Editor: Re: LRT not just a dream, Feb. 14 It is a pleasant surprise to see a positive story about modern LRT or light rail transit (not light rapid transit) in the news. It is also a pleasant surprise to see local politicians supporting modern light rail.
What many people do not know is that modern LRT has made our proprietary SkyTrain light-metro and light-metro itself obsolete over two decades ago, as modern LRT can operate faster, built far cheaper, and obtain larger capacities at a cheaper operating cost.
The modern light rail vehicle or tram (streetcar) is as long as four MK.1 SkyTrain cars and far more flexible in operation. Modern light rail can carry containerized freight as it does in Dresden; or operate both as a tram and a passenger train on the same transit route using existing railways, bringing quality rail transit to towns once not thought of deserving good transit, as in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Tram customers in Europe also have "Bistro" cars that serve light refreshments on longer journeys, something impossible with our SkyTrain.
Since SkyTrain was first marketed in the late 1970s only seven have been built and only three are seriously used for regional transit, while during the same period over 150 new LRTs have been built around the world, with many more under construction.
In 2010, the Rail for the Valley group, wanting to reestablish the Fraser Valley interurban service, with tram-train (a tram that can operate both as a tram and a commuter train operating on the existing railways) engaged Leewood Projects of the UK to do an independent
study on the project. The Leewood Study showed a 136-kilometre Vancouver/Richmond electric tram-train service to Chilliwack, using the former B.C. Electric line, could be built for under $1 billion; not bad when one considers the 11.4-kilometre Evergreen SkyTrain line will cost over $1.4 billion to build.
Modern LRT, despite local detractors, works very well in providing a high quality transit service that does not pauper the taxpayer.
D. M. Johnston
Rail for the Valley
