Light-rail ‘vision’ elevated track would run along I-405 – From the Seattle Times

It seems the hoary old elevated, tunnel, or at-grade debate continues in Bellevue Washington, which is across the lake from Seattle. The success of LRT is to be able to penetrate into city centres cheaply, on-street, where the transit customer wants to go, which is something that a certain rookie Bellevue councilor doesn’t want to […]

The (AVG) Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft GmbH- Karlsruhe’s longest tramtrain route – S4

The AVG’s longest run is now a 210km (130 mile) S4 service from A?ai??i??hringen through central Karlsruhe to Achern, south-west of Baden-Baden. The TramTrain route uses DB mainlines, regional railway lines and on-street running in various cities. The above map gives the various routes of Karlsruhe’s famous TramTrain network;Ai??Ai??largely in an area of comparable density […]

Commuters haven’t left their cars at home…yet (Surprise, Surprise!)

When one constructs a transit system so user-unfriendly that the vast majority of the public avoid it at all costs, can there be any surprise that the public will continue to avoid public transit, even during the Olympics with its many road closures? Early advertisements that there will be two hour waits at SkyTrain stations […]

"Their" Evergreen Project Gets Funding – Green light for Evergreen 3 – From Modern Railways

What should be of great interest to those supporting the reinstatement of a Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban, is the cost of refurbishing 80 km. of double track (160km. in total), plus 1 km. of new track is Ai??A?250 million or CAD $423.1 million. As the Fraser Valley interurban or TramTrain’s maximum speed would be 100 […]

More Planning For TramTrain In The U.K. – Now It Is Wales Turn

It seems TramTrains are on the menu for Wales as the Welsh Government looks atAi??Ai??introducing tram and TramTrain operation in local cities. There areAi??Ai??still several minor rail lines that service the Welsh Valleys, thatAi??Ai??were once formed a much larger network from the coal mining days and scores more of abandoned rail routes that could be […]

Density shouldnA?ai??i??ai???t be Cambie corridor focus, prof says – From the Georgia Straight.

Ai??Ai?? Since the province and BC Transit and TransLink embarked on light-metro only construction in the region 30 years ago, the public have been told over and over again that higher densities were a must. Made redundant industrial lands (made redundant by municipal politicians rezoning land) were rezonedAi??Ai??to higher density residentialAi??Ai??housing along the Expo Line […]

The Growing Popularity of TramTrains Are Again In The News

The February Tramways & Urban Transit has an excellent article on TramTrains and their growing popularity with transit planners in Europe and North America. The article ” Tram-trains: are they worth it? “, is interesting and well worth reading as very important questions are posed. The article was written mainly for the UK market where […]

Welcome to the Olympic Line – Modern Light Rail In Vancouver BC

Welcome to Vancouver’s Olympic Line. Enjoy! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OtUpUNeo8] Stephen Rees giving a tour of the Flexity car. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlKxoDDL4A]

Bored Subway Tunnels – Are They Problem Free? Will a Broadway SkyTrain subway be Another Cambie St. Fiasco?

The SkyTrain Lobby andAi??Ai??many Vancouver politicians are claiming that a Broadway subway tunnel will be bored in stead of cut-and-cover, eliminating the many problems caused to those living or have businesses adjacent to the subway route, thus eliminatingAi??Ai??protracted litigation forAi??Ai??compensation. The problem of course is aAi??Ai??bored tunneling causes it own set of problems and may […]

Now You See It, Now You Don’t – The Olympic Line Opens Today

If one wants to ride a modern tram, then one should get to the Olympic Line as quick as possible and take a ride, before the Flexity cars are returned to Brussels after the 2010 Olympics. Zweisystem would be more excited if this was a start of a program of LRT/streetcar construction, but it’s not. […]