Mr. Cow Told You So! A Switching Problem!
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
14h ago
Our friend Mr. Haveacow, predicted this some years ago and there were many who pooh-poohed this. I even had a local politician warning me not to spread misinformation, with a hint of legal proceedings. Why so touchy on the subject? It looks like TransLink and the Mayor’s Council on Transit are trying to hide the fact that part of the Expo line extension to Langley, includes increasing capacity of the Expo Line from 15,000 pphpd to 17,5000 pphpd. Part of this capacity upgrade includes new signalling for the Expo Line ($1.49 billion contract with Thales) and as Mr. Cow has mentioned many tim ..read more
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Man of Straw Arguments
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
3d ago
  “Man of Straw” argument: The straw man fallacy is an informal fallacy, which means that the flaw lies with the arguer’s method of arguing rather than the flaws of the argument itself. The straw man fallacy avoids the opponent’s actual argument and instead argues against an inaccurate caricature of it. When dealing with arguments against Rail for the Valley’s regional railway project, most arguments tend to be man of straw fallacy’s in an attempt to demonize the concept of a regional railway. The following are the six common “man-of-straw” arguments made against the Valley Rail projec ..read more
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A QUESTION OF CAPACITY
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
1w ago
Catching a local radio last week, the old saw about capacity and that SkyTrain had a higher capacity than Light Rail, again was used as a example why light rail was not as good as SkyTrain. Sadly, there was no fact check, just blind acceptance of fake news. Really, after the $1.49 billion resignalling contract, the maximum capacity of the Millennium Line will be a mere 7,500 pphpd. I just shake my head, as Toronto was operating coupled sets of PCC cars on select routes providing a peak hour capacity in excess of 12,000 pphpd! The following was first published in 2009 and it remains as pertin ..read more
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The “MAGA Effect”
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
1w ago
SkyTrain’s many  ills are all but ignored by our local media, yet almost every or breakdown that happened on Ottawa’s Confederation Line was reported nationally. I call it the “MAGA Effect”, where the media ignores problems with our SkyTrain and grossly overstates issues with other transit systems, such as Ottawa’s hybrid light metro/rail system. Our local media have also ignored REM and its less than stellar performance in Montreal. Montreal’s light metro system is having many issues with its operation, yet the Ottawa system is still demonized, especially with our local media. Thi ..read more
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These Guys Could Not Even Operate Christmas Trainset
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
2w ago
When it comes to Vancouver politicians, I just shake my head. According to to the Vancouver City website: Accessibility The entire site is wheelchair accessible. The train has an accessibility carriage and passengers in wheelchairs should be accompanied by an attendant to facilitate the boarding process. We offer free tickets for: Wheelchair-accessible seating Attendants for guests with accessibility needs Stroller parking is also available. So whats the issue? Miniature railways due to their nature have difficulty offering accessibility to the mobility impaired and with some with track ga ..read more
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Five Reasons Why The NDP Don’t Want The “Return of the Interurban”.
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
2w ago
  This post was released on Wednesday, February 11, 2009,under the title, “Five reasons Why Gordo and his ‘Falcon’ don’t want the “Return of the Interurban”. It is still relevant today, only the names have been changed. Under the NDP, nothing has changed. So, with a little tweaking here and updating there, we have the following…….. Five reasons Why the NDP don’t want the “Return of the Interurban”. It is all too simple, the tracks are there from Vancouver to Chilliwack, the diesel light-rail vehicles are available from many manufacturers and have been proven in revenue operation, and ..read more
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A Letter To The CBC
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
2w ago
I sent this to the CBC in Montreal, which they will take no action. The CBC’s accuracy on transit projects or just reporting on transit issues has greatly declined over the past decade and much of what they report has not been researched. A modern tram or streetcar on a light rail route in Edmonton. Please deliver to the CBC News Department;  * I find that the CBC still refers to Montreal’s REM as light rail, when in reality it is a light-metro.  * Driverless transit systems cannot be light rail because part of the definition of light rail is that it can operate in mixed ..read more
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Much Ado About Nothing
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
3w ago
Lots of bad news around the NDP this week so including Selina Robinson’s resignation letter, which claimed antisemitism among her colleagues and indifference, so why not a SkyTrain announcement, as everyone loves SkyTrain. The key point in this story is “the province remains in final contract negotiations…..”, so it is obvious the claimed cost from 2021 of $4.01 billion isn’t $4.01 billion in 2024. Accounting for inflation that $.01 billion in 2021 is now $4.57 billion in 2024. So the negotiations are probably about increased costs due to inflation and more. Meanwhile TransLink is on the s ..read more
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Lysenkoism – TransLink’s Doctrine
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
3w ago
The SkyTrain Lobby Is Watching You! Lysenkoism: describes the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives. Transit is about moving people, not building high rise condos and towers! Really, not in Vancouver, where the SkyTrain light metro system is designed to shape land use, ensuring big profits for politcal friends and insiders. Ignoring the fact that the proprietary SkyTrain mini-metro system has been rejected by transit planners around the world as bei ..read more
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TransLink for Dummies
Rail for the Valley
by zweisystem
1M ago
……….. or cutting through the BS about Light Rail, SkyTrain and BRT. The following is a guide plus definitions. ALM: Automatic Light metro, the fourth marketing name given for the SkyTrain family of light-metros, when Lavalin briefly owned SkyTrain before going bankrupt. ALRT (1): Advanced Light Rail Transit, the second marketing name after ICTS for the trains used on the Expo Line. erroneously called SkyTrain. ALRT (2): Advanced Light Rapid Transit, the third marketing name for SkyTrain, when Advanced Light Rail Transit failed to find a market. ART: Advanced Rapid Transit, the fifth marketing ..read more
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