The Sad Fate Of Gadgetbahnen
Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.
Build a more expensive and complicated transit system and politicians, bureaucrats, and academics will fall all over themselves beating a path to your door; so is the sad story of proprietary transit systems.
What many people, who advocated for unconventional or proprietary transit systems do not tell you is that many fail because they cost too much to operate or maintain and/or embarrassingly did not attract the ridership as promised.
The allure of a “different”Ai?? transit system is one of political, bureaucratic, and academic prestige, where it is perceived that to have something different and more expensive transit system operating in “our” city is better than transit systems in “their” city.
Sometimes it just not works out that way.
The Short Life of the Abandoned Sydney Monorail
In Abandoned & Urbex / By Tom /
(Image: Hpeterswald; defunct steel guide way on the abandoned Sydney Monorail)
Monorail systems are staples of amusement parks and rapid transit between airport terminals. Along with suspension railways, they can also be found weaving their way through the streets and blocks of major cities. The single rail transportation system, which often straddles an elevated guide way, can trace its roots back to 1820s Russia. But as our recent article coveringAi??11 Abandoned Monorails, Suspension Railways, Railplanes & Hovertrains suggests, their popularity has been mixed. One recent example is the abandoned Sydney Monorail in Australiaai??i??s most populous city.
TramTrain Gains Favour In The UK
TramTrain development in the UK is gaining momentum as the Yorkshire Post reports that a study indicates a tram-train link between MANCHESTER and its airport in north-central England would be a better choice than passenger rail because of grades along the route.
Victoria and Metro Vancouver are candidates for TramTrain, yet the powers that be remain deaf to this very affordable transit option.
How long will transit customers on this side of the pond have to wait until even the word TramTrain enters Translink’s and BC Transit’s lexicon?
“Study rules out airport rail link in favour of tram-train
The tram-train due to be tested in South YorkshireJAMES REED, POLITICAL EDITOR17:12Friday 26 February 2016
BUILDING a conventional rail line to Leeds-Bradford airport would be technically impossible and alternatives could cost hundreds of millions of pounds, according to a new report.The findings from consultants suggest the gradients around the airport are too steep for conventional trains although tram-train technology might be able to provide a new link to the airport but at a cost of up to A?360m.
And their report also argues that the airport will need improved road connections regardless of whether alternative links are developed.
Critics of proposals to upgrade existing roads or build a new road to the airport have previously argued that a rail link should be considered as an alternative.
Coun Keith Wakefield, chairman of West Yorkshire Combined Authorityai??i??s transport committee, said: ai???This study has confirmed tram-trains linking to the existing rail network at Horsforth could be the best solution to overcoming challenges presented by the airportai??i??s location and topography and locating a station close to the existing terminal building.
ai???Tram-trains are light-rail vehicles similar to trams that can run on exclusive lines but also share main-line railway lines with conventional trains. They are widely used in Europe and in North America and West Yorkshire Combined Authority sees them as a way of achieving its ambition of developing an integrated Metro-style transport system for West Yorkshire and the City Region.ai???
A trial of tram-train technology is due to begin in South Yorkshire 2017 where the same vehicles will run on conventional rails from Rotherham to Meadowhall before joining the Supertram network to go into Sheffield city centre.
A public consultation on improving road links to the airport closed yesterday. Options included the building of a new road and upgrading the existing A65 and A658 at costs of between A?15m and A?75m
ai??i?? (USD $20.8 million and $104.0 million).ai??i??.
The airport is the highest in England and its location and limited links to the wider transport network have long been regarded as major obstacles to its growth.
Plans for the airport are expected to create 5,500 jobs over the next 25 years with passenger numbers also expected to grow from the current 3.3m a year to more than 7m.
It faces intense competition from Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire and Manchester which is served by a direct rail link.
Subways Are Very Expensive
DUSSELDORF, the seventh largest city in Germany situated in the west-central part of the country with an urban population of 1.2 million, has opened a new USD $960.6 million, 2.11-mile light rail subway, the “international railway journal” reported Monday. It replaces street running tramway sections which will be removed. Here is the system map (scroll down for rolling stock photos):Under “Recent History” this site notes: “20 Feb 2016:Ai??so-called “Wehrhahn”-Line – a cross-city tram tunnel, between S-Bahn stationsAi??WehrhahnAi??andAi??BilkAi??(3.4 km with 6 underground stations), replaced some surface lines through city centre”“Monday, February 22, 2016DA?sseldorf opens ai??i??843.6m underground Wehrhahn lineWritten by Keith Fender
DUSSELDORF’s ai??i??843.6m underground Wehrhahn Line light rail line opened on February 20. Regular operation and closure of the previous on-street route followed overnight with services starting via the new route on February 21.
The 3.4km route from the S-Bahn station at Wehrhahn in the north to the S-Bahn station at Bilk in the south has six intermediate underground stations equipped with 90m-long platforms suitable for use by low-floor trams and LRVs.
The line was built by the City of DA?sseldorf with funding from the state of North Rhine Westphalia and the German federal government. It replaces former tram street running on the core section through the city centre, providing connections with existing underground light rail lines at Heinrich Heine Allee station. The tram street running sections replaced by the new line will be removed.
The Wehrhahn Line was planned as part of a network of new underground routes for DA?sseldorf in the 1970s and the first construction work – the 200m station box below the other underground light rail routes at Heinrich Heine Allee station – was built in the early 1980s. Final planning approval for the construction of the line was granted in 2007. Tunnel boring machines were used to excavate the single-bore tunnel under the city centre from 2008 to 2012.
More than 53,000 passengers are expected to use the new line daily. Siemens has supplied 76 NF8U trams to operator Rheinbahn to replace older vehicles and these will also operate elsewhere in the city. The light rail network serving DA?sseldorf has been revised as a result of the new line opening: four U-Bahn lines replacing former tram routes will use the Wehrhahn line.
More Port Mann Woes
When replacing a perfectly good bridge, with a mega billion dollar “vanity” bridge, common sense seems to have been thrown out with the bath water.
We could have twinned the Port Mann Bridge and have enough money to build the proposed Leewood/RftV Richmond/Vancouver to Chilliwack TramTrain.
We could have good transit and transportation in Metro Vancouver if our politicians stop building expensive vanity projects to cut ribbons for photo-ops at election time, just like the massive vanity bridge that will replace the perfectly good Massey Tunnel starting, you guessed it, 2017 election year.
Instead, build what is needed and what is affordable.
Port Mann Bridge not driving traffic
By Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver SunFebruary 22, 2016 4:54 PM
Numbers from the provincial budget released earlier this month show the Port Mann Bridge lost $86 million last year.
Photograph by: Ric Ernst, PNG
METRO VANCOUVER — Drivers using the $3.3-billion Port Mann Bridge are being offered a $10 incentive to sign on to electronic toll billing as part of a move by the Crown corporation that operates the span to reduce its overhead and save up to $750,000 per year.
The move follows the release of provincial budget numbers that show the bridge lost $86 million last year, followed by projected losses of $100 million in each of the next three years, pushing its total debt to $3.68 billion by 2018. The losses are significantly higher than what was predicted in 2012-13, when it was forecast the net loss for 2014-15 would be $28.3 million.
Try Asking TransLink To Do The Same!
Imagine TransLink changing their schedule to suit a customer, imagine TransLink doing anything to help a customer?
Russian Railways adjusts timetable so girl didnai??i??t miss dancing class
Ai?? Alexandr Kryazhev / SputnikOne lucky Russian girl obviously has a golden ai???ticket to rideai??i??. Russian Railways adjusted its commuter train service to cater for the needs of a single passenger, a young and aspiring dancer.In October last year, Boris Nalimov, the girlai??i??s father, wrote to the local railway administration about the difficulties his 13-year-old daughter had getting to her dance club on time. The club is in Zelenograd, one of Moscowai??i??s satellite towns.
A good read
There is an interesting article making its rounds, “5 lessons from Los Angles on transforming transportation (and coming after Portland)”,Ai?? in the various transit blogs and I believe it is well worth a read.
Zwei is going to comment briefly on each of the five lessons and how they would apply to Metro Vancouver.
Aim high, but be targeted.
In the previous plebiscite, well paid transit bureaucrats were trying to sell two very expensive transit plans that were, for the most part, vanity projects for the cities of Vancouver and Surrey. The public largely saw through this, especially the $3 billion Broadway subway and joined the “NO” vote with the NO campaign spearheaded by the No TransLink Tax campaign and Jordan Bateman.
There was no real long term plan but a continuation of a SkyTrain light-metro built every decade or so.
If you want to build a successful campaign, build a coalition.
Last years failed transit plebiscite is a very good indication that TransLink failed to build a successful coalition, which Jordan Bateman did, which lead to an embarrassing defeat. What has been noticeably left out of transit planning is the transit customer and until the transit customer is treated with respect and included in the planning and operation of public transit, TransLink will be continually held in high odor by the public and taxpayer.
A broader coalition is a stronger coalition.
TransLink relies on political friends and insiders for approval and has ignored small transit oriented groups such as “Friends of the Olympic Line”; “VALTAC”; and “Rail for the Valley”.
Today, TransLink has few friends, except for the SkyTrain Lobby and 130,000 students enjoying the $1 a day U-Pass.
Connectivity creates new opportunities.
TransLink is moribund with its light-metro style of planning, long rejected by transit planners around the world. The organization cannot see out of its very small box.
Learn from other models and create your own.
Since TransLink is wedded to light-metro an almost unique position, it refuses to learn from other models, except of course how to creatively tax people, such as road pricing and road tolls.
The real problem of course is that TransLink is run by the Premier’s Office and does what it is told to do and until that changes, bad transit planning and expensive political deals involving transit will be the order of the day and to hell with the transit customer and taxpayer.
Flexibility
This will get the SkyTrain boys knickers in a knot!
The Arbutus Corridor, the classic dedicated or reserved rights-of-way.
LETTER: Flexibility makes light rail the clear choice for Surrey
- posted Feb 18, 2016
The Editor,
There is myth being repeated in the media that light rail is slow. Some are saying it is slower than SkyTrain ai??i?? and even as slow as road traffic.
This needs to be corrected.
Studies have shown that street cars operating in mixed traffic are about 10 per cent faster than buses ai??i?? but street cars, or trams, are not quite light rail. Modern light rail is a street car or tram that operates on dedicated or reserved rights-of-ways, with priority signalling at intersections. The reserved rights-of-way enables modern LRT to obtain commercial speeds of that of a metro, with commercial speed largely determined by the number of stations per route kilometre.
The optimum station spacing for LRT in an urban setting is about every 500 metres to 600 metres but with light-metro stations (SkyTrain) being so expensive, station spacing for metro tend to be further apart ai??i?? 1 km to 1.5 km apart. This does give faster commercial speeds but it deters ridership because door-to-door travel times are longer because the transit customer must travel much further to get to transit than he/she would with light rail.
Modern LRT can obtain actual speeds equal to or faster than our present SkyTrain, if need be. In many cities today, modern LRT can also act as a passenger train operating on the mainline railways at mainline speeds.
It is the inherent flexibility of modern LRT, which can operate as a street car (in mixed traffic), as light rail on its own dedicated routeAi?? and a passenger train ai??i?? often on the same route ai??i?? that made light metro such as ALRT/ART SkyTrain (only seven built in 40 years) and the French VAL obsolete.
Those who continually dismiss modern LRT with one excuse or another are not telling the truth and they never explain why only seven ALRT/ART SkyTrain systems have been built in 40 years and why none have ever been allowed to compete directly against modern light rail.
Could it be that transit authorities around the world do not want to invest in expensive ai???Edselai??? style transit, such as SkyTrain?
Malcolm Johnston, Delta
An Open Letter To The Minister of Transportation
To whom it may concern:
Cutting ribbons is not the main function of the Minister of Transportation, but in BC it seems it is.
Trying to justify the Premier’s (or should I say Fraser Surrey docks/SNC’s) $3.5 billion Massey Tunnel vanity bridge replacements is seemingly taking a lot of your time. I understand your many challenges, rewriting history and distorting the truth and hiring shills to make the case.
The Gateway highway project is givingAi?? headaches of late, with the road slowly buckling due to poor engineering, but maybe the money was spent instead on the grossly overbuilt theAi?? three overpass (one is gated) Hwy 17 & 99 interchange. At the Tsawwssen end of things, Hwy. 17Ai?? is so ill designed and needlessly overbuilt, it boggles the mind.
Simplicity and economy just was not in the lexicon
of the engineers mind when they designed this ‘spaghetti junction’
at Hwy. 17 & 99!
Who’s in charge, the MoT or the Road Builders Association?
I know that inAi?? BC, politicians love to build new highways because their political friends in the Road Builders Association and the trucking industry just love taxpayers money being spent on them. You will make many new friends, until of course, the government stops building highways, as one can only blacktop so much scarce farmlands.
The Premier is ultimately responsible for our little gem called TransLink and all what it entails. I understand this but there is one problem that must be dealt with and that is regional transit.
Regional mayors are tired of anteing up more money for the BC governments cherished light-metro system and are balking at increasing property taxes to pay for gold plated schemes which are dictated from the Premier’s Office. The Evergreen Line will now open in 2017 because the boss, Premier Cristy Clark (a.k.a. Premier Photo-op) desperately wants to cut ribbons for the new line before the next political election.
At the same time, South Fraser politicians are mulling over leaving TransLink because of their taxpayer’s dollars are spent on other peoples transit projects. The grossly expensive SkyTrain Broadway subway maybe the catalyst for a South Fraser rebellion,Ai?? that is why you have installed Mr. Factbender, sorry Fassbender to oversee transit.
Forget about bogus “Business Cases” for both the Broadway subway and the poor man’s SkyTrain (a.k.a. LRT) in Surrey; remember in 2008, American Transit expert Gerald Fox, shredded TransLink’s Evergreen Line’s business case. Mr. Fox stated;
“I found several instances where the analysis had made assumptions that were inaccurate, or had been manipulated to make the case for SkyTrain. If the underlying assumptions are inaccurate, the conclusions may be so to“. Fox later said; “TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor and corridor and has succeeded in keeping the proprietary rail system expanding. In the US all new transit projects that seek federal support are now subject to scrutiny by a panel of transit peers, selected and monitored by the federal government, to ensure that the projects are analysed honestly, and the taxpayers” interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US.”.
Hardly reassuring, isn’t it, as dealing with TransLink is like dealing with a Pandora’s Box of myth, bad planning,Ai??and ineptitude.
There is one South Fraser rail project that could unite the Fraser Valley with a credible transit line, the Rail for the Valley TramTrain or Interurban initiative for the old BC Electric route. Backed by the Leewood Projects Study, which shows that a TramTrain project is financially viable, the return of the interurban has been seen by South Fraser politicians as an economic and doableAi??project. That was until a diktat from the Premier’s office informed BC Liberal leaning mayors and councilors that it would be unwise to support such a project, especially if they wanted to run under the party banner in upcoming elections.
Maybe the Premier’s friends at SNC Lavalin, didn’t want any distractions interfering with the $3 billion Broadway SkyTrain subway to Arbutus?
By the way, $3 billion is a lot of money, considering that the BC Liberals sold the entire BC Rail railway for a mere billion dollars, in a deal reminiscent ofAi?? Bre-X! But hey, that is a different issue, or is it?
The “Full Build” 2011nRftV/Leewood TramTrain is 13 km. long, costing just under $1 billionAi??and would service Vancouver, Richmond, to Chilliwack Chillwack. Compare this to the 11 km. $1.4 billion, now over budget and two year delayed Evergreen line and it is easy to see one gets a lot more bang for your buck with a TramTrain
TransLink and the BC government also have their own, rather dated studies, which focuses on a bus based transit system for South Fraser Communities. Other than the fact that buses do not attract the motorist from the car, there is no evidence that TransLink or the BC Transportation ministry clearly understand Bus Rapid Transit. To be truly BRT, a bus needs to be guided or operate on an independent rights-of-way, which in most cases costs only slightly less than a LRT solution, with many more drawbacks. There is clear evidence that the recent provincial government Valley transportation report was done, like a similar study for the E & N Railway, to downplay any rail transit solution for South Fraser municipalities. The RftV/Leewood Study makes a mockery of the provincial government’s efforts.
It is howAi??the Ministry of TransportationAi??responds to the many important transportation issues South of the Fraser River, that will decide the fate of TransLink, where present municipal unhappiness with current transit taxation, planning and implementation will later translate into out right rebellion and a succession from TransLink, just in time for the next provincial election in 2017.
Then there is TransLink itself. This ponderous bureaucracy which forever wants more and more tax money, with no public oversight. TransLink is so ill loved that the public rejected paying any more taxes to fund it by an overwhelming no vote in last years plebiscite.
TransLink has failed to offer a transit system that is both efficient and affordable. TransLink’sAi?? six figured salaried bureaucrats have convinced themselves of the opposite,Ai??that their hugely expensive light-metro only policy, leaving Vancouver and TransLink aAi?? laughing stock in international circles. Just last year, TransLink let go two senior planners that dared to mention that building LRT on Broadway would be about $2 billion cheaper and carry more people.
The major problem with our transit system can be summed up with a comparison with Calgary’s LRT system. To date, the 59.9 kmAi??Calgary’s LRT system has cost the AlbertaAi??taxpayer just over $2 billion, yet carries over 333,000 customers daily. By comparison, Vancouver’s 68.7 km SkyTrain carries a claimed ridership of just over 390,000 customers a day yet light-metro system has cost the taxpayer now over $10 billion to date!
A complete reappraisal of our regional transit system is a must. Alas the Minister of Transportation, like the many before him, has put his headAi?? likeAi??the proverbialAi??Ostrich, in the sand and ignores the many problems plaguing TransLink.
The public is so very tired with the transit issue that it may lay blame, not on regional mayors, but the Premier in her run up to election year.
Pity……
80% Support For Light Rail In Surrey
80 per cent of Surrey residents support light-rail transit: poll
Vancouver, BC, Canada / News Talk 980 CKNW | Vancouver’s News. Vancouver’s TalkPosted: February 15, 2016
A new poll suggests 80 per cent of Surrey residents are in favor of light-rail transit.
Ipsos Public Affairs surveyed 600 residents between Jan. 25 and 29 of this year.
Besides overall support for the project, the poll also suggests residents believe LRT will have a number of community benefits.
Ninety per cent believe LRT will improve transportation options for Surrey, 88 per cent believe it will help connect communities in Surrey, and 86 per cent agree it would help create more jobs.
The city estimates the project would create 45,000 jobs ai??i?? 30,000 of those in construction and 15,000 in maintenance.
About 1,000 people move to Surrey each month, and it is expected to be the largest city in B.C. by 2041.
The light-rain line is expected to take 12 years to complete once started.
LRT was a key focal point in the recent failed Transit Referendum. Surrey has been working on bringing LRT to the city for several years.
What about the Patullo Bridge?
Both the Patullo and the Fraser River rail bridges have well past their “best by” dates
and desperately are in need of replacement.
In 1978, the GVRD were poised to install a three leg light rail system on the region and to cross the Fraser river a new bridge would have to be built.
Demonstrating the forward thinking of the era, so sorely lacking today,Ai?? GVRD planners conceived a multi-use bridge tp replace both the aging Patullo Bridge and the single track and down right decrepit Fraser River rail bridge, to service:
- Mainline railways (2 track lift span)
- LRT (two tracks)
- Ai??Cyclists (two cycle paths)
- Vehicles (four lanes)
The envisioned bridge, includingAi?? a ‘fast’ lift span for the railway line, would have given ample capacity, including a Vancouver to Chilliwack rail service which was envisaged at the time.
It is now history, as the provincial government imposed SkyTrain on the region and a stand alone SkyTrain, Sky Bridge was built instead and a replacement for the badly aging Pattullo Bridge is about a decade away and a replacement for the absolutely decrepit Fraser River Rail Bridge is no where in sight.
Today, the provincial Liberal government is going to spend $3.5 billion or more on a single ten lane “vanity” bridge to replace the recently refurbished Massey Tunnel, while at the same time, the Patullo and Fraser River Rail bridges rot away.
Would it not be better to invest the $3.5 billion on a new tube to complement the existing Massey Tunnel and a new multi use bridge to replace the previous aging road and rail bridges, while at the same time bring transit improvements to South of the Fraser?
Maybe metro Vancouver should dust off the 1978 rail/road bridge and build it to replace both decaying bridges?
Maybe regional mayors should set aside their political allegiances and do what should be done?
I am not holding my breathe!
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