News From Portland – Trams and Light Rail
The newly-redesigned Portland Streetcar website is especially informative, and is doing a great job
reporting on the week-by-week progress of our forthcoming east side (of the Willamette River) streetcar line. For example, see
http://portlandstreetcar.org/node/16
for a video visualization of the new line, and also
http://portlandstreetcar.org/node/12
which has a good map and discussion of the current Broadway Bridge closure. The 1913 bridge will connect the existing west side line to the new east side one; the bridge is closed all summer for track laying. The bridge was the world’s largest bascule bridge and is still one of the larger ones. If you like interesting bridges, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Bridge_
for a good article.
Finally, have a look at
http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/publicMap.shtml?a=portland-sc&r=streetcar
for a realtime map showing the locations of the trams on the west side
Prefab tram track = fast construction! Friends of the Broadway Light Rail/Streetcar Take Note!
The following article from EccoRussia, gives an account of the installation of 670 metres of prefabricated tram track on the Athens (Greece) light rail/tram in just 10 days or about 67 metres of new tram track a day! At this speed of track laying it would take a mere 14 days to lay one kilometre of new track!
What is important, is that new tram/LRT construction would not unduly affect local merchants for a great length of time, as one’s storefront would not see construction in front of it for more than a few day, unlike Susan Heyes, whose business was disrupted for years by subway cut-and-cover construction!
It also means that a 20 km. BCIT to UBC LRT line would take less than 300 days to build! Or having two construction groups, working from BCIT and UBC towards each other, would take about 150 days. Now that is something to think about!
The first extension in the Athens tram, was duly finished and commissioned for circulation, in mid-October.
The extension measuring 670 meters comes as a trial for new technologies rather than a substantial addition to the already operating 22 km network.
One of them and surely the most important is the introduction of prefabricated segments for the substructure.
The segments were used in the crossing of Poseidonos avenue, a high velocity motorway in the south of Athens and gateway to the seaside tourist and nightlife areas.
In order to facilitate the construction of the crossing and the sequential congestion of traffic, given a conventional construction, prefabricated segments came as a natural choice.
The segments were constructed in a prefab plant in the outskirts of Athens, using Belgian know-how adapted in the local conditions.
The segments incorporating the rails and all major network duct ways were laid in less than ten days, including the soil and substructure preparation, a major advance to the other ways monthly time span.
Behavior up to now in the heavy traffic is said to be very smooth, and it is almost certain that prefab segments are to be used in the next extension to Peraeus.
Tram S.A. was founded in March 2001 and is a subsidiary company of ATTIKO METRO S.A.
In 2002, the company begun the construction of the new Athens tram network, while commercial operation started in July 2004, a few weeks before the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
TRAM S.A. is a public service corporation supervised by the Ministry of Transportation & Communications.
The company’s mission is to design, develop and operate the modern tram network.
http://www.ecorussia.info/en/ecopedia/examples-of-green-transport
TramTrain’s Now Invade Australia
What is good for Karlsruhe, Germany and maybe good for the Vancouver/Fraser Valley region, is now seen as good for Newcastle Australia!
For a transit mode that is yet 20 years old, the simplicityAi??Ai??andAi??Ai??cost effectiveness of TramTrain is being demonstrate not only in Europe and North America, but now also in Australia.
Communities are pressurizing their Governments, Councils and Politicians to instigate Light Rail/Tram-Train systems.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/trams-back-on-the-tracks-after-60-years-20100824-13qg8.html
http://saveourrail.org.au/index.html
http://www.newcastledeservesbetter.com/
Ai??Ai??Save Our Rail NSW Inc. & NEWCASTLE TRANSPORT for BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, have prepared & commissioned feasibility studies.
From Bus to Light Rail
From
to
Light Rail.
The following Master’s Degree Project – Ottawa’s Transit Busway to Light Rail by David James, is well worth a read.
http://homepages.ucalgary.ca/~dpjames/mdp/david_james-mdp-final.pdf
PRT – Gadgetbahnen on Steroids.
Every few years, much is made of PRT or Personal Rapid Transit, as being the new way to move people. Except for a few specialized installations, such as Morgantown USA, PRT has proven to be both expensive for what it does and esthetically unappealing.
For a PRT system to actually work, one would need elevated PRT lines every 500 metres or so crisscrossing, grid like,Ai??Ai??a city, to provide the network that would make PRT attractive to the customer.
In an age where even putting simple tram tracks on a city street may lead to years of public debate, PRT would lead to a public revolution.
Vancouver is the perfect example: After the first elevated SkyTrain was installed Vancouver City Council passed a bylaw outlawing elevated transit systems being built in the city, which helped Vancouver to get the $2.8 billion RAV/Canada line built as a subway in Vancouver.
PRT maybe applicable in specialized locations, but as a comprehensive public transportation system, I rather think not.
The following is the latest in “building a new mousetrap“.
http://www.mist-er.com/files/Polish%20Podcar%20Progress.pdf
Daily trains from Seattle to Vancouver could double – From the Vancouver Province
Ai??Ai??
Ai??Ai??
Daily trains from Seattle to Vancouver could double
By Frank Luba, The Province – August 20, 2010AmtrakA?ai??i??ai???s long-range plans for trains into Vancouver could mean four trips a day instead of the current two.
The current two trains A?ai??i??ai??? which were expanded for the 2010 Winter Olympics from a single daily trip A?ai??i??ai??? are only running because the Canadian government extended a pilot project providing border-clearance service to the American carrier.
The project was instituted in August of 2009 in anticipation of Olympic visitors, and then extended in March to continue through September.
ItA?ai??i??ai???s been a hit.
The second train attracted a record of nearly 25,000 passengers in July, and the second-quarter total of 214,641 passengers was an increase of 12 per cent over the second quarter of 2009.
Total ridership on the service, which runs all the way to Portland, was 398,414 through to June 30 A?ai??i??ai??? a 17.3 per cent increase over 2009.
Andrew Wood of the Washington State Department of Transport, which helps run the Amtrak Cascades service to Canada, said a decision on the pilot project is imminent.
A?ai??i??Ai??[The B.C. government] have notified us that a decision has been reached,A?ai??i??A? said Wood Friday. A?ai??i??Ai??They will be notifying us shortly.A?ai??i??A?
A?ai??i??Ai??The B.C. government is very enthusiastic about the train being on and they have been working with us on this,A?ai??i??A? he said.
A?ai??i??Ai??ItA?ai??i??ai???s our intention for this to remain permanent and building on our long range plan, we would like to have more service.A?ai??i??A?
Wood indicated those plans are to have four trips in both directions.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Border Service Agency, which deals with the border clearance project, declined to answer queries about the situation Friday.
The B.C. Ministry of Intergovernmental Relations, which has been working with Washington on the Amtrak situation, failed to respond to a request for an interview.
Whatever happens, travellers to Vancouver from the U.S. can get some good deals if they purchase a trip by Sept. 27 for travel though Sept. 30.
In addition to a 25-per-cent reduction on the price of their train ticket, Cascades passengers can get a downtown Vancouver hotel from $107 US through Tourism Vancouver, and a brochure of reduced fees to a variety of sites through Vancouver Attraction Group.
Among the attractionss are the Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours, Grouse Mountain, harbour cruises and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
A video about the Cascades service can be found at www.amtrakcascades.com.
The territories of modern tramway: line to the sustainable city – Jacques Stambouli
Some interesting reading for the weekend.
The territories of modern tramway: line to the sustainable city
Jacques Stambouli
Abstracts
The implementation of new tram lines may contribute to the emergence of a sustainable city? To answer this question, this paper takes a theoretical model by inserting the economic system of transport in three environments: general economic environment, social environment, natural environment. A new tram line corresponds to a new offer in the economic system of transport of an urban area. This new product offers the potential effects on the economic system of transport and its three environments. These effects are identified from various studies of urban planning agencies of Nantes, Grenoble and Strasbourg. They are grouped in three areas geometric line, the corridor, the perimeter.Ai??Ai?? It is then possible to organize these territories in practical areas as street, walking distance to neighborhoods and the entire city. The Sustainable Cities project then aims to use the potential effects of modern tramway for a joint breeding in urban areas of the economy, social sphere and the biosphere.
For full translated report, please go to the following link.
City & Populations With Light Rail
From David Cockle.
| Rank | City / Urban area | Country | Population | Land area (in sqKm) |
Density (people per sqKm |
Ai??Ai??
| 100 | Warsaw | Poland | 2,000,000 | 466 | 4,300 |
| 101 | Denver | USA | 1,985,000 | 1,292 | 1,550 |
| 102 | Cologne/Bonn | Germany | 1,960,000 | 816 | 2,400 |
| 103 | Hamburg | Germany | 1,925,000 | 829 | 2,300 |
| 104 | Dubai | UAE | 1,900,000 | 712 | 2,650 |
| 105 | Pretoria | South Africa | 1,850,000 | 673 | 2,750 |
| 106 | Vancouver | Canada | 1,830,000 | 1,120 | 1,650 |
| 107 | Beirut | Lebanon | 1,800,000 | 648 | 2,800 |
| 108 | Budapest | Hungary | 1,800,000 | 702 | 2,550 |
| 109 | Cleveland | USA | 1,787,000 | 1,676 | 1,050 |
| 110 | Pittsburgh | USA | 1,753,000 | 2,208 | 800 |
From http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-population-125.html
Vancouver is 106th in ranking.
Of the ten cities in the 1.75 to 2.0 million population rankings, all have Light rail/Tram systems except:
Hamburg, Pretoria, Vancouver & Beirut.
Dubai is currently constructing an ART system
YouTube videos of respective systems:
Warsaw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvTwLzPZCs&feature=related
Denver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5p1E3kF1OE
Cologne/Bonn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWHol_9tZS0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyUwcyIPXfc
Budapest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt7z4H9yip0
Cleveland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8GKHWZID-k
Pittsburg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeT16FGrIF8
New highway won’t help tunnel – Then why build a new highway?
Now the truth comes out, the new Gateway highway being built across Delta farm land won’t reduce truck traffic through the tunnel. Mind you we knew this years ago, but the provincial government and transportation minions said “oh no, Gateway would take a lot of trucks off the 99 highway (with implications of reducing truck traffic through the tunnel)”.
But of course, the multi billion dollar Gateway highways and bridge building program, like the RAV/Canada and SkyTrain metro lines,Ai??Ai??has nothing to do with alleviating transportation problems in the region, rather its is all about land development, particularly taking precious farmland out of the Agriculture Land Reserve!
Gateway has proven current SkyTrain/metro planning isAi??Ai??unaffordable, thus for the foreseeable future, ‘rubber on asphalt’ transit solutions will be the order of the day……..unless the region starts building with much cheaper light rail and very much cheaper TramTrain.
WhatAi??Ai??of course is notAi??Ai??mentionedAi??Ai?? is extending the RAV/Canada Line metro across Richmond and the South Arm of the Fraser River to South Delta, simply becauseAi??Ai??it is far too expensive to do so. The new $2.8 billion metro line, while basking in the limelight with the many platitudes from the Liberal government and mainstream media, sits like a greatAi??Ai??‘white elephant’Ai??Ai??as it is just too costly to extend in Richmond, let alone across the South Arm of the Fraser River!
Blinkered 1950’s transit planning has hamstrung the taxpayer with gold plated SkyTrain/RAV metro and an ever growing freeway network andAi??Ai??earning the Vancouver Metro area a deserved name of L.A. North!
New highway won’t help tunnel
Provincial projections show only slight dip in truck traffic once South Fraser Perimeter Road opens
By Sandor Gyarmati, The Delta Optimist
August 18, 2010
Truck traffic in the George Massey Tunnel won’t decrease much when the South Fraser Perimeter Road is completed.
The provincial government’s projections obtained by the Optimist note truck traffic through the tunnel currently stands at about 15,600 trips daily, while the projected number after the highway opens will be 15,000 per day.
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson Dave Crebo said the biggest impact the SFPR is likely to have on traffic patterns in South Delta is to divert trips from the Highway 17/River Road corridor.
Coun. Scott Hamilton, who commutes to work through the tunnel daily, said Delta knew and has been saying all along the reduction of trucks through the tunnel would be minimal.
Interviewed by phone as he was about to drive through the 51-year-old tunnel, Hamilton said a Delta-commissioned study a few years ago backed up the contention that the impact on truck traffic would be insignificant. Deltaport expansion would also level out any drop in trucks the tunnel might experience, he noted.
“The studies have already been done way back and the percentage of truck traffic that would turn north through the tunnel was extremely high compared to what they were trying to make people believe,” he said.
The current daily traffic count through the tunnel stands at 95,000. According to the provincial government’s estimates, the tunnel will not see a significant traffic increase in the next few years.
Hamilton, though, said the tunnel numbers would only grow due to an increasing population base south of the Fraser River, especially in South Surrey/White Rock.
“You take a look at the modest growth Delta has had, especially in South Delta over the last 20 years, and it’s nothing compared to various areas of South Surrey and White Rock. That’s what’s impacted the tunnel and caused the problems along Highway 99.”
Development in South Delta will also play a role in increased traffic heading north into Richmond and Vancouver.
Dave Turner of Halcrow Engineering, who conducted a Tsawwassen traffic study, said it’s a given that any residential development here will have some impact on the tunnel. He said the housing development at the Tsawwassen Golf and Country Club will result in a modest increase but the bigger impact will likely occur if the population projections from development on the Tsawwassen First Nation reserve hold true.
The SFPR will help alleviate some of that population increase because the new road will redistribute traffic movements on the south side of the river, said Turner.
The government’s projected daily traffic count for the SFPR is 22,000 vehicles daily.
The $1 billion, four-lane highway will stretch from the ports at Roberts Bank to the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s expected to be completed by 2013.
Tunnel congestion and what to do about it certainly isn’t a new issue for South Delta. Back in 1987, for example, then MLA Walter Davidson warned that population growth south of the Fraser would overload bridges and the Massey Tunnel during rush hour by 1996.
He noted a Richmond municipal engineering report suggested the expansion of the Massey Tunnel and Alex Fraser and Port Mann bridges. Davidson said the Alex Fraser Bridge, which opened the previous year, had alleviated bottlenecks at the tunnel and Port Mann but rush hour back ups were already starting again.
Hamilton said he’s seen first-hand how traffic has changed from bad to better and then growing much worse again.
“I remember when they opened the Alex Fraser Bridge, for example, back in 1986 and you could have shot a cannon down the middle of that bridge and not worry about hitting anything at eight o’clock in the morning. Now sometimes traffic is backed up to Highway 10 … the commute through the tunnel isn’t going to get any better, that’s for sure.”
Hamilton said tunnel traffic won’t be alleviated unless a new crossing is built. The new Port Mann Bridge won’t be much help for northbound traffic from South Delta, he added.
Read more: http://www.delta-optimist.com/news/highway+help+tunnel/3412856/story.html#ixzz0wzysBYgo
Free Bus Passes: Come on now Main Stream Media, is that the best you can do?
The Vancouver Province has been trying to make a big issue about free transit passes issued to bus drivers and families, sorry is that the best you can do?
The Province also has an editorial today on the subject.
I’m sorry, but this pathetic attempt to rouse peoples emotions about TransLink employees and their families getting a free ride doesn’t wash. The one questionAi??Ai??not answered is: “Are the free passes being used in great numbers or are they just gathering dust in a top drawer somewhere in the house?”
The attack on free bus passes is simple to explain, TransLink is broke but instead of going after ‘big fish’ issues like building metroAi??Ai??like SkyTrain or the RAV/Canada line instead of much cheaper LRT, operating buses on routes with very little ridership Ai??Ai??or the massive, yet mostly redundant bureaucracy that is now called TransLink.
Like the ‘fare evasion’ issue, the ‘free pass’ issue is meant to play on people’s emotions about someone else getting a free ride. Most transit companies offer free passes to their employees, including railways, ferries, and the airlines and TransLink is no different.
If the mainstream media is to retain any credibility at all with local transit issues, start tackling the big issues regarding public transit in the region and leave the nickle and dime issues alone for now.
Addendum
Added August 19, 2010
http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/letters/your+math/3416843/story.html
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