1. the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation: “he is suing the TV company for slander”
verb
1. make false and damaging statements about (someone): “they were accused of slandering the head of state”
The continued debate about the trains that operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines continues.
The SkyTrain for Surrey folks have crossed the line on this issue and Rail for the Valley call for a retraction of their recent News Release or face possible legal action.
The claim that Rail for the Valley and others “fabricated” certain facts is false.
Skytrain to Surrey also points out that somehow Rail for the valley “Strangled the Broadway Subway by 20 years“; “Sabotaged Surrey’s rapid transit, pushing for an inferior surface LRT“; and “Distorted public trust“; are false and deliberately misleading and constitute slander.
According to SkyTrain to Surrey:
The consequences of this misinformation weren’t just academic—they were astronomical. These false claims were the primary weapons used to:
Strangle the Broadway Subway: originally slated for completion in the mid-2000s, this critical regional artery was delayed by 20 years. (This statement is completely false RftV)
Sabotage Surrey’s rapid transit, pushing for an inferior surface LRT that would have offered lower capacity and lower speeds. (This statement is completely false – RftV)
Distort public trust, forcing planners to defend proven technology against recycled myths — again and again and again. (RftV would be ecstatic to have this sort of influence – RftV)
SkyTrain is the name of the regional light-metro system which was chosen via a radio contest in 1985 on CKNW Radio. The SkyTrain light metro system which consists of conventional trains that operate on the Canada Line and the unconventional, proprietary trains that operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines. These trains have been deemed proprietary since the first ALRT Trains operated in 1986.
The trains used on the Expo and Millennium Lines have had four owners, the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, a province of Ontario Crown Corporation; Lavalin; Bombardier and now Alstom.
The proprietary railway has been marketed under at least six names including, Intermediate Capacity Transit System (ICTS); Advanced Light Rail Transit (ALRT); Advanced Light Metro (ALM); Advanced Rapid Transit (ART); Innovia Rapid Transit; Movia Automatic Light Metro (MALM).
These trains can only operate within their small six system family and cannot operate on conventional railways or transit systems.
Originally seven systems were built, but only six remain in operation and no new system has been sold in the past 25 years.
The technical patents for the proprietary railway are owned by Alstom (inherited from Bombardier) and possibly SNC Lavalin may still may own engineering patents, inherited from Lavalin.
According to a News Release from Kuala Lumpur:
” A consortium made up of CRRC ZELC, CRRC Rolling Stock Centre (M) Sdn Bhd and CKM Landas MRO Sdn Bhd has surfaced as the front runner for a lucrative RM1.1 billion contract to manufacture, supply, deliver, test and commission 26 sets of four train cars for Prasarana Malaysia Bhd to be used for the Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) lin“
What is being done is not a surprise as it is a replacement order with new cars being custom built by the CRRC to operate on Kelana Jay Line, which begs many questions. The same is true of many proprietary railways, where the original manufacturers has gone out of business. Germany’s famed Schwebebahn monorail is a good example where new cars were constructed to replace old stock on the only line, which started operation in 1903.
It should be of note that the CRRC is not marketing the cars, rather they are building cars for a replacement order. The proprietary system is deemed darted and unsalable, with no sales for a quarter century.
Kuala Lumpur has three rapid transit systems.
1) The now called Mass Rapid Transit System which is a conventional light metro.
2) The Kelana Jaya Line, which uses Bombardier’s ART system.
3) Klang Valley Rapid Transit metro system, a proprietary monorail system.
It was reported that officials wanted a monorail for the Kelana Jaya Line but Bombardier and SNC Lavalin were involved in a scandal where they paid “success fees” to senior bureaucrats and politicians, to build with ART, which Bombardier were having huge issues trying to sell the proprietary railway. This was ground zero for SNC Lavalin’s (they owned engineering patents) international bribery scandal.
Also of note the next rapid transit line built in Kuala Lumpur was indeed the monorail!
From further research, it seems CRRC is doing this with Alstom’s permission, which leads to three points.
1. Alstom either knew they were getting nothing from Kuala Lumpur. Due to their Bombardier connection. That they didn’t even get one of the contracts for the rehab and conversion of 2 car (sections) trainsets to 4 car (sections) trainsets, Converting the fleet’s 2 car trains (2 section trains, the 200 models). Their people invented the tech, you think they would got something.
2. That Alstom doesn’t care about the tech itself, maybe because that are not actively marketing the system and plan to abandon production after the Vancouver order is completed.
3. That Alstom is “washing its hands” of MALM as they plan to discontinue production and any sort of legal action would be counter productive, especially with the previous dubious history. Alstom is selling the production facility and test track in Kingston Ontario and the CNR has applied to abandon the spur line servicing the facility.
Alstom did get the contract for Kuala Lumpur’s airport people mover cars.
Lastly, the fact that a company known for poor quality trains and intellectual property theft, CRRC, is going to be SkyTrain for Surrey and Vancouver’s champion to prove that their technology isn’t proprietary is a good joke on on both. Nothing like being beholden to Communist China for your rail transit technology. The CRRC ‘s winning of the contract was most likely an, “anybody but Bombardier contract” or in this case, “anybody but Alstom contract”.
The big question, which SkyTrain for Surrey does not ask is “Would these car be legal for operation in Canada?“.
Rail for the Valley would again remind everyone, the proprietary trains, operating on the Expo and Millennium Lines is just one of the seven systems built in almost fifty years. Today, only six systems remain in operation and not one sale of a new system in the past 25 years. The proprietary railway is today, as it was in the past unsalable, which illustrates the many expensive issues that comes with a proprietary railway.
Rail for the Valley demands SkyTrain for Surrey to retract their claims in their recent News Release!
Oh my such schadenfreude by your Skytrain friends they have better watch out for karma.
I contacted former people I have worked with and they told me that dealing with Vancouver was like having ones teeth pulled. They don’t listen and continue on in full belief that they are dealing with incompetents.
LIM powered transit systems are really a no go simply because they are proprietary as each LIM sponsored product is not compatible. A good example is Nancy which ripped up their proprietary TVR system and replaced it with a tram. Not LIM powered, very few transit systems are today, the TVR is a good example at the expense of a proprietary transit system.
Again we had a good laugh over the claim that trams have lower capacity and speeds, I guess no one has ever heard of TramTrain, with speeds now over 90kph, even on city streets, trams have the the ability to be faster than buses, well except for news we hear from Toronto?????
What goes there?
We wish you good luck with your efforts, but it seems, those in power still keep blundering along and afraid they will hit a massive money wall, far sooner that they think.
Also, dealing with the CRRC is like playing Russian Roulette. Some of their product work while others will bankrupt you.
Oh my such schadenfreude by your Skytrain friends they have better watch out for karma.
I contacted former people I have worked with and they told me that dealing with Vancouver was like having ones teeth pulled. They don’t listen and continue on in full belief that they are dealing with incompetents.
LIM powered transit systems are really a no go simply because they are proprietary as each LIM sponsored product is not compatible. A good example is Nancy which ripped up their proprietary TVR system and replaced it with a tram. Not LIM powered, very few transit systems are today, the TVR is a good example at the expense of a proprietary transit system.
Again we had a good laugh over the claim that trams have lower capacity and speeds, I guess no one has ever heard of TramTrain, with speeds now over 90kph, even on city streets, trams have the the ability to be faster than buses, well except for news we hear from Toronto?????
What goes there?
We wish you good luck with your efforts, but it seems, those in power still keep blundering along and afraid they will hit a massive money wall, far sooner that they think.
Also, dealing with the CRRC is like playing Russian Roulette. Some of their product work while others will bankrupt you.