Norway

Having become somewhat addicted to Driver’s View videos on YouTube I was more than a little surprised at the major engineering required. Norway, population – 5.3 million The Norwegian railway system comprises 4,109 km of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge) track of which 2,644 km is electrified and 274 km double track. […]

Escalating to an Accident

Here is a story which, reported in the Breaker News which was ignored by the mainstream media, which panders to TransLink, which has now been revealed by Bob Mackin. But what I want to point out is something different. I lived in London England in 1980 and took the ‘tube’ regularly (even supped a few […]

Perils of a Proprietary Railway

Perils of a Proprietary railway. TransLink, the Mayors council on Transit and the provincial NDP have tried to whitewash the fact that the Movia Automatic Light Metro, used on the Expo and Millennium Lines is not a proprietary railway. TransLink has deliberately mislead local politicians that SkyTrain is not a proprietary railway and in the […]

Vanity Project Reality Check – The SFU Gondola

The realities of a gondola going to SFU are beginning to hit home. Simple fact is, there is no need for a gondola to SFU and the project is a “quid pro quo” for Burnaby’s support for Vancouver’s subway project and the now former mayor of Surrey’s flip flop from light rail to MALM. It […]

Number One Highway Constructions Costs Climbing

This bodes ill for the Expo Line extension to Langley. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming attributes the delays to soil and geotechnical issues. These are the same geotechnical issues that the Langley extension also must face. The following quote is also of interest: This is in addition to the previously approved budget of $2.34 billion for […]

Snap Election Coming? The $4.01 Billion Lie

One wonders if Premier Eby is going to call a snap election in January or February? Surrey will be hotly contested as the police, flip-flop, issue is hurting the NDP MLA’s there. Nothing like “good news everyone” photo ops and 10 second sound bytes for the evening news, to try to steer the voter away […]

Those Who Do Not Read Transit History…………….

A more grist for the mill. There is a belief in North America that subways are the great panacea for urban transit. This poses a question, what is exactly meant as a subway in North America? Generally, the term subway is used to denote heavy or light metro traveling in a tunnel under the city, […]

The mayor’s Council on Transit – Lotus land’s Ship of fools

Like children playing with their Christmas morning train sets, the Mayors council on transit blunders on wanting more and more, without any care as to the cost. Not one of the mayors has any knowledge about public transit, nor seems to care about the onerous tax burden TransLink’s user-unfriendly service has become. If any of […]

Edomonton’s Valley Line Southeast LRT Officially Opens

News from Edmonton. The $1.8 billion and delivered on budget,  Valley Line is a low-floor urban light rail line in Edmonton, Alberta. The 13.1-kilometre (8.1 mi) line runs southeast from downtown at 102 Street stop to Mill Woods Town Centre at Mill Woods stop, and connecting to the Capital and Metro lines at Churchill station […]

Listen To The Experts

Mr. Havacow is, what I call, a transit expert. He has worked in the field for decades and has a wealth of knowledge on all forms of transit. Cutting through the hype and hoopla of politcal and bureaucratic promises, claims, and what can be best called, propaganda, Mr.Cow calls it as it is. Why is […]