Building Back Better

In BC, we do the same thing over again hoping for different results. While in the UK the modern tram or light rail or supertram is now seen as one of the proven remedies for urban congestion.

Planning Fallacy

  From Norman Farrell’s In-sights blog, commenting on the NDP’s continuation with the Site “C” dam project despite the fact that Site “C” is a risky $16↑billion energy project that will cause massive ecological damage and produce electricity at 4x the cost of alternative sources.. The same is true with the now $3 billion Broadway […]

Entering The Land of Unicorns and Pixie Dust – TransLink’s Current P.R. Gamble

Well, the first surprise was that this news item came via the Alaska Highway News of all places. This tells me TransLink is spinning the story to everyone it can to give the good news to! The big problem that there is no money to fund these grand schemes and the post Covid economy may […]

Ottawa’s Troubled LRT, Er……. Light Metro ~ Updated

UPDATE OCTOBER 14, 2021: City manager Steve Kanellakos said Rideau Transit Group reported on the root cause of the derailment: a gearbox came loose and dragged along the tracks. Kanellakos said RTG learned the gearbox bolts weren’t torqued properly.   What was going to be a showcase LRT has turned into a Light Metro fiasco. […]

Premier Horgan’s FastFerry Redux!

  Before reading on, please remember this figure of $1.3 billion, as it represents an updated (2021) cost for Rail for the Valley’s Leewood Study, offering a three trains per hour per direction from Vancouver to Chilliwack. Doing the Rail for the Valley blog for the past 12 years has been an interesting experience and […]

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 […]

Lawned Rights-of-Ways Come To Canada

Will this be a game changer for light rail in Canada? For over thirty years, lawned rights-of-way have been the norm on European tramways and light rail operations; even the Deutsche Bahn (German Federal Railway) investigated lawend rights-of-ways for the main line railways. Today, the lawned R-o-W’s are a fixture of the modern tram.   Not […]

RAIL FOR THE VALLEY – A Step Closer

Is common sense finally making its way with politicians in Victoria? Is the $4 billion price tag for the 16 km Expo Line extension to Langley (the Reelection Line) scaring the provincial treasury? Has BC’s explosive fire season, capped with record breaking temperatures, finally conveying the message that politcal prestige must take a back seat […]

An Apples To Apples Comparison – A Tale of Two Cities

We all know about the $3.95 billion 18 km extension of the Expo line to Surrey with all the hype and hoopla of the SkyTrain Lobby is in full swing. Back in the Waterloo region of Ontario, $2.2 billion buys you 37 km of light rail! The comparison between Surrey and Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, (the urban areas […]

The Collapse of U.S. Public Transit?

Interesting article and well worth reading; not all is happiness in transit land. From Zwei’s almost 40 years advocating for better transit and more affordable transit planning in the region, it seems those in charge are afraid of change. The same thing is done over and over again, ever hoping for different results, because that […]