London Underground says ‘too much sunshine’ to blame for Tube delays

From the “You just got to be kidding department”. Evidently too much of the wrong kind of sun can delay trains! This reminds me of the monotone recording at Victoria Station, in London in 1980; “The 4:15 Victoria to Bournemouth will be delayed by permanently persistent points problems in Purley.” London Underground says ‘too much […]

Is gridlock the real Expo 86 legacy for Metro Vancouver?

Charlie Smith of the Georgia Straight is the one reporter who has studied the transit issue and knows the issues. Despite the hype and hoopla, especially from provincial politicians (both Liberal, Socred & NDP) the SkyTrain Lobby, the many issues surrounding SkyTrain have been glossed over by the mainstream media. This is still evident today […]

Trolleybuses Tank in Leeds UK

New Transit projects in the UK go through a rather onerous process before approval and the Leeds trolleybus projects did not stand up to scrutiny. It would be fair to say that not one of the SkyTrain or mini-metro projects could have stood up against a truly independent review, which is too bad because by […]

Langley to Vancouver In 50 Minutes Via Rail for the Valley

The Capital MetroRail system in Austin Texas uses Stadler GTW diesel electric light rail cars. TransLink’s and the City of Surrey’s much ballyhooed LRT really doesn’t offer the transit customer very much, except a very inconvenient transfer to the Expo Line and a 39 minute ride (if their are no glitches) on a dinky and […]

Subways Age Badly

Old Zwei has touched this subject many times; Subways age badly and they cost a lot to keep in good condition. Renewal costs are not generally factored in with budget calculations and tend to be a nasty surprise for politicians who were not around when the subway first opened. Yet, despite this, subways are the […]

FA?hrerstandsmitfahrt (Cab Ride) Karlsruhe – Freudenstadt (Tram-Train Murgtalbahn / Auschnitte)

For those who would like to dispel the notion that TramTrain is not viable in the Fraser Valley, this video should dispel the notion. Lots of single track operation on a sparsely populated route. TramTrain

Another Vancouver Sun “PUFF” Story

In one of the greatest non stories from the pages of the Vancouver Sun, the announcement that the Evergreen ART cars will be operated on the ALRT/ART system as they arrive. Why wouldn’t they? Let us not forget the Evergreen Line is the unfinished portion of the NDP’s boondoggle, the Millennium Line. The entire story […]

The 7% Solution

It has been puzzling me greatly, TransLink’s claim that; “SkyTrain revenue up 7% after closing of fare gates.” Strange that because prior to the fare gate introduction, the majority of the fares for SkyTrain were paid on the bus. As over 80% of SkyTrain’s customers first take the bus, the fare was paid on the […]

Will Kevin Desmond Last?

I am beginning to wonder why TransLink hired this chap from Seattle, as he seems a wee bit out of his depth. Zwei’s opinion is that Kevin Desmond was given the nod because of his familiarity with light-metro, which indeed the Seattle LRT is with now well over 80% of it route grade seperated either […]

Basel’s Famous Trams

The Basel metre gauge tramway network (German: Basler Strassenbahn-Netz) is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Basel, a city in Switzerland, and the Swiss part of its agglomeration. It consists of 13 lines. Due to its longevity (the network is now more than a century old), it is part […]