SkyTrain’s Daddy – The Krauss Maffei Transurban MAGLEV

OK children, a little history lesson, ALRT’s (SkyTrain) ancestor, The Krauss Maffei Transurban MAGLEV. For those who believe that, what we call SkyTrain, is a great Canadian invention, will be sad to hear it is not, not even close; it is a mix and match transit system, using largely discarded 1960′s and 70′s German technology. […]

TramTrain for Cape Breton?

Interesting news from the other side of the country. Cape Breton Island Population: 93,700 So, a population of 93,700 warrants a study to see if light rail is feasible? How about Vancouver Island and the E&N? How about restoring a passenger service on the former BC electric interurban route to Chilliwack? The distance between Port […]

And You Think SkyTrain is Cheaper Than Light Rail -Think Again!

Who says LRT is too expensive? The estimated cost to rehab both the Expo and Millennium Lines is now topping $4 billion (now, not including rail, OHE, stations and cars) and with already $1.47 billion spent on resignalling the proprietary automatic railway, the cost now seems to be well over $5 billion for 16 km […]

TramTrain – Regional Railways – Why Not Here?

As all levels of government pretend they are fighting Global Warming and Climate change, via the much hated Carbon Tax, real solutions such as TramTrain and regional railways are ignored. Germany has been a forefront in the fight against Global Warming and Climate change and part of that fight is reopening abandoned rail routes and […]

Mr. Cow Told You So! A Switching Problem!

Our friend Mr. Haveacow, predicted this some years ago and there were many who pooh-poohed this. I even had a local politician warning me not to spread misinformation, with a hint of legal proceedings. Why so touchy on the subject? It looks like TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit are trying to hide the […]

Man of Straw Arguments

  “Man of Straw” argument: The straw man fallacy is an informal fallacy, which means that the flaw lies with the arguer’s method of arguing rather than the flaws of the argument itself. The straw man fallacy avoids the opponent’s actual argument and instead argues against an inaccurate caricature of it. When dealing with arguments […]

A QUESTION OF CAPACITY

Catching a local radio last week, the old saw about capacity and that SkyTrain had a higher capacity than Light Rail, again was used as a example why light rail was not as good as SkyTrain. Sadly, there was no fact check, just blind acceptance of fake news. Really, after the $1.49 billion resignalling contract, […]

The “MAGA Effect”

SkyTrain’s many  ills are all but ignored by our local media, yet almost every or breakdown that happened on Ottawa’s Confederation Line was reported nationally. I call it the “MAGA Effect”, where the media ignores problems with our SkyTrain and grossly overstates issues with other transit systems, such as Ottawa’s hybrid light metro/rail system. Our […]

These Guys Could Not Even Operate A Christmas Trainset

When it comes to Vancouver politicians, I just shake my head. According to to the Vancouver City website: Accessibility The entire site is wheelchair accessible. The train has an accessibility carriage and passengers in wheelchairs should be accompanied by an attendant to facilitate the boarding process. We offer free tickets for: Wheelchair-accessible seating Attendants for […]

Five Reasons Why The NDP Don’t Want The “Return of the Interurban”.

  This post was released on Wednesday, February 11, 2009,under the title, “Five reasons Why Gordo and his ‘Falcon’ don’t want the “Return of the Interurban”. It is still relevant today, only the names have been changed. Under the NDP, nothing has changed. So, with a little tweaking here and updating there, we have the […]