Is it time for TransLink to study TramTrain?

Another TramTrain is being installed and I thing it is time that both TransLink and BC Transit send a fact finding tour to Europe to investigate TramTrain! As expensive vanity transit projects are seriously in trouble, the time has come to study 21st century transit philosophy and rethink expensive 20th century mini-metro. The Leewood/Rail for […]

More TramTrains For Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe, Germany, the birthplace of the TramTrain concept, goes from success to success. For twenty-two years, TramTrain have been operating in the Karlsruhe region with no major accidents, track sharing with both the city tram systems and mainline railways, providing affordable tram services to regions which otherwise would not been able to afford a quality […]

How to build light rail in our cities without emptying the public purse

An interesting read and quite pertinent to our transit situation in the lower mainland. Both the BRT and SkyTrain Lobby’s have so perverted the concept of modern light rail, to support their own projects, that the concept of affordable LRT has all but disappeared from the TransLink lexicon. The following quote; “……….while cities with rubber-wheeled […]

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 […]

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 […]

Karlsruhe Revisited

Let us not forget, the birthplace of what is now called TramTrain, was in Karlsruhe Germany. When it comes to denial, the following statistic is greeted with hoots and howls of disbelief from the anti-tram crowd, yet it is the very basis for the success of TramTrain today. Ridership of the Karlsruhe-Bretton route went from […]

TramTrain for the E&N?

The Talk of TramTrain from other than Zwei is good news, especially from Vancouver Island. A Diesel powered TramTrain service, both for Victoria and Naniamo is doable and would be affordable. A 18 km. Diesel TramTrain line from Langford to Victoria, plus a single track 5 km.Ai?? loop in the downtown, should cost no more […]

The Failure To Understand Modern Light Rail = Public Transit Chaos – From May 2010

The Failure To Understand Modern Light Rail = Public Transit Chaos First published in May, 2010 From, May 25, 2010 – five years later, the song remains the same. ai???Zweiai??i?? has been taken aback by the viciousness of the SkyTrain Lobby and the great lengths they have taken in discrediting the LRT, while at the […]