The SkyTrain Lobby – Get Over it!

After a post in Facebook, where I stated some facts about the SkyTrain light-metro system in Vancouver, I was reported to Facebook for spreading fake news. Really! So, just set the record straight about Vancouver’s proprietary and non proprietary SkyTrain light metro system, here are some random facts. SkyTrain is not the name of the […]

A Very Close Call – The Public Needs An Inquiry

Poor maintenance can be traced to TransLink’s dire financial ills. Sadly the mandarins running TransLink do not seem to be acquainted with the nuances of maintaining the railway and the SkyTrain light-metro system is a railway. Track switches are an integral part of the railway and must be constantly maintained, yet TransLink seems to have […]

Toronto’s ‘SkyTrain’ Is Not Going Softly In The Night

The end of ‘SkyTrain’ service in Toronto is nearing and it seems the subway replacement is now treading on financial thin ice. LRT is the big bogey man of both light and heavy metro supporters, simply because LRT has proven far more economic to operate than light metro and can economically cater to loads at […]

And Then There Was Six

Despite the ongoing charade by regional mayors pretending that the now called Movia Automatic Light Metro is not a proprietary railway, the singular fact remains, it is. This Linear Induction Motor (LIM) powered bit of history has always been a proprietary railway, unable to operate with any railway, except its own family of seven such […]

SkyTrain’s Daddy – The Krauss Maffei Transurban MAGLEV Which Could Not Turn Corners

OK children, a little history lesson, SkyTrain ancestor, The Krauss Maffei Transurban MAGLEV. For those who believe that, what we call SkyTrain, is a great Canadian invention, will be sad to hear it is not, not even close; it is a mix and match transit system, using largely discarded 1960’s and 70’s technology. Krauss-Maffei’s Transurban […]

The Sad Fate Of Gadgetbahnen

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Build a more expensive and complicated transit system and politicians, bureaucrats, and academics will fall all over themselves beating a path to your door; so is the sad story of proprietary transit systems. What many people, who advocated for unconventional or […]

Oh Dear, the Scarborough R/T Replacement Again

Interesting news from Toronto, with the ongoing debate over the replacement of the Scarborough R/T. One would think our Toronto cousins believe that money grows on trees, wanting a a $3 billion, three stop subway line instead of a more convenient $1.8 billion seven stop LRT line. What I find so sad is the absolute […]

A New Look For Toronto’s SRT Cars.

Toronto’s lonely ICTS (SkyTrain) Line is due to be dismantled within ten years because it is life expired, but with the ongoing seesaw debate to replace the ICTS Line with LRT or a subway rages on. To keep the line operable the existing cars need to be refurbished to keep the line operating for the […]

After Intense Pressure From the Provincial Government……………..

The following is part of an article, The direction of TTC planning in the 1980’s, by Philip Webb, which appeared in the December 1983 edition of Modern Tramway and Light Rail Transit. By 1983, the UDTC knew that the ICTS/ALRT system could not offer the capacity as advertised. The ICTS/ALRT proprietary transit system did not […]

Another Comment, Worthy of a Post.

Justin Bernard, who reads the RftV blog offered a link yesterday about the Scarborough ICTS/SRT which deserves a post of its own. What was considered cutting edge transit technology in the 70’s, is now considered somewhat obsolete today; somewhat like the Wuppertal Schwebebahn. http://www.thegridto.com/city/local-news/scarborough-transit-debate-goes-back-to-the-future/   Mon Jul 15, 2013 Local News Scarborough transit debate goes […]