“Lightness” of light rail

TransLink, BC Transit, SNC Lavalin, UBC, SFU, and a host of North American Engineering firms, please take note! ThisAi??”lightness” of light rail – a combination of flexibility, low impact,Ai??modest cost, and environmental softness – is ephemeral. It mustAi??be carefullyAi??guarded. Ignorance orAi??ineptitude during the planning, design, specification writing, engineering, orAi??construction phases of a project can lose […]

More on Karlsruhe, new Trams, headway, pedestrians & bicycles

Ai??Germany-based Vossloh has won a ai??i??75m contract from Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) and Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) to supply 25 low floor tram trains, with an option for 50 additional trains to be deployed in Karlsruhe, Germany. Under the contract, the company will supply its new tram train, the Citylink NET 2012, equipped with the modern traction system […]

Eric Chris’s Broadside At TransLink

Transit advovate, Eric Chris, again tackles TransLink on various trolleybus related issues in the City of Vancouver. Electric buses are quiet, pollution freeAi??and able to tackle steeper grades than diesel buses, are used on many Vancouver transit routes. Haydn Acheson, President and General Manager, Coast Mountain Bus Company:   Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) under […]

Connected Cities Ai?? Light Rail Transit or LRT

The Cardinal has posted details on the Connected Cities project before. Connected Cities is a European Union [EU]Ai??investigation into the question of how we can provide unrestricted but sustainable transport and mobility to cities and regions in such a way that it will strengthen their territorial cohesion and improve the quality of life of its […]

Eric Chris on Bi-Articulated Buses For The 99-B

A bi-articulated bus or double-articulated bus is a higher-capacity type of articulated bus. It is an extension of a conventional or single-articulated bus, in that it has three passenger compartment sections instead of two. This also involves the addition of an extra axle and a second articulation joint. Due to the extended length, bi-articulated buses […]

Where’s The Density? Oh, I Guess Density Is Not An Issue With TramTrain.

Ever wanted to see what the Rail for the Valley/Leewood tramtram ride would be like, well the following video from U-Tube gives the feel of what a Vancouver to Chilliwack servcie would be like. The following is a cab-eye view of a German regional railway, not unlike the former BC Electric line from Vancouver to […]

Montpellier opens new lines – A lesson unlearned for TransLink!

What is very interesting about this news item from the Light Rail Transit Associations web siteAi??( www.lrta.org ) is that the cost for Montpellier’s two new light rail/tram lines 3 & 4 (28.2 km) is about CAD $688.8 million or about $24.45 million/km. to build! The cost of Montpellier’s two new tram lines are less […]

TransLink postponing some expansion plans – Take that you bad old taxpayer!

As expected, TranLink’s brass is postponing transit projects to punish those nasty people who don’t want to be gouged by new taxes to keep TransLink’s bureaucrat’s pensions and bonuses well funded. That the Evergreen Line light-metro line (the main cause of TransLink’s financial problems) is allowed to continue, demonstrates an utter ignorance by TransLink and […]

The Vancouver Sun, As Usual, Gets It Wrong On TransLink

Today’s editorial in the Vancouver Sun, regarding TransLink, gets it wrong, but this comes as no surprise, the Vancouver Sun had got it wrong about transit ever for the past 32 years and it’s so hard to each an old dog new tricks. The problem with TransLink is simple and can be summed up in […]

Florida East Coast Industries Announces Ambitious Plan For Private Passenger Rail Service

Informative article and one worth reading. Zwei has always felt that if TramTrain service is to be revived in the Fraser Valley, that the Southern Railway of BC should operate the service and not TransLink. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/321480/20120329/florida-east-coast-railway-private-passenger-rail.htm Florida East Coast Industries Announces Ambitious Plan For Private Passenger Rail Service By STEPHEN SMITH: Subscribe to Stephen’s RSS […]