Adios SkyTrain? Bombardier is selling off its rail division.

What would happen if the region continues to plan for SkyTrain, yet there is no SkyTrain? If a potential buyer for Bombardier’s rail division already has on the market it’s own proprietary railway or railways, they would probably discontinue SkyTrain which has not had a sale in over a decade and with one SkyTrain line […]

Light Rail questioned by Langley Township planner – Yesterday’s planning at work!

The same old cliched arguments about modern light rail have surfaced in Langley Township. What old Zwei finds so tiresome is that the some planners remains so uninformed about SkyTrain light-metro and modern light rail, think both are “rapid transit“. Transit is only as ‘rapid’ as it is designed to be. Sadly, the term “rapid […]

TramTrain for Hungary

From the International Railway Journal. As TransLink and the regional mayors still champion hugely expensive vanity projects for the region, TramTrain makes very good economic sense. A basic, bare-bones hourly service, using diesel light rail vehicles, from Vancouver to Chilliwack, would cost about $750 million. A more intense electric service, with a 20 minute service […]

Replacing the Fraser River Rail Bridge

Interesting item from the Netherlands. Dutch Engineers have been at the forefront at lift bridge technology for over a century, due to the many canals that traverse the country. The “tilting lock” would be especially beneficial to railways as there would no need for a lift span at all and trains could cross the bridge […]

Terence Corcoran: Hey, Vancouver: Just say ai???Noai??i?? to transit tax

Though I am trying to avoid unhappiness with the upcoming transit plebiscite, this item from the Financial Post is well worth a read. What I find interesting, is the following comment; “Even London, a world leader in public transit and congestion charges, is still bogged down in traffic. ai???Traffic jams in London getting worse, ai??? […]

Prototype battery-powered ai???IPEMUai??i?? carries passengers for first time

Battery powered trains are evolving at a fast pace. For the Chilliwack interurbanAi?? purposes, this sort of train could operate quite well on sections of non electrified track, including the 12.5 section of shared track with the Roberts Bank Railway and the 22 km section from the Fraser river Bridge to the downtown Vancouver Central […]

The Myth That Everyone Naturally Prefers Trains to Buses

Actually it is not a myth, transit customers do prefer rail to buses. The study does leave out the fact that rail’s operating costs can be much less than buses because the tram can operate in multiple units, thus with one driver carrying more passengers. In the end though, transit customers perceive that BRT is […]

Aussie Companies Ante Up For Trams

Love to see this happen in Vancouver! I wonder if the Board of Trade would be supporting TransLink’s initiative if their members had to come up with $300 or $400 million for transit improvements or if their members had to pay for the extra cost of subway construction under Broadway? Parramatta Powerful corporate syndicate hatch […]

Trams that never stop at traffic lights

Trams that never stop at traffic lights could be part of Melbourne’s people-moving future By Loretta Florance ABC News Trams that never have to stop for traffic lights could be the norm in Melbourne in the future, under plans being developed to deal with population growth in the city. For the past seven years, VicRoads […]

Le Mans A tram for a small city

While both BC Transit and TransLink gold-plate LRT planning with millions of dollars of extras, making tram projects almost as expensive as SkyTrain, the new Le Mans LRT/tramway demonstrates that light rail is affordable for smaller cities. The new 15.4 km Le Mans Tramway total cost is about CAD $450 million, including cars or about […]