Rail for the Valley in the News!

The Rail for the Valley/Leewood TramTrain study has had region wide reporting, with most of the weekly papers featuring this historic news release. Click here to download the full 84 page report Surrey Leader, Langley Times & Chilliwack Progress, BC http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/103467759.html or http://tinyurl.com/32zmj7n Valley light rail all go, twin groups claim Vancouver Province http://www.theprovince.com/life/Valley+light+rail+twin+groups+claim/3556678/story.html or […]

As Predicted – "Mayors consider raising taxes to pay for TransLink"

Ai??Ai??As predicted yesterday: TransLink is in a conundrum; there is no money for new metro expansion and the bureaucracy refuses to plan for much cheaper light rail. There is no way out, either taxes must increase to pay for metro constructionAi??Ai??or the transit system stagnates and becomes even more unattractive product for customers. It seems […]

Mayors, Premier and Transportation Minister to meet next week – The Blind Leading the Blind

Talk about the blind leading the blind. BC Transportation Minister, Shirley Bond (who knows little or nothing about transit), the besieged premier (who knows that building glitzy metro lines buys votes), and regional mayors (who are equally unread on transit) are going to have a private meeting regarding TransLink’s ongoing financial crisis. The first hing […]

Off The Rails – From the Abby Times

An interesting tome in the Abbotsford Times. Anyone wanting to put ‘rail’ transit down the median of the number 1 highway forgets that it would be hugely expensive and the curvature and gradients along the route would mean very expensive engineering would have to be done. Going ‘greenfields’ construction is always an expensive propositionAi??Ai??which knowledgeable […]

World wide Transit and Light Rail News

Nanjing. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/nanjingmetro/ Lagos. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/lagosrailmasstransit/ Ho Chi Minh http://www.railway-technology.com/news/news94402.html http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/ceremony-launches-work-on-ho-chin-minh-city-metro-line-2.html Phoenix http://www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/ Keep rail local, says pteg http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/dataview/News/News_Article.aspx?KeyValue=2262 Edinburgh http://news.scotsman.com/news/Tram-shifts-for-Pope.6498683.jp http://news.scotsman.com/transport-news/Platform-Richard-Jeffrey-defends-the.6497807.jp

TramTrain’s Now Invade Australia

What is good for Karlsruhe, Germany and maybe good for the Vancouver/Fraser Valley region, is now seen as good for Newcastle Australia! For a transit mode that is yet 20 years old, the simplicityAi??Ai??andAi??Ai??cost effectiveness of TramTrain is being demonstrate not only in Europe and North America, but now also in Australia. Communities are pressurizing […]

500 Posts – The story so far……………..

Todays post, marks the five hundredth post on the Rail for The Valley blog and today I want to reflect on the main themes that keep out transit debates going. The Canada line Again, anotherAi??Ai??major Canada Line storyAi??Ai??by the Vancouver Province news paper…. http://www.theprovince.com/business/Canada+Line+year+later+Next+stop+construction+controversy/3400752/story.html -and I wonder why the Vancouver Province keeps writing ‘puff’ stories […]

Paris LRT Line T-4 France’s first TramTrain

Just follow the link and one can find the complete history of Frances first TramTrain. http://connectedcities.eu/showcases/t4.html

More Tram Videos

Thank you for blog reader, David Cockle, for more European tram movies! Amsterdam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEBFJd0CJH4 Budapest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLMgwWNbKRk&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqeT9Nuka38&feature=channel Basel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y51rWxDosU&feature=related Bern http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B2rKdXkZKU&feature=related Nottingham. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3scXjpvO6M Croydon Tramlink. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNmZI9rFDys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ3UaZXzRPA&feature=related Nantes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNbL1xj6D00 Montpellier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIJ5SJ_K9oE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47fjmS7DK0&feature=fvw Bordeaux. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stmLf8qjppg&feature=channel Freiburg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG4OIOVlmgM Mulhouse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfYlHdoppaQ&feature=related Barcelona. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EsbeM9QnCg&feature=related Dublin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PqTQDy8tsw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8owxp9k8DSQ&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAO3i36doo0&feature=related Prague. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-4k_vfFgVE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwQolOZ7Ed4&feature=related Leipzig. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh1xE_pvjI8 Melbourne http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMOCKiQr5hE&feature=related

A Cost Comparison of Transportation Modes. A study worth looking at.

The following study is well worth a look as it dispels many currents myths about transit, especially the SkyTrain light-metro system. ‘Zwei’ notes that Professor Condon has fallen into the light rail/streetcar trap. The difference between LRT and a streetcar is the quality of rights-of-way, where a streetcar operates on-street in mixed traffic, with little […]