More transit, more traffic problems, says think tank. But is that really the problem?

Interesting study out of the USA, but unfortunately wrong conclusions will be made, especially by the roads lobby. As for buses not attracting new customers, well duh, that little gem has been known for at least 30 years and if this were not so, we would not have been building new light rail lines in the […]

Around the US & Canada- Light Rail, Tram, Streetcar, LRT & Transit news

Late February has brought a mixed bag of news on Light Rail, Tram, Streetcar, LRT & Transit projects in North America, some positive & some negative. The Cardinal posts a selection of national, local press and on-line Blog reports. 1) Gray: Streetcars are a ‘Very Wise Decision’ Mayor Vincent Gray’s mixed track record with streetcars […]

More Porkies – The Port Mann Bridge

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousands words……………………….. ……………..but this picture of a cross section of the new ten lane Port Mann Bridge says it all – there is no rail transit being planned for the bridge! Even Zweisystem, with his rudimentary knowledge of engineering knows if that a bridge is […]

Staffing on light rail systems

From a previous post http://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/now-we-know-why-skytrain-is-so-expensive-to-operate/ we find that there are 600 or more employees (530 in the CUPE Union) that work on the SkyTrain Expo and Millennium Lines. The Canada Line is a conventional metro and employs over 200 people (with 180 in the CUPE union) and both metro systems are quite separate. The Canada Line, a […]

Now we know why SkyTrain is so expensive to operate.

The main story here is not the strike vote taken by Expo and Millennium Line workers, but the amount of workers that are needed to operate the SkyTrain mini-metro. According to the article, there are 530 CUPE members that work on the Expo and Millennium Lines, then add in senior non-union managerial staff, transit police and […]

Absurdity, Hiatus, Ignominy, Irony, Paradox and Prognosis

The Cardinal cordially welcomes Zweisystem back & offers him wishes for a speedy recovery from his recent illness; – Hurry up and get the heck out of there! Zwei, remember Mark Twainai??i??s advice `be careful when reading health books; you may die of a misprintai??i?? Ai?? With Zweisystem back in the section, continuing his mission, […]

Porkies from TransLink!

In the UK, London's Cockney's (the East End crowd) have long had an interesting rhyming slang tradition – examples: jam jar is a car; dicky dirt a shirt and so on. Well, a pork pie or porkie is – well you guessed it. The following letter from Ken Hardie, to the Delta Optimist, is full of "Porkies" […]

A note from Zweisystem and Modern Track laying

 Just to let everyone know, Zweisystem is on the road to recovery after a serious illness. Many thanks to Cardinal Fang for his timely and interesting posts. The following is an interesting link to a video showing modern track laying and replacing technique – click and play. http://dc132.file.qip.ru/flash/player.swf?file=http://dc132.file.qip.ru/img/135218468/cfbba8b3/dlink__2Fdownload_2Fx3UWWolQ_3Ftsid_3D20100723-132526f1240c3b/preview.flv&image=http://dc132.file.qip.ru/img/135218468/cfbba8b3/aefc0a75_kak_kladut_relsi.flv&logo.link=http://file.qip.ru/video/x3UWWolQ/aefc0a75_kak_kladut_relsi.html&logo.hide=false&logo.file=http://dc132.file.qip.ru/images/logo.png&logo.position=top-left&plugins=sharing&sharing.link=http://file.qip.ru/video/x3UWWolQ/aefc0a75_kak_kladut_relsi.html&sharing.code=%3cINCREDI_EMBED+src=

Light Rail, Tramway & Streetcar news from America

The Cardinal has posted a number of news articles on European Light Rail & Tramway developments in the past month; now from the US comes news of two new transit scheme initiatives and developments on a third. Washington DC Streetcars on track for return to D.C. Washington Post 15 February 2011 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/15/streetcars-on-track-for-return-to-dc/   Czech built Skoda Inekon […]

29 new Tram Projects announced for France

11 February 2011  Railway Gazette Funding allocated to 78 French urban transport projects http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/funding-allocated-to-78-french-urban-transport-projects.html FRANCE: Transport Minister Natahalie Kosciusko-Morizet announced the final tranche of light rail, metro and bus funding allocations under the Grenelle de l’Environnement on February 9. The announcement covers a total of €590m allocated to 78 urban transport projects in 54 conurbations […]