13.9% Grade in Lisbon – Impossible Claims the City of Vancouver!

Ever see a tram climbing a 13.9% grade? Well now you have! A Lisbon tram climbing the famous 13.9% grade in the city. Please don’t tell the City of Vancouver or its Engineering Department, because they will just just believe you.

TransLink’s Subway Fiscal Time Bomb

The SkyTrain/metro Lobby remain mute on the long term fiscal effects of operating subways, especially on routes that have low ridership, say less than 15,000 pphpd. Building a subway is a very expensive proposition and many factors should be considered before embarking on such a costly investment. The first questionAi??any knowledgeable transit planner must ask […]

Traffic congestion in Metro Vancouver as bad as Los Angeles. A report that TransLink will ignore!

Oh yes, TransLink is on the right path in providing an affordable public transit alternative – NOT! Vancouver faces many transportation problems, but TransLink and its very unconventional transit planning must rank as number one. As I have said before, “Transit is to move people and not money“, yet TransLink still bumbles along planning hugely […]

SkyTrain is Obsolete, Why Then Doesn’t The SkyTrain Lobby & TransLink Get It?

Two letters in the North Delta/Surrey Leader, one from Daryl Cruz of “SkyTrain For Surrey” fame and a rebuttal from Malcolm Johnston, a contributor to this blog. The assertions by Cruz that “building LRT will cost us billions and billions more than building SkyTrain”, is outright dishonest and comes from a profound ignorance about light […]

Canadaai??i??s light rail renaissance

From the International Railway Journal http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/light-rail/canadas-light-rail-renaissance.html Light rail is experiencing a renaissance in cities throughout Canada with various new lines planned and some currently under construction. LIKE most cities across the world, Canada’s leading urban centres suffer from traffic congestion leaving many residents wasting time in their cars. In recent years light rail schemes have […]

Ottawa, Canada – city to hire outside consultants for LRT project

The city of Ottawa will be hiring outside consultants to oversee various phases of its light rail construction project, The Ottawa Citizen reported Thursday. Canada’s federal capital plans a 7.7-mile east-west starter LRT route that will include a 1.5-mile downtown LRV subway. Here’s a graphic showing the planned LRT: http://metronewsca.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/train_04.jpg?w=618 The consortium awarded the construction […]

TRAMS AND STREETCARS CAN CLIMB STEEP GRADES.

There has been a lot of discussion that light rail can’t climb steep grades, despite the fact that there are scores of examples elsewhere that they can. A tram descending a 9.5% grade in Mainz, Germany. Steepest ever in Germany was Neunkirchen/Saar with 11.2%: While in the USA, the Pittsburgh streetcars climbed a 12.5% grade.

Is There Already An Agreement to Build A SkyTrain Subway Under Broadway?

It seems Bombardier Inc. had designed a new Advanced Rapid Transit car for each new ART system builtAi??in Vancouver, New York, and Kuala Lumpor having different designed cars. Now the Evergreen line is getting a new and improved ARTAi??Mk. 3 car. Though Vancouver and Kuala Lumpur ART cars look similar, the KL cars are taller […]

Do The SkyTrain for Surrey Lot & The MOT Have A Clue About SkyTrain? Evidently Not!

The following bit of misinformation comes from the SkyTrain for Surrey folks, who seem to continually to embarrass themselves with their ignorance of transit matters. Bombardier Wins TransLink Contract for 28 new Trains TransLink and the Government of BC have signed a contract with Bombardier for 28 new SkyTrain cars, a contract valued at $90.7 […]

Merry Christmas!

A very merry Christmas to all from Rail for the Valley!