First interconnected tram-train service!

On 12 December 2010, the first tram-train service in the French region of Alsace commenced. 5000 daily passengersAi??are be able to travel from Mulhouse to Thann on an innovative, ecomobile transport route. read the article: http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/html/media/CH0004-Everyday-life/BR1122-Tram-train-Mulhouse/MD0005_20101206-Read-article.html Photograhs of the track system, internal & external views of the Alstom Citadis Tram-Trains Images courtesy of: http://www.tc-alsace.eu/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=87

TramTrain to Gloucester Estates & the Zoo

The following news item has peaked Zweisystem's interest, for the old interurban route passes just to the North of the Gloucester Industrial Estate and adding a tram stop would be quite easy and quite cheap to do. By doing so, a minibus service could be instituted to service not only the industrial estate, but the Greater Vancouver […]

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 […]

A city committed to tram-trains

Kassel’s tram-train system has transformed public transport in the region. With other cities starting to take an interest in the concept, it is no wonder people from around the world are making the journey to central Germany. Report from the Light Rail Transit Association [LRTA] published in the January 2010 edition of Tramways & Urban […]

The Light Rail Committee Sends a Message

The Light Rail Committee sent the following letter to all municipal governments in the lower mainland, to inform municipal politicians about upcoming transit funding discussions by the mayors council, with Transportation Minister Shirley Bond for the Evergreen Line. One wishes that Mayor Walton tell Minister Bond to "take a powder", and "if the provincial government wants more […]

Braunschweig Tram-Train Scheme, Germany

railway-technology.com The website for the railway industry http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/braunschweig/ RSB interest groups signed a letter of intent in September 2008, with construction to start during 2009. The current main rail interests are DB’s regional train operations (DB Regio) and infrastructure (DB Netz) arms, and the city transport organisation Braunschweiger Verkehrs AG. Project aims include upgrading the […]

Why Are North American Engineers So Afraid Of European Transit Developments?

Answer: They can't plan for $1.4 Million a mile rail transit schemes, like what their European friends are doing! The Valley Rail naysayers abound, but when faced with undisputable facts that light rail and/or its many variants can be built very cheaply indeed; much cheaper than $125 million/km SkyTrain or even $20 million/km highways, they […]

This report merely postpones a serious attempt to grapple with crafting a long-term solution – Articles About TransLink’s Valley Transit Plans

It seems TransLink and the provincial government got what they wanted – nothing, for this is what their recently released transportation plan is really about, doing nothing. The estimated annual cost of $90 million to operate rail transit in the Fraser Valley is laughable, as well as the contention that buses would attract more ridership […]

The $400,000.00 Fraser Valley Transit Study – Much Ado About Nothing

TwoAi??weeks before Christmas and the provincial Liberal Government releases its long awaited Fraser Valley Transit Study and one can see why; it is badly stale-dated by the Rail For The Valley/Leewood Report. By releasing the report before Christmas, the government hoped to bury this stinker under Christmas cheer, hiding the the fact that the Fraser […]

TransLink Did Not Bark?

In the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze, by Sir Author Conan Doyle, Holmes was able to deduce that the killer of Colonel Ross's racehorse was the owner of the stable dog. As the fictional Holmes chronicler Dr. John Watson explains: Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed […]