The SkyTrain Lobby Has A Meltdown
The following video was brought to my attention and it gives a fairly honest argument about the SkyTrain versus Light Rail.
The big problem for Vancouver has been 45 years of SkyTrain propaganda coupled with condescending and fake news about Light Rail. Those who spoke against SkyTrain were quietly sent to Coventry and let go or for the biggest sins of saying SkyTrain is just plain wrong, get fired.
University professors who spoke positively about light rail were given the “Star Chamber” treatment.
In today’s world, legal or administrative bodies with strict, arbitrary rulings, no due process rights to those accused, and secretive proceedings called “star chambers”.
Even good old Zwei has been blacklisted from Post Media, the Tyee, CBC, CKNW, and most major news stations because they couldn’t cope with the truth about SkyTrain. The last time Zwei was threatened with a lawsuit for libel, but I mentioned a few names that had offered their services in defense, it all went away.
It seems they could not cope with the legal maxim that the defense against libel is the truth.
What is of no surprise for me is the general ignorance of public transport and transport mode, with many echoing old cliches about light rail and light metro. Yet, the one issue no one dares to address is cost, yet these are the same people who will decry the cost of every bean, but when it comes to SkyTrain they hide behind dated rhetoric and more.
The simple fact is, the current $16 billion plus, 21.7 km extensions to the Expo and millennium Lines will be the last simply because by the time funding is secured for the UBC extension, sometime after 2040, there will be no more MALM (SkyTrain) vehicles available and no manufacturers willing to design new vehicles without being paid up front, at a cost of over $200 million, before the first car rolls off the assembly line.
NEWS FLASH! The latest cost for the Expo line extension to Langley is now around $7 billion and the Operations and Maintenance Centre #5 (OMC#5) needed for the 5 car Innovia 300 trains is an added $1 billion.
Golly Gee Whiz Batman, how much light rail could we build for that?
160 km of modern LRT, all found!
Your website has constantly been predicting an end to future Skytrain extensions dating back to well before construction of the Evergreen extension and yet the Skytrain keeps on getting extended. Your website has also said that the scope of the Langley Expo Line extension was going to be reduced and that the stations on that extension would have shorter platforms(that hasn’t happened) and I am confident in saying that you’ll be wrong about our ability to procure new trains from either Alstom or other rolling stock manufacturers. There are several systems around the world that use LIM propulsion technology and a lot of those lines use Bombardier/Alstom rolling stock. However other rail manufacturers also make trains that use LIM technology. Lines 4, 5 & 6 on the Guangzhou Metro use LIM powered rolling stock that is made by CRRC Qingdao Sifang & Kawasaki Heavy Industries. There are also several lines in Japan that have LIM powered trains such as the Toei Ōedo Line which has trains made by: Hitachi & Kawasaki. Finally there is the Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line in Osaka and it has trains made by: Kawasaki, Kinki Sharyo & Nippon Sharyo. Ultimately even if Alstom does stop making trains that can be used on the Skytrain network it’s clear that there are several manufacturers in Asia which could produce new rolling stock for the Skytrain.
Zwei replies: First off, you made the wrong assumption about Linear Induction Motors and each of the applications you mentioned are proprietary, which means you only have one supplier.
The MALM (UTDC and Innovia trains use attractive LIM’s, which are problematic in operation and requires much maintenance to the reaction rail (the final derailment of the Scarborough R/T, the LIM actually ripped the reaction rail from its foundation!)
Shifting to the CRRC trains fro Kuala Lumpor, they are clones of the ART Trains used in Beijing and again problems arise. The trains are 30 year old designs, which was fine with transit authorities because they matched those cars in operation, no need for new operating systems, which Translink found to their embarrassment. Also, transit authorities seemed to deny any purchase from a Canadian Company/product due to the corruption scandal which followed from the first ART Line built.
Vancouver has had issues with the new Innovia 300 MALM cars they ordered from Bombardier and Alstom is completing the order.
Alstom has no interest in investing a penny on a dated and expensive light metro system, especially it is not theirs and competes with their “in house” product line of light metros. The CRRC Trains contain stolen intellectual property and may have legal issues trying to sell the cars in Vancouver, now the only customer in the foreseeable future.
And the future is quite limited because why would any transit authority opt for a metro system costing more to build, operate and maintain than a conventionally powered train. OK, yes Vancouver has but at great expense.
I have been told by several sources that the cost to design, test and safety case a new LIM powered train is in the neighbourhood of $100 million. If Alstom abandons the system and with little or no scope for international sales, why would they or anyone else invest in an orphaned system?
For Vancouver, the future will is bleak for the LIM Lines as either they will get dated stock from the CRRC and face possible legal action from stolen intellectual property or hope another company will absorb the development costs and that is not very likely.
As i keep say with post on Facebook; “Keep ten of the newest 6 car train-sets in storage for future use, because the future for SkyTrain will be extremely expensive.
Train / Manufacturer / Controller and Motor
MK 1 = Okanagan Falls,BC = 3 phase AC linear motors
MK 1 = Wismer and Rawlings Electric of Port Coquitlam = 3 phase AC linear motors
JFK Air Tiain = Sherwood Electromotion Inc = IGBT-VVVF AC linear motors
MK 2 =Unknown = IGBT-VVVF AC linear motors
MK2.5= Unknown = MITRAC IGBT-VVVF linear motors
MK 3 =Unknown = MITRAC IGBT-VVVF linear motors
MK 5 =Unknown = Unknown
No up-to-date studies LIM proportion with newer, power of management systems. There’s a few studies for the 3 phase LIM motor. 1 studies IGBT-VVVF AC linear motors.
Just a reminder mk1 and mk2 have the same coupler but rip themselves apart if they were together. Goes for any of the new generations MK Train.
MK 1 redesign of the steerable truck.
MK 2 annoying weak AC
MK 3 annoyance was the sensor dying.
Mk 5 annoyances, like the delayed delivery
you know, calibrations like doors, sensors, motors and computers. Relatively tame, compared to the O Train or REM with signal system issues.
Alstom Canada Support and Supply Vancouver with Trains.
Zwei replies: And your point is?
All the trains used on the Expo and Millennium Lines have the same coupler and to say MK.1/2 trains will rip each other apart is news to me.
The fact is SkyTrain costs more to build, more to operate, more to maintain than light rail, a fact that you seem to ignore and why no one is interested in the system and only 6 are in operation after being on the market for almost 50 years.