These are NOT monorail style trains. First, monorail is exactly that 'mono" {aka one} rail unlike SkyTrain, LRT, or subways. Second, monorails like in Sao Paulo and Chongquin have standard subway/Metro dimensions. They both have capacities of over 35,000 PPHPD. As far as the term "light...

So sad to hear this. His wonderful gifts, love of his city, and desire to share both with all of us truly made him a fond member of our community. He will be greatly missed. RIP.

It was noted earlier that they were not sure if double-articulated buses were legal in Canada and I have no idea. That however would not be a problem. Remember that EMU & DMU trains are also illegal but it didn't stop Ottawa nor GO. It just means they get a waiver and DA buses could do the same...

Accidents along the route being "moved along" takes a minimum of half an hour bringing the entire system to a screeching halt. Buses of course can just go around the accident in one minute. I also don't see how you can say that LRT can use existing HOV lanes. When talking about interlining...

^^^^ That's not much of an accomplishment. That still means just 1600 trips a day or 800 people a day serving a county that will probably have 350,000 people by then as it already has 250,000. That hardly qualifies as a lousy city bus route.

LRT use to have a gaping lead over BRT at least in terms of capacity, ride quality, noise, and acceleration but this gap has narrowed considerable in the last decade. Capacity has been vastly improved due to the introduction of DOUBLE-articulated buses. They use to be the purview of only large...

Stalin would be soooooooo jealous.

Battery trains are coming along much faster than thought even than just 5 years ago. The rate of battery technology advancements is truly staggering and this will grow exponentially. We will find that in 10 short years batteries will be cheaper, much lighter, much smaller, recharge much faster...

With current batteries, they will need to still put up a good chunk of catenary but probably less than half the amount than just pure catenary saving a lot of time and money to say nothing of battery inherent advantages over just 100% catenary.

That's great news for London!!

^^^ I understand your points and they are valid. Running 2 car train on relatively short amount of track is far easier than the monsters that GO runs. That said, RER trains will not be 12 car DD but {probably} single level ones of around 100 to 120 meters.............much more like Toronto's...

Tier 4 is certainly better but under no stretch of the imagination is it good little alone ideal. I think Ottawa would be far more receptive to expanding VIA if VIA had absolutely any policies on how it will decarbonise but it doesn't. Saying it's better than driving is a cop-out and as we...

Some VERY interesting developments out of NY on the battery front. The Long Island Railroad {LIRR} is just announced that it will be working with Alstom to study how they could deploy battery powered trains on the non-electrified sections. They currently use diesel with 3rd rail closer to the...

You guys have to remember that expanding VIA, at least in it's current form, is a hard sell. Ottawa has dedicated a LOT of new money for infrastructure and all of it being Green and hence improving a rail service that will expand both it's diesel fleets and usage of them goes counter to their...

Whatever VIA decides in terms of technology { and personally I think all 3 types of zero emissions vehicles have their place all depending upon the route} but the fact that they have no concrete plans of how they will meet net-zero by 2050 is highly irresponsible. The very first thing VIA...

Keithz....................so your alternative to diesel trains is to do nothing at all? Well if Ottawa decides to use that theory then I can't wait for CN & CP to take them to court because one rail system gets a pass and the other doesn't. Ditto for the airlines. If we want a zero emissions...

Electrified trains aren't just about frequency but also about their zero emissions, faster travel times, much quieter trains both inside and out, and lower operational costs.

^^^^ Fine SFO-YYZ, so what's your alternative to decarbonising the VIA network? You sound like O'Toole............attacking the Liberal's climate change strategy but offering no alternative and just hoping the issue goes away by itself. I agree with roger1818, there is no such thing as a...

I too do not want to get off topic and don't want the thread to turn into a technology battle. The only reason I brought it up is that this is a real canary-in-the-coalmine issue for VIA and will be a heavy expense on top of any improvements {ie HSR/HFR/Cal-Edm} that the corporation is going to...

Certainly in 50 years you maybe able to drive your car 200 km on a Duracell but we don't have 50 years. Despite the dizzying rate of battery development, the idea of a freight train with 100 cars behind it plying it's way thru the Rockies is probably a century away. This is the same with air...