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Today's
Date:
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Is
SkyTrain "The Best" Transportation Solution
for the Valley??
What
are the different passenger rail options, what
is LRT, what is Commuter Rail. It is very important
to understand that their is signifigant differences
in the speed, the coaches, diesel engines, electric
and most importantly COST.
The
average cost for light rail in North America is
about $35m/kilometre
DRL: Deluxe: $700m $27,000,000/km
UMA: Community: $120m $6,000,000/km
FVHRS: Tourist: $6m $325,000/km
LRT (typical): $35,000,000/km
Canada Line: $2,000m $105,000,000/km
Evergreen Line: $1,400m $127,000,000/km
UBC Line: $2,800m $233,000,000/km
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Kevin Falcon is talking Skytrain to Langley down
Fraser Hwy. In a perfect world we could deliver
a gold plated car with all the bells and whistles
mony could buy but people in the valley are saying
why not think about a cost saving passenger rail
solution. Ultimately the citizens of the valley
want a passenger rail service now not in 2031.
Look
at the following detailed
information and then please write a letter
to Premier Gordon Campbell and cc Minister Kevin
Falcon. Tell Premier Gordon Campbell you want
a community passenger rail service by 2010 to
support the tourist traffic coming to BC. To provide
an added transit service for people arriving for
the Olympics at the Abbotsford Airport.
Why
is our Premier so focused on state of the art
transportation solutions for VANCOUVER. Doesn't
he realize that a lot of people coming to BC for
the Olympics will stay in hotels/motels and with
families in the Fraser Valley? How are they going
to deal with the traffic jams from Chilliwack
to the Port Mann Bridge. The plan has got to be
BUSSES and more BUSSES
Let's
be smart, let's get a passenger rail service up
now. It can be done. Yes it will cost money....but
NOT anything like the cost of SKYTRAIN... so please
look at the following different passenger rail
options. Become familiar with what is LRT, what
is Commuter Rail.
Look
at the significant differences in the speed, the
coaches, diesel engines vs. electric engines and
most importantly THE COST. Yes SkyTrain is an
option, but the question is...Is this your option
of choice or is it just a way for the government
to delay delivering a passenger rail service to
the valley by talking about an expensive transportation
solution that in fact will never come to pass?
 See
Full Report
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Mark
Mushet - Vancouver Review |
Slumbering
Vancouver to Steveston rail line yearns for new
life.
TheTyee.ca
I remember the last time I heard the sound of
crossing bells and the blast of the engine horn
along the CPR's now-neglected Arbutus Line. On
a damp, misty fall morning sometime around the
turn of the new century, I was briefly inconvenienced
at the 16th and Arbutus crossing. I say briefly
because, by this time, only a single engine and
one or two hopper cars were making their way down
to the Molson brewery to maintain the CPR's right
of way. But when those trains finally stopped
running, I felt the way I did when the old foghorns
were replaced with new electronic versions; a
great sense of loss.
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South
of the Fraser Transit Plan
Township Council voted to support the South of
the Fraser Transit Plan 5 - 4.
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Rail service would boost ‘metro
centre’
May 14, 2008 Editor:
We’ve heard just in the past week that as part
of Metro Vancouver’s forthcoming regional growth
strategy, Surrey City Centre will be deemed the new
‘metro centre’ for all of the Fraser Valley.
This
is great news — it’s high-time that people
in the Valley were provided with a closer downtown centre.
We can only hope that this ‘metro centre’
will include lots more local jobs, a sports stadium
and great performance and concert spaces. For far too
long, people in Surrey and Langley have had to drive
to Vancouver, through traffic and over bridges, to get
to work, to sports games, and to shows.
People
from all parts of the Fraser Valley are going to want
to get to this new downtown core without getting stuck
in traffic. There is a huge need for faster, more frequent,
and more reliable transit from Langley Centre and Cloverdale,
going in to the SkyTrain station and bus loop at Surrey
Central. The #502 bus service just isn’t good
enough, especially given the rapidly-growing population
in Cloverdale and Langley.
The
most cost-efficient way to bring people from Langley
and Cloverdale into the Surrey metro centre would be
to revive the interurban line and implement a system
of passenger rail.
To
build a system of at-grade passenger rail, it would
cost between $6 to $7 million per kilometre, as compared
to SkyTrain’s $100 to $233 million per kilometre.
Because of the lower cost, passenger rail can probably
be implemented much more quickly (maybe within a year).
Hopefully
the Surrey metro centre concept can provide an impetus
for moving forward with passenger rail for the Valley,
at a time when everyone wants better public transit
down Fraser Highway.
Stephanie
Ryan,
Langley
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