21 October 2006
Evergreen Line Too Expensive?
Maple Ridge British Columbia - One billion dollars for the Evergreen Line? This is our money that they are proposing to spend. Let's take a step back and think this through.
We already have a proven, safe and reliable rapid transit system in place. It has been operating flawlessly for the past 20 years. All that is needed is extending the guideway about 11 kilometers from Lougheed Station to Coquitlam Central. There are managers, employees, infrastructure, shops and trains already in place. Coquitlam built Guildford Way years ago, to accommodate the quideway down the centre of that road. We would have a seamless rapid transit system from Coquitlam to Vancouver, without having commuters disembark one train and hop on another because it is a different system. As everybody knows, this proven technology is called SkyTrain.
The new Canada Line was pushed through, ignoring a system that has been working. Now we will have a totally separate, unproven system, that is not compatible with SkyTrain.
The Evergreen Line would be a third different technology, with its own unique operating system and its own unique infrastructure.
And most important of all, how many lives will it cost? When you run trains at level crossings, flowing with traffic, and only controlled by priority lights there are bound to be train/vehicle collisions. Let's think about this one.
Peter Castiglia - Maple Ridge
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