The SkyTrain Lobby – Get Over it!

After a post in Facebook, where I stated some facts about the SkyTrain light-metro system in Vancouver, I was reported to Facebook for spreading fake news. Really! So, just set the record straight about Vancouver’s proprietary and non proprietary SkyTrain light metro system, here are some random facts. SkyTrain is not the name of the […]

A Very Close Call – The Public Needs An Inquiry

Poor maintenance can be traced to TransLink’s dire financial ills. Sadly the mandarins running TransLink do not seem to be acquainted with the nuances of maintaining the railway and the SkyTrain light-metro system is a railway. Track switches are an integral part of the railway and must be constantly maintained, yet TransLink seems to have […]

And Then There Was Six

Despite the ongoing charade by regional mayors pretending that the now called Movia Automatic Light Metro is not a proprietary railway, the singular fact remains, it is. This Linear Induction Motor (LIM) powered bit of history has always been a proprietary railway, unable to operate with any railway, except its own family of seven such […]

SkyTrain’s Daddy – The Krauss Maffei Transurban MAGLEV Which Could Not Turn Corners

OK children, a little history lesson, SkyTrain ancestor, The Krauss Maffei Transurban MAGLEV. For those who believe that, what we call SkyTrain, is a great Canadian invention, will be sad to hear it is not, not even close; it is a mix and match transit system, using largely discarded 1960’s and 70’s technology. Krauss-Maffei’s Transurban […]

And Light Rail Transit – Premier Horgan, Are You Listening?

What this story does not mention is that Portland has an extensive LRT/streetcar network, a transit network designed to meet the needs of the transit customer. Unlike Metro Vancouver where transit is built to meet the needs of land developers and land speculators, Bombardier and SNC Lavalin, all political friends with sitting councils. Building with […]

The Sad Fate Of Gadgetbahnen

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Build a more expensive and complicated transit system and politicians, bureaucrats, and academics will fall all over themselves beating a path to your door; so is the sad story of proprietary transit systems. What many people, who advocated for unconventional or […]

Another Comment, Worthy of a Post.

Justin Bernard, who reads the RftV blog offered a link yesterday about the Scarborough ICTS/SRT which deserves a post of its own. What was considered cutting edge transit technology in the 70’s, is now considered somewhat obsolete today; somewhat like the Wuppertal Schwebebahn. http://www.thegridto.com/city/local-news/scarborough-transit-debate-goes-back-to-the-future/   Mon Jul 15, 2013 Local News Scarborough transit debate goes […]

Why do some governments see Metros as more prestigious than Light Rail?

A pertinent question posed on one of the Light Rail discussion groups, particularly relevant in relation to Skytrain & the City’s of Surrey and Vancouver. A selection of answers: 1) Very simple. Because it is more expensive. There is nothing as prestigious as money. And then there is the tendency of: “The neighbouring community have […]

Man marries his car

NO, HUMAN MANAGEMENT IS NOT PERFECT but neither is automated management. Records prove the safest way to go is to have automatic safety controls that will override a human mistake, such as 1920 style automatic train stop. It is much safer to rely on an automatic device checking on a human than to have a […]

Lies, damn lies, statistics and ART

From the “You’d better believe it” Department Although sometimes attributed to Mark Twain ai??i?? because it appears in his posthumously-published Autobiography (1924) ai??i?? this should more properly be ascribed to Disraeli, as indeed Twain took trouble to do: his exact words being, ai???The remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: ai???There […]