The hysteria of the anti-LRT lobby – Time to get real!
On other local and US blogs, there is a growing hysteria that once light rail (streetcar or tram) operates on-street, there will be general panic among pedestrians, ultimately throwing themselves under the tram! Shades of the 1820’s railway hysteria, where trains were claimed to cause insanity and sour cows milk! I’m sorry to say, that […]
Why Rail for the Valley must set the agenda in 2010 for light rail in METRO Vancouver.
The region is at a juncture: either proceed with light-metro planning and build the Evergreen Line and extend SkyTrain to Langley by 2030 or abandon current regional transportation planning and start anew, but using LRT instead to service many more destinations in the region. Though TransLink is boasting about its three light-metro lines and continues […]
The Strange Case of the Karlsruhe TramTrain – Streetcar, LRV, or Commuter Train?
Recent posts on the LRTA blog, debated the the present definitions of streetcar/tram and light rail. North Americans tend to define LRT as a light-metro, where as EuropeansAi??Ai??associated LRT as a tram. Now added to the debateAi??Ai??is the tramtrain and the strange case of the Karlsruhe’s new Zweisystem (two system) LRT:Ai??Ai??is itAi??Ai??a tram or a […]
From the Surrey Leader – Rapid transit extensions frozen under TransLink budget
It seems TransLink’s bureaucrats think that the METRO region taxpayer has very deep pockets; while I have a news flash for TransLink, they don’t. To save money, more and more of the region’s car drivers are filling up with gas South of the 49th, encouraging the business of US gas stations. One can save $0.25 […]
A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL – FROM RAIL FOR THE VALLEY
From the Zweisystem and the rest of the Rail For The Valley Gang A very merry Christmas and a very happy and safe New Year! A Darmstadt tram plowing through a snow storm.
Global Warming, Copenhagen, & Light Rail – The Solution That Is Ignored
When one looks past the European street theater of riots, the embarrassment of Canada, the intransigence of the USA, China and Russia, what will Copenhagen climate conference accomplish? Probably very little. The world is not ready for global warming and if a few island nations submerge due to rising sea levels, no one will really […]
Overseas news From the LRTA – Wuppertal ‘Monorail’ Closed
The following news item shows the problems of not doing proper maintenance on a transit system, especially a ‘grade seperated’ transit system. In the winter, in the least desirable time, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn is closed due to serious safety concerns with the support columns, until they are replaced, sometime near Easter. The problem with expensive […]
A Flash From the Past – "Skytrain gathers speed despite cost to taxpayers" – From Charlie Smith & The Georgia Straight.
In light of TransLink’s newly departed CEO, Tom Prendergast’s parting shot at the SkyTrain Lobby,Ai??Ai?? A?ai??i??Ai??ItA?ai??i??ai???s overcoming the culturalAi??Ai??embracement of SkyTrain that has existed to date.A?ai??i??A? …… “TransLink is seeking to cut through the pro-SkyTrain A?ai??i??Ai??cultural biasA?ai??i??A?…………….”, which isAi??Ai??entrenched in all levels of civic and provincial bureaucracy; we should look at the warnings given almost […]
Post number 300 and many more to come.
This post marks the 300th posting on the Rail for the Valley Blog and congratulations to (now) Dr. John Buker for all his efforts with the valley rail project. When John asked me to post for the RFV blog, I don’t think he expected such a “stormy petrel“. I have tried hardAi??Ai??to keep the blog […]
AdiA?A?s The Seattle Monorail Project
The Seattle monorail was to open in 2009; it didn’t. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUoqeRADp4Q] The Simpson’s monorail song, which Seattle’s monorail lobby successfully kept off the airwaves in the weeks leading up to the public ballot on the project. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q44IDYpEeso]
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