Costly SkyTrain technology choices baffle – From the North Shore News

It seems that the efforts of Zwei and others have paid off’ asAi??Ai??others in the region are taking note of LRT and TramTrain and the hugeAi??Ai??costs that go along with the SkyTrain light-metro system and subway construction. TramTrain andAi??Ai??especially “Rail for the Valley” itselfAi??Ai??may find some welcome allies to their cause from the North Shore, […]

Half a million riders; but the Olympic streetcar won’t be staying- From News Radio 1130

500,000 customers moved in two months, by two Flexity trams is a very good statistic and bodes well for further expansion of LRT/streetcar in the region. It is time to build a ‘real’ streetcar/LRT line to show what a streetcar/LRT can do! Ai??Ai?? Ai??Ai??Half a million riders; but the Olympic streetcar won’t be staying Dave […]

Mayor not ready to jump aboard transit . . . just yet – From the Chilliwack Times

More Valley transit news. Tyler Olsen, The Times Published:Ai??Ai??Friday, March 12, 2010 Promoters of a rail line connecting the Fraser Valley with Metro Vancouver are urging Chilliwack politicians to jump aboard plans for a demonstration project along the old interurban rail line. Chilliwack is the only municipality between here and Delta not represented on the […]

Hawaii SkyTrain Project Heats Up

A Hawaiian blog by Ian Lind posted Zwei’s ‘Debunking SkyTrain Series’ and continues the hot debate on the elevated SkyTrain project in Hawaii. http://ilind.net/2010/03/03/responses-show-rail-a-very-hot-topic/ It is good that the locals are beginning to ask questions about SkyTrain and may be beginning to see that the proprietary light-metro isn’t as great as ‘sliced bread’ which the […]

All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group (APPLRG) report – Should we do the same in BC?

Some interesting news from across the pond. Urban transit development in the UK has been hamstrung by a very powerful and vocal ‘Roads Lobby’, within the central government (not unlike the SkyTrain Lobby in Victoria), which has all but stopped light rail development in the UK. In an era of peak oil and global warming, […]

Of Transit, Funding, TramTrain, and a Sustainable Future.

Zwei first met Brendan Read in 1986, while traveling to Abbotsford on the BR Pacer unit that ran three return service to New Westminster each day during the Expo 86 Worlds Fair. It was during this trip that the idea of the “return of the interurban” was conceived. It was all there, track, vehicle(s), and […]

More Planning For TramTrain In The U.K. – Now It Is Wales Turn

It seems TramTrains are on the menu for Wales as the Welsh Government looks atAi??Ai??introducing tram and TramTrain operation in local cities. There areAi??Ai??still several minor rail lines that service the Welsh Valleys, thatAi??Ai??were once formed a much larger network from the coal mining days and scores more of abandoned rail routes that could be […]

And Now: The Green With Envy Award – Washington to get $590 million for high-speed rail improvements

In BC and Canada, there is little money for railways to improve passenger service, yet there are billions of dollars for new highways and bridges. The sad fact is, in BC and Canada new highways and bridges win votes, while the railways are considered a ‘yesterdays’ transit mode. Just $500 million would buy us a […]

Density shouldnA?ai??i??ai???t be Cambie corridor focus, prof says – From the Georgia Straight.

Ai??Ai?? Since the province and BC Transit and TransLink embarked on light-metro only construction in the region 30 years ago, the public have been told over and over again that higher densities were a must. Made redundant industrial lands (made redundant by municipal politicians rezoning land) were rezonedAi??Ai??to higher density residentialAi??Ai??housing along the Expo Line […]

Now You See It, Now You Don’t – The Olympic Line Opens Today

If one wants to ride a modern tram, then one should get to the Olympic Line as quick as possible and take a ride, before the Flexity cars are returned to Brussels after the 2010 Olympics. Zweisystem would be more excited if this was a start of a program of LRT/streetcar construction, but it’s not. […]