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Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s

Metrolinx has not given the city a date for when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will open
I suspect right now it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. The opening date is a political football, and Metrolinx, the provincial government and the city have themselves to blame.I don’t care if it’s back room, but those three parties should figure out a realistic delivery date, avoid finger pointing and just help businesses along the line, as well as consider phasing. Then they can analyze what to do better for future projects.

One can dream.
 
I suspect right now it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation. The opening date is a political football, and Metrolinx, the provincial government and the city have themselves to blame.I don’t care if it’s back room, but those three parties should figure out a realistic delivery date, avoid finger pointing and just help businesses along the line, as well as consider phasing. Then they can analyze what to do better for future projects.





One can dream.

The blame for these delays rests solely with Crosslinx and Metrolinx. The City is more or less a passive observer in all this.

Metrolinx would have us believe that this is Crosslinx’s fault, but given MX prior mismanagement of this and other projects, I’m not primed to absolve them of responsibility for this.

I suspect we’re not hearing an opening date from MX simply because they do not know when this thing will open. Last I heard, they were in a dispute with Croslinx on whether or not ECLRT can open in phases, to allow for earlier opening. Heck, even if Crosslinx has given them a date, MX just might not trust it, and might not want to deal with the political fallout when they fail to meet yet another deadline on this over-budget project.

Yonge Station is the limiting factor of when this will be 100% complete. Given the severity of the problems with the station, a realistic completion date is 2022 to 2023 at this point.
 
If Eglinton Station is the holdup, they could use the tracks over from Mt. Dennis Station to Cedarvale Stations, and from Kennedy Station to Laird Station. Shuttle buses would have to be used between Laird Station and Cedarvale Station, with a stopover at Eglinton Station as it is used these days.

alignment_map_w_storage_track.jpg

From link.

Continuing the westerly section over to the Avenue Station depends upon how they can handle shuttle buses around the Avenue Station.

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From link.
 
Director of TO's transit expansion office Derrick Toigo tells Cllr Colle that Metrolinx has not given the city a date for when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will open. Was supposed to be complete by Sept 2021.


Good thing the city isn't in charge. We all know this project would be way behind schedule.

Fortunately with Metrolinx delays are a thing of the past!
 
This may be off topic. But I've just see a beautiful theme future park rendering of Queens Park and University Ave. Being all dolled up With walk ways and gardens etc on citynews tonight. I was wondering if there is a page or blog all ready made up for this venture that's going to happen. If not I hope if someone could create one to show the info that was on citynews thanks !
 
I think this is the best solution for both above-ground sections of the LRT. They should be below-grade similar to the Mississauga Transitway. As I said before, if the entire Eglinton LRT is grade-separated, then it can be considered more like a subway line... Unfortunately, however, Steve Munro is pushing for on-street solution...
I think all LRT lines on wide road areas should be treated like subway lines by not interfering with traffic at all. This could be accomplished by just tunnelling or maneuvering about every major intersection with the rails. Simultaneously creating LRT stops and connections below or above those intersections. This was only created on the Science Center's Eglinton stop not the rest of them. Which I think will clog up traffic by giving the LRT the right away. They keep forgetting that this not a mid size city like Kitchener, London. But a city that's is or becoming a booming metropolis with all the future density being created on these avenues.
 
How many acedents do you expect to happen compared to what cuerntly happen at intersections? Another question is how may acednets happen where cars cross spadia or St. Clair on daily basies?
Consult my old post:
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From The Record: 35 collisions with trains since Ion began running in Waterloo Region
There have been collisions every month since the service started in June 2019, but the worst month for crashed was September 2019, with eight collisions. For the past six months, the rate has been just one crash a month.

The collisions usually happen when cars are travelling in the same direction as the Ion tracks, and a car turns right or left into the train’s path. Because the trains are generally moving pretty slow in those situations, collisions haven’t caused serious damage — the train is usually back in service within a couple of days, and repairs such as panel replacements typically cost less than $10,000.

In most cases, the crashes led to charges being laid against the driver of the car that struck the train.

Collisions are the single biggest cause of delays for LRT trains, said Peter Zinck, director of transit services at the Region of Waterloo.

Some changes have led to a reduction in crashes, Zinck said. Crashes and near-misses have gone down at Ottawa Street and Mill Street, now that traffic lights stop vehicles in all directions whenever the train is going through the intersection. The Region also banned right turns from King Street West onto Victoria Street, where cars and trucks cross over the LRT tracks.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Crosstown gets at least 1 car crash delay per month based on how it is going in Kitchener. TTC Streetcars have had 549 crashes in 2017, or 45 per month on average.

Kitchener uses crossing arms, alarms, and turning all lights to red in some sections. Toronto is not implementing any of that.
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Also from The Star:

Buses, which make up the vast majority of the TTC’s fleet of surface vehicles, accounted for 3,187 collisions last year, while streetcars were involved in 549, and Wheel-Trans vehicles in 265.



The TTC determined 1,135 of the 4,001 collisions, or more than one quarter, were “preventable,” a term the agency uses when it believes the transit employee operating the vehicle was at fault. That was 109 more preventable collisions than the year before.

The bottom line is there will be crashes, and there will be riders stuck in the cold/heat waiting for shuttles, and it will happen at least once a month and probably more.
 
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Consult my old post:
**************
From The Record: 35 collisions with trains since Ion began running in Waterloo Region








I wouldn't be surprised if the Crosstown gets at least 1 car crash delay per month based on how it is going in Kitchener. TTC Streetcars have had 549 crashes in 2017, or 45 per month on average.

Kitchener uses crossing arms, alarms, and turning all lights to red in some sections. Toronto is not implementing any of that.
****************

Also from The Star:



The bottom line is there will be crashes, and there will be riders stuck in the cold/heat waiting for shuttles, and it will happen at least once a month and probably more.

And how many LRTs existed in Kitchener-Waterloo prior to the opening of ION?

The fact of the matter is that center-of-the-road LRTs are not a foreign concept in Toronto. Will there be accidents? Of course. And there will be a rash of them for the first little while as everyone grows accustomed to the new arrangements on Eglinton. Just like there were on St. Clair, and on Spadina.

But is it something to get worked up over? I don't think so. People will figure things out.

Dan
 
And how many LRTs existed in Kitchener-Waterloo prior to the opening of ION?

The fact of the matter is that center-of-the-road LRTs are not a foreign concept in Toronto. Will there be accidents? Of course. And there will be a rash of them for the first little while as everyone grows accustomed to the new arrangements on Eglinton. Just like there were on St. Clair, and on Spadina.

But is it something to get worked up over? I don't think so. People will figure things out.

Dan

You just disregarded the second half of my post and focused on the first half.

Streecars have been in Toronto for over 150 years and accidents happen dozens of times per month. People here drive into 30-year-old streetcar tunnels with road bumps and flashing signs. People will continue to 'figure it out' by making wrong turns or drinking and driving. 549 streetcar crashes per year is not a small number.

Here is what the Star reported about streecar lanes:

Green noted pedestrians often use streetcar rights-of-way — the streetcar-only lanes that separate transit vehicles from car traffic on routes like Spadina Ave. and St. Clair Ave. — to cross midblock, which can be dangerous.

Nine of the 15 streetcar-related deaths, including two of the cyclist crashes, occurred on routes with rights-of-way.

Here is what they said about streetcar crashes vs busses:
In addition to fatal crashes, TTC data shows streetcars are more likely than buses to be in collisions of any kind, including with other vehicles. Last year streetcars experienced 7.61 collisions per 100,000 miles driven, more than double the rate for buses.
 
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Do we know what problems the Yonge & Eglinton station is running into? I've only be able to find vague information saying construction crews found defects with the TTC station but I'm kinda curious what the exact issue is.
 
Do we know what problems the Yonge & Eglinton station is running into? I've only be able to find vague information saying construction crews found defects with the TTC station but I'm kinda curious what the exact issue is.

Basically.. things were not where they were supposed to be. They found surprises along the way.
 

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