The Grand Betrayal of the Fraser Valley

Coming back from a quickie holiday at Harrison Hot Springs, a few thoughts came to mind on my drive there and back. Traveling from South of the Fraser, one is certainly  aware of the mass of new housing being built and with scarce public transit or no transit at all, the only way for people […]

Adios Bombardier. Adios Movia Automatic Light Metro (SkyTrain)?

As predicted, Alstom is now buying Bombardier Transportation for CAD $10 billion. The question, which may worry Translink and the hapless Mayor’s Council on Transit is: “Will Alstom keep MALM (SkyTrain) production or abandon the proprietary light metro altogether? Will Alstom keep already expensive replacement parts available or discontinue production altogether?” I reached out for […]

Slowly They “Get It”

It is slowly beginning to dawn on people that SkyTrain will not be coming to their community anytime soon. It is also dawning on people that what we call SkyTrain is just much too expensive to build, that it can only can be built in small drips and drabs, 12 km to 20 km per […]

Life With SNC Lavalin

SNC Lavalin own engineering patents for the MALM (erroneously called SkyTrain) system used on the Expo and Millennium lines. SNC Lavalin leads the consortium operating the Canada line. The BC Liberal government inspired Canada Line (faux) P-3 saw SNC Lavalin, bidding against SNC Lavalin. On May 27th, 2009, after four years of litigation, BC Supreme […]

It’s So Simple, The Expo and Millennium Lines Operate Movia Automatic Light Metro Not SkyTrain

Bombardier’s SkyTrain, a rubber tired people mover system. Originally posted March 19, 2019. So many politicians and members of the media still keep referring SkyTrain as a transit product. It is not, it is the name of Metro Vancouver’s regional light-metro system which comprises of a conventional railway, the Canada Line and an unconventional, proprietary […]

Smoking Dope In Abby

Really, the mayor of Abbotsford is just another politician which thinks the taxpayer has deep pockets to finance dream projects. Mayor Braun is completely out of touch about regional transit issues and wants someone else to ante up $8 billion for a rapid transit line which in fact will attract not many people. The estimated […]

Canada Line Hype and Hoopla

One wonders why all the hype and hoopla is about with the new cars for the Canada Line? The recently delivered cars are standard ROTEM electrical multiple units, used by several transit systems, unlike the proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro cars, used on the Expo and Millennium Lines. Also, very explicit is that there are […]

Track Issues

Really, TransLink’s “TransLink Speak” is getting tiresome. “Medical emergency” means another poor soul has committed suicide by throwing ones self in front of a train. “Track issues“, translates into a host of problems, but in TransLink’s lexicon, it generally means we don’t care and any excuse is a good excuse. What was the track issue? […]

Bombardier In Trouble

Though TransLink will not admit it, and the Mayor’s Council Transit, claims its not true, the truth is, the Expo and Millennium Lines operate with the proprietary MALM light metro system. Bombardier Inc. is the sole source manufacturer of MALM and no other company offers an off the shelf product that can run on the […]

Embarrassment! TransLink Tells SkyTrain Customers To Go Home.

Once again, TransLink demonstrates to all that it can’t operate a popcorn stand, let alone a transit system. TransLink has known since 1986 that the mini-metro performs poorly in the snow, yet they do little or nothing to rectify the situation. At the same time, the bus system is reduced to shambles in snow, yet […]