Five reasons Why Gordo and his ‘Falcon’ don’t want the "Return of the Interurban".

It is all too simple, the tracks are there from Vancouver to Chilliwack, the diesel light-rail vehicles areAi??Ai??available from many manufacturers and have been proven in revenue operation, and the precedent of the Karlsruhe two-system or zweisystem LRT with almost 20 years of safe operation track-sharing with mainline railways, makes the return of the interurban […]

10 Quick notes on light rail – for quick letters to the Editor.

Light rail is a mode that can deal economically with traffic flows between 2,000 and 20,000 persons per hour per direction. LRT can be uses on-street, on elevated guide-ways (light-metro), in tunnel (subway), or track-share with existing railways. Calgary’s LRT (C-Train) carries over 250,000 passengers a day, more than SkyTrain. Capacity is a function of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR FLOOD: Rail for the Valley, & the new Port Mann bridge

To all supporters of passenger rail service for the Fraser Valley Last Wednesday, the provincial government announced, out of the blue, an entirely new Port Mann bridge to be built. It will not be a twinned bridge, but a single 10-lane span, and the existing bridge will be torn down, only 45 years into its […]

Premier Campbell & Kevin Falcon ‘flips the bird’ to the valley

Gordon Campbell, like all politicians, likes to monument build and with good ‘polling’ numbers has promised a ‘monumental’ 10 lane bridge with all the whistles and bangs to target the car driver in May’s provincial election.Ai??Ai?? The $3 billion plus mega bridge and highways project has nothing to do about good transportation or planning, rather […]

The new Port Mann Bridge – A bridge too big!

The provincial governments announcement of a new 10 lane bridge, replacing the Port Mann bodes ill for implementingAi??Ai??good transportation planning for the Fraser Valley. The real winners are the ‘roads lobby’, the trucking industry, and the land developers, as the announced bridge caters directly to their demands. What theAi??Ai??new bridge does show, is the utter […]

Rail for the Valley: not a left-right issue

In my experience, people on the left sometimes assume Rail for the Valley must somehow be a left-right polarized issue, because of the governing provincial Liberal party’s foot-dragging on such an obvious no-brainer as re-establishing interurban light rail service for the Fraser Valley….. in this time of increasing road traffic, higher gas prices, and concerns […]

Light-rail on Number 10 Highway & The Langley Bypass – An Alternative route to the Valley.

The Light Rail Committee have long advocated for “The return of the Interurban” for the Fraser Valley, as a cost effective way of extending ‘rail’ transit to Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack. The LRC advocates that instead of following the original rights-of-ways completely, alterations to the original routeAi??Ai??must be considered to give the ‘interurban’ 21st century […]

Langley, Surrey mayors push for light rail funding

Thanks to the South Fraser Blog for pointing out this article in the Langley Advance about the federal budget: Langley Township Mayor Rick Green said he is not sure that all the money will go to “shovel ready” projects. Some of the projects may be a couple years away from starting construction, Green said. Green […]

Rail for the Valley "the single most popular idea"

UPDATE: More coverage, see this editorial in the Surrey Leader: Keep the momentum An article by Jeff Nagel, appearing in Black Press newspapers throughout the Valley The Lower Mainland needs new rail transit lines and amenities ranging from better bike routes to theatres and teen centres. And don’t forget about housing. Those are among the […]

Tram-Train trials in Sheffied UK, should our politicians have a look?

Tram-train, where light rail vehicles can operate on tram (streetcar) or regular railway tracks, is getting a lot of interest around the world. The reason? It’s cheap to install and operate. Our politicians and transit bureaucrats should investigate tram-train operation, especially for the interurban before squandering billions of dollars on politically prestigious transit projects like […]