Karlsruhe’s longest tramtrain route – The 210 km Route S4

Classic single track TramTrain operation through a rural village. I am updating this post due to a series of recent posts on Facebook and other transit oriented blogs. Karlsruhe’s TramTrain 210 km route S-4 travels through the sparely populated Schwarzwald or Black forest region of Southern Germany. There are no musings about “not enough density” […]

Over to You Mr. Cow – The Vancouver Sun’s Recent “Puff” SkyTrain Story

This comment from Mr. Cow deserves a post of its own as there is so much information here, it deserves a wider audience. As Mr. Cow is a Canadian Transit Engineer, his comments are well worth reading. When SkyTrain ‘crapped-out’ in the Summer of 2014 there were no drivers or attendants to oversee the evacuation […]

Port Mann Fiasco

Gridlock is endemic in metro Vancouver. TransLink has become the “clown of transit planning” and now with with two very expensive vanity projects, the truncated Broadway SkyTrain subway and the Surrey LRT, which is being planned as a “poor man’s” SkyTrain, the clown is turning into a nightmare. TransLink has had good teachers. Now, all […]

The 1945 FRA Standards – Are they Obsolete?

The FRA standards for rail cars in the USA also sets the standards for railcars in Canada and a change in crash worthiness of new cars is big news as it would make the realization of TramTrain much easier. Is it not time to build ‘rail’ transit vehicles for the 21st century and not for […]

First CA?diz tram-train arrives – While the Fraser Valley waits for a train that never comes!

As Fraser Valley mayors twiddle their thumbs and do nothing but invent excuse after excuse for not wanting a passenger rail service in the Fraser Valley, new TramTrain operations continue to expand elsewhere. Our regional mayors are lost in a time capsule, wanting what will not work and ignoring what will. The transit customer, as […]

Now do you beleive Zwei!

Zwei has stated over and over again, one modern tram and tram driver is as efficient as six to eight buses and six to eight bus drivers and for every tram or bus operated one needs a minimum of four people to drive, maintain and manage them. As wages account for 70% or more of […]

PyrAi??nAi??es Line Reopens – How About The Same Quality of Servcie to Chilliwack?

Interesting news from France. The cost to reopen this 25 km line, which was derelict for thirty-six years, was ai??i??102 million or CAD $146.5 million or put another way the cost to do the same with the former Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban line, which is still functioning for S.R.R. of B.C. freight traffic would be […]

The Costly White Elephant In The Room

While Vancouver mayor Pines for a SkyTrain subway under Broadway and Trudeau the Younger smiles at the cameras with promises of transit manna from heaven, no one is addressing the real subway issue: costs! It is now estimated that the Millennium Line subway extension to Arbutus will now cost $3 billion or slightly higher, if […]

Evergreen Line Woes – How Much Over Budget?

The Honolulu light-metro is $1.4 billion over budget. Toronto’s Scarborough subway is already $900 million over budget. Then it should not come as a surprise that the Evergreen Line is over budget. The question is, by how much? Evergreen Line delay costs lead to mediation, B.C. government hiding info on costs, changes and challenges SNC-Lavalin […]

Transit Funding and The Mayor’s Ten Year Plan

There is little need for an introduction as Professor Patrick Condon succinctly lays it on the table. Transit Funding and the Future of Urban Design “Skytrain in Vancouver” by Micheal Chu is licensed by CCBY The connection between public transit and urban sustainability is significant;Ai??public transportation has been shown to reduce air pollution and GHG […]