Cost estimate for light rail doubled over five years – WATERLOO REGION- Ontario

It is very hard to make comments on this bit of news because ‘we’ are not there, but it does seem that eitherAi??Ai??local planners have been negligent in their cost estimates or, as I suspect, city engineers have downloaded unneeded infrastructure charges onto the proposed LRT scheme. Certainly inflation has not been 100%Ai??Ai?? in five […]

TorontoA?ai??i??ai???s new streetcar: sleeker, lower, longer

By Allison Hanes, National Post TorontoA?ai??i??ai???s next generation of streetcars will be sleeker, lower, longer and bigger. At 28.2 metres, the new Bombardier cars will be longer than the iconic red rockets on the roads now, which stretch to a maximum of 22 metres. MORE: Bombardier gets nod for new streetcars.Ai??Ai?? Each will have five […]

Two letters in the Tri-City News

Massive transit expansion needed in Metro Vancouver The Editor, Re. “Build real rapid rail” (Letters, The Tri-City News, June 5). I have to second letter writer Barry Waterlow’s suggestion that only a massive rapid rail and SkyTrain expansion could convince commuters to use public transit and reduce the number of vehicles owned. Why wouldn’t comfort […]

LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT ASSOCIATION Discussion Document 73 March 2009

Ai??Ai?? The following, though written for an English audience is pertinent to our current transit debates and maybe of some interest to those advocating rail transit here. Ai??Ai?? FALSE INFORMATION USED TO DESCRIBE A TRANSIT SCHEME Ai??Ai?? Introduction Ai??Ai?? This document is partly designed to correct a practice of using false information regarding transit modes. […]

Brisbane Reality Check: The high cost of "cheap" busways – From the Light Rail Now Folks

The following is from the Light Rail now folks in the U.S.A. It certainly blows the lid off the BRT crowd, when it comes to the claim that BRT is cheaper than light-rail. When one hears Kevin Falcon or other Valley Liberal MLA’s claim that BRT must come first because it is cheaper than LRT, […]

The Light Rail Committee’s position for Valley Rail from Vancouver to Chilliwack

The followingAi??Ai??Ai??Ai??is the Light Rail Committee’sAi??Ai??proposal for ‘rail’ transit,Ai??Ai?? from Vancouver to Chilliwack. Overview: Diesel powered TramTrain, track-sharing with mainline railways, except for portions of the route in Langley and Chilliwack.Ai??Ai??TramTrain is aAi??Ai??proven concept pioneered in Karlsruhe GermanyAi??Ai??in1992 andAi??Ai??now used in many cities in Europe and North America. Track-sharing enables light rail vehicles to extend […]

A 54 metre tram from Budapest

A new 54 metre Combino tram for Budapest Hungary, capacity 350 persons!

Influences on success of light rail – From ‘Future of Urban Transport: Learning from Success and Weakness: Light Rail’

The following is an excerpt from ”Future of Urban Transport: Learning from Success and Weakness: Light Rail” a study by Carmen Hass-Klau & Graham Crampton. Influences on success The available data allowed the effects of eleven different influences to be examined, using correlation and multivariate regression methods: the average light rail speed, population density 300m […]

To College, by Interurban?

The following article from the Light Rail now folks has some valuable lessons for those advocating for the Vancouver to Chilliwack Interurban. The following universities and colleges would be potential destinations for students: BCIT, Simon Fraser University, Kwantlen College (Cloverdale and Langley campuses), Trinity Western University, and the University of the Fraser Valley (Chilliwack Campus). […]

Is LRT becoming the new Light-Metro?

A metre gauge tram in Germany is still considered LRT. Since theAi??Ai??early 1970’s, the term LRT or light rail transit, has been in common use describing streetcar or interurban type rail transit. The first generation of modern LRT were German ‘Stadtbahn’ (City railway) style of tram, generally articulated and heavier built than trams or streetcars […]