From the LRTA – Karlsruhe orders Bombardier TramTrains

Good news for Rail for the Valley, Bombardier is now producing TramTrains for the famous Karlshrue Two-System light rail network. One would guess that Bombardier Inc. would love to demonstrate this product here. Imagine, the “Great Tram Train Trials” for the Fraser Valley, with Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier, Stadler all competing for orders here; it would […]

The Dreseden Schwebebahn – A monrail funicular

Of course, let us not forget Germany’s other Schwebeban (hanging railway), Dresden’s unique monorail funicular. Though not a true rapid transit system, the historic funicular does predate the Wuppertal Schwebeban by a few years and is worthy of a look. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezsn4D_mKyA]

The Wuppertal Schwebebahn – Let’s take a ride!

There has been a lot of interest shown in the RFV blog about the Wuppertal Schwebebahn so I have included this video to give the full flavour of this historic monorail transit system. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfE8SKK-ms4]

The Chicago "El"

Since we are on the subject of elevated metro’s, This U-Tube item showing Chicago’s famed “El”Ai??Ai??may prove interesting. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0xfzGtgd2w]

The Greer Report – Review of Rapid Transit Project Claims. We didn’t need an American consultant to tell us TransLink is ‘off the rails’.

Over ten years ago the Greer Report, done byAi??Ai??Greer Consulting Services, issued a scathing report on the Broadway/Lougheed Rapid Transit Projects, later to be know as the SkyTrain Millennium Line. The report found: cost comparisons appear to have been contrived to favour SkyTrain over LRT Ai??Ai??no ridership (demand) analysis was reported to justify the high […]

Tramtrain trials in Sheffield UK – Should we not have TramTrain trials here?

The concept of tramtrain or light rail vehicles track-sharing with mainline railways is now being tried in the U.K. with a Rotherham to Sheffield demonstration Line. This is good news for Rail for the Valley as if TramTrain passes muster with the very conservative Her Majesties Railway Inspectorate, one can be well assured that TramTrain […]

Commuting is harder now – A letter to the Vancouver Sun

As predicted, the RAV/Canada Line has increased journey times for many transit customers, even those who commute directly to Vancouver. Despite ‘rose coloured glasses’ style stories in the mainstream media and ‘talk radio’, longer journey times translates into less people opting to take transit. The letter does reveal two issues: 1) What percentage or portion […]

Elevated or at-grade; let’s look at both!

A post to RFV’s blog moaned that; “you always show ugly pictures of elevated transit rather than the wonderful job Richmond did on #3 Road or sections of the Central Valley Greenway……………”, well let’s compare elevated transit with at-grade/on-street light rail. or It seems that the vast majority of transit planners would rather be associate […]

From the BBC News – 70% ‘back rail renationalization’. Privitization of British Railways has not been as successful as one would think.

The privatization of British Railways has not been as successful as many would have wished. The complicated and bureaucratic nature of the privatization of British Railways has cost the taxpayer dearly and now 70% of the people polled wants the railways back under public ownership. The sheen of the privatized B.R. has long gone after […]

Tramway Line 3 in Paris – Let’s have a look!

A post inAi??Ai??today’s blog about Portland’s new light rail line mentioned Paris’s newAi??Ai??Tramway Line 3, so let’s explore Tramway Ligne 3 in Paris. If TransLink ever showed the public true images of modern light rail, instead of their stock of dated and altered photos, there would be much more public support for modern light rail […]