The Vancouver Sun Out Does Itself
Not high speed rail, but TramTrain is an affordable rail option in lightly populated regions.
Vancouver’s mainstream newspapers have been famously ill informed on the subject of “rail”, whether be it, SkyTrain, light rail, or regular railways. I don’t even think there ever has been a honest story about light rail appearing in the Vancouver Sun, but………….
The Sun has completely out done itself on this story and poll.
Daily Poll: Would you support a high speed train connecting Vancouver and the Fraser Valley?
Without any inkling as to the costs involved orAi?? even what high speed rail is, they offer a poll based on aAi?? transit mode with no definition, nor cost estimation.
It is like a poll asking:
Do you want a million dollars a year for life, no questions asked?
Of course the vast majority will vote yes. Stuff and nonsense.
There is a viable plan, it is called the Leewood Study and it is a very good plan; a foundation for a regional rail network for the Fraser Valley.
A much more honest poll would be:
Do you want:
1)Ai?? Large tax increases and user fees for a $12 billion or more high-speed rail line up the Fraser Valley , from Vancouver to Chilliwack or Hope.
or
2)Ai?? Modest tax increases for a regional rail network, with costs starting as low as $750 million for a Vancouver to Chilliwack route.
Now that is a poll worth asking or is the Vancouver Sun afraid to ask?
What a lark, high speed rail.
Whoever penned this farce certainly did little or no research.
High speed rail is a trendy catchphrase for questionable politicians and lazy journalists.
There is already fast rail to mission. It is not as fast as the high speed trains in Japan or Europe.
According to Google maps. The west coast express is faster than driving. Total trip time by train to mission is 75 minutes. Driving takes between 1 hour 20 minutes to 2 hours according via highway 1. This is for trips leaving downtown Vancouver at 4pm.
What about extending the westcoast express to Chilliwack via Abbortsford?
What if the train is upgraded to electric?
It is not unreasonable to have highspeed train.
Zwei replies: It would take too long to go into all the problems expanding theWest Coast Express, it did its job and spread congestion up the North side of the Fraser. We are talking regional rail, light DMU’s, servicing town centres, universities and colleges, with a regular scheduled service. A regional rail system that can be upgraded to TramTrain in the future. The Vancouver Sun’s article was designed to mis inform the public and muddy the waters for rail service for the Fraser Valley.
Westcoast express is a good confortable service with spacious trains. Toronto uses same trains.
It is now apparent that the demographics have radically changed in metro Vancouver.
Jobs are moving out to transit poor areas because of high rents in Vancouver.
Commuter rail just does not have the flexibility to meet the change.
there is transit poor areas on both sides of the fraser river.