Obituary – Adam Fitch

  Rail for the Valley is not in the habit of printing obituaries, but Adam Fitch was a good friend to Rail for the Valley and this blog. Zwei received the following email from the daughter of Adam Fitch: This is Emily Fitch, Adam’s elder daughter. If you can, please join me on Monday, September […]

What Is The Real Cost For The Expo & Millennium Line Extensions?

It is the civic election season, or more fondly called the “silly season” and all sorts of claims and promises are made. Recently on a local radio talk show a politcal wannabe claimed that; “SkyTrain operates almost free because it does not have any drivers and is cheaper than LRT” and the host agreed with […]

Slip Coaches – A Little Bit Of Railway History

Disclaimer: I do not advocate for “slip coaches” on either the E&N or the RftV/Leewood plan, rather  just a historical look back at passenger railway practice. In 2022, if one mentions a “slip coach” I would think Transport Canada would be in a nervous collapse. The last “slip coach” operated on British rail in 1960, […]

Take the H Train

It now seems hydrogen powered trains are now mainstream and set to become the worlds least polluting transit mode. It is time Canada and BC politicians get on board the H-Train, but I am afraid in Canada, politicians and bureaucrats have left at the station and gone to the airport to travel on the taxpayer’s […]

Driverless Trains

Old Zwei has told you so, operating driverless trains is very expensive. In December 2019, it was reveled that the SkyTrain Light metro system (Expo and millennium Lines, had over 900 employees. That is over 900 workers for just two rail lines. The Canada line, being a P-3, has it own employees and the number […]

When Politicans Play Trains

It is the sad, same old story, when politicians play trains with multi billion dollar transit projects, things go south all too quickly. In 2018, then mayoralty candidate, Doug McCallum claimed he was an expert and he could build the Expo Line extension for $1.63 billion. Fast forward to 2022 and the cost for the […]

The Expo Line Land Rush

Like the Millennium Line extension to Arbutus more commonly known as the Broadway subway, the main reason for extending the SkyTrain light metro system is to give politcal friends and insiders, mainly land speculators and land developers the ability of make large profits by assembling land, having council up-zone the land to allow for higher […]

Will The Electric Car Revive the MotorRail Train?

A little known service offered by railways is the car shuttle or MotorRail. A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer journeys, while […]

Rural Railways – Who Would They Serve

A lot has been said that the Leewood/Rail for the Valley scheme would not attract much ridership because it isn’t fast, yet the same folks who use this excuse to nay say the “return of the interurban” fail to realize that the Vancouver to Chilliwack rail route will service many new destinations thus user friendliness […]

Rural Railways- Time to Invest.

Recommendations to save Japan’s rural railways issued 28 July 2022 JAPAN: A study group formed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism has published its report into whether and to what extent rural railways across the country can be revived. From the Railway Gazette. The following was sent to the usual suspects.   Around […]