Buddy, Can You Spare $25 Billion…………

It has been brought to Zwei’s attention than another group is wanting to build more SkyTrain, this time calling itself Crosstown SkyTrain , a 38km light-metro line from Downtown Vancouver to Surrey. Well, that sounds good doesn’t it, how about the cost? A bare minimum cost for an elevated SkyTrain would be $19 billion, based […]

Movia Automatic Light Metro is the Brand Name And SkyTrain Is The name Of The Light-Metro System

So back into the archives I go. As the hype and Hoopla of the provincial election shudders along, there is a lot of postings in the various Social media outlets about the SkyTrain Line, now called the Dave Barrett Extension (strange that as former Premier Dave Barret was very pro light rail and not too […]

The VIA Rail Car Order

There has been a lot of comment on the recently announced VIA Rail car order. Many people complain about the cost, but the ordered cars comes with a maintenance package, which means VIA does not have to invest in several maintenance centers across Canada. to give one the idea at the cost of a maintenance […]

Battery Trains For “Rail for the Valley”?

Battery trains have been around a long time. In New Zealand, a battery-electric Edison railcar with a range of 160 km (99 mi) operated from 1926 to 1934 on the 34 km (21 mi) long Little River Branch line. The Drumm nickel-zinc battery was used on four 2-car sets between 1932 and 1949 on the […]

Canada Is 40 Years Behind The Times With Public Transit

Being a member of the Light rail transit Association for 45 years, one has just more than a passing knowledge of transit. I find that Canadian politcans must be dragged kicking and screaming to provide a modern and user-friendly (oh that damned phrase again) public transit service for the public. Yes, Vancouver’s SkyTrain seems modern, […]

A Comparrison Of Operating Costs – Revisited

First posted in 2013. If one took the ‘Way-back’ machine to the late 1980’s, the argument that SkyTrain was cheaper to operate than LRT would show the massive propaganda campaign to give the public a positive view of the proprietary ALRT light-metro. This is because it was forced upon the region by the Social Credit […]

Don’t Talk To Me About Fast Ferry’s! The SkyTrain Fiasco Is Far Worse!

Erfurt – Germany In Germany, the average cost to construct a new at-grade, 2-track (double) street tramway typically ranges from €10 million to €20 million per kilometer (CAD $16 million to $32 million) This includes the physical track installation, embedding in the road, overhead electrification, and basic stop infrastructure.  However, total project costs fluctuate heavily […]

How This Small City Built Light Rail For Cheap

The ION’s capital cost was about $818 million in 2017 (1.06 billion in 2026 dollars) for 19 km of greenfields construction or $43 million/km to build ($56 million/km in 2026 dollars), complete. Compare this with the Expo Line extension now costing over $400 million/km to build not including signalling, cars and much more.

Transit lessons unlearned

For four decades, the lessons building ‘rai’ transit has not been learned. Politicians in BC refuse the learn the lessons of others and continue to blunder on making the same higely expensive mistakes, over and over again. It is sheer negligence on the part of TransLink, the Mayor’s Council on Transit, the Premier’s Office, and […]

Say What?

What the (expletive deleted) is TransLink trying to say? I will take an educated guess that Translink is either replacing the reaction fourth rail or replacing the third rail for electrical pick up. The strange thing is, the same trains operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines already. Or, are they replacing the switches to […]