Ontario looks at hydrogen-powered trains

As hydrogen fuel cell technology improves, the application for ‘rail’ transit is close to become a reality. The main problem for hydrogen fuel cell transit is that the cell tends to produce power at a steady rate, but poor in providing power at times of high demand, like accelerating out of stations. This has made […]

Is TransLink Hiding Subway Costs?

I wanted to post this item, not to show problems with London’s proposed BRT, rather that cost of tunneling had been vastly under estimated on the subway portion of this project. An excerpt from the London Free Press. City hallai??i??s consultant, IBI Group, had dropped a bombshell on city officials that day: The tunnelai??i??s construction […]

BC, Building Our Way To Gridlock.

Someone please memo this to the Minister of Transportation; the Premier; the Mayor of Delta and the BC Liberal party. Guest column: Wider roads wonai??i??t solve congestion problem (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong) 6356725 Ai??- See more at: http://www.bendbulletin.com/opinion/lettertotheeditor/5323723-151/guest-column-wider-roads-wont-solve-congestion-problem#sthash.xGCX3git.0vCV9BSw.dpuf Build it, and they will come. In the context of the Legislatureai??i??s transportation plan, this […]

Road Pricing -To Hide Transit Blunders In The past And Blunders Yet To Come

The major rule about “Road Pricing” or congestion charges and that is, one must have an affordable and user friendly transit system in place before road pricing will be accepted by the populace, if not, it is not going to happen. The Metro Vancouver region does not have, nor will have any time soon a […]

SkyTrain Incidents – A Most Curious Article

Gregory (Scotland YardAi??detective): ai???Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?ai??? Holmes: ai???To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.ai??? Gregory: ai???The dog did nothing in the night-time.ai??? Holmes: ai???That was the curious incident.ai??? It is interesting what is not reported. It seems, Postmedia did not report […]

The Regional Mayor’s Pork Barrel Express

The provincial government is in turmoil and those who “Pay to Play” on the municipal scene are getting anxious, as billions in potential profits are being put on hold for the moment. The Metro Vancouver’s metro Mayors Ten Year Plan is nothing more than a skillfully drafted document that is designed to direct the flow […]

A Message To Mr. Horgan & Mr. Weaver: A Train Waiting for You At The Station

  The election is over and now there is a good possibility of a NDP/Green coalition government. Rail For The Valley has a message for Mr. Horgan and Mr. Weaver, The Vancouver to Chilliwack TramTrain is waiting at the station for you to board. There is a plan in place, which has received international recognition. […]

Canada line Goes Ka-Put – Could Dirty Tunnels Be The Culprit?

The Canada Line was down for three hours on Friday, but if one was looking for evidence of it, well TransLink is doing its best to cleanse the internet from reporting the problem. Trying to avoid the fiasco of last winter, where TransLink abandoned customers, when the Canada Line failed in the snow, officials were […]

Bombardier’s Blundering Is Alstom’s Gain

Recent problems with Bombardier’s delivery of new trams for Toronto has made Canadian customers look elsewhere. For two long, Ottawa has twisted arms of Canadian transit operators to buy the Canadian Bombardier product, to keep production going, propping up the giant multinational company and garnering votes from Ontario and Quebec. This is not to say […]

China’s Loneliest Subway Station

Metro madness gone wild in China. Looking like a set from a Sci-fi series, building a subway, for the sake of being a subway, has major financial consequences. Let us not make the same mistake in Vancouver, where transit traffic flows along Broadway are less than a third that would justify a subway. Take a […]