Last of the interurbans – Part 5 A video of the South Shore interurban.
Courtesy of U-Tube, a video of the South Shore interurban. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hd4qqWZM4s]
From the LRTA – Karlsruhe orders Bombardier TramTrains
Good news for Rail for the Valley, Bombardier is now producing TramTrains for the famous Karlshrue Two-System light rail network. One would guess that Bombardier Inc. would love to demonstrate this product here. Imagine, the “Great Tram Train Trials” for the Fraser Valley, with Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier, Stadler all competing for orders here; it would […]
Is it time for the Valley to ditch TransLink? Would it lead to better regional transportation?
Martin Crilly’s report on TransLink came as no surprise, TransLink is in deep financial trouble and needs a major infusion of cash to keep it in operation. The question should be asked: “ShouldAi??Ai??the Valley MunicipalitiesAi??Ai??walk away from the transportation agency and let the chips fall where they may?” TransLink, despite all the revisionist history, was […]
How not to name a new streetcar – Seattle’s S.L.U.T. What were they thinking?
Bizarrely, Seattle’s new 2.1 km. demonstration streetcar line has the unhappy acronym of S.L.U.T. or South Lake Union Trolley and with this unhappy name the tram has had all the pitfalls of a demonstration line that really doesn’t fulfill a transportation need. Unlike the much more successful, sadly now defunctAi??Ai??Waterfront trolley operating vintage Melbourne trams, […]
A Great Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth from the SkyTrain lobby – The ignored SkyTrain Subsidy
In 1993, the GVRD (now Metro) and Transport 2021, publishedAi??Ai??the study, “The Cost of Transporting People in the BC Lower Mainland” and for the first time the annual SkyTrain subsidy was mentioned. In 1991, SkyTrain was subsidized to the tune of$157.6 million, more than half of the total subsidyAi??Ai??paid forAi??Ai??public transit in the Lower Mainland. […]
A press Release from the Light Rail Transit Association – Rail for the Valley asks: What is more ‘Green’, a multi lane highway or the interurban?
Ai??Ai??Zweisystem includes this news release from Tram Forward & the LRTA because our provincial and federal politicians are taking the same path,Ai??Ai??pretending they are ‘Green‘ by building expensive ‘show-case’ metro systems, but fail to show any real interest in funding affordable and sustainable light rail in the province and country. In BC it is far […]
The ULTRA LIGHT RAIL concept
A recent comment about Ultra Light Rail deserves an entry in the Rail for the Valley Blog. Though I do believe that ULT is not applicable for the 90 km. Valley Interurban, where larger vehicles are needed, Ultra light rail could have applications in specific niche areas in Metro VancouverAi??Ai??such as a downtown Vancouver to […]
Volk’s Electric Railway, the oldest operating electric railway in the world.
Today, a history lesson on electric railways. The Volk’s Electric Railway (VER) is the oldest operating electric railway in the world (the world’s first electric railway, in Lichterfelde from 1881, no longer operates). It’s a narrow gauge railway that runs along a length of the seafront of the English seaside resort of Brighton, built by […]
The last of the interurbans #3; the last American Interurban – The Chicago, Illinois / South Bend, Indiana: The South Shore Line
The The South Shore Line, operating on both regular railway tracks and on, on-street trackage, is strong evidence that the Fraser Valley could still do the same in 2009 and beyond. In an age of expensive SkyTrain light-metro and even more expensive, glitzy subways like that RAV/Canada line, it is still interesting to noteAi??Ai??that the […]
Tech. stuff for light rail – Single track and interlaced operations
Since the proposed Interurban will run mainly on single track, with passing loops at strategic places, the following U-Tube video is instructive on the relative ease of single track operation. Of course single track operation is a lot cheaper than dual track (which can be added when demand warrants), construction and with an initial one […]
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