ZA?rich Suburban Light Rail Line Approved
From the Railway Gazette.
The Swiss city of ZA?rich has approved a new suburban 13Ai??4 km tram line, the Limmattalbahn light rail line which would link the ZA?rich suburbs of Altstetten, Dietikon and Killwangen-Spreitenbach.
The project is backed by the cantons of ZA?rich and Aargau, which would pay 75% and 25% of the estimated SFr670m cost (CAD $782.5 million); a third of this would come from federal funding allocated to the cantons. The cantons’ jointly-owned project development company Limmattalbahn AG expects to obtain all planning consents within two years, with a view to construction starting in 2017 for completion at the end of 2019.
The Limmattalbahn would have 27 stops and is intended to provide an attractive local public transport option to support increasing residential and commercial development along the corridor, which is currently served by local buses and S-Bahn trains with limited stops.
Around 92% of the route would be on reserved track, which would permit speeds up to 60 km/h and provide a reliable journey time of around 37 min, although it is envisaged that passengers travelling from end-to-end would continue to use faster S-Bahn services.
The metre-gauge line would be electrified at 600 V DC between Altstetten and Schlieren for compatibility with the network of ZA?rich tram operator VBZ, and at 1Ai??2 kV DC from Schlieren to Killwangen for compatibility with the local railway operated by BDWM Transport. A fleet of 2 300 mm wide trams with a capacity of 200 to 260 passengers is envisaged.
Stop Press – SkyTrain Fizzles Again – UPDATED
Once again, SkyTrain breaks down and during rush hour too!
This nonsense of having only one metro line to service downtown Vancouver, demonstrates just how bad TransLink’s planning is – one breakdown and the system fizzles.
From CKNW Radio News
http://www.cknw.com/2013/10/22/skytrain-problem/
Here is TransLinkai??i??s statement: Ai??Due to a problem between Main and Broadway Station on the ExpoLine customers will have some significant delays and gaps in service. Ai??Currently, the Millennium Line running from VCC-Clark to Columbia and back, and SkyTrain is running from King George to Edmonds. Ai??There is a shuttle train running from Edmonds to Main, and service is running from Main to Downtown Stations. Ai??There will be significant delays on the Expo Line this morning, please give yourself lots of extra time or make some alternate arrangements to get to your destination.
CKNWai??i??S Terry Schintz is trying to get to work from Burnaby ai??i?? Frustration is really starting to build along the Skytrain line as thousands of commuters are going to be late, yet again today.
Wednesday
Human error blamed as thousands faced significant SkyTrain delays Tuesday morning
Advice Notes For Promoters Who Are Considering Light Rail
Thanks to David Cockle of Leewood Projects for sending the following ‘guidance notes’ for light rail, ultra light rail and more.
A?1.00 = $1.66 CAD.
UK Tram has produced a general Guidance Note and a series of Advice Notes for promoters who are considering a Light rail, Ultra Light Rail or Personal Rapid Transit Scheme.Ai?? These Notes provide promoters with practical help in preparing their schemes and making the business case.Ai??
Ai??
http://www.uktram.co.uk/Pages/
General Guidance Notes
UK Tram has produced a general Guidance Note and a series of Advice Notes for promoters who are considering a Light rail, Ultra Light Rail or Personal Rapid Transit Scheme.Ai?? These Notes provide promoters with practical help in preparing their schemes and making the business case.
They are available below:
| Guidance Note for Promoters considering Rail, Ultra Light Rail and PRT | Ai?? |
| Guidance Note for Promoters considering Light Rail | Ai?? |
Transit Can Only Improve If TransLink Is Dissolved
The following PostScript to a letter sent by Eric Chris, a professional engineer, is worthy of a post because he addresses the hidden issues of the U-Pass.
For those who live outside of TransLink’s realm, the U-Pass is a universal transit pass giving unlimited travel, forcibly sold to over 110,000 post secondary students in Metro Vancouver. There is very little accounting done with the U-Pass and no one at TransLink or at Metro Vancouver know what the actual usage rate is, nor do we know how much the U-Pass needs to be subsidized.
An interesting coincidence is that at a time when TransLink is pleading poverty, over 110,000 deep discounted U-Passes have been issued.
What we do know is that there is a large black market in U-passes, where students sell their U-passes (as a reminder, the post secondary student is forced to purchase a U-Pass, whether he/she does not want one), which again increases the subsidy rate for the deep discounted fare. An uncorroboratedAi?? source has put the number of U-Passes in use at over 60% or over 66,000 of the deep discounted U-Passes are used every day!
The taxpayer must ask; “Is TransLink’s current financial woes exacerbated by the U-Pass, where TransLink operates highly subsidized late night express and regular bus services to accommodate mainly student customers using the deep discounted U-Pass?“
Zwei echoes Mr. Chris’s observation; “Can transit can only be improved if TransLink is dissolved.”
Todd Stone et al,
When was the last time that TransLink cut service hours during off-peak times in Vancouver (weekends, holidays and weekdays) to match demand?Ai?? TransLink in Metro Vancouver can learn plenty from TransLink in Brisbane, Australia:
For next to no cost to students, TransLink offers about 100,000 students an unlimited number of trips daily to go anywhere in Metro Vancouver.Ai?? In essence, TransLink is buying its clients or riders and charging non-users paying for the express and late transit during off-peak hours, in particular.Ai?? If students had to ai???pay per tripai???, there wouldnai??i??t be so many wasteful trips by students ai??i?? trips wearing out the transit equipment and increasing the cost of transit (buses, for example, like light bulbs only operate for so many hours before they have to be replaced).
Anywhere in the world, find me one other transit organization offering ai???express and frequentai??? transit service until 2:30 am on Sundays, holidays and weekdays followed by late night transit until 3:30 am on Sundays, holidays and weekdays ai??i?? in addition to regular transit service.Ai?? Is there one?
Everyone at TransLink is over paid and spends his or her days reading and sending emails as well as addressing ai???internal TransLink stuffai???.Ai?? Really, no one at TransLink is even necessary.
TransLink employees merely get each other to do ai???stuffai??? and none of the ai???stuffai??? by the employees at TransLink matters ai??i?? studies and reports distorting the truth and promoting more sky train.Ai?? No one at TransLink makes any difference to the day to day operation of transit.Ai?? No one at TransLink designs, maintains or operates the transit system.
Who at TransLink is going to be fired for spending about $200 million to potentially increase fare evasion losses by millions of dollars annually?Ai?? Ian Jarvis, who heads TransLink, seems to be the logical choice to me.Ai?? Transit can only improve if TransLink is dissolved.
TransLink CEO, Ian Jervis Made Over $394,000 Last Year
Not bad for a career bureaucrat who has no background in public transit. Maybe a little thrift in TransLink’s senior bureaucrats stipends, would translate to a little thrift in operations, resulting in realistic planning, financingAi?? and operation.
From CKWX News 1130 radio.
Simon Druker October 16, 2013
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) ai??i?? Why do TransLinkai??i??s top executives make so much more than their counterparts?
Jordan Bateman with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) says administrative overhead is a major problem across the transit authority.
He also says similar systems heai??i??s looked at donai??i??t have the same problems.
ai???Montreal and TransLink are roughly the same size as far as annual revenue and yet the number-two person there gets paid less than the top five at TransLink,ai??? says Bateman.
TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis made just over $394,000 last year.
Bateman says that works out to $200,000 more than Premier Christy Clark and $75,000 more than Stephen Harper.
He also discounts the argument that high salaries are needed to attract top executives.
ai???For a long time weai??i??ve heard that TransLink has to pay more to compete for the best and the brightest.ai???
But the top executive at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the largest transit system in Canada, took home much less.
Their CEO, Andy Byford walked away with a salary of $294,366, which is $100,000 less than Jarvis.
ai???You can see a 10 or a 15-thousand-dollar gap but youai??i??re talking about someone who is making $90,000 a year more than a counterpart in Toronto or Montreal with a much larger transit system,ai??? says Bateman.
Montreal transit chief Carl Desrosiersai??i??s salary is listed at $297,000.
He says the comparison even extends to the United States.
ai???If you talk to most transit watchers here, they would love to be in Portlandai??i??s shoes with the transportation system Portland has, but Portlandai??i??s CEO makes about a hundred thousand dollars less.ai???
Portlandai??i??s top transit executive Neil McFarlaneai??i??s salary was $228,440 Canadian while King County Metro general manager Kevin Desmond in Seattle made the equivalent of $191,645 Canadian in 2012.
Bateman says TransLinkai??i??s entire executive is paid too much, which takes money away from operations.
Tram looks ahead to avoid collisions
New technology will make trams safer and here is a lesson to be learned. Modern light rail, trams and streetcars are constantly evolving, into a safer and and more convenient transit mode. There is no such evolution with SkyTrain as it is essentially the same mode since 1978, just tarted up every now and again.
Tram looks ahead to avoid collisions
11 Oct 2013
GERMANY: A Flexity tram operated by Frankfurt transport company VGF is to be fitted with an experimental optical sensor system designed to reduce the risk of collisions with road vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians and small objects such as footballs.
The technology has been developed by Bombardier Transportation and image processing specialists at the Austrian Institute of Technology. Cameras with high spatial resolution monitor the path in front of the tram for more than 60 m ahead, and the system automatically evaluates potential risk and responds accordingly. An initial acoustic warning enables the driver to react before automatic braking is triggered.
AIT says the 3D Stereo Vision Technology is extremely interference-proof, has a large range, high resolution and is cost-effective to implement.
From the Railway Gazette
The Real Costs of Subways – Is The Provincial Government Listening?
There is a misconception by Vancouver politicians and engineers; TransLink’s planners and bureaucrats; Ministry of Transportation bureaucrats; and The Minister of Transportation and the Premier, that subways are rather cheap to build.
TransLink has fortified this perception by deliberately over-engineering light rail to sell the idea that the cost of at-grade and or on-street light rail is near of that of a bored or cut and cover subway. The mainstream media has certainly has been fooled by this ruse.
In reality, the cost of subway construction is massive, as is the cost ofAi?? maintenance as the subway ages. The real cost of a Broadway subway would soon consume any TransLink tax increases and have TransLink crying pauper, yet again, is very short order.
The Metro Vancouver area is facing a grave transportation crisis, which simple minded MoT bureaucrats think they can solve with building more highways and have advised the provincial government of this. The provincial Liberal government (as with the NDP before) see highway and bridge projects, as well as subways, as election gimmicks to get reelected, so they demand great bridge schemes as legacies to their public spending.
The sad fact is that new highways and bridges, increases road traffic, which leads to more traffic chaos and gridlock.
The BC Liberals penchant for subways and , new highways and massive new bridges, is leading the Lower mainland to the highway of hell!
What Scarboroughai??i??s subway means for taxpayers: James
his one project will add more than $40 a year to each property tax bill for 30 years, on top of regular increases, putting the ai???freeai??? subways lie to rest forever. And what of the cityai??i??s other dire transit needs?
GetOnBoard Want’s Valley Tax Money
The pro transit group GetOnBoard BC (well Rail for the Valley is a pro transit group as well) wants a yes vote in the upcoming TransLink referendum, but they seem to be a little naive about public transit in general and firmly believe that the more money you throw at TransLink, the better it will be.
Expensive beliefs.
In a news feature in the Georgia Straight OnBoard BC pleads their case, but refuse to accept that the main problem with TransLink is their extremely dated light-metro planning which is both expensive and unproductive. TransLink has a planning/spending problem, not a funding program.
Until one tackles the endemic problems associated with TransLink, its ponderous bureaucracy will be forever be at the taxpayer’s door begging for new funding for dodgy transit schemes that will do little in creating an affordable and efficient public transit network for the Metro Vancouver region and the Fraser Valley.
OnBoard BC’s naive belief that more taxes and user fees will improve transit, will soon turn to disappointment when TransLink, empowered by new sources of revenue will just do the same things over again, expecting different results.
Fraser Bridge Chaos?
Exactly what Zwei has predicted!
The BC Liberal Fraser River crossing spells the death knell of the BC Agricultural land Reserve, regional transit planning, and metro transportation planning. This bridge is all about satisfying McQuarrie, SNC Lavalin, Enbridge, land speculators, and motorists. LA North is not just coming, it is here.
Planners see problems with bridge proposed to replace Massey Tunnel
Report says new Hwy. 99 crossing could ai???unleash pent-up demandai??? and create even more congestion
A report by senior planner Ray Kan suggests the new bridge may also draw more drivers from other crossings such as the Alex Fraser Bridge, which would counter the regionai??i??s growth plans that aim to see half of all trips by 2030 made by walking, cycling and transit, and to reduce the distances people drive by one-third.
ai???Unfettered access could easily result in a congested facility,ai??? Kan wrote in a report that goes to Metroai??i??s transportation committee Wednesday. ai???Further, an expanded facility may simply move the ai???bottleneckai??i?? further downstream or upstream.ai???
The report notes that while Metro supports better goods movement along the Highway 99 corridor, last monthai??i??s announcement of the bridge was ai???unexpectedai??? given the lack of technical information provided during the consulting process.
The province has also yet to release a business plan on the projectai??i??s scope, design or cost, or announce whether the bridge would be tolled, which could affect the availability of provincial funding for other transportation projects across the Metro region.
ai???We have to move goods and people around the region but there has to be an integrated plan,ai??? said Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, who chairs the transportation committee. ai???Thatai??i??s the piece thatai??i??s missing in all of this … is there additional opportunity get people out of their cars?
ai???There certainly is a need for upgrades to the tunnel or a new bridge there but thereai??i??s also everything that goes with it. Itai??i??s hard to comment when we havenai??i??t seen the plan.ai???
The uncertainty around the bridge puts into doubt the validity of the technical work being done by TransLink on its regional goods and transportation strategies, as well as on the Pattullo Bridge review, the report says. It also raises the spectre of unplanned growth in the area as a result of replacing the tunnel with a bridge.
ai???It is unclear what basic demographic assumptions the ministry has been using to justify the proposed capacity on the bridge,ai??? the report states. ai???It is also unclear what assumptions have been made about plans by Port Metro Vancouver to expand container throughput capacity at Roberts Bank, and to better utilize available marine terminal capacity at Fraser Surrey Docks.ai???
Transportation Minister Todd Stone on Tuesday refused to provide further details on the bridge project, saying only that an investment is needed in the George Massey tunnel to reduce significant choke points in the Lower Mainland.
The province maintains the tunnel is in need of repair as it does not meet modern seismic standards, and has aging operating systems, narrow lanes and no capacity for cyclists.
About 77 per cent of all vehicles using the tunnel in 2011 were single-occupant vehicles, with 10 per cent multi-occupant vehicles and one per cent buses (which carry about 26 per cent of people through the tunnel).
ai???You talk to people south of the Fraser and they will tell you the George Massey tunnel is overdue. If we want to provide possible rapid bus to serve the communities of the Fraser Valley, we canai??i??t do that with the current tunnel,ai??? Stone said.
ai???Any suggestion weai??i??re out of sync with the regional plan simply is not true. We believe weai??i??re tackling the next bottleneck in the Lower Mainland.ai???
Stone said there would be improvements to the Highway 99 corridor on both sides of the existing tunnel, but itai??i??s unclear whether the project will extend as far as Vancouverai??i??s Oak Street. He was whisked out of Waterfront SkyTrain station by his assistants before he could elaborate.
ai???It would be very similar to the Port Mann (Highway 1 improvement project),ai??? he said.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said heai??i??s worried the plan could potentially have an effect on the regional growth strategy as well as on farmland in nearby municipalities.
ai???Iai??i??m very concerned about the effect of this. At the foundation of it all we certainly want that corridor to be decongested, but the implications of this ai??i?? I have no idea what theyai??i??re going to be,ai??? he said. ai???We really donai??i??t know what the ramifications of the bridge, or what the full project is … the details have been so scant.ai???
The Current Vacuum In Regional Transit Planning
Where’s the transit?
This question is being asked more and more and despite the hype an hoopla from Translink in their quest for more money, there is absolutely no concept of a regional transit strategy. Oh yes, we have SkyTrain for Vancouver; light rail for Surrey; and express buses (BRT is somewhat a fraudulent term) everywhere, but there is no regional vision for transit in the metro Vancouver area.
TransLink’s planning has been Balkanized to suit the politics of the region. Vancouver politicians wants subways, so Broadway must have a $4 billion SkyTrain subway. Surrey wants light rail, so Translink is over engineering light rail to make it comparable in costs with SkyTrain to please both Surrey politicians and the entrenched SkyTrain lobby. The ruling BC Liberals and their acolytes want “rubber on asphalt” solutions, which translates into Bus Rapid Transit or BRT, for their massive new highway and bridge building program.
The result; a massively expensive, disjointed transit plan that favours election dates, rather than building an efficient and affordable transit network for the Metro Vancouver area.
In Europe, transit planning is based on pleasing transit customers with good service and designing transit in such a way to attract the motorist from the car, without bankrupting the taxpayer.
Until the region has a truly ‘Metro” transit authority, Hodge-podge transit planning will continue unabated. To clearly illustrate how political interference has fouled up our regional transit planning, both the Canada Line and the SkyTrain lines are light metro’s, both are fully automated, but because SkyTrain is a unconventional proprietary railway, which trains are power by Linear Induction Motors and the Canada Line is a conventional heavy rail metro, powered by conventional rotary motors, both transit systems are incompatible in operation! This means no through running or no joint procurement of vehicles. The Canada Line has further embarrassed itself by costing far more than TransLink anticipated and the scope of the project was so reduced that the Canada Line as built, has less capacity than a simple streetcar line costing about one fifth the cost! It will cost the taxpayer billions more to increase capacity on the Canada Line, so much so, it would be cheaper to build anew LRT line from Vancouver to Steveston and beyond.
Ai??It costs about $500 each month to put someone onto transit and TransLink only recovers about one-third of this cost from transit users on average; whereas, TransLink only recovers about 6% of the cost of transit from students on the U-Pass program.Ai?? Taxpayers subsidize 70% of the cost of transit on average, and every person on transit is a drain on the economy.Ai?? In addition, the heavy transit buses ruin the roads to increase the cost to municipalities for road maintenance.Ai?? Ironically, the municipalities pay TransLink for transit service to have TransLink destroy their roads in return.Ai?? Transit does not reduce the requirement for roads and leads to increased costs for more roads due the net reduction in road space by transit.
(Courtesy Eric Chris, professional engineer)
Afraid to admit past planning mistakes, including that the U-Pass program is slowly financially strangling transit operations, Translink continues to blunder along with unaffordable and unworkable transit solutions for the region. This has left the Vancouver Metro Region in a ” transit planning” vacuum and as we all know nature abhors a vacuum, so the province is filling the gap with very expensive bridge and highways building program.
L.A. North has arrived.
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