Mayor not ready to jump aboard transit . . . just yet – From the Chilliwack Times

More Valley transit news. Tyler Olsen, The Times Published:Ai??Ai??Friday, March 12, 2010 Promoters of a rail line connecting the Fraser Valley with Metro Vancouver are urging Chilliwack politicians to jump aboard plans for a demonstration project along the old interurban rail line. Chilliwack is the only municipality between here and Delta not represented on the […]

Some Interesting Tram Photos

Not much news on the transit front, other than the SkyTrain Subway to UBC and the endemic funding crisis with TransLink. I thought a few tram pictures would be nice. Now, for our double-deck tram friends, the Swedes are no slouches when designing a modern double-deck, articulated tram! For the LRT can’t operate in narrow […]

Hawaii SkyTrain Project Heats Up

A Hawaiian blog by Ian Lind posted Zwei’s ‘Debunking SkyTrain Series’ and continues the hot debate on the elevated SkyTrain project in Hawaii. http://ilind.net/2010/03/03/responses-show-rail-a-very-hot-topic/ It is good that the locals are beginning to ask questions about SkyTrain and may be beginning to see that the proprietary light-metro isn’t as great as ‘sliced bread’ which the […]

All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group (APPLRG) report – Should we do the same in BC?

Some interesting news from across the pond. Urban transit development in the UK has been hamstrung by a very powerful and vocal ‘Roads Lobby’, within the central government (not unlike the SkyTrain Lobby in Victoria), which has all but stopped light rail development in the UK. In an era of peak oil and global warming, […]

A Tram in the Black Forest

This U-Tube of a Karlsruhe TramTrain, goingAi??Ai??about its businessAi??Ai??in Germany’s Black Forest certainly makes a mockery of the ‘needAi??Ai??for density’ claim by those opposing the Fraser Valley interurban. By utilizing existing railway infrastructure, LRT can penetrate into unpopulated areas very cheaply, thus creating a larger tram network, as well servicing far flung transit destinations. Karlsruhe’s […]

The (AVG) Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft GmbH- Karlsruhe’s longest tramtrain route – S4

The AVG’s longest run is now a 210km (130 mile) S4 service from A?ai??i??hringen through central Karlsruhe to Achern, south-west of Baden-Baden. The TramTrain route uses DB mainlines, regional railway lines and on-street running in various cities. The above map gives the various routes of Karlsruhe’s famous TramTrain network;Ai??Ai??largely in an area of comparable density […]

Of Transit, Funding, TramTrain, and a Sustainable Future.

Zwei first met Brendan Read in 1986, while traveling to Abbotsford on the BR Pacer unit that ran three return service to New Westminster each day during the Expo 86 Worlds Fair. It was during this trip that the idea of the “return of the interurban” was conceived. It was all there, track, vehicle(s), and […]

"Their" Evergreen Project Gets Funding – Green light for Evergreen 3 – From Modern Railways

What should be of great interest to those supporting the reinstatement of a Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban, is the cost of refurbishing 80 km. of double track (160km. in total), plus 1 km. of new track is Ai??A?250 million or CAD $423.1 million. As the Fraser Valley interurban or TramTrain’s maximum speed would be 100 […]

More Planning For TramTrain In The U.K. – Now It Is Wales Turn

It seems TramTrains are on the menu for Wales as the Welsh Government looks atAi??Ai??introducing tram and TramTrain operation in local cities. There areAi??Ai??still several minor rail lines that service the Welsh Valleys, thatAi??Ai??were once formed a much larger network from the coal mining days and scores more of abandoned rail routes that could be […]

And Now: The Green With Envy Award – Washington to get $590 million for high-speed rail improvements

In BC and Canada, there is little money for railways to improve passenger service, yet there are billions of dollars for new highways and bridges. The sad fact is, in BC and Canada new highways and bridges win votes, while the railways are considered a ‘yesterdays’ transit mode. Just $500 million would buy us a […]