Posted by zweisystem on January 2, 2016 · 3 Comments
Another TramTrain operation opening in Germany, where customer friendly transit is the order of the day.
We also have a shovel ready TramTrain plan for Metro Vancouver, the Leewood/Rail for the Valley TramTrain, reinstating the Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban service. All that is missing is the political will and bureaucratic and academic acceptance of the plan.
Over 130 km of rail transit, connecting Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley & Surrey to Vancouver for a mere $1 billion is peanuts when you compare to today’s multi billion dollar transit schemes that seem to offer very little for a lot of money.
Written byAi?? Keith Fender
MID-SAXONY Transport Authority (VMS) says it will start using eight electro-diesel Citylink tram-trains for services from Chemnitz city centre to Hainichen, Burgstadt and Mittweida in early 2016.
Six of the tram-trains have been delivered to Chemnitz tram operator CVAG and are undergoing commissioning. Driver training and final approval tests are underway.
The tram-trains have been built by Vossloh Rail Vehicles in Valencia, Spain and the final two units will be delivered by mid January.
In early December VMS and Chemnitz tram operator CVAG received planning permission for construction of a new 2.5km tram line which will enable the extension of tram-train operations on the existing railway line to Thalheim.
The link is due to be completed in 2017 and will serve Chemnitz Technical University, terminating at Technopark. CVAG tram operations should begin in December 2017 with tram-train services extended beyond Technopark to Thalheim in December 2018.
Four additional Citylink tram-trains are on order for the new route, which is part of phase 2 of the network.
A full description of the Chemnitz tram-train project will appear in an upcoming issue of IRJ.
Posted by zweisystem on January 1, 2016 · 1 Comment
Transit news in the Vancouver metro region in 2015 was dominated by the TransLink plebiscite and despite over $12 million dollars spent to bolster the ‘YES” side the vote was decidedly against giving TransLink any more tax money.
What is even more tragic is that the politicians, bureaucrats and academics who supported the “YES” side have remained deaf to the results and except for a few senior staff let go by TransLink, nothing has really changed and it is business as usual; planning a $3 billion subway here and a $2.5 billion poor man’s SkyTrain disguised as LRT there. Any shift from previous planning has been met with deaf ears.
The province has also jumped into the transportation fray by announcing a $3.5 billion bridge to replace the perfectly good George Massey Tunnel, simply because Liberal supporters South of the Fraser want a bridge, but not to relieve congestion as one embarrassingly out of touch, Delta Mayor Lois Jackson claims (for in reality congestion will be just moved to the Richmond side of the bridge) but to deepen the Fraser River to allow Cape Max colliers and tankers to load, the premier’s favourite election gimick, LNG as well as dirty bitumen oil-sands oil from Alberta and even dirtier Montana Coal at Surrey Fraser Docks.
The river bottom needed to be deepened by at least two metres below the the top the Massey Tunnel and in BC, one gets what one pays for – donate to the BC Liberals and viola, a new taxpayer funded $3.5 billion bridge so big ships can ply the Fraser to Liberal friendly dock owners.
And here I thought the Roberts Bank Super Port was built to give a viable alternative of large ships traveling up and down the Fraser, silly me.
Vanity projects and ongoing photo-ops, generally describe transit planning in the region and real needs like a crumbling Patullo Bridge and a downright decrepit Fraser River Rail Bridge replacements are all but ignored.
Sadly, this will be transit planning until the next provincial election, the tried and true “rubber on asphalt” tactic to garner votes and nothing more.
The future for good economic and affordable transit is bleak and sadly, I see no difference with the NDP, who also remain extremely myopic on the subject.
The past two decades in Metro Vancouver have been the “Locust Years” where transit money has been lavishly squandered on questionable vanity projects.
A happy new years it is not, as Metro Vancouver has reached the nadir of good regional planning and if the same bunch of mayors that have allowed this travesty to happen, ever get to run TransLink, god help us all!
Posted by zweisystem on December 30, 2015 · 3 Comments
Oops, a bad day for TransLink and the mini-metro system.
Confusion reigns, as TransLink can’t even manage a coherent news story.
Canada Line resumes after ai???fire incidentai??? causes delays
Vancouver, BC, Canada / News Talk 980 CKNW | Vancouver’s News. Vancouver’s Talk
December 29, 2015
Good news for rush hour commuters ai??i?? TransLink says a disruption on the Canada Line has been resolved.
Earlier this afternoon, TransLink was forced to close Marine Drive station after a ai???fire incident,ai??? which cut all service for Southbound Trains.
Spokesperson Anne Drennan says the transit authority had to evacuate passengers from a problem train at the station.
ai???Itai??i??s on tracks, we are pulling another train in beside problem train and evacuating passengers from one train to other.ai???
Meanwhile at Radio 11:30………..
Power failure behind Canada Line shut-down
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) ai??i?? A power failure is being blamed for a shut down of service to the airport on the Canada Line Tuesday afternoon.
A train was forced to be evacuated at Marine Drive Station.
TransLink says a shuttle bus was put into place at any stations that were impacted. Ai??It says additional security was on hand at stations to make sure things ran smoothly.
Many people tweeted pictures of long lineups, crowded trains and big groups of passengersAi??waiting.
And finally, a moderate earthquake, late Tuesday evening shut the entire mini-metro down.
A transit security officer, right, directs a passenger where to catch a bus outside the Commercial-Broadway Skytrain station after the commuter train system was shut down to check for any possible damage to elevated guideways in Vancouver, B.C., in the early morning hours of Wednesday December 30, 2015, after an earthquake struck off the west coast late Tuesday night. The moderate quake struck at 11:39 p.m. local time Tuesday about 20 kilometres north of Victoria and was felt across much of southern British Columbia.
Photograph by: Darryl Dyck, THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER – Many residents of Metro Vancouver felt shaking late Tuesday night, as a moderate earthquake struck near Victoria.
The quake struck at 11:39 p.m., about 20 kilometres north of Victoria and was felt across much of southern British Columbia.
Earthquakes Canada said the quake measured 4.3 on the Richter scale, while the U.S. Geological Survey reported it as a 4.8 magnitude quake. The Canadian agency said there were no reports of damage………………
In Metro Vancouver, SkyTrain temporarily shut down until crews determined it was safe to operate the train on the guideway. TransLink advised there was shuttle service running from Waterfront Station to Surrey, and from Waterfront to Broadway/Commercial, stopping at each station along the route.
Service resumed Wednesday morning.
Posted by zweisystem on December 23, 2015 · 1 Comment
A very Merry Christmas from Rail for the Valley
A German Schmalspurbahn Christmas Train
Posted by zweisystem on December 20, 2015 · 3 Comments
It just gets better and better.
If we look at the traffic flows for Broadway, which are under 4,000 pphpd, there is no way a subway would meet any honest business plan requirements.
But in BC, business plans are a dime a dozen, you get what you pay for.
It is interesting that those promoting the Broadway subway, are doing so to fulfill there own agendas of land development or civic hoopla, not caring at all about the taxpayer.
Vision(less) Vancouver TransLink, and the majority of Metro mayors are extremely dishonest promoting the Broadway subway, so dishonest in fact that they should be prevented from operating TransLink.
Toronto taxpayers could be on the hook for an additional $165 million for the controversial Scarborough subway extension. Time for a re-think.
The arguments against building the controversial Scarborough subway extension just keep rolling in and adding up.
The latest? The city could be on the hook for an additional $165 million in costs for the ill-conceived $3.56-billion project.
Thatai??i??s because the Building Industry and Land Development Association, better known as BILD, is arguing it should not have to pay development charges totaling that amount for the extension because planning justifications for it are flawed, ridership numbers have been exaggerated, and the city failed to spell out the operating costs for the subway as required by provincial legislation.
For the rest of the story…………
Posted by zweisystem on December 17, 2015 · 6 Comments
No, the George Massey Tunnel replacement bridge is not going to reduce congestion or bring faster commute times, the real reason for this bridge has nothing to do about transit or gridlock, it is all about LNG, Alberta Oil, and Montana coal.
The folks who own Fraser Surrey Docks want T1 Supertankers sized tankers for LNG, T1 and dirty bitumen oil from Alberta; and Valemax sized ore carriers to carry very dirty Montana coal and these massive tankers and colliers due to their immense size, need a greater draft to navigate the Fraser, deeper than the top of the George Massey Tunnel. This means that the Massey Tunnel needs to be replaced and at the taxpayer’s expense.
Maybe Fraser Surrey docks should foot the bill for the new bridge and not the BC taxpayer.
Beware of claims of improved transportation because all this $3.5 billion bridge will do is move congestion about 3 km into Richmond, with tailbacks beginning at Steveston Hwy.
Why?
Simple, because the present four bridges, the Lang, Oak, Knight, and Queensborough are at or near capacity during the day and more traffic provided by the new bridge has nowhere to go, but sit and idle on Hwy. 99.
Until a new bridge across the North Arm of the Fraser and highway is built to Burnaby/Vancouver, congestion will reign supreme in Richmond.
In BC, rubber on asphalt wins elections, no matter what the cost and transit, well that is just for losers.
Plans met with calls for new road pricing policy
By Kelly Sinoski, VANCOUVER SUN December 16, 2015
The province has unveiled plans for a new $3.5 billion toll bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel. The 10-lane bridge will include an HOV lane in each direction and will be built in the same location as the old tunnel. Highway upgrades will also include new interchanges in Richmond and Delta. Rendering of a proposal for a bridge over the Fraser River to replace the George Massey Tunnel.
The B.C. governmentai??i??s announcement of a $3.5-billion toll bridge to replace the George Massey Tunnel could signal a massive change involving charges facing Metro Vancouver motorists in the future, with regional mayors renewing calls for a region-wide tolling policy.
By the time the first cars hit the new 10-lane Massey Bridge in 2022, regional mayors hope they will have some form of road pricing ai??i?? such as tolls on all roads and bridges or a fee per distance travelled ai??i?? in place across the region. The idea is to make travel more equitable across the region, particularly south of the Fraser, where residents are already subject to a tolled Port Mann Bridge and Golden Ears Bridge, and would also face fees to cross the new Massey Bridge and a replacement Pattullo Bridge.
This would mean the already heavily congested Alex Fraser Bridge would be the sole free bridge across the river. Many drivers are already using that crossing to skip tolls on the Port Mann, which range from $3.15 per small vehicle to $9.45 per truck.
For the rest of the story…….
Posted by zweisystem on December 16, 2015 · 1 Comment
Question: What happens when developers have to pay for expensive subway construction?
Answer: They want to build with much cheaper light rail instead.
Reality: Subways are great, if someone else pays for them.
Lesson: Lost on Vision(less) Vancouver, the provincial Minister for Transportation, the Premier, the NDP, TransLink, and regional mayors.
After a powerful developer lobby challenged the city over the Scarborough subway, its main arguments mirror the growing political concern over the line at city hall
Marcus Oleniuk / Toronto Star Order this photo
A subway, as a replacement for the aging Scarborough RT, seen here at Midland Station, continues to rage, with a new challenge from the development industry.
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