Tunneling in Ottawa

When it comes to subways, unless there is no other alternative, Zwei firmly believes they are a vanity project, which only drives up the cost of transit. The same thing happened in Victorian England, where several railways bankrupted themselves by building needless tunnels, because they thought; “a railway isn’t a railway without a tunnel”. The […]

German tram infrastructure

  Here is an interesting web site on German tram infrastructure.  

Rail for the Valley In The news

  From the Chilliwack Times. Dream of light rail from Chilliwack to Surrey isn’t dead The idea of creating light rail on the old interurban line from Chilliwack to Surrey may have faded in recent years, but proponents still want to see it happen and Coun. Sam Waddington says it’s inevitable. ai??i??Ai??image credit: File   […]

Surrey LRT – Paying More for Less

Modern lawned tramway in France, will be also be used in Liege. What I wish to illustrate that the 11 km, 21 stop Liege tramway, including 19 Citadis trams, will cost about CAD$51 million/km to build. As well, P-3’s are not a transit funding panacea. The $51 million/km to build is based on a very […]

BART’s Problems Today Are TransLink’s Problems Tomorrow

Aging metro systems are a big problem in North America and the more complicated the transit system, the more costly it is to maintain. Unlike TransLink, BART’s (Bay Area Rapid Transit) bureaucrats are far more forthcoming with system ills and for that they must be congratulated for their candor. We see none of this with […]

Traffic Congestion Declines

Interesting tidbit from the news which has been overshadowed by the tragedy in Brussels. Traffic congestion is down in Metro Vancouver and this begs the question: “If there is less traffic on the roads, then should we not waste money to plan and build $3 billion SkyTrain subway under Broadway and a $3.5 billion bridge […]

Has Trudeau “Caved-In” To Bombardier?

Bombardier Inc. is in trouble with their aircraft program; are near bankruptcy and need cash. So what is the Federal government going to do? Simple buy Bombardier’s light-metro and call it light rail.Ai?? The same ruse certainly fooled the Social Credit Party in BC in 1980 by renaming the unsellable Urban Development Transportation Corporation (UDTC […]

Modular Trams Just Keep On Growing!

BKV, the transit operator in Budapest Hungary has just taken delivery of the 9th of a 12 unit order from SpanishAi??LRV producer CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) for the world record setting 56 metre long, 9 section, Ai??Urbos 3 (Type 100) LRV. The first unit has completed testing and hasAi??just been accepted for service. […]

Bombardier “Stuffed It Up” in London. Is Transit Planning “Stuffed Up” In Metro Vancouver?

Not all is well with Bombardier Inc. The massive transit conglomerate has had too easy for too long and now is accused ofAi?? “‘duping’ the British capital into awarding it a train-signalling contract that it was incapable of delivering, creating ai???nothing short of a disasterai??? for the London Underground.” I would like to remind everyone […]

Toronto Signalling Study Of Great Import For Rail for The Valley

With thanks to Mr.Cow! Signalling, the fine art of keeping trains from crashing into each other, is very important for the Fraser Valley TramTrain project and developments in Ontario are very relevant here. Toronto, is now planning to have GO Train’s new RER system integrating with the new Smart Track surface subway proposal. The report […]