SkyTrain Ka-Put Again. Is TransLink Out Of It’s Depth?

It is becoming all to regular, the Expo and Millennium Lines go down; TransLink can’t cope with the problem and transit customers are badly dealt with. I think new TransLink CEO, Kevin Desmond is out of his league and if these frequent stoppages do not cease, he must resign. What is even more disturbing is […]

Stupid Is As Stupid Does – I Expect Nothing More From TransLink

  So, what do the three new board members know about transit? Zilch, nada, nothing. But, I bet they all know how to cash a stipend. Thus the farce we call TransLink, continues. This is pork barrel politics at its very worst!   Three new members appointed to TransLink Board Vancouver, BC, Canada / News […]

Do The SkyTrain MK.3 Cars Have A Fatal Flaw?

Really. No, really, can’t TransLink come up with a better excuse than a “high tech glitch” for the recent embarrassing problems with the brand new MK.3 cars? Evidently not. Mk.3 cars high tech? No. What the Mk.3 car is a new universal body shell to fit all of Bombardier’s ‘rail’ light-metros or other like light-metros […]

Trams for Kuala Lumpur? Evidently Light Metro Did Not Reduce Congestion!

Interesting news from Kuala Lumpur, transit experts urge that trams be used. Kuala Lumpur already has an elevated RT line; a ART (SkyTrain) Line and an monorail, now transit authorities urge trams! The key phrase; “…….the mode of transportation could also reduce vehicles on the road and simultaneously solve traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur especially […]

What – SkyTrain Ka-Put Again?

For a transit system that it’s supporters claims to be almost problem free, the proprietary ART/ALRT mini-metro has stopped working several times in the past week, mostly during the rush hour. There is a new word in TransLink’s lexicon and it is “timed out”, what ever that means. As for smooth talking Drennan’s claim thatAi?? […]

INFRASTRUCTURE

One politicians “infrastructure” is another one’s waste. It’s not transit or transportation projects we build, rather it is infrastructure. The SkyTrain Broadway subway is deemedAi?? by Vancouver politicians to be a good investment of the taxpayer’s money because it is “infrastructure” , but the subway is not based on sound transit and transportation planning, thus […]

Willful Ignorance

The radio is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier. (Apologies to H. L. Mencken) SkyTrain here, SkyTrain there, SkyTrain everywhere! TransLink’s CEO, Kevin Desmond is an ignorant man and as such, makes a perfect CEO of TransLink, where ignorance is a prerequisite for employment. I have kept silent about […]

Calgary, Alberta: Green Line LRT tunnel option approved in principle by Calgary city council

Everyone wants tunnels and subways. Victorian railway companies in the UK, bankrupted themselves with needless and over engineered tunnels because they were in vogue. Calgary’s LRT was designed more as a light metro than light rail, but that still did not stop transit planners from putting the C-Train mostly at grade, with on-street operation in […]

Scarborough Subway Derailing?

Unfortunately financial reality is now setting in in Toronto and building subways are a very expensive proposition.. The cost to replace the aging Scarborough ICTS mini-metro with a one stop, 6 km. subway (about the same length as a Broadway subway to Arbutus!) is now put at $3.2 billion and rising. Plans to revive a […]

A Tale of Two Cities – The Utsunomiya LRT Versus The Shambles in Surrey

This article should give a good indication of the cost of modern light rail being built today. The proposed Utsunomiya LRT, is of course narrow gaugeAi?? and will have somewhat narrower trams, with a reduced capacity than LRT built inAi?? Canada, but it is the cost of construction which is important. The 14.6 km., 19 […]