Rail for the Valley News – Two Events
Two events upcoming! One of them is in Abbotsford, the other is in Vancouver.
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Event 1
Friends of Rail for the Valley ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Tuesday, March 16, 7:00pm
Abbotsford UFV, Building D, Room D213
On March 16th we will be holding our first Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Friends Of Rail For The Valley Society. Here we will discuss progress of the campaign, society details, future direction, and other related issues. This is a very important meeting for our Society.
We will also need to elect some more directors, so please consider that, and also invite anyone you think would be interested in helping out.
-Paul Gieselman (President)
Get involved in the community effort. We need your help!
There will be refreshments. Bring a friend. Membership is $10, and you can sign up at the AGM.
*Please RSVP railforthevalley@gmail.com, so we know the number of people who will be coming.*
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Event 2
Rail for the Valley A?ai??i??ai??? LIGHT RAIL RALLY & RIDE A?ai??i??ai??? Granville Island, Vancouver
Saturday, March 20, 2:00pm (first day of Spring)
Meet at the Granville Island Olympic Line Station
More details to come
This is your chance to experience VancouverA?ai??i??ai???s state-of-the-art 2010 Streetcar while itA?ai??i??ai???s still in operation. (Rides are free!)
Some background (From the Province)
Streetcar named desire shows transit future (The Province, Feb. 28, 2010)
A?ai??i??Ai??ItA?ai??i??ai???s a tiny 1.8-kilometre Olympic streetcar demonstration project between Granville Island and the Olympic Village that may prove to be the key transit legacy A?ai??i??ai??? especially south of the Fraser. The False Creek service also drew more riders than expected and, from day one, itA?ai??i??ai???s been very much A?ai??i??Ai??a streetcar named desireA?ai??i??A? for those in the Valley who call for just such a service on the former Inter-urban rail corridor from Surrey to Chilliwack.A?ai??i??A?
Yes, VancouverA?ai??i??ai???s Olympic Streetcar Line illustrates what we can have in the Valley all the way to Chilliwack, very soon and at very low cost, using the already-existing Inter-urban rail line.
The demo project is scheduled to end on Sunday, so letA?ai??i??ai???s get together and have a RALLY FROM THE VALLEY at Granville Island Station on Saturday. (The line was so successful, that there is a small but real chance it could be made permanent. I will keep you posted.)
Take the whole family, and make it a day. After the rally, visit Granville Island on the first day of spring!
Please RSVP railforthevalley@gmail.com if you can make it. More details to follow.
CARPOOLERS: let us know if you need a carpool, or if you can carpool somebody.
Is the Hawaii SkyTrain Project Bombardier’s Last Kick At The Can?
The End of the Line for SkyTrain?
The i L i n d . n e tAi??Ai??blog has been asking many questions about the proposed SkyTrain transit project in Hawaii, questions which should be answered before embarking on a multi billion dollar rapid transit project. Recent postings point to the fact that light rail was quietly dropped from theAi??Ai??planning process, not unlike our RAV/Canada Line planning,Ai??Ai??and then just like magic, poof, SkyTrain appeared.
From our side of the pond, it appears that this could be Bombardier’s “last kick at the ‘SkyTrain’ can” as the proprietary light-metro is getting rather long in the tooth. The SkyTrain light-metro, a lash-up of 1960’s & 70’s technology and transit philosophy that has largely been made obsolete by time and light rail, is becoming a very hard sell, with only seven such systems built in the past 30 years. The embarrassment of the Vancouver RAV/Canada line being built as a conventional metro, instead of SkyTrain (therefore incompatible with the SkyTrain network) is a further slap in the face of Bombardier’s proprietary light-metro system.
But the real key why the Hawaii project is so important may be found in American transit specialist, Gerald Fox’s 2008 letter to a Victoria (BC) transit group, regarding the proposed SkyTrain Evergreen Line, where he easily shreds TransLink’s Evergreen Line business case.
http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/can-translinks-business-cases-be-trusted/
The key comes almost at the end of the letter:
It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding. In the US, all new transit projects that seek federal support are now subjected to scrutiny by a panel of transit peers, selected and monitored by the federal government, to ensure that projects are analyzed honestly, and the taxpayersA?ai??i??ai??? interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US.
Unlike the Detroit “Mugger Mover“, which was marketed as an ICTS transit system (SkyTrain’s first name) or the JFK AirTrain, which was built in a private deal between the Port Authority and Bombardier, with funding provided by the Canadian Government, no SkyTrain project has ever passed the scrutiny “by a panel of transit peers, selected and monitored by the (US) Ai??Ai??federal government.”
Is theAi??Ai??Hawaii SkyTrain project a desperate attempt by Bombardier Inc. to give legitimacy to their expensive proprietary light-metro in the USA and to try to eekAi??Ai??out a few more sales of their metro system? It would be advisable for our friend in the sunny isles to take a microscope to the transit deal and who is supporting it, as it always has been a strange coincidence that those who support SkyTrain tend to be well rewarded down the line.
What does this mean for Rail for the Valley?
If the Hawaiian SkyTrain projects comes to grief, like the Seattle monorail project (which Bombardier was heavily involved with), SkyTrain will be shunted to a siding, for with coming new technologies making modern LRT even more cheaper to build and convenient to use, will make the SkyTrain light-metro almost unsellable, except for private and backroom deals, furnaced by the Canadian Government.
The failure of the Hawaiian SkyTrain will bode well for RFV is getting an affordable interurban built as SkyTrain will be relegated as an historic railway, not unlike the Wuppertal Schwebbebahn (monorail), and regional planners will be forced to think ‘light‘ for light rail.
Rail For The Valley News
A message from John Buker;
Hi everyone,
I haven’t sent out any news updates in awhile, but I can tell you, the campaign has been picking up speed behind the scenes at an encouraging rate. The Community Rail Task Force headed by Langley Township Mayor Rick Green continues to gain steam, with local governments and institutions continuing to sign on.
Because of our efforts, there is now a real political opening beginning to emerge.
While the behind-the-scenes work continues, it is vital that we keep up, and actually raise the level of, the public campaign.
This is what keeps things progressing. All of our Letters to the Editor, all the forums, rallies and special events, have been decisive in moving the cause of passenger rail for the Fraser Valley along, from being just a random opinion you might have heard from a friend, to the political issue it is today.
Coming up, we need a sustained effort to keep building the momentum. I hope you can help us make a difference.
There are two events in March. One of them is in Abbotsford, the other is in Vancouver.
Event 1
Ai??Ai??
Friends of Rail for the Valley ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Tuesday, March 16, 7:00pm
Abbotsford (precise location TBA)
On March 16th we will be holding our first Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Friends Of Rail For The Valley Society. Here we will discuss progress of the campaign, society details, future direction, and other related issues. This is a very important meeting for our Society.
We will also need to elect some more directors, so please consider that, and also invite anyone you think would be interested in helping out.
-Paul Gieselman (President)
Get involved in the community effort. We need your help!
There will be refreshments. Bring a friend. Membership is $10, and you can sign up at the AGM.
*Please RSVP, so we know the number of people who will be coming.*
Event 2
Rail for the Valley – LIGHT RAIL RALLY & RIDE – Granville Island, Vancouver
Saturday, March 20, 2:00pm (first day of Spring)
Meet at the Granville Island Olympic Line Station
More details to come
This is your chance to experience Vancouver’s state-of-the-art 2010 Streetcar while it’s still in operation. (Rides are free!)
Some background (From the Province)
Streetcar named desire shows transit future (The Province, Feb. 28, 2010)
“It’s a tiny 1.8-kilometre Olympic streetcar demonstration project between Granville Island and the Olympic Village that may prove to be the key transit legacy — especially south of the Fraser. The False Creek service also drew more riders than expected and, from day one, it’s been very much “a streetcar named desire” for those in the Valley who call for just such a service on the former Inter-urban rail corridor from Surrey to Chilliwack.”
Yes, Vancouver’s Olympic Streetcar Line illustrates what we can have in the Valley all the way to Chilliwack, very soon and at very low cost, using the already-existing Inter-urban rail line.
The demo project is scheduled to end on Sunday, so let’s get together and have a RALLY FROM THE VALLEY at Granville Island Station on Saturday.Ai??Ai?? (The line was so successful, that there is a small but real chance it could be made permanent. I will keep you posted.)
Take the whole family, and make it a day. After the rally, visit Granville Island on the first day of spring!
Please RSVP if you can make it. More details to follow.
CARPOOLERS: let us know if you need a carpool, or if you can carpool somebody.
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Thanks for reading!
John Buker
Rail for the Valley
Hawaii SkyTrain Project Heats Up
A Hawaiian blog by Ian Lind posted Zwei’s ‘Debunking SkyTrain Series’ and continues the hot debate on the elevated SkyTrain project in Hawaii.
http://ilind.net/2010/03/03/responses-show-rail-a-very-hot-topic/
It is good that the locals are beginning to ask questions about SkyTrain and may be beginning to see that the proprietary light-metro isn’t as great as ‘sliced bread’ which the SkyTrain lobby is trying to portray. Seven systems built in over 30 years andAi??Ai??at least four name chances from ICTS, to ALRT (two versions), to ALM, and now ART, certainly doesn’t say very much for the mode. Anyone wants to buy an Edsel?
What the blog does illustrate is the SkyTrain Lobby’s dirty tricks campaign goes on unabated, no fib to big, no exaggeration too small is how they operate. It is very sad indeed.
From the Tyee On Line NewsPaper: Vancouver’s Street Car Gift: Keep It?
An interesting article from the Tyee.
Vancouver’s Street Car Gift: Keep It?
To the delight of tourists and locals, the Olympic Line streetcar has been delivering people smoothly from Athlete’s Village on lower Cambie Street to Granville Island since Jan. 21. A Bombardier Flexity Outlook on loan from Brussels for the duration of the Games, the streetcar was an instrumental part of Translink and the City of Vancouver’s plan to keep cars off the road and control traffic during the games.
It’s been both convenient and surreal to have a Euro-sleek streetcar around, but alas, it’s only an experiment.
The “demonstration streetcar project” will run until March 21, according to the City of Vancouver’s fact sheet on the temporary streetcar line. After that, any further life of the Olympic Line will be determined by the success of the streetcar during the Olympics and Paralympics and, of course, the presence of funding needed to make the streetcar line permanent, said the fact sheet.
If it is made permanent, there are tentative plans to extend the Olympic Line into a full downtown streetcar line that would drive passengers from the current Granville Island final stop through downtown, extending all the way to Chilco Street in Stanley Park. In between, the proposed route would connect with Science World and Waterfront Skytrain Stations, connecting with both the Millennium Line and the Canada Line.
Reporter Justin Langille went to find out what Vancouver citizens and those visiting our city had to say about a small transportation project that could become a major part of Vancouver transit in the near future. Is it worth the investment?
Should we keep it, or lose it?
Olympic Hubris – Will The Wrong Conclusions Be Made By Our Planning & Political Elites?
In the last days of the 2010 Olympics, much has been made about how well our transportation worked during the event. What has been overlooked is that for the two week extravaganza, Vancouver had much warmer seasonal weather, meaning noAi??Ai??snow to stall the SkyTrain metro and make a shambles out of the bus schedules. Added to this, many Vancouver downtown professional businesses closed or reduced hours of operations because of driving and parking restrictions. This was a win-win situation for TransLink as many people were forced from car to transit (active traffic calming), while at the same time, spring like weather created absolutely no problems in operations.
High ridership figures were reported for SkyTrain and the Canada Line and that was to be expected for such a large protracted event. In San Diego, their LRT system, which carries about 110,000 passengers a day, carried over 340,000 customers on Superbowl Sunday, when the city last hosted the event.
The SkyTrain Lobby have taken the metro’s high ridership numbers as some sort of reason to build more metro, while at the same time belittling light-rail. Though one disputes some of the ridership figures given by TransLink, it must be accepted that the metro carried record numbers of customers, the same would have been true with light rail. The SkyTrain lobby are trying desperately, while the Olympic memory is still fresh, to push for hugely expensive metro and subway projects, beforeAi??Ai??the sleeping giant South of the Fraser awakens.
That sleeping giant? The Fraser Valley, which combined population is greater than Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond; which population is awakening to the fact that theirAi??Ai??transit taxes are paying for high priced metro for Vancouver, while they get scraps. Surrey residents in particular are beginning to realize that SkyTrain will not be extended in the near future (38 years according to one group)Ai??Ai??in their city, while learning thatAi??Ai??LRT/tram can be built for the fraction of the cost and quickly. There is an ever increasing call for the South Fraser Area to secede from TransLink and form their own transportation authority, which taxes collected will be kept in their local, to pay for the transit they want or can afford.
The provincial government must finally mature and let the people decide what transit modeAi??Ai??they want andAi??Ai??not keep on with a the very tired “You are going to get SkyTrain whether you like it or not” routine. What many South of the Fraser see, is that TransLink’s planning willAi??Ai??further burdening the taxpayer with ever higher taxes to subsidize a costlyAi??Ai??”Edsel” metro system, that very few will actually use.
The one question that the SkyTrain lobby refuse to answer is; “Why, after being on the market for over 30 years, only seven SkyTrain systems have been built; all by private deals with little or no public scrutiny?” The answer of course is embarrassing to their cause and is swept under the carpet.
The SkyTrain lobby’s demands for more and more expensive SkyTrain, may be fortifiedAi??Ai??with Olympic Hubris. Taxpayers beware!
A Press Release From The Light Rail Transit Association
Ai??
The following press release from the LRTA is their response to the UK Ai??Ai??All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group, regarding LRT which ‘Zwei’ commented on earlier in the week.
Ai??Ai??
TramForward
Ai??Ai??
The Inquiry found that light rail is best suited to heavily used urban corridors, where their speed, reliability and capacity can be fully exploited. Furthermore, evidence suggests that modern tram systems are very successful in attracting motorists out of their cars, reducing congestion, improving safety, providing access for all, transforming perceptions, improving the urban environment, and supporting regeneration.
Nevertheless, the Inquiry found a A?ai??i??E?lack of coherent policies and consistent directionA?ai??i??ai??? from the Department for Transport, which creates uncertainty in the industry and stifles development, leading to delays and cost inflation. In contrast the European experience is characterised by relatively faster delivery and lower costs.
Light rail in the UK is disadvantaged, compared to other transport modes, by the current appraisal system, which fails to take into account the full range of benefits that trams have to offer, while trams also experience less favourable treatment in the levels of local contribution and utilities betterment required.
The report calls upon Government to work together with local transport authorities and the light rail industry to address and solve these problems to ensure fair treatment for trams in the future.
Geoff Lusher, Chairman of the Light Rail Transit Association said A?ai??i??Ai??we support the InquiryA?ai??i??ai???s recommendations and look forward to a more robust government policy towards light rail. In order to survive and prosper in the modern world, our city regions need to be able to plan, develop and finance transport systems appropriate to their needs.A?ai??i??A?
3. The LRTA acts through its network of local branches, which campaign for better transport in their localities.
4. Membership of the LRTA costs under 12p a day. To join, visit www.lrta.org or write to the Membership Secretary, LRTA, 38 Wolseley Road, Sale, Greater Manchester, M33 7AU. Members of the LRTA receive the monthly magazine Tramways & Urban Transit – written and read by experts in the field – and gain other benefits including discounts on videos and books, tours of transport systems and cut-price admission to selected transport sites.
Note to TransLink: Toronto’s Streetcars operate 24/7
A post from confirms what Zweisystem already knew, many streetcar/LRT systems operate twenty-four hours a day! Here we have an excellent example of the flexibility of modern LRT.
501 Queen and 506 Carlton. The routes are numbered 301 and 306 at night.
From Wikipedia:
The Blue Night Network is the overnight public transit service operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The network consists of a basic grid of 22 bus and 2 streetcar routes, distributed so that almost all of the city is within 2 km of at least one route.
All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group (APPLRG) report – Should we do the same in BC?
Trams are coming to a city near you!
Some interesting news from across the pond. Urban transit development in the UK has been hamstrung by a very powerful and vocal ‘Roads Lobby’, within the central government (not unlike the SkyTrain Lobby in Victoria), which has all but stopped light rail development in the UK. In an era of peak oil and global warming, that the transportation department still advocates for bigger and wider highways in the UK, boarders on the ludicrous. Even converting little used railways lines into TramTrain or LRT, face horrendous roadblocksAi??Ai??created byAi??Ai??the British Government’s bureaucracy, while road oriented transit schemes (BRT) face little hindrance for implementation.
Like the UK, what is needed in BC is a level playing field for transit and transportation projects and not the litany of half truths and deceptions that follow BC’s penchant for the SkyTrain light-metro; a mode almost universally rejected in Europe and North America. TransLink’s shrill claims about SkyTrain during the Olympics are laughable, for the ever higher ridership numbers on the SkyTrain and Canada Line could be easily handled by light rail. Also, Zweisystem wants to correct the false impression that light rail systems can’t operate 24 hours a day, like the automatic and driverless SkyTrain. The fact is LRT can operate 24 hours a day, if demand warrants, and many LRT operations around the world do.
Automatic metros, like SkyTrain and RAV, must stop for signaling maintenance daily, or face a prospect of train stoppages during revenue service and is another reason why automatic operation, both being expensive to install and maintain, is only used on the heaviest used metro routes, which needs close headways to increase line capacity.
For public transit to become a force in dealing with urban congestion and to be an attractive alternative to the car, it must be built quickly and operate affordably, something which is impossible with light metro. A good example is the City of Surrey, which has been told it must wait 38 years for an extension to the SkyTrain light-metro system!
The region needs a level playing ground for transit planning and funding andAi??Ai??the public, for once, must be informed honestly on both the pros and cons on light rail and light metro. Until this happens in the region, TransLink will still be steaming full speed a head, on a collision course with a financial iceberg!
TransLink steaming full speed into a financial iceberg.
From the Light Rail Transit Association
February 23, 2010
All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group (APPLRG) report :
The report which is being launched today (15.00, Tuesday 23rd Feb) at an event at the Grand Committee Room, Westminster Hall in Parliament is the outcome of an inquiry chaired by Rochdale MP, Paul Rowen and a panel consisting of:Tom Harris MP (Glasgow South), Graham Stringer MP (Manchester Blackley), Clive Betts MP (Sheffield Attercliffe), Lord John Attlee and Baroness Hanham. Members of the Inquiry met three times in the Autumn of 2009 to consider evidence and hear from twenty five witnesses including the LRTA. The transcripts of the inquiry sessions can be found at the inquiry web hub at:www.pteg.net/PolicyCentre/LRInquiry.
The key recommendations of the report include:
For Government
- the biases against light rail schemes should be removed from the appraisal process
- the DfT should provide more leadership on light rail, including a dedicated funding stream and a centre of expertise
- the Government can assist in cutting the high costs of moving utilities associated with new light rail schemes
For local transport authorities promoting light rail schemes
- trams should not be promoted in isolation but should be fully integrated into wider transport, economic, regeneration and environmental strategies for changing cities for the better
- the benefits of integration that can come through the tools available in the 2008 Local Transport Act should be explored
For the light rail sector
- the multiplicity of players, in what is ultimately a small industry, should raise their game through a single, co-ordinated and effective body which will act as a single voice for the industry as well as establish cross-industry standards which can help drive down costs
The report highlighted utility costs as a potential A?ai??i??E?quick winA?ai??i??ai??? in bringing down the costs of new tram schemes.
Paul Rowen MP said: “ThereA?ai??i??ai???s little argument that modern trams can help get cities moving and transform the urban realm. However, progress on bringing the tram back to city streets can too often get bogged down in circular arguments about process and costs. Our report provides a way out of the impasse with practical recommendations which we will put to the transport leads for all three of our main political parties.”
Olympic Line Update: Olympic Line street car resumes service after collision
The Olympic Line is back to full operation after Friday night’s fender bender. IndicationsAi??Ai??are, that the motorist ignored light signals and drove in front of the tram. The Olympic Line is not a new line, rather it is Vancouver’s Historic Streetcar line, which has seen operation along the same route for years. There should be no excuses for motorists who ignore signals or signs and come into collision with a tram.
Drivers in Vancouver have a strange sense of entailment and road signs and signals are for othersBender Olympic. it is time to reflect that a stop signs and red lights mean stop, not stop if I feel like it.
Olympic Line Fender Bender
Olympic Line street car resumes service after collision
By Rebecca Lindell, Canwest News Service
February 20, 2010
VANCOUVER A?ai??i??ai??? An Olympic Line streetcar is back on track after colliding with a Jeep at Moberly Road and Sixth Avenue in False Creek just before 11:30 p.m. Friday night.
The streetcar was carrying 70 passengers coming from Granville Island. Two people were in the Jeep. No one was injured in the crash.
The city’s director of Olympic transportation Dale Bracewell described the incident as a “fender-bender” and said the streetcar was returned to service Saturday morning.
“Not only is it on the track but we are running two streetcars and we got a streetcar line up all the way past the Olympic Village Canada Line Station,” said Bracewell on Saturday afternoon.
Early indications are that the Jeep was in the right-hand turn lane on Moberly Street approaching West 6th Avenue at the time of the crash according to a police news release. Bracewell would not comment on the actions of the driver of the Jeep, but said the streetcar operator did everything according to safety procedures.
“According to our reports, our signals and the streetcar driver were up to safety standards and our investigation has suggested that everything done in terms of our operations was completely normal,” Bracewell said.
The BC Safety Authority investigated the incident and approved the move to put the streetcar back in action.
A neighbour who witnessed the aftermath of the crash said motorists haven’t adjusted to the Olympic Line.
“Since they put it in, the city had folks sitting at the crossing to get people to actually stop and they wouldn’t,” said Catherine Crough. “They would just mosey onto the tracks. There was a sense of entitlement and habit.”
“There’s always a little bit of people who are adjusting,” Bracewell said.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Olympic+Line+street+resumes+service+after+collision/2592357/story.html
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