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More bang for the buck with light rail

Editor: Re: SkyTrain works, but only in areas with enough people, letter to the editor, July 20 Modern light rail, even simple streetcars, can achieve 30 seconded headways and do on scores of LRT/streetcar lines around the world.

Editor:

Re: SkyTrain works, but only in areas with enough people, letter to the editor, July 20

Modern light rail, even simple streetcars, can achieve 30 seconded headways and do on scores of LRT/streetcar lines around the world. Practical capacity for LRT/streetcar is over 20,000 persons per hour per direction and is one of the main reasons why modern LRT has out-sold SkyTrain by over 20 to one since SkyTrain was first marketed in the late 1970s.

One gets far more bang with one's buck with light rail.

SkyTrain was originally supposed to be cheaper to build than a Toronto subway, but have a higher capacity than a 1930s streetcar. In the 21st century, the proprietary SkyTrain mini-metro has shown to be inferior to much cheaper LRT and why there have been very few actual sales (seven) of the proprietary light-metro.

The following demonstrates light-rail's ability to handle large passenger loads:

The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, is relocating it main streetcar/tram line in a subway because the startling success of the regional tramtrain (streetcars that can operate on mainline railways) network. The tram line was seeing 45-second headways with coupled sets of trams during peak hours, working out to an hourly capacity of over 43,000 persons per hour per direction.

Three-section articulated trams, with a capacity of 240 persons each, operating in two-car sets (cap. 480) at 45-second headways (90 trips per hour) carried over 43,200 persons per hour per direction, which is well over the 15,000 as quoted by Ed Ries for SkyTrain.

When one does proper comparisons between SkyTrain and light rail, it becomes very clear why the proprietary SkyTrain light-metro system is both providing an inferior transit service at a far grater cost than if we had built with LRT instead, which in turn makes one wonder why TransLink keeps planning for it, when no one else is?

Malcolm Johnston

Light Rail Committee/Rail for the Valley