Basel’s Famous Trams

The Basel metre gauge tramway network (German: Basler Strassenbahn-Netz) is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Basel, a city in Switzerland, and the Swiss part of its agglomeration. It consists of 13 lines. Due to its longevity (the network is now more than a century old), it is part […]

BCIT to UBC and Picnics in the Park, by Tram

First published in 2009. Updated 2014, 2016. A Wee Bit Of Local History In early 1996, during BC Transitai??i??s meaningless public consultation period for the Broadway Lougheed Rapid Transit Project which later morphed into the Millennium Line, Zweisystem received a phone call from an European Transit specialist, who worked for Asea Brown Boverai (later absorbed […]

Carrying Freight By Tram – To UBC?

Freight trams have been used almost since the first passenger carrying tram trundled down cobblestone streets. Today, except for a few cities, carrying freight by tram was a lost art, but no more. The concept of carrying freight by tram is once again being explored Ai??in St. Entienne, France to help reduce auto congestion and […]

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 […]