The Broadway suybway Will Sterilize Buisness – Repost

The following news story reminds me of the Cambie St. subway fiasco with the Canada line subway. Fake tears from the city of Vancouver politicians, TransLink and the provincial NDP masquerade the fact that they knew this was going to happen and they do not give a damn about the merchants involved. Vancouver business closing […]

TramTrain – Success Ignored

Rail for the Valley’s goal is the reintroduction of a modern Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban service, using the former and still in use, BC Electric route. This route would provide good rail communication for Vancouver, Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, the burgeoning communities of Vedder/Sardis and finally Chilliwack, with regularly scheduled regional rail service. 15 years ago […]

BROADWAY IS NOT THE BUSIEST TRANSIT ROUTE IN CANADA

Here we go again! It seems trouble is brewing on Broadway and for the sixth time since Jan.1 a media outlet has repeated the TransLink and City of Vancouver’s nonsense that Broadway is the busiest transit route in North America. Well it isn’t and never was and my guess is that TransLink, the provincial NDP […]

Doing The Same Thing Over Again Just Will Not Work

After receiving a number of abusive amount of Emails about the post (all deleted), has indicated to me that most people do not have a firm grounding in modern public transport philosophy, nor a good knowledge of provincial finances. Most forget, that in the end, both LRT and light metro are trains and there is […]

SkyTrain Again Fails in the Snow

I find it more than interesting that our hugely expensive rapid transit system once again fails in the snow. Oh, the excuses are many but TransLink, the Minister of Transportation and the premier will never admit to the fact that our SkyTrain light metro system just isn’t up to scratch in adverse weather. Even the […]

How Metro Vancouver’s Regional Transit Planning Has continued To Get It Wrong!

Please Deliver to Mayor and Council   From: Rail for the Valley     My name is (name withheld by request)  and I have been involved with transit issues in the lower mainland for four decades. I have been a forty year member of the Light Rail Transit Association and through my long membership, I […]

The Cost Of Tunneling – Part 2

Again, our friend, Mr. Cow’s comment is worthy of a post of its own. To tunnel or not to tunnel: that is the question and tunneling or subway construction has become politcal and not technical issue. In the late Victorian era, during the railway building boom, small railway companies almost went bankrupt building tunnels because […]

Observations On A Broken Regional Transit System

The past few month, Zwei has been on the road, throughout the lower mainland attending rugby games (my son plays first div.) and has made a very depressing observation. Despite over $30 billion invested or will be invested in the regional light metro system, traffic is getting worse and congestion, spiced with gridlock is endemic. […]

Why Are Transit Projects So Costly?

Sadly, the same is true in Canada and BC. By comparison the $2.7 billion, 3.5 mile (5.7 km) Broadway subway costs $772 million/mile and the $4.6 to $5.1 billion 10 mile (16 km) Surrey Langley SkyTrain will cost $467 million to $510 million/mile to build. Oh yes, the estimated $1.5 billion 80 mile (130 km) […]

Over-Designed’ Megaprojects Are Bad For Environment And Taxpayers

Sadly, the same is true in BC and Canada, where politicians fully believe the more money one spends on transit, the better is is. We are currently spending around $11 billion to extend the SkyTrain light metro system a mere 21.7 km. Current Cost Estimates: Surrey Langley SkyTrain – $4.6 billion to $5.1 billion Broadway […]