[officedweller]

Originally Posted by nname

Actually... there is no switch at Braid station. The closest switch is near Trans-Canada Highway, and it is used to go in and out of the middle track (which is currently used as a storage, and this is also where they park some of the trains overnight). The next closest switch is at the south side of Sapperton station.

Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by mezzanine

Intersting post on VALTAC's blog - Falcon had a presentation to the Langley Chamber of Commerce and provided more details for south of Fraser:

-Surrey skytrain along 104th!!!
-SRY interurban under 'personal review' by Gordo and Falcon themselves - Falcon seems not excited about the SRY :-(, though, maybe we can tie it in with hydrogen powered trains from the BC hydro plant by 88th Ave....

That makes much more sense than even 100th Ave., as it would allow for an intermediate station between King George and Guildford.

Originally Posted by Nutterbug

Is anyone else disappointed that nothing was said about replacing the rail bridge at New Westminster?

True, but it's probably not viewed as a "transit" issue despite the commuter rail potential. Railways are also a Federal undertaking, so they'd probably need Federal funding in place before an announcement.

Originally Posted by Jared

So are they gonna loop it back up to 104th then? Of have it junction where it crosses 104th ave between gateway and surrey central?

BTW, whats everyones thoughts on this alginment vs. going south down King George? As officedweller mentioned, building a wye would be prudent.

Langley City to Waterfront is really beyond the scope of a system like SkyTrain, at that point you will start needing Commuter/Regional rail type service. I think it will come with time. I suppose we should remember not everyone going from Langley is headed to downtown, so an extension to Langley could be useful in getting people to other (closer) parts of the lower mainland, such as Surrey or New West.

If it is going down 104th Ave., then it makes sense to me to install a wye at 104th rather than looping back up from King George Station. That would leave the tail track at King George Station available to head south down King George Highway. That would be feasible (it was done for the M-Line) and the interruption (using longer trains running on single track while the other is reconstructed) would only affect Surrey Central and King George Stations.

In order to serve Surrey Central Station area, there would have to be a station on the 104th line at the wye (i.e. at King George HIghway) or, as Cornholio mentioned, have the wye south of Surrey Central Station (which would make for curvey detour on the line).

As for whether Skytrain is appropriate for Langley - if Surrey City Centre is to be the next downtown in the regional - as big as Vancouver - then it makes sense to view the Expo line as feeding Surrey City Centre, not just feeding Downtown Vancouver. I do agree it would be a long ride from Langley to downtown Vancouver.

Here's a good Global Air Pic of the area showing the hydro ROW and the SUrrey Central Station area and 104th Ave.



And here are my suggested allignments - I prefer the red line with a station at King George Highway. If Surrey orients its transit (bus) plaza between the two stations, it would work OK and transfers from Guildford to King George could transfer at Gateway Station. I suppose there could be an issue though with bus passengers having a choice of two nearby stations (esp. if one branch has more service than the other). The blue routing would focus a lot of passenger traffic on Surrey Central Station (possibly overloading it in the long term?), plus the red routing allows more stations in a more central location in Surrey's downtown than the blue line (which is further to the south closer to King George Station).
As for the overpass, Skytrain can make sharper turns than the Canada Line trains, so the structure wouldn't have to be as massive as at Bridgeport Station - think Columbia Station-Skybridge switches.