The Broadway SkyTrain subway grift continues with a new band of suckers who will waste billions more of taxpayer’s monies on a politically prestigious transit project.
So, Vancouver’s carpet-bagging Mayor (former Burnaby NDP, MP) is continuing the subway grift, where Vision Vancouver was so rudely interrupted by the voters in last falls civic election.
Facts don’t change (except for TransLink that is), the North American standard to build a subway is a transit route with customer flows exceeding 15,000 pphpd, yet customer flows along Broadway are under 4,000 pphpd in the peak hour.
The result is easily predicted.
Operating costs will be an additional $40 million or more annually.
Ridership will be dismal.
U-pass will be in jeopardy.
Taxes in metro Vancouver will skyrocket.
Transit South of the Fraser will be cannibalized to subsidize the City of Vancouver and UBC’s $7 billion subway folly.
Oh yes, I almost forgot, land speculators and land developers will reap fortunes from up-zoned properties along the subway line, selling high-rise condos to the foreign money laundering crowd!
I am so glad that the former NDP MP, now mayor of Vancouver is so on the side of land speculators, land developers and money launders at the same time paying lip service to the homeless and housing affordability.
Subways make affordable housing impossible.
So reassuring!
SkyTrain at grade and the Berlin Wall effect.
New report says SkyTrain is recommended in expansion to UBC
A new report says SkyTrain is the preferred rapid transit service for UBC
The Metro Vancouver mayors’ council will discuss the recommendations
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — When rapid transit is expanded to the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver’s Point Grey district, the preferred option is SkyTrain.
That’s what Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart is saying about recommendations to be reviewed by the Metro Vancouver mayors’ council on Jan. 24.
“Seems to be a lot of enthusiasm among the other mayors for this project, and very excited that’s moving forward. I think everybody’s seeing this as a regional project where, for example, the mayor of Coquitlam’s very excited about getting students to UBC, as well as other mayors around the region,” Stewart says.
Back into the swing of things at City Hall with my first media briefing of the new year. I mentioned my work on SkyTrain to UBC, motions to review the empty homes tax and increase support for Councillors, and upcoming meetings with the Prime Minister & Premier.
— Kennedy Stewart
The report, reviewed in private last week, will be openly discussed at the Metro Vancouver mayors’ council meeting and Stewart is confident other mayors will support these plans, even if they don’t know yet how much it will cost.
“It will vary. At UBC there seems to be some will to be above ground, so that, for example, would reduce costs. We have to approve the technology, then they can do the business case and then we can see what it would cost per kilometre.”
Stewart adds the report recommends planning should fall in line with construction of the Broadway to Arbutus line which is slated for completion in 2025.
“What we’re trying to do is develop a parallel planning process, so we can maximize the efficiency of building that line. That’s why approving the technology from Arbutus to UBC is so important. The senior governments are looking for us to really put in cement what that is going to be.”
More details, including how much this extension might cost, will be discussed at Thursday’s meeting.
Stewart also plans to talk about it with Premier John Horgan Tuesday Jan. 22, and on Monday Jan. 28 with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Some transit blogs seem to think that building a subway is easy peasy , costing only a little more than a surface operation. This train of thought comes from a grand ignorance of subway construction and operation; with Translink’s grand subway plans based on the myth that subways carry more people.
As we all know in BC, all mayors are experts are experts on transit and the holy grail in transit planning is a subway.
Yippee!
The mayor’s council on transit is like an old boys rugby game, thirty one referees on the field, but I digress.
The staggering costs for subway construction is clearly evident with subway planning in Toronto.
The following quote should put an end of any discussion for new stations for the Canada line or future stations on the Broadway subway.
“The three stations recently built on New York’s Second Avenue line reportedly cost about $644 million-$812 million (U.S.) each.”
In Canadian funds this cost is $856.2 million to $1,079.5 billion!
Staggering!
Memo to Ontario Tories — there’s no such thing as a free subway
Ah, free transit. Is there anything our politicians like promising more?
Remember departed former mayor Rob Ford promising the private sector would construct a Sheppard subway extension in Scarborough at no cost to taxpayers? Remember when current mayor John Tory promised that the life-changing magic of Tax Increment Financing would deliver a 22-station “surface subway” at no cost to property taxpayers?
Now, as reported by the Globe and Mail, Premier Doug Ford, through his Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek, promises to change the one-stop Bloor-Danforth Scarborough extension back into a three-stop extension, with private sector developers entirely picking up the difference in cost.
They love the idea of something for nothing. I get the appeal. When it comes to prices, $0 looks pretty attractive.
Thing is, you tend to get what you pay for — and to not get what you don’t. Instead of free transit, basing plans on skipping out on the bill might ensure we remain transit-free.
That would be my primary concern when examining the provincial government’s recent idea to revert to the three-stop subway plan in Scarborough. “The developer would pick up the cost of those stations (in Scarborough) as we go forward, and it will not be a cost to the taxpayer,” the Globe reported Yurek saying on the weekend.
Let’s be clear about a something up front.
Wherever and whenever we are building transit, we absolutely should be working with developers to put intense commercial and residential uses on the station sites themselves if possible. It provides job sites and housing in transit-served locations, and can bring in significant revenue for the governments doing the building.
The hitch is that that money — decent as it may well be — is unlikely to be enough to cover the costs of the stations. Not nearly.
The three-stop subway extension was estimated to cost about $1 billion more than the one-stop version, partly because the topography of the area requires the stations and tunnels to be deep underground, and partly because subway stations are monstrously expensive to begin with. (The three stations recently built on New York’s Second Avenue line reportedly cost about $644 million-$812 million (U.S.) each.)
So if this is coming free of cost to the taxpayer, as Yurek says, we’d need a developer to essentially pay the province $500 million each for development sites at Lawrence and Sheppard.
It’s hard to know, in general abstract terms, how much land and development rights above a subway station at Lawrence and McCowan would be worth.
Right now, there’s a two-acre strip mall-and-housing site in Scarborough a few blocks from the proposed subway site listed for sale for $9.7 million. But land in the area would no doubt be more valuable with a subway line there, and land directly atop a subway more valuable still.
How much more valuable? It’s hard to know, exactly. But to get some sense, how about looking at a spot directly beside Finch subway station on the Yonge line with an underground tunnel connected to the subway station? That’s about as close to being on top of a station as a building can get.
Last year, such a building on Yonge St. in North York, a fairly new 18-story office tower, LEED certified and with 92 per cent of its 274,000-square-feet of commercial and retail space leased to mostly government and credit-grade tenants, sold for $85.15 million. That was for an existing highrise tower in an area of the city that is already fairly densely developed and populated.
Or, to look at it from another angle, in 2017 a developer bought a site at Yonge and Steeles — where a subway extension to the 905 is one day expected — with hopes of putting three condo towers and a hotel on it. The price? $53.9 million.
I don’t know which may be a better comparison to a site like the ones Yurek is discussing. But perhaps between the three examples, we see the ballpark value for commercial real estate of that type. It’s a big-league park — the numbers are huge!
But if the province essentially needs someone to buy the land and development rights above a station for $500 million in order for us to get a free subway station, we’re talking about a different order of magnitude.
Some might shrug and say, “Well, so what? This is still more real estate revenue than we were discussing before. It’s better than nothing.”
Perhaps. My concern is that when you promise something for nothing, and it turns out that something may instead cost hundreds of millions of dollars, you either wind up with a shocking and unexpected bill, or you get exactly what you planned to pay: nothing. Both results are as disappointing as they are sadly familiar.
It seems TransLink is reading the Rail for the Valley blog and is worried that Bombardier Inc. has folded the Innovia Metro line into the existing Movia Metro Line of vehicles and that Innovia production may cease cease altogether.
With the aging pygmy size MK.1 cars working two to three times harder to carry the same amount of people as a a modern metro car, they are showing a lot of wear an tear after 34 years of regular service.
TransLink needs to renew the fleet before maintenance issues overtakes operations and the system goes ka-put on an all too regular basis.
Thus TransLink is ordering 200 new MK. 3 cars.
200 cars means 50, 4-car trainsets. Now 200 MK. 3 cars heralds out right replacement of all Mk. 1 consists, which equals to 25 – 6 car consists. This is the equivalent to about 30 – 4 car MK. 3 trainsets. This leaves 20 for new service. That remaining 20 will be just enough for a partial Broadway (6.6 km worth) and a full 17 km extension. This leaves the 14 4-car Mk. 3 trainsets already on order to handle future extensions and extra capacity on the Millennium Line.
So yes, they will have just enough trainsets available but they are now fully committed to keeping the aging Mk. 2 vehicles going as well, while the MK.1 cars are sent to pasture.
Questions:
Is the stage 3 funding needed to complete the order?
Is this order even covered in the current 10 year transit funding plan at all?
Or is this just a re announcement of previous and planned new orders from the current 10 year plan, just with the numbers redistributed into different groups?
Why does TransLink continue the sham bidding process for car procurement? ART Innovia SkyTrain is a proprietary railway and only Bombardier Inc. makes the cars to operate on ART Innovia Lines. TransLink will pay what Bombardier tells them to pay.
In spring 2019, TransLink will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to procure approximately 200 SkyTrain cars.
In response to customer requests, refinements to the interior layout of the new SkyTrain cars are being considered.
Have your say by participating in this short, approximately 5-minute survey. The survey will remain open until January 25, 2018.
A letter sent to the Mayor and council’s of the Two Langley’s and Delta, sent by Malcolm Johnston, on Jan. 2, 2019.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.
Carl Sagan
On December 13, 2018, the mayor’s Council on Transit was bamboozled by both the mayor of Surrey and TransLink.
A decades worth of transportation and regional planning was tossed out the window, with the Mayor’s Council on Transit agreeing to change from LRT, to SkyTrain This condemns the two Langley’s without having any rail transit for at least a generation, if ever.
SkyTrain cannot be built for the same cost as LRT. Unless the LRT is designed to operate as a light metro and even still, studies have shown that light rail designed and operated as a light metro, operating on a grade separated rights-of-ways, would still be about 5% cheaper overall to operate than SkyTrain!
SkyTrain is not coming to the two Langley’s. The funding, including inflation will mean the Surrey extension will end in Fleetwood, most likely terminating at 168th Ave.
Photo: At-grade SkyTrain. The Berlin Wall effect.
The cost for SkyTrain increases dramatically every year because the cost of cement is increasing at a rate of three times the rate of inflation and by 2022, because of the escalating cost of cement and specialty steel, the price to build with SkyTrain will increase by at least $100 million annually.
SkyTrain uses about ten times the amount of cement as LRT.
It has been known since the early 1980’s, by BC Transit and now TransLink that SkyTrain costs a lot more to build than LRT with no benefit. BC Transit and now TransLink have masqueraded this fact by over engineering light rail planning, in short gold-plating LRT projects to make LRT look like it costs almost as much to build as SkyTrain.
This dishonest approach to transit planning continues as evidenced by the vast costs of Surrey’s proposed LRT.
Added to this dismal picture: With no sale of SkyTrain in the past decade, with only 7 built in the past 40 years (only 3 seriously used for urban transit), and zero interest in SkyTrain internationally, Bombardier may cease production altogether; even before the completion of the Surrey SkyTrain extension. This will leave the Langley’s standing at an empty station platform, waiting for a SkyTrain that will never come.
There is another way.
In 2009, the Rail for the Valley group engaged Leewood Projects of the UK to do a study on the viability of reinstating a modern version of the former BC Electric interurban servcie from Vancouver to Chilliwack. The Leewood Study was released in 2010, finding such a servcie was viable, using TramTrain, a version of LRT that can operate both on-street and on the mainline railway. The cost in 2010 for such a service was CAD $7.3 million per km to build. Accounting for inflation, the cost in 2018 would be $8.4 million per km.
What I propose is an abridged Leewood plan, using light diesel multiple units, such as the Stadler GTW traveling from Trinity Western University to Vancouver’s Central passenger station, a total distance of 52.5km.
Using the Leewood Study distance matrix (page 77) the distance by rail from Trinity Western University to Scott Road is 30 km. and the distance from Scott Road to Vancouver Central station, by rail is 22.5 km.
The travel time terminus to terminus would be under 60 minutes, faster than by SkyTrain!
The cost per kilometer for the full build system proposed by Leewood Projects was $7.235 million per kilometre.
Accounting for inflation the cost in 2018 would be $8.47 million per/km.
The cost for the 52.5 km route using the Leewood Study figures, updated to 2018 plus a 25% contingency would be $555.8 million.
There is more.
The master agreement that came with the sale of the former BC Electric, rights-of-way (from 180th St. to 232nd St., approx. 10 km) to CP Rail stipulates.
That passenger servcie is guaranteed up to 33% wheelage on the route.
That owner railway is liable for all upgrading costs for passenger service!
The distance from Trinity Western University to the junction at 184th St. is 10 km. thus the cost to implement a Vancouver to Trinity Western University rail servcie, with two trains an hour (30 minute service), minus the 10km. portion of track which will upgraded at the CPR’s expense. This would reduce the cost considerably, with a revised cost of around $450 million!
The Stadler GTW
The rail-cars or diesel multiple units to be used would be the Federal Railway Administration approved Stadler GTW.
The Stadler GTW can come in may configurations including a ‘two rooms and a bath articulated car with the diesel section in the middle and a five section double motor articulated car. As many as four units can be coupled together in multiple unit operation.
Stadler GTW
The basic concept of the Stadler GTW is rather unconventional: the car is driven by a central “power module”, also known as a “power-pack” or a “drive container”, powered on both axles. Two light end modules, each with a truck, rest on the power module, which produces useful traction weight on the driving axles. The end modules also use the space very effectively, although the railcar is divided into two halves by the power module. Most units have a path through the drive container for passenger access. The end modules can be delivered with standard pulling devices or buffer gears, or with central buffer couplings. They are built with a low-floor design except above the bogies and at the supported ends (more than 65% of the rail car is low-floor). All of the usual comforts to be expected in a modern local network rail car are provided, such as air conditioning, a multi-purpose room, vacuum toilets (in a washroom suitable for the disabled) and a passenger information system. The GTWs can be Diesel-electric or electric-powered (via overhead wires or third rail). Maximum speed 115 to 140 kph. Up to four trains can be operated in multiple unit. A Bistro unit is also available.
Operation
To start, simple stations or stops would be located at Western Trinity University; City of Langley between the Fraser Highway and 200th St.; Cloverdale; King George Hwy.; and Scott Road just in Delta; and Vancouver Central.
Photo: A simple station near Boston.
More station/stops can be added where demand merits and the operation can be extended to Abbotsford and Chilliwack, when funding is made available.
Due to the affordable cost to implement the service the new rail service can be built and operated as a real P-3 project, which could both include Stadler and the Southern Railway of BC, costing the taxpayer little or no money to operate!
An user-friendly rail service, built around the concept of economy and affordability would be a success, serving the many destinations along its route.
The reverse flow of traffic may entice tourists to venture into the Fraser Valley with the knowledge that a comfortable train will whisk them back to Vancouver, when their exploring is done.
Photo: A Diesel TramTrain in the French countryside
Instead of a SkyTrain that will never come, a passenger DMU service from Vancouver to Trinity Western University, servicing North Delta, Central Surrey & Cloverdale and the two Langley’s could be up and running before the Fleetwood extension is completed and by building it with a real P-3, would see real railway experts, plan what would be the most affordable way to proceed.
TransLink need not be involved at all!
Agreements must be made with the SRR of BC and the BN &SF and CN Rail, but this is the job for our provincial and federal Ministers of Transportation, to ensure pathways are available for a two train per hour per direction service.
The plan is there; the tracks are in situ and what only lacks is the politcal will to make it happen.
It is time for Langley politicians not be left lonely at the station, waiting for a train that will never come.
The Metro Vancouver mayors may soon foolishly acquiesce to the mayor of Surrey’s demand to build with SkyTrain instead of light rail.
Foolish, because they will remain tied to one supplier and will have to dance to the tune of Bombardier Inc., when and if new cars are ordered.
Bombardier has ills with its rail sector, with late deliveries and somewhat shoddy product, which is causing it nothing but harm to its reputation.
And how does this effect SkyTrain you say?
As Vancouver is the only customer left for the proprietary Innovia SkyTrain system, deliveries maybe spread over a long time as they will only be manufactured if Bombardier has the time to make them or Bombardier my terminate production of the Innovia vehicle altogether.
Now, wouldn’t that be a game changer.
A MetroLinx tram on the test track.
Metrolinx still waiting for first Eglinton Crosstown vehicle
Under the terms of a $392-million contract agreed to last year, Bombardier is supposed to supply Metrolinx with 76 vehicles for the Crosstown, the $5.9-billion midtown light rail line that is currently under construction and is scheduled to open by September 2021.
In late October, Bombardier invited media to its facility outside Kingston, Ont. to demonstrate progress it had made in assembling the first vehicle. The company said at the time it would be ready to ship in November.
But according to Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency in charge of building the Crosstown, a subsequent inspection in early December determined the car wasn’t ready.
“The vehicle required some corrections and adjustments prior to being released for shipment to Toronto,” said Metrolinx acting chief communications and public affairs officer Jamie Robinson in a statement.
“Due to constraints with shipping prior to the heavy traffic holiday season, Bombardier has informed Metrolinx that the arrival of the first vehicle is now scheduled for early 2019.”
Neither Metrolinx nor Bombardier would specify what adjustments the vehicle required.
Under the terms of the contract, the deadline for delivering the first six cars is Feb. 1.
According to Robinson’s statement, there are “significant financial penalties for Bombardier” if the company fails to supply “quality vehicles” by the deadline.
Metrolinx declined to say what the penalties are or whether it believes Bombardier will supply the six vehicles on time.
In a brief email, Bombardier spokesperson Jade St-Jean said the company is “on the right track” and “confident” it will meet the Feb. 1 deadline for all six cars.
She said the first car “was ready to be shipped in December” but as a result of the Christmas holidays it will now be sent the week of Jan. 7, 2019.
Asked to explain why the holiday would affect delivery, St-Jean said the car is being sent by truck and will require a police escort, which she suggested wouldn’t be available over the Christmas period.
The delay in supplying the first Crosstown car is the latest development in the long-running saga of the expensive vehicle purchase.
In 2010, Metrolinx placed a $770-million order with Bombardier for 182 cars, with the intention of running them on several Toronto-area light rail lines.
But in 2016, Metrolinx filed a notice of intent to terminate the deal, claiming Bombardier had missed deadlines for the delivery of the first cars.
Bombardier countered in 2017 by seeking a court injunction to prevent Metrolinx from cancelling the contract. The company alleged Metrolinx had unfairly refused to take delivery of cars, and claimed the agency wanted out of the deal because several provincial light rail projects had been either delayed or cancelled and it no longer required all 182 vehicles it had ordered.
Metrolinx also inked a deal with Alstom, a French rail manufacturer, to supply the Crosstown cars should Bombardier fail to deliver.
The Metrolinx order is separate from the TTC’s purchase of new streetcars from Bombardier, which has also faced delays.
A spokesperson for the TTC said that as of Monday, the agency had 117 of the new vehicles in service, and at least four more had been approved for delivery.
When one is conned, very seldom will one admit to being conned.
Well, the good burghers of Langley are being conned by the new mayor of Surrey and by their lack of due diligence, will condemn Langley residents with congestion, gridlock, and very poor transit options. SkyTrain is not coming to Langley.
The evidence is now growing that the flip-flop from light rail to SkyTrain is all about land speculation and land development and precious little to do with providing better transit. The mayor and council of Surrey, abetted by TransLink, have bamboozled everyone!
Memo to the Langley mayors and mayors east of Langley: “SkyTrain ain’t a comin”, in fact by the time that there is talk of extending SkyTrain east to Langley, there will not be any SkyTrain available as Metro Vancouver is the the only customer in the entire world, daft enough to pursue SkyTrain planning, production of the proprietary railway will have long ceased.
Langley’s keen for SkyTrain service, but city may have to wait a while
TransLink doesn’t have the money yet for full extension of Expo line
CBC News · Posted: Dec 11, 2018
Langley’s new mayor says she’s excited about the prospect of SkyTrain service in her city — but there’s no clear timeline on when that might happen or how much it will cost.
Langley City Mayor Val van den Broek described the prospect of rapid transit as “quite amazing” for her community in an interview with CBC’s On The Coast.
“It’ll provide new access and connections to Metro Vancouver for us,” she said. “It’ll grow our business community as well.”
She said she’s not bothered by the news that the SkyTrain extension may not come as quickly as some had hoped.
Not enough money to reach Langley
On Monday, TransLink spokesperson Jill Drews said the exact timeline and cost for bringing SkyTrain to Langley aren’t known yet.
To date, the transit authority has only secured $1.65 billion to fund the extension of the Expo Line from Surrey along the Fraser Highway. That’s not enough to get all the way to Langley, and new funding from the provincial and federal governments will likely be necessary.
“What we’re going to do is take everything we know, do some further study, look at where we can build to, how long can we build with $1.6 billion and then tackle a second phase in the future,” Drews said.
Previous estimates have suggested the first stage of construction could extend the line as far as Surrey’s Fleetwood neighbourhood, but solid plans will depend on what comes out of a business case study, which is expected to take 13-15 months.
Right now, the next step is for the TransLink mayors’ council to vote Thursday on a proposal for that study.
If construction goes ahead, the first stage of the extension could be completed by 2025. That’s a bit longer than what Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum predicted in October, when he told CBC News the new line would be built within two to three years.
The mayor has said he’ll find ways to cut costs and speed up construction to deliver on the timeline he promised.
Congratulations on your recent return to the mayor’s office in my favorite city, Surrey BC. I read where you are wasting no time to capitalize on the mandate granted you (by the 41 percent of the 33 percent of eligible voters that voted you in) to throw out 10 years of transit planning by former and current officials throughout the region. You have successfully trashed their plan for a 10 km surface light rail serving your Gildford and Newton Town Centers in favour of a 4 km Expo line extension to – Fleetwood?
I know you said during the election that you could build Skytrain all the way to Langley City Centre down the Fraser HIghway for the same money as the light rail plan, but sadly Translink and the Mayor’s Council dont agree. They say that since Skytrain costs twice as much per km as surface light rail, the 1.65 billion already allocated will only get you through Green Timbers Park (not a lot of riders there!) to Fleetwood (I bet the owners of the Fleetwood Park strip mall are overjoyed!).
Premier Horgan and PM Trudeau have already said they are still happy to fund the original plan but will not give you one dime extra for the switch to SKytrain. Worse still, the Mayors Council just voted to make you pay back the 56 million already spent on the light rail proposal, which ironically is about the same cost as the Grandview Heights Community Centre and Library, project you scrapped for lack of funds. Wow. That’s what i call a pretty bad day for sure.
But fear not, I can help. What if I told you that there is a way to serve Scot Road, West Surrey, North Delta, Newton Town Center, Cloverdale and Langley City Centre by rail for way less than the cost of the 4 km “FLeetwood Skytrain Express” (as some wags are calling it).
Wait, it gets better! What if I told you that you could also be a hero to the folks in Abbotsford and Chilliwack by extending the line all the way out to serve them too, still for the same money!
Wait! It gets better still! After all that there would still be enough to put a tram line down King George Highway to Newton Town Centre andover to Guildford so you won’t have to pay back that 65 million!
Interested? Here’s how.
For 75 years BC Electric served the locations listed above along a track that is still in use. It’s the old BC Electric Interurban Line. It turns out that the line was never sold, only leased, to CP rail. The conditions of the lease call for the return of the line to the Province if ever passenger rail service were to restart.
Better still, the lease also stipulates that if the frequency of rail service is such that the rail must be double tracked, CP must pay the costs! What can be better than a free double track ROW?
What about vehicles? Well you could run catenary lines on the route for an electric train, but they cost a ton.
Fortunately there is a simpler and far cheaper solution. Alstom Corporation , a global transit company that now supplies transit vehicles to Ottawa and Toronto, just launched a hydrogen powered transit vehicle that can be had for less than the cost of a handful of skytrain cars. And here is maybe the best part. Hydrogen fuel is manufactured right at the BC Hydro facility in Surrey . So the project supports the growth of local green jobs for Surrey too!
The concerns you have voiced about LRT vehicles getting slowed down in traffic and adding to congestion (which are misplaced I would argue, but admittedly strongly felt by some) go away with this plan since the track is in its own ROW for the whole distance with very few at grade crossings. And at grade crossings can be controlled by crossing gates (as is done for hundreds of commuter rail and tram/train systems in North America) or by simply slowing down the train to obey signals as they do in Portland OR. for the MAX Line tram/train.
More good news. This plan has already been studied. The engineering and business case was developed not too long ago in the “Proposal for Rail for the Valley” by Leewood Projects of Surrey UK (yet another Surrey tie in!). They estimated that it would cost around .6 billion for track, vehicles, stations and catenary for a commuter rail tram/train system of over 90 km! A tiny fraction of the cost per km of SKytrain and a 100 year transportation solution for the entire South of Fraser urban region.
That study was conducted in 2010 so it will cost more now. But the study assumed catenary infrastructure not needed if you use hydrogen power and track reconstruction which may not be a cost borne by you (as mentioned above) so who knows, costs could be less.
Worst case, let’s say the cost is a cool billion. You still have $600 million left to play with. And if you want to get the other mayors off your back you could strip the bells and whistles out of the light rail proposal you hate (but the Board of Trade desperately wants) and do a Portland Oregon style tram to Guildford and Newton for less than 60 million per km.
Or maybe you can mollify the other mayors, the board of trade, and your local environmentalists with a hydrogen powered bus rapid transit to Newton and Guildford for even less.
In short, you have many ways to make Surrey the centre of a thriving metropolitan “South of Fraser Kingdom” rather than the dead end of the Vancouver Skytrain line (and get yourself out of what looks like a tight spot politically). Now that you have successfully blown up the whole regional transit plan I am sure you can see the benefits of grabbing this fantastic life preserver, and give Surrey and the whole South of Fraser region the futuristic transit it deserves.
Your humble servant and Surrey booster
Professor Patrick M. Condon.
The mayors council has now voted to proceed with SkyTrain.
“What fools we mortals be”, quoting the great bard.
What the Mayor’s Council on transit did vote for is a mediocre SkyTrain extension, that really goes nowhere , demanded by the ravings the aged mayor of Surrey.
What has happened is that SkyTrain may be operating as far as Fleetwood by 2026 or 2027, but as the population skyrockets in the Fraser Valley, gridlock, endemic congestion and auto deaths will increase dramatically.
By the time the equally foolish Broadway subway is finished, transit in Metro Vancouver will be pushed past the point of no return of useful transit planning and expansion. There will be no financial ability to continue with rapid transit construction and the region will never be able to provide the transit to meet the ever growing demand.
Metro Vancouver is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for different results, which also is the definition of madness.
The grossly ill informed Metro Vancouver mayors have now set the stage for a truly massive transit and transportation fiasco and they have but none themselves to blame.
Mayors’ Council votes in favour of SkyTrain extension in Surrey
Local mayors have approved planning work for a SkyTrain Surrey extension
But if you live in Langley you might be out of luck, the extension will only go as far as Fleetwood or Clayton Heights
Other mayors also pushed successfully for Surrey to pay compensation for sunk costs associated the cancellation of LRT
NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – TransLink’s Mayors’ Council has voted to proceed with the planning and development for the SkyTrain extension in Surrey along the Fraser Highway.
Politicians met at TransLink’s headquarters in New Westminster on Thursday to discuss the project.
TransLink has said that the $1.6-billion originally budgeted for Light Rail Train (LRT) may not be enough to cover the SkyTrain expansion.
So while Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum on a line running from his community to Langley, the line, if eventually completed, would only go as far as Fleetwood or Clayton Heights.
“It can definitely develop a SkyTrain project among the Fraser Highway but it does not look likely that that funding will be enough to get you all the way to Langley,” council chair and New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote said.
Other mayors also pushed successfully for Surrey to pay compensation for sunk costs associated with the cancellation of LRT.
No dollar figure was set for that, but Macallan hinted it could involve Surrey giving TransLink land for the new line.
“Want to make clear that the work we’re going to be doing over the next year is really examining all the options we have to move this line as far as possible and being able to have the greatest benefit for public transit,” Cote added. “But I think, for us, we do want to put out the reservation thought that we don’t believe the funding at this point is going to get us all the way to the City of Langley.”
This amendment has passed unanimously, includes requirement that Surrey pay compensation. Full vote coming soon/ pic.twitter.com/f0f1dtsRdV
Mayors’ Council voted to suspend the Surrey-Newton-Guildford LRT project, including all spending back in November.
TransLink has already spent $50 million on planning for light rail, and the city has spent $20 million in pre-construction work.
‘Quite disappointing’
Meanwhile, Colleen Clark, executive director of the Greater Langley Chamber added they are holding out hope that the federal and provincial governments will reconsider boosting their share of funding so the expansion can be extended to Langley.
“And now that it’s going to not be happening in this next phase, is quite disappointing,” she said. “Surrey and Langley are the largest growing communities in the Lower Mainland, the fastest growing communities population-wise, and we really need to try to get as much transit out here as we possibly can.”
She said Thursday’s decision doesn’t just hurt local business leaders, who’ve spent several years lobbying for transit services to be extended, but people who already have difficulty getting around.
“If somebody gives you tickets to a Canucks game, basically from here, you have to drive either all the way into Surrey and park and go down SkyTrain or you have to drive all the way in,” Clark added. “It would be great to have somewhere to park in Langley to jump on the SkyTrain and get that car off the road, so people can’t get where they need to go without a car.”
A SkyTrain leaves Surrey Central SkyTrain station. Francis Georgian / PNG
TransLink says SkyTrain to Langley could cost $2.6 billion. Surrey’s mayor believes it is possible for the $1.65-billion allocated for the cancelled Newton-Guildford LRT.
VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan says there’s no additional provincial money available for Surrey if it needs more to pay for Mayor Doug McCallum’s election promise to switch to SkyTrain.
Horgan said he’s spoken with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and both governments will only fund the amount they’d previously agreed to — roughly 40 per cent each — for Phase 2 two of Metro Vancouver’s transit expansion plan.
Originally, that plan included a $1.65-billion Surrey-Newton-Guildford light rail transit project. But the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation voted to suspend LRT in November after McCallum won the Surrey mayoralty on a promise to switch to a SkyTrain line from Surrey to Langley, which TransLink estimates could cost more than $2.6 billion.
“The two orders of government, federal and provincial, are doing what they can to provide more money to get this going,” Horgan told Postmedia News on Wednesday.
“If Mr. McCallum wants to raise taxes in Surrey to fill the gap he’s welcome to. I don’t think the people of Surrey will embrace that. But that’s the only way there’s going to be more money, it’s going to come out of his pocket not out of the federal or provincial pie.”
The region’s mayors will vote Thursday on whether to start planning for SkyTrain on a timetable of operation by 2025.
How to fund the apparent billion-dollar gap between LRT and SkyTrain remains a point of contention.
McCallum has said he thinks the entire Surrey to Langley SkyTrain line can be built for much less than TransLink estimates.
Mayors said in November that any SkyTrain proposal should only draw on the $1.65 billion set aside for Phase 2 — though that won’t be enough to build the full 16-kilometre line to the centre of Langley.
Phase 3 of the mayors’ plan also has another $1.9 billion allocated for rapid transit South of the Fraser, but that part of the plan has not yet been funded, and what kind of rapid transit it will be used for — SkyTrain, light rail or rapid bus — has not yet been determined. The Mayors’ Council will vote tomorrow on whether to direct TransLink staff to go ahead with a refresh of that rapid transit plan.
TransLink plans to prepare a business case for Surrey SkyTrain within the next year. To date, it has not asked the provincial or federal governments for any additional funding.
Horgan said it’s “just not on” if McCallum expects to turn to the B.C. government to cover his election promise of SkyTrain.
“If they want to do SkyTrain I’m good with that but it won’t go as far, it’s a simple as that,” said Horgan. “You won’t get as many kilometres done with the money on the table.”
Horgan also took a pre-emptive shot at McCallum in case he wants to try to shift blame to the provincial government.
“It will not be acceptable to me if he turns around and says this is all the province’s fault, because we had a plan fully funded ready to go supported by the pervious council and the one before that,” said Horgan.
The premier also warned of “consequences” in the form of delays as well, but said he will leave it up to local mayors to advise him on their plans.
“I’m happy to take guidance from Mayor McCallum and his council, but they have to understand they can’t just come rolling into Dodge and say I want another billion or I’m going to hold my breath,” said Horgan. “That’s not going to help anybody.”
McCallum did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond reiterated Wednesday that the available budget in his mind for SkyTrain would be the $1.6 billion previously approved for Phase 2.
“We will take the line as far as we can take it with the $1.65 billion available now,” he said.
Rob Shaw
Jennifer Saltman 
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