Calgary a booming Alberta city has a rapid transit LRT system. It only serves the city of 950,000 but carries 220,000 passengers a day. Considered the most succesful LRT rapid transit system in N.A.
It is 42 km long and will be doubled in length whin 20 years. The trains run every 5 minutes and the whole system is spotless.
Thanks to Alberta's gushing oil wealth Calgary is a VERY wealthy city and due to it having the percapita highest concentration of office towers downtown in N.A. it is well suited for transit.

A GREAT website to show you all the photos and details of the CTrain is
www.members.shaw.ca/lrtincalgary/

For general transit info and links and photos of the city's amazing skyline just go to the www.calgarytransit.com site

ENJOY!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Also, note how I said the system is spotless , well so is the city.
Of all cities in the worlds with metropolitan populations over one million {metro Calgary 1.1 million} it has been consistently voted the world's cleanest city. You really can eat off the sidewalks, the place is immaculate and has a low crime rate, high educational levels, the second highest number of head offices in the country, only 70km from the beautiful rockies, all in a city with the highest per-capita income in the nation

I like their lightrail.

System Map:
http://www.calgarytransit.com/Routes/ct_train_map.gif


System Description:

Downtown
2.0 km in-street section, opened May 25, 1981
Trains share transit mall with buses and emergency vehicles

South LRT
14.3 km, opened May 25, 1981
Trains run on fenced right-of-way (R.O.W.) parallel to freight rail line from 41st Avenue to Somerset/Bridlewood Station S.W.
3.4 km extension to Fish Creek/Lacombe, opened October 26, 2001
3.0 km extension to Somerset/Bridlewood, opened June 28, 2004

Northeast LRT
9.8 km, April 29, 1985
Trains run in median of roadway, with a concrete barrier separation

Northwest LRT
5.6 km, opened September 7, 1987
1.0 km extension to Brentwood, opened August 31, 1990
3.0 km extension to Dalhousie, opened December 15, 2003
Trains run in median of roadway and on exclusive right-of-way (R.O.W.) through residential areas

Total Length
42.1 km, 5% grade separated, 8% underground
Proof of purchase fare system, free-fare zone on 7th Avenue
25 major stations, 11 side loading platforms downtown


Vehicles:
Siemens-Duewag U2
http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/U2.gif
Siemens-Duewag SD 160
http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/SD_160_A.jpg


Offical Website:
http://www.calgarytransit.com/Routes/lrt_stop.html
http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/technical_information.html


Pro-Calgary LRT Websites:
http://members.shaw.ca/LRTinCalgary/Index.html
http://www.lightrail.com/photos/calgary/calgary.htm
http://world.nycsubway.org/canada/calgary/
http://www.subways.net/canada/calgary.htm


Anti-Calgary LRT Website:
http://www.scartissue.org/pastpro/lrt.html

Great system, backed up by good and forward thinking urban planning.

Yup! Calgary is quite impressive. It would be nice if more cities embrace the emphasis on extensive rail based systems that is spread out to the entire city.

Amen. Too bad Edmonton to the north didn't take the same route. Yes, Edmonton now has a LRT underground but was built in the wrong place and they spent so much damn money on the tunnels that the system was drained.
Thus far Edmonton's LRT has cost one billion dollars and has daily ridership of 47,000 and Calgary's Ctrain has cost 640million but has ridership of 220,000/day. This despite the fact that both metro areas are about the same size.

Very nice system. Clean efficient and built with the future in mind.

How often is the C line used (the spare one)

^^^^^^^^
What C line, and what spare one???? Please rephrase.

^^^^^^^^
What C line, and what spare one???? Please rephrase.

While I was reading up on it, they said something about a spare line that was built for the olympics and is used during maintanance of the other lines etc.

The two main are 'A' and 'B' (North, South) and then this 'C' one which is what I was wondering about. Does it get much use?

If its the c line you are referring to I think you just mean the NW line. Yes, heavy use but the busiest is the south line.
The line that was built for the Oympics was just the north/west line but at the time it only went to Universuty.

If its the c line you are referring to I think you just mean the NW line. Yes, heavy use but the busiest is the south line.
The line that was built for the Oympics was just the north/west line but at the time it only went to Universuty.

No sorry, thats not it.
Don't worry about it, though :)

The CTrain has found itself FAR superior to Vancouver's hi-tech SkyTrain.
Vancouver's SkyTrain carries 260,000 pass/day but has cost CDN$2.4billion while Calgary's CTrain has cost only CDN$ 640million and carries 220,000 a day.
This in a transit area served that is less than half of Vancouver's.

BTW
Vancouver is now embarking on a CDN$1.7billion dollar extention to the suburbs and airport to get extra ridership of just 80-90,000 a day.
Calagary is set to DOUBLE its length to 85km within 17 years at a total cost of CDN$1.1 billion.
That will see 6 legs of CTrain covering ALL areas of the city.
When completed86% of the population will be within 1km of rapid transit CTrain.
Also, unlike Vancouver's SkyTrain is it useful for the inner city urban dwellers as well while Vancouver's is not. It mostly is there to serve people in the suburbs themselves.
A truly fantastic system and is a model in North America with clean stations and cars, frequent service {about every 6minutes} with free downtown travel and one of the cheapest system to use.......only $65/month.
Nothing like good urbane planning. It has already stated butying up the ROW on the extentions and when develpment over the years in this fast growing metropolis had corridors built in for CTrain expansion so their would be limited land aquisition required and no NIMBY's as the people moving there knew about potential Ctrain expansion.
This backed up with REAL hardcore money from the oil rich province of Alberta means Calgary will, within 20 years, have one of the premier transit systems in NA all in a city of 1.4 million in 20 years and 970,000 today.

Now that is called urbane planning!!

Vancouver is a city that doesn't have any real highways and rapid transit has to pick up the slack of having incompetent highways. Nobody is going to take transit on something that takes as much time as driving, for example the Coquitlam Line which will be LRT. SkyTrain would take 13 minutes, LRT would take 23 minutes. and how long would LRT take for RAV? 40-45 minutes as suppose to 25 minutes with SkyTrain. Don't forget about that the Vancouver region is smaller and denser than that of Calgary. Also note that SkyTrain is originally planned for the RAV and Coquitlam lines in the GVRD LRS Plan.

Vancouver is a city that thinks ahead 100 years, not 20 years.

and of course, there's always this:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/lrtincalgary/LRTAccident03-27-2002.jpg




If we're to have LRT for RAV, we might as well keep the 98 B-Line instead.

The fact that Vancouver hasn't got any decent roads should help transit ridership but it doesn't. Vancouverites can say all they like but they love their cars. Greater Vancouver has more cars percap than the city of L.A.
Vancouver was the last major city to get rapid transit and now its paying for it.
Ridership is Vancouver is less than half the rates of both Toronto and Montreal and a third less than Ottawa and Calgary.
1.74billion for ridership of just 80,000?........offensive and the interest will bankrupt Translink for years to come.
Vancouver has planned very poorly over the years and now, although trying to catch up, never will. In terms of urban transport Vancouver is a nightmare and the worst of the nation's largest cities.
When you think of the incredible ridership Calgary has on a CTrain that cost less than a third of SkyTrain serving an population base less than hal;f the size you realize that vancouver has done incredibly poorly for the money they have spent.

System Map:
http://www.calgarytransit.com/Routes/ct_train_map.gif


System Description:

Downtown
2.0 km in-street section, opened May 25, 1981
Trains share transit mall with buses and emergency vehicles

South LRT
14.3 km, opened May 25, 1981
Trains run on fenced right-of-way (R.O.W.) parallel to freight rail line from 41st Avenue to Somerset/Bridlewood Station S.W.
3.4 km extension to Fish Creek/Lacombe, opened October 26, 2001
3.0 km extension to Somerset/Bridlewood, opened June 28, 2004

Northeast LRT
9.8 km, April 29, 1985
Trains run in median of roadway, with a concrete barrier separation

Northwest LRT
5.6 km, opened September 7, 1987
1.0 km extension to Brentwood, opened August 31, 1990
3.0 km extension to Dalhousie, opened December 15, 2003
Trains run in median of roadway and on exclusive right-of-way (R.O.W.) through residential areas

Total Length
42.1 km, 5% grade separated, 8% underground
Proof of purchase fare system, free-fare zone on 7th Avenue
25 major stations, 11 side loading platforms downtown


Vehicles:
Siemens-Duewag U2
http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/U2.gif
Siemens-Duewag SD 160
http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/SD_160_A.jpg


Offical Website:
http://www.calgarytransit.com/Routes/lrt_stop.html
http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/technical_information.html


Pro-Calgary LRT Websites:
http://members.shaw.ca/LRTinCalgary/Index.html
http://www.lightrail.com/photos/calgary/calgary.htm
http://world.nycsubway.org/canada/calgary/
http://www.subways.net/canada/calgary.htm


Anti-Calgary LRT Website:
http://www.scartissue.org/pastpro/lrt.html

a question.

by the look of that map, If I went to calgary..I could get on the C-train for free on 7th av???? or is that just for free transfers?

a question.

by the look of that map, If I went to calgary..I could get on the C-train for free on 7th av???? or is that just for free transfers?

You can travel anywhere on 7th Ave for free. As long as you do not leave the 7th Ave area, like going to Heritage you then have to pay fare. The transfers are always free.

I treally help the CTrain become pertinent tocity dwellers which the SkyTrain is not. It has downtown stations but most of its passengers are going to the outersuburbs. Its not to effectual for people living in Vancouver. This is due to not being built along a major roadway but rather as point to point travel which always gets lower ridership.

The frequency of collisions for on-street light rail systems has been sensationalized to the point that it is often the chief issue over which advocates and opponents argue. Other fundamental issues are often ignored:

1. Speed: Light rail systems operating on the street are limited to the same speed limits as motor vehicle traffic. Since light rail trains must stop at stations, they are actually at a speed disadvantage compared to motor vehicle traffic.

2. Automation: Automation is becoming the norm for grade-separated transit systems. The advantages of more efficient train operation through automation are so compelling that automation is being employed even where there is no possibility of eliminating onboard train crew. For instance, the downtown tunnel section of Muni's light rail system in San Francisco is now automated even though drivers remain onboard to take command of the trains for the above ground portions of the routes. A similar system is being implemented in the light rail tunnel in downtown Philadelphia.

3. Disruption of Street Traffic: Light rail systems often are designed to take priority over other street traffic through the use of traffic signal pre-emption. For a two-way light rail line with a headway of six minutes between trains, a train passes through any given intersection every three minutes. The cycle time for a traffic signal at a major intersection is typically about one minute. Every third traffic signal cycle is disrupted by the passage of a train.

An interesting side note is that the conflict between streetcars and other ground traffic predates the arrival of the automobile. Many large cities in the United States started moving streetcars to elevated viaducts back during horse and buggy days. Horses and carriages still out-numbered automobiles on city streets when the first subway tunnels were built in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

I noticed mr X copied and pasted his exact same post in the Vancouver transit thread (or maybe the other way around) so I might as well do the same ;)


and of course, there's always this:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/lrtincalgary/LRTAccident03-27-2002.jpg




If we're to have LRT for RAV, we might as well keep the 98 B-Line instead.

By your logic, we should not allow buses and cars in roads as well...:|

http://www.car-accidents.com/pics/1-Car%20Pics-9-2004/12-1-04.jpg

http://www.shafferlawfirm.com/images/accident.jpg

And why do these cities shown in this thread uses trams if they are so dangerous?

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=4072063#post4072063

The RAV line is a huge waste of money. I support the idea idea of the RAV but not at 1.74 billion. Why not LRT for half that price and they could still do the Coquitlam line with the money saved and start on the SkyTrain west ext to Granville where ridership will be much higher and commercial and urban density is higher as well.
Why???........ because its so nice for the politicans to be able to cut a ribbon on a SkyTrain/subway line.
!.74 billion for 80,000 pass a day is highway robbery.

I agree with ssiguy2 and it is highway robbery indeed. Note that the only reason why RAV is expensive is because creme de la creme doesn't want to see a cheaper elevated system (aka Sky-train...a train high up in the sky) at their side of Main Street.

The CTrain runs entirely on its own track, whether it be down highway medians, thru tunnels, existing raillines of newly created ROW. The only place it comes incontact with any vehicular traffic is downtown and it uses its own transit only Ave.
It is totally on its own rail only route.

How high are the tracks in Vancouver and in Calgary? Does anyone have pictures?

Tracks are roughly street level wherever you go in Calgary...

Downtown; 7th Ave
http://members.shaw.ca/lrt1/LRV2048.jpg

Somerset/Bridlewood; Adjacent to my school
http://members.shaw.ca/lrt1/LRV2218.jpg

Vancouver's SkyTrain is completly elevated atleast 2 storeys above street-level except in Downtown Vancouver and Newest where ther are tunnels.
This is part of the reason it is expensive.
The new RAV line will be one third underground and the tunnelling negates the entire benefite of SkyTrain.................no tunnelling or land aqusition costs.
1.75 billion for 80,000 pass/day.........obscene.

One thing I love about the CTrain is that they don't have all that ugly advertising on the outside of the trains. They make it look so messy.

^^^
I definitely agree with ssiguy2 of all the different types of trains I have been on in N.A and Europe I think Calgary has one of the best trains, seldom there is any graffiti and trains are always clean. Especially since I ride the ctrain twice a day to get to school.

Some SkyTrain cars in Vancouver are just plasstered on them including the windows. They look messy and less bright inside the car. You feel you are on an advertising board......very unpleasant.
The CTrains lack of advertising look clean and crisp....like Calgary itself.

The feds and Alberta have just signed a $477,000,000 infastructure deal and some will be going towards Edmonton and Calgary LRT.
Looks like Calgary will be again pushing up completion dates on their new lines.
It already has a good transit system but when all the CTrain lines are done within 20 years Calgary will have a RapidTransit system to die for.

http://www.imgcity.net/server/primary/skytrain2.jpg

http://www.imgcity.net/server/primary/skytrain.gif

Vancouver's SkyTrain is completly elevated except in downtown Vancouver and a small part of NewWestminster where the lines are subways.
The subways are only about 3km of the entire 49km lines.

For Christ sake, will you lay off the Skytrain.

CTrain is a light rail...Skytrain is an elevated light rail.

^^^^^^I know.
But SkyTrain has the same ridership but has cost quadruple the price. Calgary got a hell of a lot more bang for the buck and goes to different sections of the city. The SkyTrain only serves a easter section of Vancouver. It doesn't do a lot for city dwellers unlike CTrain.
Also, getting the same ridership for a city less than half the size of Vancouver further acsentuates how excellent a system CTrain is.

http://www.imgcity.net/server/primary/skytrain2.jpg

http://www.imgcity.net/server/primary/skytrain.gif

looks way cool, love it.... :) :) :)

For Christ sake, will you lay off the Skytrain.

CTrain is a light rail...Skytrain is an elevated light rail.

someone wanted to know how high the skytrain is.

I think its about 2 stories up but depends on the area.

Great news!
Due to Calgary having gobs of money recently given to them by the oil rich Alberta government CTrain expansion plans have been moved up.
The N/W and N/E expansions were to be completed by 2010 but now the N/E will be done by 2007 and N/W by spring 2008.
Calgary Ctrain expansion plans for other extentions and new lines could completed as much as 10years ahead of schedule.

Had the link members.shaw.ca/lrtincalgary ........but...........

this new link is much more up to date and shows these new lines.
www.members.shaw.ca/calgary_transit