A Letter To Media and Politicians

ai??i??This letter went out to all the usual suspects, MP’s, MLA’s, and Mayors and Council.   There is a general naivete about Light Rail Transit or LRT in the media, due in part to TransLink’s and previously BC Transits thirty five year war on LRT, with their well advertised preference for light-metro. Today, except for […]

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.  

Easter Parade in Toronto

With thanks to Mr. Cow, wholesome eye-candy! Five Generations of Toronto Streetcars,Ai??a little history: The Peter Witt was the first streetcar class purchased by the then brand new TTC in 1921 and ran in TorontoAi??until 1963. The PCC streetcar ran in Toronto from 1938 to retirement in 1995. The TTC had the largest fleet of […]

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 […]

Trams for Vegas?

Las Vegas has a monorail, but due to political intrigue, it doesn’t service the main airport and is next to useless. I would surmise that the powers that be do not know enough about modern LRT and do not worry about competition from a “tram” What I find interesting is the USD $460 million cost […]

Of Trains, Station Platforms, and Capacity

Zwie has got wind of a local transit advocate getting a nasty phone call a few evenings back from a chap incensed over a blog post on Facebook that went like this: The Canada line has station platforms 40m to 50 m long and operates 41 m long coupled sets of EMU’s, has about one […]

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. […]

Light Rail, Streetcars & Light-Metro – A Primer.

First published in the RftV blog in 2011, it is still pertinent today. Updated and edited for March 2016.   Due to many people posting, on various blogs, absolute rubbish about light rail, it is time again for a quick primer on streetcars, LRT and SkyTrain. Question: What is the difference between LRT and a […]