If Only BC Ministry Of Transportation And Infrastructure Had a Brain

If only………………. Instead of spending $11 billion, to build a mere 21.7 km of the now obsolete MALM light metro, the government could have spent less than half that amount by building and operating hydrogen powered trains on the former BC Electric interurban route from Vancouver to Chilliwack and from Victoria to Courtney on the […]

A national Rail Strategy Is Needed Now

Global warming is real. Climate change is real. We need an affordable alternative to the car and airplane. Rail is the only answer. Sadly, in Canada government is anti-rail, except when it provides a good photo-op at election time. Railroaded: A National Train Wreck When Transport Minister Omar Alghabra appeared before the House of Commons […]

Take the H Train

It now seems hydrogen powered trains are now mainstream and set to become the worlds least polluting transit mode. It is time Canada and BC politicians get on board the H-Train, but I am afraid in Canada, politicians and bureaucrats have left at the station and gone to the airport to travel on the taxpayer’s […]

Regional Railways – The Missing Piece of The Transportation Puzzle!

When government is spending almost $4 billion to build a mere 16 km of SkyTrain light-metro, extending the Expo line, 16 km to Langley; almost $3 billion to extend the Millennium line 5.8 km; and over $4 billion replacing the Massey tunnel,  provincial politicians must seriously consider the regional railway option. The taxpayer is begging […]

Memo to the M.O.T. – Time to Reread The Leewood Study

Now ten years old, the Leewood Study, done by Leewood Projects (UK), to access the viability of reinstating a passenger rail service from downtown Vancouver to Chilliwack via the former BC Electric R.R. route, is worth a revisit. Leewood Study The Leewood Study brought a fresh set of ideas to the planning table, something the […]

Did I just hear “Shovel Ready”?

Two transit projects in BC are “shovel ready”. 1) Rail for the Valley’s plan for regional railway connecting, Chilliwack, Sardis, Abbotsford, Langley, Cloverdale and North Delta to Vancouver and 2) The E & N Railway connecting Courtney, Qualicum Nanaimo Chemainus, Duncan, Langford to Victoria, with a future connection to Port Alberni. All is needed is […]

Megg’s Puppet, Horgan Kills LRT On Vancouver Island

What was turning out to be a breathe of fresh air in BC politics, Premier Horgan and his puppet master, former Vision(less) Vancouver Councillor and now Horgan’s chief advisor, Geoff Meggs, have killed the idea for LRT on the E&N and you can damn well betAi?? the same is true about the Rail for the […]

New Jersey’s River Line

New Jersey’s River Line, using diesel light rail TramTrains, enables to provide a quality transit service on a predominantly single track rail line. The River Line could be a template for several rail services, both in metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island, track-sharing with lightly used freight lines.

Karlsruhe’s longest tramtrain route – The 210 km Route S4

Classic single track TramTrain operation through a rural village. I am updating this post due to a series of recent posts on Facebook and other transit oriented blogs. Karlsruhe’s TramTrain 210 km route S-4 travels through the sparely populated Schwarzwald or Black forest region of Southern Germany. There are no musings about “not enough density” […]

Transit Blundering in Victoria

Sad to say, transit planners in Victoria have not read the Rail for the Valley/Leewood Report, but then, why should they, they live in a world of gold-plated transit, where any form of rail transit is over-engineered to such an extent that it will be too costly to build. Economy is not in our transit […]