TramTrain – Success Ignored

A Karlsruhe TramTrain in a rural setting

A Karlsruhe TramTrain in a rural setting

Rail for the Valley’s goal is the reintroduction of a modern Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban service, using the former and still in use, BC Electric route.

This route would provide good rail communication for Vancouver, Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, the burgeoning communities of Vedder/Sardis and finally Chilliwack, with regularly scheduled regional rail service. 15 years ago RftV naively thought that a TramTrain service would be ideal. Soon the realization that ossified bureaucracies and equally ossified politicians could not or would not see 20 minutes into the future and doubled down on more SkyTrain light metro construction. Instead, RftV opted for light Diesel Multiple Unit’s(DMU’s) instead of TramTrains.

The Leewood Study estimate for such an “interurban service was around $1 billion and today, with inflation, the cost would be around $1.5 billion for the 130 km route. This cost compares very favourably with the current estimate of about $11 billion to extend the Expo and millennium Lines a mere 21.7 km!

Simply put, a TramTrain is a modern tram or streetcar, so designed it can operate on the mainline railway, thus able to give a transit customer a premium service that a bus or commuter train or a light metro cannot give.

A TramTrain serving Paris.

A TramTrain serving Paris.

The concept of the TramTrain, explodes so many local myths about trams and LRT that the powers that be just ignore the mode.

Today, there are 26 TramTrain operations around the world, with an additional 30 more in various stages of planning.

TramTrain would be an ideal transit alternative not only for the Fraser Valley, but for Vancouver Island and the ever growing Okanagan region.

All three mentioned BC locations could see over 400 km or rail transit in the form of TramTrain built and installed at less cost than the $11 billion for a mere 21.7 km of SkyTrain light metro.

Something to think about.

 

A TraimTrain on city streets in Sheffield, UK.

A TraimTrain on city streets in Sheffield, UK.

A Sheffield TramTrain on the mainline.

A Sheffield TramTrain on the mainline.

Comments

5 Responses to “TramTrain – Success Ignored”
  1. Haveacow says:

    They are aware of it Zwei, they just don’t want to do the key thing that makes Tram-Train (Karlsruhe) and Train-Tram (Chemnitz) or even just simple commuter rail work well, negotiate with railways for space. Yes the starter line (the old interurban line to Chiliwack) is owned by the public but any other line will require great amounts negotiations and deals. Worst of all, once they do a deal they can’t do the thing which politicians, especially local politicians, love to do the most, constantly revisit past decisions for the sake of attention getting.

  2. zweisystem says:

    I agree. Actually, the only railway that is problematic is the CPR as the southern RR of BC is open to the idea.

  3. jim says:

    I would likely use service on this route from time to time, but what is your opinion of the 66? It seems like the former Langley mayor argues we should have this train instead. The 66 is a good direct route and is a lot quicker for many trips than this train because it doesn’t go north-south in Abbotsford. As well the former mayor overstates what the rail line actually services. I support passenger rail, on this corridor, but not at the cost of the 66 and not overstating what it does. I think the overstating is misleading and does a disservice to the potential for operating passenger rail on the line. For example, it does not serve YXX, UFV, or Canada Education Park.

    When Bowinn Ma was made Minister of State for Infrastructure in her last assignment, part of her mandate letter said to support planning for “key transit projects” like “the expansion of rail up the Fraser Valley”. What happened with that, it seems like nothing?

    Zwei replies: I think you mean Highway 99 and that would be hugely costly undertaking. The former Mayor of Langley really did not have a clue about transit and really no sense of fiscal matters. The engineering on this rout would have to include tunnels and viaducts and then, how are you going to access the thing?

    To recap A Vancouver to Chilliwack rail servcie would directly service South Vancouver, new Westminster, North Delta/Surrey, central Surrey, Cloverdale (KPU & the new hospital), Langley (KPU Langley), Trinity Western University, Busioness Parks, Central Abbotsford; Huntington/Sumas (gateway to the USA); Yarrow, Vedder and Sardis.

    And please, none of this quicker trip BS, with the Leewood Study, it will take 90 minutes to go from Chilliwack to Scott Road Station. With all the transfer needed to use the Hwy.99 route, I would say usinfg the former BCE route would be faster for door to door trips.

    As for the NDP, they now seem to be anti-transit, building extensions to the SkyTrain light metro system purely for photo-ops at election time.

  4. Langley says:

    BC is building Skytrain to langley and will open in 2028.

    https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/surrey-langley-skytrain/surrey-langley-skytrain-project-project-overview

    Your tram can go from Langley to Chiliwack.

    Zwei replies: I believe 2028 is a wee bit optimistic as the final funding has not been approved, which must include the OMC#5. The government must source $4.6 to $5.1 billion and with the other ills, this project maybe deferred for a few years.

  5. Paul McGowm says:

    Of course we could have a tram strain running in the valley to Vancouver. However, it would be a choice of slow or expensive. Eliminating the many level crossings would be a heavy expense (bridges or tunnels) but leaving them in will slow the train and it would not be “rapid transit”. There is really little hope of leveraging rail right of ways into a viable commuting resource.
    Has anybody counted the actually number of level crossings and their road traffic? Sure you can put automated gates across the road and screw up the road commuters. Guaranteed once a year a yahoo will get his pickup truck munged when he tries to beat the fast-moving train.

    Zwei replies: Actually gate operating level crossings do not impede speed of the train. Same as the yahoo who walks on the SkyTrain guide way

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