of the region with the ground breaking Rail for the Valley/Leewood study!
Houston’s innovative new light rail traveling on a reserved rights-of-way which also happens to be a water feature!
Provincial Light rail closer to reality for Surrey, Langley
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/298136–light-rail-closer-to-reality-for-surrey-langley
government is thinking about it
Nov 10, 2011 PMAi??SURREY (NEWS1130) – Surrey and Langley have received the first indications the provincial government is considering light rapid transit for those cities.It’s something the mayors have been lobbying for, for a long time. With the Evergreen Line finally heading into Coquitlam and UBC clamouring for a SkyTrain extension down Broadway, commuters in Surrey and Langley have been feeling a little left out.But that has changed with Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom saying he’s seriously looking at a light rail system for those two cities.
Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender says trains are the way to go. “I think from a construction point of view and the ability to perhaps build more at the same cost as we would for a SkyTrain line out here, I think it’s an option that makes a lot of fiscal sense.”
Surrey Dianne Watts has always argued it’s important to widen the focus, away from strictly SkyTrain, to include the possibility of streetcars and light rail.
“Look at what occurred in Portland when they put in at grade rail, they spurred on $31 billion worth of economic development. So, for those businesses and creating jobs and things like that was really the way to go.”
She says possible routes include 104 Ave., the Fraser Highway, and King George Boulevard.
Would it be possible to raise tracks to avoid excavation of underground utilities? Like was done with the water feature above.
Modern tram/streetcar/LRT track on city streets avoids the need for diversion of underground utilities. Modern pre-fab track and other track laying technique avoids this problem, greatly reducing the cost of LRT on city streets.
The problem in Vancouver and North America, is that we do not have faculties of urban transport in our universities and engineers graduating out of universities have little or no modern knowledge of track laying methods and revert to 1950’s standards as no one on this side of the pond has cared to update how to lay modern tram track.
Example is the Olympic Line streetcar which was built on mainline style welded rail on cement ties with Pandrol clips; the track was greatly over engineered for what it was supposed to achieve. The City of Vancouver Engineers built a mainline railway for the route and not LRT. This why is is so very important to have actual consultants or tram experts, who have had previous experience planning, building and operating LRT at the ground level of planning.
Hint: Broadway, because of 60 years of streetcar operation, has all the major utilities located in the gutter lanes!