Seattle City Council approves First Hill streetcar line

While Vancouver dithers on approving a tram/LRT line for the city, Seattle council have approved its second streetcar or tram line,Ai??Ai??the First Hill Streetcar Line. The problem in Seattle is, streetcars are not seen as LRT, rather something else as light rail is planned as a very expensive light metro. Only when Seattle gets a […]

Stephen Rees’s blog – Bond shies away from major TransLink reforms – well worth a read.

Many who read the Rail for the Valley blog also read Stephen Rees’s blog, but for the growing number of overseas visitors, his most recent post; “Bond shies away from major TransLink reforms” is well worth a read. http://stephenrees.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/bond-shies-away-from-major-translink-reforms/

Seattle Transit – Kemper Freeman is suing to stop light-rail expansion to Eastside

The transit debate in Seattle is veryAi??Ai??interesting and far more entertaining than anything here in Vancouver.Ai??Ai??Unlike Seattle, Vancouver’s business elite’s glad-handed the hugely expensive RAV/Canada line because they knew some of the over $2.5 billion spent on the metro would find its way into their businesses pockets. The LRT and metro debate in Vancouver Ai??Ai??has […]

Lieutenant GovernorA?ai??i??ai???s Award for Canada Line builder SNC-Lavalin criticized – From the Georgia Straight

An interesting article from the Georgia Straight, shining some light on SNC Lavalin wining the Lieutenant GovernorA?ai??i??ai???s Award for Engineering Excellence. Deserved or not, the comments (on the Georgia Straight Link) are worth reading. Somehow building an economy metro line, that does nothing special and when the taxpayer is kept from finding the real cost, […]

Another Dayliner crash on Vancouver Island – Why Do Car Drivers Believe They Have The Right To Go Through a Red Light?

Here we go again, another car driver ignoring railway crossing lights and bell and proceeds to crash into a train. One has little sympathy for car drivers ignoring the rules of the road, but until our provincial ministry of transportation takes seriously the fact that car drivers deliberately disobeying ‘red’ lights should be prohibited from […]

Campbell’s "Reshuffling of The Deck Chairs on TransLink" Can’t Hide The fact That TransLink, is Steering Directly Into a Financial Iceberg!

The provincial government has in effect (to use that old clichA?Ai??) “Rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic“. Unable and/or unwilling to admit to the real problem with TransLink and regional transit is that building hugely expensive metros on routes that do not have the ridership to sustain them, requiresAi??Ai??large subsidies and those subsidiesAi??Ai??takes moniesAi??Ai??from […]

Two Tram projects planned in northern France. What no VAL?

What is interesting about this announcement is that the new tram projects are planned near Lille France, which operates the VAL automatic mini-metro. The two approved tram or light-rail lines are very close to the City of Lille and the VAL mini-metro system. This poses the question: Why not build with VAL? French cities that […]

Light Rail & Tramways Growth Continues With new Openings in 2010

From May’s issue ofAi??Ai??Tramway’s & Urban Transit comes a list of new LRT openings in 2010, almost one every six weeks. The following is a partial list of new LRT/tram and TramTrain systems. It is interesting to note the increase of TramTrain expansion, both in Europe and in North America. Also, when compared to metro […]

The Broadway Follies – TransLink does the Gong Show

Here we go again, TransLink’s famous planning exercises that in the end will please no one and achieve very little. There is no bold ‘grand plan’ but more of the same, a little BRT here; a little SkyTrain there, with a hint of LRT thrown in to keep the trolley-jolly types happy. With all the […]

Parry People Movers For Granville Island?

Ai??Ai??Granville Island was once a large industrial site, serviced with rail and when Granville Island was commercialized in the 1970’s the tracks were left in situ, with a promise of a (at the time) funky horse drawn tram. The tram service did not materialize, but the tracks and switches remain. With very little capital outlay, […]