Fuel cell tram trial – From the Railway Gazette

After a few false starts in the past decade with numerous railway operators, the Spanish FEVE Railway is experimenting with a fuel-cell powered train on a short non-electrified rail line. For those advocating alternative fuel for the Valley Interurban, it should fell worth noting that the maximum speed than can be achieved with a fuel […]

Questions: What density is needed for ‘Rail’ Transit? Does Anyone Really Know?

Simple questions today folks. Over the past few weeks the ugly question of densityAi??Ai??has beenAi??Ai??rearing its ugly head in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley concerning transit. Vancouver council is considering major density increases for Cambie Street because it has the Canada line mini-metro and the same treatment is expected for Broadway if ‘rail‘ transit is […]

Take the Tram – From the AntonNews.com Long Island New York

Take the Tram By Michael Miller Friday, 11 June 2010 Why in 2010 does it often take twice as long to get from the North Shore to the Five Towns than it does to get from Mineola to White Plains? Cars are choking our roads, gas prices are threatening our economic viability. We need alternative […]

Trams, Buses & Trolleybuses Can Co-exist

On another blog, a long standing member of the SkyTrain/metro fraternity alluded to the fact that LRT and buses could not co-exist on the Granville Mall. Sorry to disappoint the purveyors of misinformation, but they can and do in many cities. A photo essay from several citiesAi??Ai??proves the point. Milan Ai?? Geneva Ai?? Essen Riga

Texas’s Newest ‘Rail’ Transit line, the Red Line

This article for Mass Transit should prove interesting to supporters of the “return of the interurban“, in the Fraser Valley. What should be of interest is the cost of the 32 mile (51.5 km)Ai??Ai??line is less than $5 million per mile or $3.1 million per km. (CAD $ 3.24 million)! Let’s see, a Vancouver to […]

Canada’s gridlocked mayors call for multi-level strategy on transit

The following news item shows that the issue of public and regional transit and funding of transit is beginning to creep into the politicians radar. Throwing more money at transit will not solve very much as politicians have a very strange habit of funding their ‘pet‘ projects. The federal government can help by rewriting the […]

A Poll That the Main Stream Media Ignored. Can We Expect The Same For Other Non SkyTrain ‘Rail’ Projects?

A very strange thing happenedAi??yesterday with ‘Zwei’. When I was discussing a transit matter with an US transit type about the RAV/Canada line. He told me that TransLink officials claimed that over 80% of Vancouverites supported RAV and if it were not for the high costs of the metro, many more metro type transit systems […]

The SkyTrain Lobby Just Can’t Debate Transit Issues

The followingAi??Ai??letter to the Georgia Straight sums up transit planning in Vancouver and the region, an almost mythicalAi??Ai??blind faith in the SkyTrain light-metro and the complete inability to debate transit issues. The SkyTrain lobby’s preference is based purely on mass hysteria not technical merit and the commentsAi??Ai??following letter clearly illustrates a hysterical response; there is […]

The Broadway Follies Part 4 – The Versatile Light Rail

TheAi??Ai??entire transit debate for the Broadway route has been defined by the SkyTrain Lobby as a quest for speed, as if speed was the only criteria for a successful urban ‘rail‘ line. Yet speed of a transit system is onlyAi??Ai??one ofAi??Ai??many factors that determine a successful ‘rail‘ transit line. From the Haas-Klau study (Bus or […]

Light Rail & Tramways Growth Continues With new Openings in 2010

From May’s issue ofAi??Ai??Tramway’s & Urban Transit comes a list of new LRT openings in 2010, almost one every six weeks. The following is a partial list of new LRT/tram and TramTrain systems. It is interesting to note the increase of TramTrain expansion, both in Europe and in North America. Also, when compared to metro […]