Going Underground

Until now, a huge challenge to keeping light rail track laying costs down has been the existing underground utilities. The location of these water, sewer and other utility lines can create expensive relocation costs that drive the LRT budget high.

The UK is a world leader in light rail passenger train systems and what they frequently call "community rail". Being the smart folks they are, they have found a solution to this costly mess with the LR55 tram track system. The system allows for quick installation and uses the existing road structure to support the load. This is revolutionary!

"To avoid or reduce these problems NET proposes to use the revolutionary LR55 rail system. This is laid in the road structure itself so that there is little or no disturbance to underground services. Instead a slot is cut in the road and the track laid in. The track exploits the strength of existing highway pavements by transmitting the static and dynamic loads from the upper surface, rather than the foot of the rail as in conventional track. This results in the load on the railhead being distributed onto the sub-base of the highway, being of a sufficiently low value not to require a separate foundation. Up to 100m can be laid in a night"

Open Platform - The BC Liberals Want Your Input

The BC Liberal Party has created a website to allow all British Columbians to voice their opinions that will shape the policies and priorities of the BC Liberal Party for the 2009 provincial election. You can become a member here and post away on some or all of the issues. Please note that there is a transportation and infrastructure topic section and South Fraser OnTrax hopes you will take some time to post some intelligent support for the Interurban revival and Light Rail Transit (LRT) in general.

This website is not run by the provincial government, rather it was created by a political party. As such, you may be contacted by the party if you register here. If you object to this, then perhaps you may not want to log on. I'd also like to say that it is my hope that all LRT advocates who post on this site will not resort to name-calling, lecturing or ranting criticism.

The site was designed for the party to review the issues that are dear to all British Columbians, and then use this information to formulate a platform and/or policy. I'm certain that rants and related posts will be promptly ignored and deleted. This is an opportunity as a group to speak intelligently to our leaders, possibly shaping their 2009 provincial election platform. Please use it wisely. I plan to formulate my ideas in bullet points and post after I have worked through that. We encourage all LRT advocates to log on today!


PS: If you know of any other website by any other party in BC that has a similar thing going on, please let us know by posting a comment or emailing info@sfot.info.

Washington State Says YES to Light Rail Transit

Voters in Washington State have said NO to single occupancy vehicles by defeating Initiative 985 to help solo drivers and YES to Proposition 1 that will allow them to build a light rail transit (LRT) system that will have a 40 year outlook.

"Sound Transit plans to extend light rail to Lynnwood, north Federal Way and the Overlake Transit Center, near Microsoft, by the early 2020s, through a half-cent increase in sales taxes. The $17.9 billion plan would expand express-bus service 17 percent and boost capacity by two-thirds on Sounder commuter trains between Pierce County and Seattle.

Alex Fryer, spokesman for Mass Transit Now, said he was blown away by the lead in Snohomish County, where campaign models predicted just under half the voters saying "yes."

One explanation is that people liked the recent openings of a Mukilteo commuter-train station and the South Everett park-and-ride, he said."

If we could only have such a vote here in the South Fraser. You can criticize Americans for lots of things, but you must give them credit for getting things done with regards to transit and infrastructure and leadership. They must also be given credit for turning a very major page in the history books by electing Barack Obama yesterday. The TV coverage was very moving for me as a dual citizen and I was very pleased with the outcome and movement to a more progressive leader. Look at all this light rail coming to the metro Seattle area. I'm jealous!

Map Courtesy of The Seattle Times
Click on Image to Enlarge

Results From Abbotsford City Hall

Linda Gronkjaer of the City Clerk's Office and Councillor Lynne Harris have confirmed for us this morning that Lynne's motion was well-received by council and that Abbotsford City Council voted to support all four recommendations that included a call for a possible demonstration rail run by 2010. Councillor Harris is the chair of the IRTSC and has promised in her message to follow up with the new City Manager to see what the next steps should be. She has vowed to keep us informed.