https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqqfSzQpoFc
How this new railway will reshape Auckland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpcMBDeZo7Y Of course Auckland can eventually have 9 car trains, because they aren't like backwards Vancouver is.
Showing posts sorted by date for query Canada Line. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Canada Line. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Friday, February 6, 2026
Monday, February 2, 2026
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Early nightly closures at Oakridge-41st Avenue SkyTrain station for construction extended by two months
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/oakridge-41st-avenue-skytrain-station-early-closure-2026
While some improvements are possible with the very short Canada+Line stations, there was a lack of vision to allow for enough level clearance to be able to double the length of the stations.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-oakridge-41st-avenue-station-upgrade-design-renderings
Indeed, the stations should have been at least 100m long, but only can be 50m. So instead of eventually having 5 car trains, only 2.5 car trains will be the maximum. WTH?
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
UBC students hold a fake party for 18-year unfulfilled promise of SkyTrain
https://www.ams.ubc.ca/news/ubc-students-celebrate-18-years-of-skytrain-delays
The UBC-Broadway+Corridor should have been built to the Tri-Cities_(British_Columbia) in 1 or 2 phases. Unfortunatly, the days of a line from Coquitlam to UBC are still so far away.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/the-14-billion-transit-plan-the-b-c-liberals-conveniently-forgot
The Millennium_Line was built in the middle first, when it should have started with UBC, Vancouver and Burnaby. Instead, it started from East Vancouver, through Burnaby, then to Port_Moody and ending at Lafarge_Lake-Douglas_station in Coquitlam. At least there+will+likely+be+a+UBC+Station+before+the+next+millennium.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=UBC-Broadway+Corridor
SkyTrain's Canada Line service disruption
(service disruption ends after 14 hours) https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-canada-line-service-disruptions-january-14-2026
For a rapid transit line that opened in 2009, on the surface, it sure wasn't designed to be an efficient high capacity line for the future. It's still just a 2 car joke of a train. Fortunately, most real cities around the world planned for not only 6 car trains, but even 8-10 car trains.
Unfortunatly, Vancouver has been hit very hard with a multigenerational agenda of continually imposed small scale infrastructure. Vancouver has water on 3 sides, as its on a peninsula. Since the powers that be couldn't build a Boundary+Road moat or trench, the next best thing was to symbolically show the reluctance to build proper big city size infrastructure. This stunted approach to things is about symbolically holding the scale of the city back for as long as possible.
Despite backwards Vancouver not being able to apply a castle-moat-and-drawbridge control system, the next best thing was to symbolically keep things smaller than what normal or proper big cities allow.
Here are some of the best examples of holding the size of things back. The 3 lane joke that is the Lions+Gate+Bridge has never had a rapid transit rail tunnel and no express bus tunnel next to it. Especially, no 6 lane highway tunnel. It's a classic BC bottleneck-chokepoint, by design.
From a 3 lane joke of a bridge to a two car Canada+Line joke of a train. It met the symbolic requirement to be shorter than the LRT in Edmonton, the C Train in Calgary and the trains in Seattle and Portland.
The+Post+building+complex could have been Vancouver's first 50 story office tower, it's not even 25 floors. It would be impressive if it were in Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops or Prince George. That's the unfortunate thing about Vancouver, so much is done to only be impressive to small cities or towns.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+small+Westin+Bayshore+Hotel+in+Vancouver
Things have been kept so small in Vancouver throughout its history, that any big city stuff might seem overwhelming. There has been an unofficial KEEP THEM OUT mentality, but since the city cant have checkpoints, building things small symbolically demonstrates the perpetual reluctance to not allow a big city in backwater BC.
Since Vancouver can't control Burnaby and can't stop Surrey from eventually becoming the biggest city in BC, they are able to build things on a larger scale than Vancouver.
Mild Victoria, BC
Victoria has been a provincial backwater for most of its history. Despite being in a mild winter setting, it's so small when compared to Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax.
https://www.onevictoriaplace.ca
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=37&status=15
While Edmonton was eventually allowed to have a tall building, even by Toronto, Calgary and Montreal standards, Victoria was always supposed to have shorter buildings than Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax. That's part of the KEEP THINGS SMALL mentality on V. Island.
Victoria should have had its first LRT line by now, but that might improve urban mobility. Eventually, Victoria and Nanaimo will merge into one linear urban area. Eventually, the Comox_Valley_Regional_District will have over 100,000 people, the Regional_District_of_Nanaimo will have over 200,000 people, the Cowichan_Valley_Regional_District will exceed 100,000 people and the Capital_Regional_District will have over 450,000 people.
Of course there doesn't seem to be any big regional scale planning from Sooke to Courtenay. Perhaps the island's urban planners will wait until there is 800,000 and over a million residents on the island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Island#Demographics
So, as more people discover that Victoria and Vancouver are the mildest winter cities in Canada, more people just might want to move there. Especially, when Canadian Snowbirds don't feel as comfortable with Florida, Texas & California.
Friday, January 9, 2026
Original cars on SkyTrain's Canada Line set to be refurbished
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-canada-line-original-trains-refurbishment
Perhaps allowing for enough future station clearance to accommodate 10 car trains would require too much forward thinking in backwards BC. However, this line should have been started with at least 5 car trains. Unfortunatly, the very short stations were only designed to accommodate 2.5 car trains. As of 2026, only 2 car joke trains are still being run.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)#Canada_Line It's one thing to say that having very short stations can save on construction costs, but to not allow for significant future expansion defeats the purpose. Someone clearly didn't want the Canada_Line to eventually have proper, long big city trains.
There still is hope that this Half-A$$ED, small-scale line can become a little closer to that of a proper big city train, someday.
Feb 12, 2020 https://www.richmond-news.com/local-news/canada-line-continues-to-break-records-translink-3116818 "On an average weekday last year, the Canada Line had an average of 150,000 boardings, continuing to “outperform projections,” according to TransLink."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Line "During the 17 days of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the line carried an average of 228,190 passengers per day."
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=YVR-Canada+Line
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
Metro Vancouver's SkyTrain transit system turns 40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeSQtHusn1A
The history of SkyTrain 1985-2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEt76BgRP5E
Expo Line Extension (Surrey - Langley) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CavX1TWYUsE
Surrey Langley Skytrain Construction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRARdwNIbls
17 years and waiting for UBC SkyTrain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIEhFrTuqkc
YVR-Skytrain: Canada Line https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwFeKtbyxU
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Friday, December 12, 2025
History of the Port Mann Bridge in BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4aYxObfjJ8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge#Original_bridge The original PMB had only 2 lanes each way with no emergency lanes or wide shoulders. It was designed to be a classic BC bottleneck-chokepoint right from the start. Eventually, a 5th lane was squeezed in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge#Opposition_to_twinning_plan While bridge duplication isn't that big of a problem in Australia or the US, it is in the BC part of Canada. Australia is allowed to have 3 proper big cities on the Pacific. Thus, the urban scale of infrastructure in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are much larger than what's allowed in the Greater Vancouver Region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Mann_Bridge#New_bridge Given that this is supposed to be part of the main East-West highway in Canada, a significantly wider bridge was eventually approved. While it was designed with a provision for a potential future rail line, there should have also been a provision for a lower deck.
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
No help for Broadway corridor businesses suffering from subway construction
If the Covid control shutdown wasn't bad enough, this is like a push over the edge.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/broadway-subway-won-t-be-cut-and-cover-mayor-pledges-1.2850400 For all the trouble and B$ of constructiong the YVR-Canada Line, the stations should have been long enough to accommodate at least 5 car trains. Unfortunatly, the BC Mind Virus made sure that the stations were only designed to eventually accommodate 2.5 car trains.
https://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Transportation/2009/05/27/CambieWins/
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Airport Rail Links
The Transit Every Airport Needs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YeVZVluQWI&t=247s
https://www.upexpress.com/en/about-up/things-are-looking-up Its only a two and three car train, when it should be between 4-6 cars, depending upon the time of day. https://www.torontopearson.com/en/transportation-and-parking/up-express
At least it's not a perpetual 2 car train joke that is the YVR-Canada Line. The eventual airport REM line should consist of 4 car trains, but the entire REM should eventually have 6 car trains.
Somehow, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane & Perth all are able to have longer trains to the airport. The 10 car SFO-BART trains are pretty cool.
Saturday, November 22, 2025
Some Canada Mega-projects Under Construction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwsOVZ-j7hg
Oakridge_Park is on a much smaller scale than Metrotown, Brentwood and Lougheed. It will especially be on a much smaller scale than Parramatta in NSW.
Unfortunatly, the Oakridge-41st_Avenue_station was only designed to have 50m platforms, when it should have been at least 100m. Thus, the utter foolishness has meant that instead of allowing for a future level station clearance to accomodate 5 car trains, the Canada (embassament) Line was only designed to just have 2.5 car trains. While its extremely short stations might have been disguised as a cost saving measurer, there didn't seem to be any key people onboard to make sure that it could eventually become a proper big city train line. Its sad that a line which opened in 2009 is still only running 2 car trains. While the 2.5 car configuration is still a joke of a train, at least half of an extra coach-length is better than nothing. Plus, there should have been extra cars ordered by now so at least during the very busy times the trains could be operating at 1 minute headways. Unfortunatly, this goes against the Vancouver & BC congestion planning mentality.
Despite being built several years after the Sydney_Harbour_Bridge, the joke that is the Pattullo_Bridge was designed to only have 4 narrow lanes & only 1 sidewalk. Of course the replacement_bridge will only open with 2 lanes each way. It was as if someone really wanted to make sure that there won't be 2 bus lanes and no HOV lanes when the bridge opens. While the new bridge is designed to be expanded from a 4 lane joke to eventually having 6 lanes, it still won't be wide enough to accomodate 2 HOV lanes as well as 2 bus lanes. Of course the new bridge won't have any emergency lanes, just like the old bridge. However, it will have 2 bike lanes and 2 sidewalks. https://www.globalhighways.com/news/pattullo-bridge-completion-end-year Its only fitting that in backwards BC this new bridge wouldn't be designed to eventually have a lower deck to accomodate 2 bus lanes and 2 LRT tracks.
If the planners were afraid to symbolically have a wide bridge between NW and Surrey, the old Pattullo_Bridge should have been designed to eventually have a lower deck for trams, trucks and busses. Even when the SkyBridge between NW and Surrey opened in 1990, it wasn't designed to have any bus lanes or emergency vehicle lanes and especially, no bike and footpaths.
Is Vancouver the best city in North America? (2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8dmVUrNt38
One of the biggest mistakes in Vancouver & SW BC is to have short trains combined with mostly narrow bridges. Thus, the region doesn't get to have long, high capacity trains and there isn't a proper regional network of bus-bridges. The refusal to twin most of the bridges means that it's almost impossible to have a proper and efficient regional network of rapid-bus and HOV lanes.
While Montreal built the REM to augment their long-train Metro system, Vancouver should have allowed for enough clearance to eventually have 500 foot long trains. 80m-50m Skytrain stations are going to become inadequate, when there should have been a 152.4m provision so that the trains could eventually become as long as the ones on the Montreal Metro.
Is Regional Rail in the Future of British Columbia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PeIOVy6fFc
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
A Richmond encampment under the Oak Street bridge
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/11/19/growing-calls-to-clear-richmond-encampment
Of course any neighborhood will be concerned when a bunch of people are living under a bridge and wandering around.
Living under a bridge is hardly affordable housing. There needs to be proper secure housing with plenty of security and staff to help people who are stuck living outside.
That bridge is so narrow and inadequate.
SW-Vancouver needs a proper transportation upgrade. Granville Street should be extended across the Fraser River on a parallel bridge to the Oak Street Bridge (OSB). Then, the 2 bridges could provide 4 general lanes each way. Plus, another 4-lane parallel bridge to accommodate 2 BRT lanes and 2 HOV lanes.
Or, a totally built a new version of the Oak+St+Bridge that could provide 6 lanes northbound. Then, a Granville Street extension could provide 6 southbound lanes onto a new OSB. Four general lanes each way, plus a rapid bus lane each way & 1 HOV lane each way.
For the most part, the Oak+Street-Granville+Street+Corridor has 12 lanes. A yellow paint strip designates 3 lanes each way. Instead, Oak could have 6 northbound lanes and Granville could have 6 southbound lanes. The 5th & 6th lanes could be for the Oak & Granville BRT lane & HOV lane on complete one way streets.
Unfortunately, the OSB remains as a 4 lane traffic bottleneck or chokepoint.
The 2009 Canada (embarrassment) Line is still only using 2 car trains in 2025. A proper big city YVR-Canada Line should have been started with 5 car trains. Unfortunately, this joke of a train is only designed to ultimately run a 2.5 car train, someday.
This stunted infrastructure approach is so absurd. Transportation planning in the most populated parts of BC is so inadequate, but its all part of backwards BC symbolism. The symbolism is all about showing a thwarted or watered down a city can be. Narrow bridges and short trains are some of the best ways to increase congestion and inefficiency in backwater BC.
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
The Tsawwassen, Delta Dilemma
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/tsawwassen-town-centre-redevelopment-delta-housing-supply-rejection
Unfortunatly, there are some serious examples of poor transportation planning in backwards BC. There never seemed to be a multistage plan to gradually have at least 5 car trains running between YVR and the BC Ferry terminal. Indeed, the YVR-Canada Line has stations that are only designed to eventually accomodate a 2.5 car train, not 5 cars. Plus, no train tunnel or bridge into Delta.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberts_Bank_Superport
https://www.portvancouver.com/project/deltaport-truck-staging-facility
Despite being on the same ocean, but half a world away, the Port_of_Brisbane has much better highway and freight railway infrastructure in place.
While the YVR Line or the Canada (Embarrassment) Line only runs trains that are a 2 car joke, Brisbane actually has a proper big city Airport_railway_line with longer trains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_railway_line,_Brisbane#Criticism While long trains are better for capacity, a frequent number of trains per hour is also important.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_Airport_railway_station,_Brisbane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane_Airport#Rail
Fortunately, Queensland was never stunted by anything like a BC Mind Virus (BCMV).
Monday, November 17, 2025
Broadway Subway Construction as of November 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uot7oIA9-ZE The station platforms will be 80m, which can only accomodate a 5 car train.
Unfortunatly, even if this segment had 500' or 152.4m long stations like the Montreal Metro, the rest of the first 2 lines only have 80m stations. Thus, 80m is only about 52% of the length of a Montreal Metro station, which can accomodate 9 car trains. It's taken until 2025 for the SkyTrain to gradually start running 5 car trains. In theory, if two Vancouver 80m trains run at twice the frequency as one 152m Montreal Metro train, a similar capacity could be attained.
However, in the long run, it would have been much more cost effective to have the first 2 SkyTrain lines stations already roughed out to 152m, or a least have enough level clearance to eventually become twice the length. But that's what a proper big city would do, something that Vancouver is against.
Even as an initial cost saving measure, the YVR-Canada Line should have opened with 100m stations, instead of the inadequate 50m joke. Then it could immediately accomodate 5 car trains. The station platforms should have had enough level clearance to eventually accommodate a 160m long train consisting of 8 cars reaching both ferry terminals. Of course there seems to be no plan to connect YVR to both ferry terminals.
Its very difficult for BC cities to allow proper big city size infrastructure, because that would symbolize a pro growth initiative. Since the world is mostly composed of non-white people, a slow growth agenda became a clever way to symbolically demonstrate a refusal to build big. BC is multicultural, but Canada has less than 1% of the worlds population. Even in the 2020s, BC still retains some of its colonial outpost mentality. Just keep things small and backwards and try to remain a backwater for as long as possible.
Monday, November 10, 2025
Over half of all Metro Vancouver homes projected to be condos by 2051
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-housing-growth-forecast-condos
For several decades, trains, bridges and buildings had to be half the size of what real cities allow. Vancouver and especially the Greater Vancouver Region couldn't build a huge wall, so the next best thing was to heavily impose a symbolic resistance to build big. Thus, by watering the scale of almost everything down by imposing a series of overlapping restrictions, Vancouver & BC remained stunted.
Then, things started to slowly change going into the 21st century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Wall_Centre Opened in 2001.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Tower 2004
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Georgia_(Vancouver) 2012
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Vancouver
While restrictive Vancouver started to allow some taller buildings, its still behind what many other cities permit. Especially that of what's in Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinnacle_One_Yonge Toronto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainier_Square_Tower Seattle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stantec_Tower Edmonton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus_Sky Calgary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_sur_le_Parc Montreal
Since Burnaby, Coquitlam & Surrey aren't under Vancouvers imposed restrictions, they can build taller. Eventually, Vancouver will have to allow taller residential buildings, but its as if there is a strong mind virus determined to hold the scale of everything back.
Lions+Gate+Bridge Still, a 3 lane crossing with no plans for a bus, train & truck tunnel. Australia has no problem building tunnels near bridges.
YVR-Canada-Line Still, a 2 car train of a joke, when several cities will have 6, 8 or 10 car trains.
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Expect noise, vibration during upcoming Massey Tunnel replacement
https://www.delta-optimist.com/local-news/expect-noise-vibration-during-upcoming-massey-tunnel-replacement-11436394 This B$ should have been done a few decades ago.
A 10 lane bridge with 2 bus lanes, 2 HOV lanes & 2 wide shoulder-emergency lanes, plus at least 3 general lanes each way, could have been a nice wide crossing. Some 12 lanes, including the 2 emergency lanes. Plus, a provision for at least 2 LRT tracks.
Instead, it's a 3 lane each way tunnel with the 4th being a bus lane. No HOV lanes and no emergency lanes & especially, no train tube section.
So, just like the YVR-Canada (embarrassment) Line, this new 8 lane tunnel will eventually require some major upgrades.
Eventually, a YVR-Canada Line bridge or tunnel will have to be built so that someday, trains can go between the airport and the ferry terminal. Such a train crossing should be parallel to the new highway tunnel. A new train tunnel or bridge should have at least 3 tracks, 2 rapid bus lanes and 2 bike lanes and sidewalks. Then the bus lanes in the highway tunnel could become HOV lanes.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Massey+Tunnel+replacement
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Richmond+and+Delta
Monday, November 3, 2025
Why the SkyTrain and DLR are So Unique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrMISsHZ85s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docklands_Light_Railway , https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/dlr
The DLR could have been built better right from the start so that more capacity and efficiency were in place since its first day. It was never meant to rival any section of a tube line in capacity per KM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docklands_Light_Railway_rolling_stock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)
While the first 2 Skytrain lines only have 80 m stations which are slightly more than half the length of a Montreal Metro train station, there should have been enough level station clearance to eventually double the length of each station. The 3rd line to YVR only has a level station clearance of 50 m, vs. the 152.4 m Montreal Metro stations. The YVR-Canada-Line should have had enough level station clearance to eventually become 160 m in length.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)#Rolling_stock
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