A Repost From 2019 – Here We go Again……

 A repost from Wednesday, June 19, 2019. Some things have changes since this item was posted in 2019. Alstom now owns the proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro system, when they finalized purchasing Bombardier’s rail division earlier in the year. The estimated cost for the Langley extension is now over $3.95 billion mark and heading north […]

A Letter to Vancouver Island Politicians

With the spectre of global warming wreaking havoc on our province, it is time to get serious about doing what we can to alleviate emissions from internal combustion engines. At the same time we must invest in ways other than asphalt solutions to mitigate endemic traffic congestion. Today, only a rail based transit system can […]

First Hungarian TramTrain Service Begins

Good news, the opening of the first TramTrain service in Hungary. What is largely of interest is that the TramTrain route is mainly single track with passing loops, using hybrid vehicles, built by Stadler and can operate either by electricity and diesel.There is a lot of scope for TramTrain to operate in the Fraser Valley, […]

A Renewed Call For Judicial Inquiry on TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit

November 22, 2022The Hon. David Eby, Q.C. Attorney General, The Province of BC.Dear Sir, A renewed call for a Judicial Inquiry on TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit with the proposed SkyTrain Broadway subway and the SkyTrain extension in Surrey to Langley. I am writing to you on the above matter. The Broadway subway. […]

SeaTrain – The Ongoing Columbia St. Station Fiasco

Yes, this is an ongoing problem but………………. The flooding and closing of the strategic Columbia St. Station should have been dealt with ages ago, but no, not TransLink. Always put off to tomorrow what should be done today and to hell with the customer! I wonder if anyone at TransLink knows what a sump pump […]

REM

The following article also aptly describes metro Vancouver’s transit planning, which is mostly dictated by the premier’s office and camouflaged in layers of bureaucracy. The result is very expensive, politically inspired rapid transit lines that soon become financial anchors. As a final note, the then Gordon Campbell BC government rejected LRT from the start, dropping […]

The North Shore’s “Hobson’s Choice”.

The following was sent to all North Shore mayor and councils. PLEASE DELIVER TO MAYOR AND COUNCIL AND FIRST NATION COUNCILS   From: Rail for the Valley For the past 14 years, Rail for the Valley has advocated for the “return of the interurban” for the former Vancouver to Chilliwack BC Electric interurban line that […]

Planning Fallacy

  From Norman Farrell’s In-sights blog, commenting on the NDP’s continuation with the Site “C” dam project despite the fact that Site “C” is a risky $16↑billion energy project that will cause massive ecological damage and produce electricity at 4x the cost of alternative sources.. The same is true with the now $3 billion Broadway […]

Entering The Land of Unicorns and Pixie Dust – TransLink’s Current P.R. Gamble

Well, the first surprise was that this news item came via the Alaska Highway News of all places. This tells me TransLink is spinning the story to everyone it can to give the good news to! The big problem that there is no money to fund these grand schemes and the post Covid economy may […]

What’s wrong with the REM?

The Canada Line’s big cousin, Montreal’s REM. The problem with REM. like the Canada line is that it is more of a financial tool than a public transit line and because of this, the transit customer has been ignored. A healthy transit system offers multiple ways to get between points A and B — not […]