The continued misinformation from the usual sources about SkyTrain being cheap to operate, must be again, refuted. When compared to light rail, SkyTrain has cost much more to operate ad maintain. According to TransLink from information in 2020, the operational costs of both the Expo line extension to Langley and the Broadway subway would add at least $80 million to TransLink’s operating budget. Accounting for inflation, this cost has now risen past $96 .5 million annually!
This cost is based on 2020 figures.Adjusted for inflation the cost would be $4 million per km in operating costs and $4.7 million per km in capital costs every year; for a total of $8.7 billion per km.
If one took the ‘Way-back’ machine to the late 1980’s, the argument that SkyTrain was cheaper to operate than LRT, would show the massive propaganda campaign to give the public a positive view of the proprietary ALRT light-metro. This is because it was forced upon the region by the Social Credit government of the day.
There were no comparative studies done as the orders came directly from the Premiers Office.
The reality was, building the Expo line with ALRT was a horse-trade with the government of Ontario (the UTDC was their Crown corporation) to both sell an unsalable R/T system and to obtain the services of the then Ontario Conservative governments ‘Blue Machine’ to win the next BC election.
This is the base for Vancouver’s love affair with light-metro.
The SkyTrain light-metro system has been portrayed as a wonder system, which over time has built up to the current SkyTrain myth. Like Robin Hood or King Arthur, the SkyTrain myth is nothing more than cobbled together claims and cherry picked facts and a myth often repeated tends to become fact in the people’s minds.
It is all “repeat a lie enough times and the people will come to believe” shtick.
It also be remembered that both BC, Transit and TransLink were in partnership to sell Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) or SkyTrain, abroad. This meant that there would be no way for LRT to be built in metro Vancouver.
The Calgary C-Train has traditionally carried more customers than the Expo Line (both being about the same length) and costing less than half to build and much less to operate.
Today, many of the “old gang” at TransLink have retired and the new lot of bureaucrats (many earning six figured salaries”) repeat the old porkies actually believing they are true.
Sadly, it never was.
The print and electronic media also fell into this trap as those reporters who did investigative reporting have long retired, with the new crop of reporters,eager to please their corporate bosses, treat TransLink news releases as real news, instead of a well planned propaganda campaign.
Even in the 90’s, then huge subsidies for ALRT, made the mini-metro not cost effective in operation.
Vancouver’s SkyTrain light-metro system has had the transit eyes of the world on it for almost 40 years, yet no one has copied Vancouver and that is a question that the SkyTrain Lobby prefer not to deal with.
In an era of unprecedented investment in public transport, no one has copied the Vancouver model, the exclusive use of a light metro, including a proprietary light-metro system, for urban transport.
Why?
The per km cost of LRT and light-metro, 1981 to 1987.
A Comparrison Of Operating Costs – SkyTrain & Light Rail
The late Des Turner was meticulous with his research with the SkyTrain light metro system and in 1988, embarrassed the then Social Credit Government to release the real costs of the mini-metro.
What is more interesting is comparing the operating costs of the Calgary C-Train light rail and SkyTrain.
Thought the operating costs are a year in difference, it must be noted that the Calgary C-Train has historically carried more customers than the Expo Line, yet its operating costs are more than $12 million less than that of SkyTrain.
BC Transit knew this, but continued the myth that SkyTrain was cheaper to operate. This is called professional misconduct; others may call it more.
TransLink, which was mostly made up of BC Transit bureaucrats jumping ship, knew this, but continued the myth that SkyTrain was cheaper to operate.
COMPARISON OF OPERATING COSTS
The total 1988/89 budget for SkyTrain:
Operations………………… 5,483,863
Maintenance……………. 14,243,092
Administration………….. 7,931,834
Total: $27,658,789
(Rick Krowchuck, Executive V.P. Finance)
Calgary C-Train 1990 Operating Budget
Operators……………………… $2,332,000
Maintenance………………….$4,804,000
(Labour, parts, materials)
LRV Power……………………. $1,384,000
Fixed Operating …….Costs $6,815,000
(administration, cleaning facilities/buildings)
Total: $15,335,000
(Niel Mckendrick Coordinator of Transit Services, Calgary Transit)
There are those who are still taken with the SkyTrain myth and firmly believe that the proprietary railway is the best, yet evidence clearly shows, that once out of the SkyTrain bubble of Metro Vancouver, what we call SkyTrain is nothing more than a dead branch on the public transit tree of evolution.
Today, in BC, funding for hospitals, care homes for the aged and many more public services are being curtailed, mainly to source funding for the $16 billion plus, 21.7 km expansion of the Expo and Millennium Lines and will be legacy for a government’s refusal to admit, that building with SkyTrain was strictly a politcal decision and not a practical one.
The birth of what we call TramTrain or a streetcar that can operate on the mainline railways, came about after much research and public consultation, to provide the the city of Karlsruhe and region with a ‘user-friendly’ public transit system. In the 1980’s cities with trams or streetcars were seeing a steady decline in patronage and seemed doomed to the history books. With tram management being given a simple diktat: “Get people to use the tram system or loose it“. Much time was spent consulting with current transit customers and potential transit customers on what type of service would retain or bring the customer to public transit.
In Vancouver, the transit customer is seldom consulted with, nor is the customer listened too, with any real enthusiasm.
Light metro is built with the provincial government telling the taxpayer, “You are getting SkyTrain whether you like it or not!” Added to this, the region has invented a pseudo science of densification which is a smokes screen for government to inflate property values to reward land speculators and land developers. This ‘Densification‘ pseudo science or Lysenkoism has proven not to attract much new ridership to the public transit system. Ridership on the public transit is kept seemingly high, with over 130, 000 of U-Pass deep discount ‘ride at will’ tickets for students in post secondary institutions, which flood the transit system at peak hours.
Meanwhile back in Germany, the public wanted a ‘no-transfer‘ service, with reasonable travel times and the TramTrain was conceived to provide a doorstep to downtown service, omitting a 20 minute transfer from commuter train to tram at the main railway station.
A city tram with a TramTrain in the rear.
The success of the TramTrain operation in Karlsruhe was an instant success as the following table shows. In seven months ridership on the new TramTrain service, replacing a commuter train, providing a direct, no transfer service to downtown Karlsruhe saw 479% increase in ridership, from5 33,600 to 2,554,976 customers a week.
Compare to our now almost $17 billion, 21.7km extension of SkyTrain, where TransLink is all but hiding the fact that there will be little or no increase in ridership on both the Expo Line extension to Langley and the Broadway subway once both lines are in operation, as fundamental transit issues are not dealt with!
The failure dealing with transit issues are no seeing an ever steepening decline in ridership as the regional transit system offers 1980’s transit solutions for 2026 transit issues.
Currently the various levels of government seem to reward failure and ignore success, which is a recipe for financial disaster.
The concept is simple and in earlier times it was called the “interurban”.
TramTrain is a modern streetcar or tram, so configured that it can operate on the railway mainline, thus very affordably servicing distant destinations, otherwise far too expensive for an independent tram/LRT line.
First conceived in Karlsruhe Germany, the first TramTrain Line, from Karlsruhe to Bretten was wildly successful, with ridership going from 533,600 per week to 2,554,976 per week; a staggering 479% in ridership in just seven months!
Today, there is now over fifty TramTrain operations around the world with many more in various stages of planning.
Also, many manufacturers offer TramTrain vehicles, unlike the trains used on Vancouver’s Expo and Millennium Lines, where there is only one supplier.
Stadler’s City Link TramTrain, is just one of many TramTrain vehicles on the market and is an articulated rail-car, which can have up to four sections, has a maximum capacity of 250 persons and comes with a washroom section (needed for longer distance routes) if desired.
The train can be powered electrically, with a battery, or with diesel operation.
The Trains can be operated in multiple units, up to three trains in length.
The City Link TramTrain is operated in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
For BC, TramTrain could economically solve several transportation issues, including Rail for the Valley’s Vancouver to Chilliwack project and the E&N railway debates.
Ral for the Valley would like to ask:
Is it not time to stop building with extremely expensive 1970’s light-metro and instead invest in a proven and economic 21st century solution? The Expo Line’s Langley extension is now costing more than $400 million a km, yet a TramTrain solution could see over 20 km of TramTrain built for the same cost. Put another way, the Expo Line extension to Langley is now said to cost $7 billion, yet for the same cost we could build over 350 km of TramTrain , which could fund both the restoration of the E&N into a viable regional railway and restore a regional; railway on the former BC Electric route to Chilliwack, carrying far more customers than what the Langley SkyTrain extension will carry.
TransLink- Metro Vancouver & BC Transit -Greater Victoria ridership 2025
According to statistics Canada TransLink ridership,
in 2025 was 235.12 M journeys
vs 2024 239.36 M journeys ( 3.1 % less )
Where has the ridership gone?
We have now invested, including the current $16 billion, full program, to extend the Expo and millennium lines a mere 21.7 km, is over $30 billion, ridership is decreasing at an alarming rate.
Why?
I don’t have the answer but I would guess it is the transit system itself and decades of politcal interference where trying to design a transit system to please every one, in fact has pleased no one!
User-friendliness is the keyword describing a successful public transit system, but Translink and the service it provides is far from being user-friendly.
When SkyTrain was first imposed on the GVRD, now metro Vancouver, downtown Vancouver was the main destination for many transit customers, but in 2026, there are many main transit destinations but with the bus services designed to feed the light-metro system, many of the new customer destinations are near impossible to timely access by transit and taking the car is just so much easier.
A good example was just last Saturday, where a scheduled bus failed to show and began an 2 hour ordeal to get from Vancouver to Tsawwassen. Taking the car would be just 30 minutes.
Lack of any customer care by TransLink and senior management means ridership will further decline until there is a complete change in direction by TransLink, the mayor’s council on Transit and the Premier’s Office.
First posted by zweisystem on Wednesday, March 4, 2020
This was posted almost six years ago and the realities of subway construction are today, hitting home. The Broadway Subway, the 5.7 km continuation of the the Millennium Line, first pegged to cost $2.7 billion and open in 2024, has now well passed the $3 billion mark and is projected to cost near $4 billion when it opens, probably in early 2028.
Already 80 businesses have gone bankrupt due to the road closures along Broadway from subway constructionist, which politcans and bureacrats had promised would not happen. many more businesses are due to go bankrupt in 2026 due to the complete closure of Broadway.
Also it must be remembered that according to Thales, who is doing the $1.47 billion re-signalling program on both the Expo and Millennium Lines (not included in the cost estimates for the Broadway Subway), the maximum capacity pf the Broadway Subway will be a mere 7,500 pphpd!
The government of Canada, the government of British Columbia, and the region have committed to investing $C 1.47bn ($US 1.1bn) in the Expo and Millennium Line Upgrade Programme until 2027.
When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively.
Sadly, the realities of subway construction remain unlearned in Metro Vancouver, as the politicians at all levels of government sell porkies to the taxpayers and Broadway merchants..
The realities of subway mania.
Vancouver politicians live in “The Land of the Lotus Eaters”, when it comes to transit.
In Greek mythology the lotus-eaters, were a race of people living on an island dominated by the Lotus tree. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were a narcotic, causing the inhabitants to sleep in peaceful apathy.
As TransLink, Vancouver Council, UBC, and the Mayor’s Council on Transit sleep in peaceful apathy, the realities of the real cost of the subway are ignored.
According to Metrolinx’s study, the real cost of the 5.8 km Broadway subway will be more like $6 billion over 50 years.
As costs mount ever higher elsewhere for subways, our politicians and bureaucrats remain ignorant of escalating costs for subway construction, continue to misinform the public as to the real cost of Broadway’s subway.
In Metro Toronto, Metrolinx has finally admitted that:”
“……the Scarborough subway costs simply aren’t worth it,” he said. “It’s been years that Scarborough subway advocates haven’t been telling the truth to Scarborough residents and people across the city.”
And for years now, Translink: the City of Vancouver, UBC, the Ministry of Transportation, the Minister of Transportation, the Minister responsible for TransLink, the Mayor’s Council on Transit and the subway lobby haven’t been telling the truth about the high costs of subway construction to taxpayers in metro Vancouver. Is the $6 billion. plus, cost over 50 years, giving good value?
Is it not time that the province steps in for a fiscal reality check? Is there the moral fibre in Victoria to do this?
Interesting that the numbers for LRT came via the TTC and the numbers for the subwaycame from the provincial government who wanted the subway.
The subway project in Scarborough has been hotly debated in Toronto since 2013, when its backers won council support for cancelling a light-rail line in the area and replacing it with an extension – the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension seen here in 2016 – of the subway to Scarborough Town Centre mall.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
Two of Ontario’s marquee transit projects have costs that far exceed their benefits, according to a pair of analyses prepared for the regional transit agency Metrolinx.
The reports, released Friday afternoon, show that the Scarborough subway extension proposed for east-end Toronto and the westward extension of the Crosstown Eglinton light rail line across the city could, together, cost nearly $10-billion to build while producing benefits amounting to billions less. In spite of this, Metrolinx has recommended both projects be advanced.
The analysis deliberately errs on the side of caution and Metrolinx hopes to improve the benefits of these projects over time, agency CEO Phil Verster said in a statement.
The benefits are calculated by assigning a monetary value to such things as removing cars from the road and saving commuters time.
Shelagh Pizey-Allen, spokesperson for the advocacy group TTCRiders, said the projects were examples of proposals pitched with a modest price tag, but costs rose and value diminished over time.
The Metrolinx board received these reports at an in-camera meeting in January and, at the time, quietly approved pushing ahead with the projects. The agency refused to release the reports when asked earlier this month.
Both projects are being overseen by the provincial government, which struck a deal with the city of Toronto that handed over control and financial responsibility for major rail construction to Metrolinx.
A spokeswoman for Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said the government would continue to support both projects.
“These [reports] represent Metrolinx’s best understanding of the projects at a given moment in time and are inevitably subject to change during the projects’ life cycles,” Christina Salituro said in an e-mail.
“These documents are key elements in ensuring Metrolinx continues to make the most informed decisions going forward and are just one of a number of factors used in making a final decision.”
The subway project in Scarborough has been hotly debated in Toronto since 2013, when its backers won council support for cancelling a light-rail line in the area and replacing it with an extension of the subway to Scarborough Town Centre mall.
The analysis released Friday of the subway extension concluded it would bring $2.8-billion in benefits over a 60-year period, and cost about $5.5-billion to build. The Ontario government had last year pegged the cost at this level, which is about $2-billion more than the amount budgeted by the city when it was in charge of an earlier version of project.
“That subway is not going to be cost-effective,” said Brenda Thompson, with the advocacy group Scarborough Transit Action, adding that such a high price tag would preclude building anything else in that part of the city.
“I think this is going to suck up all of the money and I think politicians should be upfront about that. This is what we’re going to end up with, if at all.”
Toronto Councillor Josh Matlow, who has long advocated for the original plan for light rail instead in Scarborough, said that the report is another example of the claims of subway boosters being proved wrong.
“Today Metrolinx finally admitted that the Scarborough subway costs simply aren’t worth it,” he said. “It’s been years that Scarborough subway advocates haven’t been telling the truth to Scarborough residents and people across the city.”
The city had budgeted $3.56-billion for a one-stop Scarborough subway extension. During the last election campaign, now Premier Doug Ford pledged to add two more stations. The version being studied by Metrolinx includes the additional stations.
The newly released analysis for a light-rail extension of the Crosstown to Pearson International Airport shows that it will cost up to $4.4-billion, net present value, in 2019 dollars, if it has nine stops and is substantially below ground. In that form it would bring benefits of $1.4-billion over 60 years.
The project’s capital cost could be reduced to about $2.8-billion if most of the stops were removed, the analysis notes, or to as little as $2.1-billion if it was built on the surface.
Mr. Ford has pledged to bury as much of the Crosstown extension as possible.
First published on July 8, 2022 under the title “The $1.47 Billion Solution”, recent comments about the Broadway subway need clarifying.
The following quote sums up the capacity issue for the Millennium Line (Broadway subway).
When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively.
Please copy this this to Transportation Minister Mike Farnsworth, who seems to confuse the Millennium and Expo lines.
The following news release came to Zwei via Montreal and Germany and answered one very important question, which TransLink is ashamed to reveal locally.
The cost of the signalling rehab is $1.47 billion!
This is not chump change, but serious coin, which must come from somewhere.
Well, I can guess: a little from the Ministry of health; a lil from the Lytton rebuilding program and most, if not all funding that maybe would have gone to the E&N or even the Rail for the Valley project. come to think of it, $1.47 billion could fund the “full meal deal” Leewood Study, with three trains per hour between Chilliwack and Vancouver.
We now will have to wait for the other shoe to drop, multi billion dollar plus cost to refurbish and enhance the electrical supply for the light-metro.
TransLink awards Thales SkyTrain train control contracts
Contracts enable a 22km extension of the fully automated SkyTrain system.
TransLink has awarded two contracts to Thales for upgrading the train control technology on the Expo and Millennium lines of Metro Vancouver.
TRANSLINK has awarded Thales two contracts to provide train control technology under the Expo and Millennium Line Upgrade Programme for the SkyTrain network in Vancouver.
The contracts include a new Operations Control Centre and a new fully automated depot, Operations Maintenance Centre 4. These two new facilities are key components of the upgrade programme.
The system will be expanded from 80km to 106km by 2028, with 41 new trains expected to be in service by the end of 2027.
TransLink says that in 2018 the Expo and Millennium lines saw on-time performance of 96.38% – the best punctuality on record for SkyTrain and higher than that achieved by most major metros in North America.
The government of Canada, the government of British Columbia, and the region have committed to investing $C 1.47bn ($US 1.1bn) in the Expo and Millennium Line Upgrade Programme until 2027.
When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively.
1. lack of success: “an economic policy that is doomed to failure”
2. the neglect or omission of expected or required action: “their failure to comply with the basic rules”
A rather intense phone call has prompted me to post this.
The caller irately stated: “SkyTrain is not proprietary” and “Vancouver has the most successful transit system in North America”. He went further but his rant became a salad of gish gallop.
It has been a long time since I have entertained such a call, but my name has been in the local media of late so it was to be expected.
The problem I think is that TransLink is spending huge amounts of money, now over $16 billion to extend the Expo and Millennium Line a mere 21.7 km, combined with the fact that the Broadway subway (As I predicted as early as 2016) has sterilized business along Broadway (now with over 80 bankruptcies) has got a lot of local politcans very worried.
Also very worried is the provincial NDP, who have been gaslighting taxpayers as to the costs and benefits of the SkyTrain light metro system.
The problem is that TransLink’s ridership has been in a steady decline since 2018; 2025 ridership numbers declined 1.5% from 2024!
With civic elections this year and a tenuous majority in Victoria, combined with an extremely unhappy electorate both the provincial government and TransLink ar extremely worried, but not worried enough to do the same things over and over again, ever hoping for different results.
TransLink’s failure to attract new customers after about $30 billion has been spent on the SkyTrain light-metro system alone, does not an election winner make!
1. (in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences: “a buddha is believed to have completely purified his karma”
The following is from the LRPPro:
Alstom has a problem on their hands with their Citadis Spirits LRV’s and they are not going to get into the LRT market in NA over it. They are no longer building the Flexity after TTC order and Kitchener will need 18 of the for the next phase in 5-10 years.
Toronto has them on Line 6 that has 18 of them that are have issues at this time. Mississauga has 27 at this time and will have up to 45 when the full line is built. Mississauga LRV’s will not be in service until late 28 to 30. May see testing late this year or early 27 considering it was to happen in 24.
It seems there is a problem with Alstom’s trams in Canada, which begs the question why?
In Zwei’s opinion, part of the problem is politcal interference.
In the Canadian politic, politcans wanted photo-ops, instead of transit workhorses and demanded politically prestigious transit systems to be built.
Transit systems are not toy trains and cost a lot of money to operate, money that has not been budgeted for by the very same politcans.
It seems karma has struck those politicians as they play the blame game.
Lack of maintenance is just not a problem back east, as TransLink is playing the “deferred maintenance” game in Metro Vancouver with both the bus and light metro fleets.
That $16 billion plus extending the Expo and Millennium Lines a mere 21.7 km may have something to do about it.
Again politicians have not dealt with the real issues, rather just look ahead to cutting ribbons on transit projects for the next election.
Those advocating for more SkyTrain, never mention the now $90 million funding needed annually in additional operational and maintenance costs, once the extension project is operational.
With Alstom selling the Kingston manufacturing plant, home to the proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro system (SkyTrain) and the current ills which seem more centered on Canadian practices than the products, Alstom, with Canada being a very small market, may pull out of Canada completely.
That would be a major black eye to Canada, especially in these delicate times.
1. the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation: “he is suing the TV company for slander”
verb
1. make false and damaging statements about (someone): “they were accused of slandering the head of state”
The continued debate about the trains that operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines continues.
The SkyTrain for Surrey folks have crossed the line on this issue and Rail for the Valley call for a retraction of their recent News Release or face possible legal action.
The claim that Rail for the Valley and others “fabricated” certain facts is false.
Skytrain to Surrey also points out that somehow Rail for the valley “Strangled the Broadway Subway by 20 years“; “Sabotaged Surrey’s rapid transit, pushing for an inferior surface LRT“; and “Distorted public trust“; are false and deliberately misleading and constitute slander.
According to SkyTrain to Surrey:
The consequences of this misinformation weren’t just academic—they were astronomical. These false claims were the primary weapons used to:
Strangle the Broadway Subway: originally slated for completion in the mid-2000s, this critical regional artery was delayed by 20 years. (This statement is completely false RftV)
Sabotage Surrey’s rapid transit, pushing for an inferior surface LRT that would have offered lower capacity and lower speeds. (This statement is completely false – RftV)
Distort public trust, forcing planners to defend proven technology against recycled myths — again and again and again. (RftV would be ecstatic to have this sort of influence – RftV)
SkyTrain is the name of the regional light-metro system which was chosen via a radio contest in 1985 on CKNW Radio. The SkyTrain light metro system which consists of conventional trains that operate on the Canada Line and the unconventional, proprietary trains that operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines. These trains have been deemed proprietary since the first ALRT Trains operated in 1986.
The trains used on the Expo and Millennium Lines have had four owners, the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, a province of Ontario Crown Corporation; Lavalin; Bombardier and now Alstom.
The proprietary railway has been marketed under at least six names including, Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS); Advanced Light Rail Transit (ALRT); Advanced Light Metro (ALM); Advanced Rapid Transit (ART); Innovia Rapid Transit; Movia Automatic Light Metro (MALM).
These trains can only operate within their small six system family and cannot operate on conventional railways or transit systems.
Originally seven systems were built, but only six remain in operation and no new system has been sold in the past 25 years.
The technical patents for the proprietary railway are owned by Alstom (inherited from Bombardier) and possibly SNC Lavalin may still may own engineering patents, inherited from Lavalin.
According to a News Release from Kuala Lumpur:
” A consortium made up of CRRC ZELC, CRRC Rolling Stock Centre (M) Sdn Bhd and CKM Landas MRO Sdn Bhd has surfaced as the front runner for a lucrative RM1.1 billion contract to manufacture, supply, deliver, test and commission 26 sets of four train cars for Prasarana Malaysia Bhd to be used for the Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) lin“
What is being done is not a surprise as it is a replacement order with new cars being custom built by the CRRC to operate on Kelana Jay Line, which begs many questions. The same is true of many proprietary railways, where the original manufacturers has gone out of business. Germany’s famed Schwebebahn monorail is a good example where new cars were constructed to replace old stock on the only line, which started operation in 1903.
It should be of note that the CRRC is not marketing the cars, rather they are building cars for a replacement order. The proprietary system is deemed darted and unsalable, with no sales for a quarter century.
Kuala Lumpur has three rapid transit systems.
1) The now called Mass Rapid Transit System which is a conventional light metro.
2) The Kelana Jaya Line, which uses Bombardier’s ART system.
3) Klang Valley Rapid Transit metro system, a proprietary monorail system.
It was reported that officials wanted a monorail for the Kelana Jaya Line but Bombardier and SNC Lavalin were involved in a scandal where they paid “success fees” to senior bureaucrats and politicians, to build with ART, which Bombardier were having huge issues trying to sell the proprietary railway. This was ground zero for SNC Lavalin’s (they owned engineering patents) international bribery scandal.
Also of note the next rapid transit line built in Kuala Lumpur was indeed the monorail!
From further research, it seems CRRC is doing this with Alstom’s permission, which leads to three points.
1. Alstom either knew they were getting nothing from Kuala Lumpur. Due to their Bombardier connection. That they didn’t even get one of the contracts for the rehab and conversion of 2 car (sections) trainsets to 4 car (sections) trainsets, Converting the fleet’s 2 car trains (2 section trains, the 200 models). Their people invented the tech, you think they would got something.
2. That Alstom doesn’t care about the tech itself, maybe because that are not actively marketing the system and plan to abandon production after the Vancouver order is completed.
3. That Alstom is “washing its hands” of MALM as they plan to discontinue production and any sort of legal action would be counter productive, especially with the previous dubious history. Alstom is selling the production facility and test track in Kingston Ontario and the CNR has applied to abandon the spur line servicing the facility.
Alstom did get the contract for Kuala Lumpur’s airport people mover cars.
Lastly, the fact that a company known for poor quality trains and intellectual property theft, CRRC, is going to be SkyTrain for Surrey and Vancouver’s champion to prove that their technology isn’t proprietary is a good joke on on both. Nothing like being beholden to Communist China for your rail transit technology. The CRRC ‘s winning of the contract was most likely an, “anybody but Bombardier contract” or in this case, “anybody but Alstom contract”.
The big question, which SkyTrain for Surrey does not ask is “Would these car be legal for operation in Canada?“.
Rail for the Valley would again remind everyone, the proprietary trains, operating on the Expo and Millennium Lines is just one of the seven systems built in almost fifty years. Today, only six systems remain in operation and not one sale of a new system in the past 25 years. The proprietary railway is today, as it was in the past unsalable, which illustrates the many expensive issues that comes with a proprietary railway.
Rail for the Valley demands SkyTrain for Surrey to retract their claims in their recent News Release!
The ongoing rift between Canada and the USA will have generational effects and will never go back to normal, as President Trump has forever changed how people behave. Trump and MAGA is a prelude for great change in BC.
The ongoing climate change with summer’s heat dome and subsequent wild fires shows we cannot go back to normal.
The now annual atmospheric rivers resulting in massive floods and land slides, demonstrates we cannot go back to normal.
Metro Vancouver’s regional transit system has been greatly affected by events since 2020, as thousands of of people have changed their travel habits with many either working or studying from home. This has put a massive finical strain on TransLink, which now claims huge annual deficits.
TransLink seemed OK operating empty buses, without any hint of a “plan B” for attracting new ridership. TransLink is now asking the provincial and federal governments for more money to to service its continued declining ridership, at the same time and to keep huge executive salaries being paid.
TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit with their pet $4 billion, 5.6 km Broadway subway and their $6 billion+, 16 km extension to the Expo a Line, despite clear evidence that both projects are nothing more than “gold-plated” prestige projects, have all but bankrupted TransLink. Both projects, designed to further the profits of land speculators and land developers who support many of the mayors at election time. Both projects will only improve transit on paper and nothing more.
The proposed Broadway subway is being built on a route without enough ridership to justify its construction and the flip flop from LRT to light-metro in Surrey, will be again be built on a route where the ridership will not justify construction costs. An estimate of $100 million annually for increased operating costs, which translates to increased annual subsidies for both projects, has not been budgeted for.
The so called “business cases” for these two transit projects were a sham and continues the practice of business cases in BC being politcal documents and not technical documents!
Questionable ridership projections are based on future condo tower development, based on foreign investment and this is not guaranteed! The already huge cost does not include the proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro (erroneously called SkyTrain) cars, nor the inflationary cost increases for cement and specialty steel, needed for subway and viaduct construction.
NEWS FLASH: TransLink’s ridership dropped 1.5% in 2025!
It is no secret that the often renamed and now called Movia Automatic Light Metro (MALM), as used on the Expo and Millennium Lines is obsolete, as it has been obsolete since the late 1980’s, being more expensive to build, maintain and operate than its chief competitor, light rail.
Only seven such systems have been built in the past 50 years, with only six still in operation and only two are seriously used for urban transit. despite the system being rebranded six times!
Today, modern light-metro systems such as Ottawa and Seattle use light rail vehicles, because of their cost effectiveness and their ability to operate on lesser rights-of-ways, yet because MALM uses Linear Induction Motors, it is impossible to use LRV’s on the proprietary MALM system.
MALM cannot be built cheaply, nor can it be operated and maintained cheaply. The taxpayer pays a first class cost for a second class system and this cannot continue in the future.
The recent sale of Bombardier to Alstom puts into question the future availability of MALM cars and spare parts! Production of niche transit systems like the proprietary MALM light metro, maybe discontinued. Alstom has already shown that it has little use for proprietary transit systems by discontinuing production of the TVR guided bus used in several European cities, leaving operators scrambling for spare parts.
Alstom has offered for sale the MALM production site in Kingston Ontario, with the all important test track; the CNR has applied for the abandonment of the spur line for the production facility.
Vancouver is now the only customer for MALM, as the systems built in Korea and Malaysia have mired Bombardier and SNC Lavalin (the patent holders of the proprietary railway) in legal misadventure, due in part, to healthy “success fees” paid to lobbyists and politicians, to ensure MALM was to be built!
The Broadway subway and the Expo Line extension to Langley extensions to the SkyTrain light-metro system are grossly overpriced for what they will do as light ridership on both extensions will greatly increase operating costs. Broadway, current peak hour transit customer flows are under 4,000 persons per hour per direction (pphpd). The North American standard for building a subway is a transit route with customer flows of at least 15,000 pphpd and operational subsidies increase dramatically with smaller customer flows.
Despite deliberate and misleading statements by TransLink and the City of Vancouver, Broadway is not the busiest transit corridor in Canada, as a representative of TransLink stated in a letter, Broadway was “our region’s most over crowded bus route“
TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit have never been honest with the long term costs of the project, which over a fifty year period, will have grave implications for the metro Vancouver and BC taxpayers.
According to the Toronto Transit Commission, who have a long experience operating subways, the Broadway subway to Arbutus, alone, will add over $40 million annually to TransLink’s operating costs.
The fifty year costs for subways and grade separated transit are staggering, estimated more than $1 billion per km for the subway portion and just under $600 million per km for the elevated sections of the light metro system. Already the original Expo Line desperately needs a minimum $2 billion to rehab (full rehab about $3 billion) the system and increase capacity beyond Transport Canada’s Operating Certificate maximum of 15,000 pphpd.
TransLink has ignored these costs, for fear of pointed questions about the massive future costs including tax increases.
The following is the 50 year costs of various transit modes, by Ontario’s MetroLinx.
Spending $16 billion for 21.7 km of light-metro pales, when one could instead invest under $2 billion on both, the proposed Fraser Valley Rail project reinstating a 130km Vancouver to Chilliwack passenger service and $4 billion rehabbing the E&N, reinstating a Victoria to Courtney 183 km passenger service and still have $10 billion left over to invest in regional transit projects in Metro Vancouver and beyond.
The current economic crisis will create long term financial hardships for taxpayers, not just TransLink. Even though there are generous government support, TransLink and its ossified bureaucracy still squanders monies on questionable projects, instead of improving the core service.
The taxpayer will very soon, be in no mood, to fund Metro Vancouver’s gold-plated, prestige transit projects, nor will the taxpayer and the transit user be willing to pay higher fares and other taxes for transit that about 85% of the population will not use.
As Premier, you must step in and say “enough” as TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit have isolated themselves from public oversight and ignore public debate.
In 2015, 62% percent of the people voted against TransLink’s demands for money, yet they have done nothing but play the taxpayer and voter for fools by offering virtually the same plan with no real public input. TransLink’s public oversight is nothing but a charade; a smokescreen to carry on with their hugely expensive rapid transit agenda.
In our current economic climate, TransLink must plan for affordable transit projects; build user friendly transit projects and refrain from doing the same expensive thing over and over again hoping for different results.
TransLink needs to rethink its planning; the Mayor’s Council on Transit needs to rethink how transit is provided and funded; and the provincial government must rethink its rubber stamping Metro Vancouver’s questionable transit planning.
The taxpayer and the transit customer deserve far better than the current sham planning, complete lack of oversight and failure to correct the current mess maybe felt at the polls in the next election three years hence.
After 40 years, the taxpayer is still held hostage to expensive and myopic light-metro planning, based largely on an obsolete light metro system.
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