The SkyTrain lobby – "Pixie Dust planning"

One finds it interesting how the SkyTrain lobby warps the truth to suit it’s own ends. What the SkyTrain lobby is really saying is that; “We completely discount over oneAi??Ai??hundred and fifty yearsAi??Ai??of rail/light rail/metro development, to support a unconventional, proprietary railway.” That only seven such systems have been built (actually there are two types […]

A letter to the Editor the Vancouver Sun will not print

The following letter to the Editor of the Vancouver SunAi??Ai??was sent to Zweisystem because the author knows full well that the Can West media Empire will not print it. What this letter shows that the region is bereft of any credible transit and transportation reporters and many important and embarrassing stories are missed by the […]

Kassel, Germany invests in tram train. Will Gordon Campbell’s government do the same for the valley?

Ai??Ai?? What Zweisystem would like readers to note is the the cost of the 122km or 75.8 mile Kassel Tram-Train projectAi??Ai??was CAD $278.55! The same amount of money will roughly buy just over 2 km. of SkyTrain! 75.8 miles is roughly the same distance of the Vancouver to Chilliwack Interurban. The following is from Railway […]

Mulhouse Light Rail and Tram Train, France: A template for the return of the interurban?

Mulhouse, population 112,260 (2006) isAi??Ai??a small French provincial city that has just built two tram lines but now is expanding their tram service further afield by adding Tram-Train and track sharing with mainline railways. Here, again is another example of small city in Europe, building with LRT and then greatly expandingAi??Ai??tram service via Tram-Train, using […]

More European Tram-Trains – Rail for the Valley offers a challange to Translink and BC Transportation Minister Shirely Bond

In 1994, the GVRD, in an attempt to include the public in the planning process, held a two hour call-in about regional transit, on local cable channels.Ai??Ai??A panel of experts were on hand to answer the publics questions about transit issues, including rapid transit. Zweisystem phoned in and asked a question: Has BC Transit and/or […]

Lartigue monorail, a very early gadgetbahnen – A history lesson for TransLink

The Listowel & Ballybunion Railway, a steam operated Lartigue monorail, ran from 1880 -1928 and is another good example that proprietary railways, even though they may operate in revenue service on one or two lines, fail to become a successful transit mode and are seldom copied. Intriguing yes, practical no, but for fun let’s have […]

TramTrain Line – Alicante Tram-Train, Spain

Rail for the Valley wishes to reinstate the Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban, using TramTrain technology. TramTrain is a development of light rail, where a light rail vehicle has the ability to operate on tram (streetcar); light-rail; and mainline railway tracks. The interurban was the original TramTrain, which has now evolved into the sleek LRV’s now […]

The many faces of tramtrain; how soon will the Fraser Valley see one?

It has been a long established transit maxim, long ignored by TransLink and BC Transit before, “use existing rail routes first“. Why? Because existing rail routes are much cheaper to build and install light rail, rather than going ‘greenfields’ construction.Ai??Ai?? Of course, SkyTrain and RAV are the epitome of ‘greenfields’ construction! The cost to build […]

How other countries see light rail and appraise light rail investments? From the Light Rail Transit Association

Article from the March 1999 edition of Tramways & Urban Transit As anyone involved in a British light rail scheme knows, the appraisal system is rigorous and, many feel, fatally flawed, oriented as it is to short term and financial criteria rather than a properly broad social cost-benefit analysis. It is now also heavily influenced […]

NEWS FLASH – Province launches review of BC Ferries and TransLink – From News 1130

Of course the province and Transportation Minister, Shirley Bond will not look at the real reasons of Translink’s financial problems: building light-metro (RAV & SkyTrain) on routes that do not have the ridership to sustain them. It seems the newly announced combined GST/PST (now known as HST) and potential massive new TransLink taxes and auto […]