Letters
Letters
From the Langley Advance Times
Dear Editor,
For over 12 years, Rail for the Valley has been advocating the reinstatement of the Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban service and in doing so, are being advised by professionals and engineers who have a sound knowledge of public transit systems and transportation modes.
The following are pertinent facts being overlooked by local, provincial and federal politicians.
- Prior to the 2018 civic elections, the current mayor of Surrey claimed he was an expert and that the SkyTrain could be built to Langley for $1.65 billion.
- The current estimated cost for the 16 kilometre Expo Line extension to Langley is in excess of $4 billion.
- The name of the actual proprietary railway used on the Expo line is the Movia Automatic Light Metro (MALM)
- MALM is the sixth rebranding of the proprietary railway and is now owned by Alstom after it purchased Bombardier’s rail division. Previous brands were Innovia Light Metro; Advanced Rapid Transit; Automatic Light Metro; Advanced Light Rail Transit; Intermediate Capacity Transit System.
- Due to the flip flop from LRT to MALM, a new business case must be presented and a two year bidding process must be restarted from scratch.
- The Expo Line extension to Langley is now underfunded by over $1 billion.
- There has been no planning for building a cement viaduct over the Serpentine Valley and this will greatly increase the cost of the project.
- The cost of cement and specialty steel needed for light metro construction is rising 2 to 3 times that of the rate of inflation. Inflation is projected to be 2.2 per cent in Canada in 2022.
- To operate more trains on the Expo and Millennium Lines, a $3 billion rehab must be done to: replace and increase the electrical supply; replace the Citiflow automatic train control system as Bombardier Inc. is no longer supporting it; all switches must be replaced to permit faster running to increase headways, needed to increase capacity; all stations must be refitted to permit higher customer flows (is being done piecemeal).
- As Vancouver is now the only customer for MALM and as Alstom will complete outstanding (paid for orders) by 2025, they may cease production altogether. This also coincides with the closure of two (Detroit & Toronto’s SRT) of the seven systems built around the world.
- Two of the now called MALM systems in Yongin, Korea and Kuala Lumpor in Malaysia have involved both Bombardier Inc. and SNC Lavalin in court battles involving misinformation and corruption.
- The cost for a 130 km, Vancouver to Chilliwack passenger service connecting Vancouver to North Delta, Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, Vedder/Sardis and Chilliwack, with a maximum of three trains per hour per direction is $1.221 billion.
Rail for the Valley
Delta Optimist
Letter: Better transit for Delta?
Editor:
“Delta, TFN need improved transit service levels, says Harvie,” reads the headline in a recent Optimist story, but Mayor Harvie is dreaming because Delta’s transit situation will not change for a long time.
Here are two reasons why:
What was going to be a $1.65 billion extension of the Expo Line to Langley, as promised by the current Mayor of Surrey, has now turned into a $4 billion plus boondoggle, with a financial shortfall of over $1 billion!
Inflation will cause more impressive cost overruns on the Expo Line extension to Langley and the now $3 billion Broadway Subway.
The Expo and Millennium Lines desperately needs a $3 billion rehab, largely unfunded, but needed to operate more trains.
Secondly, to attract customers, transit needs to be user-friendly and the product TransLink offers is definitely not. COVID has shown that those who switched from transit to the car are reluctant to switch back, because the transit option seems third rate.
Public transit in Metro Vancouver is designed to meet political agendas and not customer needs, thus continues to grow in unpopularity, with TransLink remaining in high odour with the taxpayer.
$10 billion is needed from all levels of government (one taxpayer) to complete two light metro extensions (not to mention the $70 million to $80 million increase in annual operating costs) that will do little or nothing relieving congestion and pollution.
SkyTrain light-metro is notorious for not attracting the motorist from the car and why the proprietary railway has failed miserably internationally, with a total of seven such systems sold in the past 41 years and only five remaining after 2025.
SkyTrain’s current financial obligations means transit customers will be waiting a long time for local bus improvements, as Vancouver, Surrey and Langley are getting politically prestigious, platinum-plated rapid-transit at the expense of everyone else!
Rail for the Valley
TramTrain as used in Zwikau, Germany.
Chilliwack Progress
LETTER: SkyTrain announcement condemns Fraser Valley to more congestion
$1.5-billion investment could create communities with a modern 130-kilometre regional railway
Jul. 16, 2021
Friday’s federal funding photo-op for the $3.95 billion, 18-kilometre Expo Line extension to Langley, didn’t mention that the project is almost $1 billion short of funding and the shortfall must be made up by the province and TransLink, with higher user fees, transit fares, gas taxes and many more hidden taxes that subsidize the present SkyTrain light metro system.
That does not make for good photo-ops. If Justin Trudeau and John Horgan really want to reduce pollution and congestion, SkyTrain light-metro is the wrong way to go, because it doesn’t. It has been recognized for decades that light-metro is very poor in reducing congestion and associated pollution, as Vancouver has demonstrated.
Secondly, to attract customers, transit needs to be user-friendly and the product TransLink offers is definitely not. COVID has shown that those who switched from transit to the car are reluctant to switch back, because the transit option seems third rate.
Public transit in Metro Vancouver is designed to meet political agendas and not customer needs, thus continues to grow in unpopularity, with TransLink remaining in high odour with the taxpayer.
$10 billion is needed from all levels of government (one taxpayer) to complete two light metro extensions (not to mention the $70 million to $80 million increase in annual operating costs) that will do little or nothing relieving congestion and pollution.
SkyTrain light-metro is notorious for not attracting the motorist from the car and why the proprietary railway has failed miserably internationally, with a total of seven such systems sold in the past 41 years and only five remaining after 2025.
SkyTrain’s current financial obligations means transit customers will be waiting a long time for local bus improvements, as Vancouver, Surrey and Langley are getting politically prestigious, platinum-plated rapid-transit at the expense of everyone else!
Rail for the Valley
Just one minor technical correction, you stated, ” $10 billion is needed from all levels of government (one taxpayer) to complete two light metro extensions”, which two extensions? Roughly how much for each?
Next time never use more than 3 to 5 bullet points in an article. What’s better is to use a bullet point as a main point and group your connected sub points underneath it. Something like this:
*The name of the actual proprietary railway used on the Expo line is the Movia Automatic Light Metro (MALM)
MALM is the sixth rebranding of the proprietary railway and is now owned by Alstom after it purchased
Bombardier’s rail division,
1 – Previous brands were Innovia Light Metro; Advanced Rapid Transit; Automatic Light
Metro; Advanced Light Rail Transit; Intermediate Capacity Transit System.
2 – Only 7 MALM systems have been installed in the last 36 years
3 – Two of the now called MALM systems in Yongin, Korea and Kuala Lumpor in Malaysia have involved both
Bombardier Inc. and SNC Lavalin in court battles involving misinformation and corruption
4 – Two more of the MALM systems Detroit’s People Mover & Toronto’s SRT will both close by 2026
5 – Two more are airport express lines in New York and Beijing and only one (the JFK Airtrain) is ever expected to
order even a small number of new vehicles (I added this one)
6 – As Vancouver is now the only customer for MALM and as Alstom will complete outstanding (paid for orders)
by 2025, they may cease production altogether.
*Prior to the 2018 civic elections, the current mayor of Surrey claimed he was an expert and that the SkyTrain could
be built to Langley for $1.65 billion!
1 – The current estimated cost for the 16 kilometre Expo Line extension to Langley is in excess of $4 billion
2 – The Expo Line extension to Langley is now underfunded by over $1 billion
3 – There has been no planning for building a cement viaduct over the Serpentine Valley and this will greatly
increase the cost of the project, this wasn’t necessary for the LRT line
4 – Inflation is projected to be 2.2 per cent in Canada in 2022
5 – The cost of cement and specialty steel needed for light metro construction is rising 2 to 3 times that of the rate
of inflation and has been doing this since the 1990’s, an expert should already know this
6 – Due to the flip flop from LRT to MALM, a new business case must be presented and a two year bidding
process must be restarted from scratch
7 – To operate more trains on the Expo and Millennium Lines, a $3 billion rehab must be done to: replace and
increase the electrical supply; replace the Citiflow automatic train control system as Bombardier Inc. is no
longer supporting it; all switches must be replaced to permit faster running to increase headways, needed to
increase capacity; all stations must be refitted to permit higher customer flows (is being done piecemeal)
*For over 12 years, Rail for the Valley has been advocating the reinstatement of the Vancouver to Chilliwack
interurban service and in doing so, are being advised by professionals and engineers who have a sound
knowledge of public transit systems and transportation modes.
1 – The cost for a 130 km, Vancouver to Chilliwack passenger service connecting Vancouver to North Delta,
Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, Vedder/Sardis and Chilliwack, with a maximum of three trains per hour per
direction is $1.221 billion
2 – Building on existing rail rights of way is far cheaper then building new rights of way from scratch
3 – Ottawa’s Trillium Line (Line#2 not the Confederation Line which Line #1) which uses mainline railway DMU’s
(Diesel Multiple Units) on a pre existing former CPR, largely single track rail line is under going a 16 km
expansion plus the upgrade of the original 8km, replacing and expanding all existing stations (80 m platforms
up from 35 m), adding 8 new stations, 7 more DMU’s (Stadler Flirt DMU) plus upgrading the 6 smaller Alstom
Coradia Lint 41’s, a new maintenance/operations facility, more and longer passing tracks and a branch line
service to Ottawa’s airport, an operating frequency of 6 to 7 trains per hour per direction all for $828 Million
The interurban was partially reinsted from Vancouver to Surrey and Richmond. It is called the Expo and Canada line. The Millenium line is similar to the old Burnaby lake line. When you walk under the expo, you can see bits of the old interurban line in various places in Burnaby. Even the old station in New Westminster is still there. After the skytrain is extended to Langley, BC transit can build an LRT line from Langley to Chilliwack on the old interurban line to replace their express bus.
Zwei replies: Nice try, but to let everyone know, you are spam, full of fake news and misleading comment.
The Expo Line follows the old interurban route because it was going to be LRT until the Socreds were bought off by the province of Ontario to build with their unsalable ICTS/ALRT system. Experts at the time said both ALRT was poorly build and definite built in the wrong location.
AS the Expo line to Langley is now over $1 billion short of cash, i doubt that it will be built.
Again, nice try.