The Light Rail Committee Sends a Message
The Light Rail Committee sent the following letter to all municipal governments in the lower mainland, to inform municipal politicians about upcoming transit funding discussions by the mayors council, with Transportation Minister Shirley Bond for the Evergreen Line. One wishes that Mayor Walton tell Minister Bond to "take a powder", and "if the provincial government wants more SkyTrain construction, let the provincial government pay for it!"
Mayor and Council;
In late January, the regional mayors council chair Richard Walton will meet transportation minister Shirley Bond in late January to try to determine how Metro Vancouver's should pay their share of the Evergreen Line and broader transit expansion. It is now time to rethink how we plan transit and what kind of transit should be built.
The Evergreen Line is a $1.4 billion plus, 11 kilometre extension to the Millennium Line, that has more than funding problems, the entire plan for the Millennium Line is nothing more than a sham as TransLink has deliberately skewed planning to favour the dated SkyTrain light-metro system. Vancouver is the only city in North America and Europe uses the proprietary SkyTrain light-metro system for regional transportation, while at the same time rejecting LRT, which is the transit mode of choice by international transit experts.
In 2008, noted American transit expert Gerald Fox in a letter to a Victoria transportation group, shredded TransLink's Evergreen Line business case, stating; "I found several instances where the analysis had made assumptions that were inaccurate, or had been manipulated to make the case for SkyTrain. If the underlying assumptions are inaccurate, the conclusions may be so too." Fox later said; It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding. In the US, all new transit projects that seek federal support are now subjected to scrutiny by a panel of transit peers, selected and monitored by the federal government, to ensure that projects are analyzed honestly, and the taxpayers’ interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US."
This is hardly reassuring for the taxpayer who will be soon asked to ante up more money for the Evergreen Line.
The following is a brief and internationally accepted descriptions of transit mode:
- Light-metro – A small metro system, mostly automated (driverless), and operating on segregated rights-of-ways that found flavour with transit planners in the 1970's and early 80's. Largely made obsolete by modern light rail; light metro was supposed to bridge the gap from what old streetcars could carry and that of a heavy-rail metro.
- Streetcar or tram – A steel wheel on steel rail vehicle that operates on-street, in mixed traffic with little or no priority signaling at intersections. Somewhat faster than a bus, a modern tram or streetcar has vehicle capacities as large as 350 persons per car and can easily handle passenger traffic flows up to 20,000 persons per hour per direction.
- Light Rail or LRT – Is a streetcar or tram, that operates articulated vehicles on a reserved rights-of-ways or routes that are for the exclusive use for the tram. Modern LRT has a practical capacity of between 2,000 persons per hour per direction and 20,000 pphpd, thus at a stroke made light-metro obsolete by providing the same quality of service at a far lower costs. The adaptability of LRT is such that some European tram/LRT operations now carry over 30,000 pphpd on selected routes including simple streetcar routes!
- TramTrain – A streetcar or tram that is able to operate safely on mainline railway tracks, track-sharing with regular trains.
- BRT or bus rapid transit – A limited stop express bus service, that is guided by rail or curb or has the exclusive use of a busway.
It is clear that regional politicians and the public have been mislead by TransLink about the capabilities of modern light rail as regional transit bureaucrats continually plan for much more expensive SkyTrain light-metro, while at the same time deliberately planning LRT to be inferior to SkyTrain. This is tantamount to professional misconduct on the part of TransLink and the TransLink Board!
In 2009, the Rail for the Valley group, engaged Leewood Projects from the UK, for an unbiased report for a TramTrain operation on the BC Electric (now Southern Railway of BC) old interurban route, which carries two to three freight trains a day. TramTrain was selected because the geometry of the track was designed for short wheelbase interurbans and not longer and more unstable (on curves) commuter train cars such as the West Coast Express.
The result of the RftV/Leewood report were several options in providing TramTrain service to the Fraser Valley.
- Option 1: Diesel LRT from Scott Road to Chilliwack – $491,819, 424.00 or $5.02 million/km.
- Option 2: Electrification of Scott Road to Chilliwack – $114, 700,000.00 or $6.2 million/km.
- Option 3: Richmond/Vancouver to Rosedale – $998,519, 424.00 or $7.2 million/km.
It must be noted that the cost of a 'full build', 138 km. Vancouver/Richmond to Rosedale TramTrain costs $400 million less than the proposed $1.4 billion, 11 km., Evergreen Line. Thus it can be said for the cost of the $1.4 billion Evergreen Line, the region could build a Vancouver/Richmond to Rosedale TramTrain service, plus a Vancouver to Maple ridge TramTrain service that would include the Port Moody and the two Coquitlams.
It is strange indeed that TransLink strictly adheres to the SkyTrain and light-metro operating philosophies, despite the fact that to date, modern LRT in its various forms is cheaper to build than SkyTrain; cheaper to operate than SkyTrain; safer to operate than SkyTrain; can carry more customers than SkyTrain.
I strongly urge council members to reject forcing the taxpayer to spend any more money on TransLink's pie in the sky metro planning and compel TransLink to plan for proven and affordable transit for the 21st century, as citizens have grown weary paying ever escalating taxes for politically prestigious transit mega-projects that have done little to reduce auto congestion, pollution and/or provide an adequate transportation alternative to the car.
Who is not afraid to bell the cat?
Addendum
Light Rail Transit Association
www.lrta.org
RftV/Leewood Study
http://www.railforthevalley.com/studies/
The Gerald fox Letter
http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/can-translinks-business-cases-be-trusted/
