The End Of The SkyTrain “Gravy-Train?

Gravy Train: Used to refer to a situation in which someone can make a lot of money for very little effort. Mr. Cow’s comment in the previous post, deserves a post of its own, because it could be a game changer in regional transit planning. Criticizing regional transit planning has been somewhat taboo with the […]

Montreal’s Pie-IX BRT

Starting November 7, Montreal’s new BRT service will run between Saint-Martin boulevard in Laval and Pierre-De Coubertin in Montreal. The 13-km BRT line will serve eastern Laval and cross through four Montreal boroughs, offering transfers to the Green metro line (Pie-IX station), STL services in Laval and the exo5 commuter train line to Mascouche (St-Michel-Montréal-Nord […]

Maintenance Costs – What Politicans Ignore

This is a must read as maintenance is one of the least understood functions of operating a transit system. It is often ignored by politicians because most politicians do not understand it nor want to due to unpleasant tax implications that tend to be embarrassing at election time. The Ottawa LRT/Light-Metro is a very good […]

Dislodgment My Arse – TransLink Hides A Derailment!

Derailment: the action of a train or tram leaving its tracks accidentally. When TransLink invents new terms for a train derailment, you know they are trying to hide something. Two bolts sheared on a turnout or switch is not a coincidence, rather it points to a lack of maintenance on the system. That TransLink is […]

Mayor Kennedy Stewart Enters The Silly Season With Gusto!

Back of an envelope Dept. Civic election time in the Lower mainland is often called the “silly season”, by pundits because of the “silly” promises made by politicians. Present Mayor Kennedy Stewart has promised to build a SkyTrain loop in central Vancouver, Really? What will be the cost of this SkyTrain subway loop Mr. Mayor? […]

Cement and Carbon – The Pollution Vancouver’s Greens Politely Ignore

Vancouver council prides itself on being Green. Vancouver Council, especially the Green members and the pretend Green mayor want a subway. Their problem is, a subway consumes a lot of cement, which in turn creates a lot of pollution in the form of CO2 emissions. Here we have a conundrum, in order to continue the […]

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 […]

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 […]