Any future plans for half-mile bridge?

[Admiral Beez]

I can only assume that this bridge is remaining intact for possible future reactivation.

Half-Mile Bridge

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2014 Tuesday evening and a couple of hours for a rare mid-week hike. I parked on True Davidson Drive and went down beside the bridge to the abandoned CPR tracks. Please note tha…

hikingthegta.com

Half Mile Bridge (Don River High Railway Bridge) - HistoricBridges.org

Historic Girder Bridge in Toronto Toronto City, Ontario. This is a high level style deck plate girder bridge and it rests on massive concrete piers.

historicbridges.org

So, what’s the deal here? Does this track go anywhere useful? Is the rail right of way still intact?

 

[Northern Light]

I can only assume that this bridge is remaining intact for possible future reactivation.

Officially? LOL...... yes it is being held for future use.

So, what’s the deal here? Does this track go anywhere useful?

Sure, there's rail stops preventing use, and there are no signals currently, but it connects the CPKC midtown line to the Bala sub (Richmond Hill GO) which in turn goes on to Union Station.

Is the rail right of way still intact

Yes.

****

However, the bridge is not usable. I don't think they'd even run a test train at this point, but certainly not regular service. It requires extensive work.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Canadian Rail Atlas appears to show that the bridge is owned by GO Transit?

RAC Canadian Rail Atlas

rac.jmaponline.net

 

[Northern Light]

The Canadian Rail Atlas appears to show that the bridge is owned by GO Transit?

RAC Canadian Rail Atlas

rac.jmaponline.net

View attachment 641904

The Don sub, which includes the bridge is owned by Metrolinx, yes.

 

[Bojaxs]

Repurposed for high speed rail.

 

[nfitz]

The Don sub, which includes the bridge is owned by Metrolinx, yes.

And (as NL knows), this bridge (or at least the route it's on) is discussed frequently on multiple threads.

If you look below, there are two green (Metrolinx) tracks up the Don Valley. The current Richmond Hill GO train uses curvy (old CN) line. That bridge is on the straight (old CP) line just south of the Evergreen Brick Works.

VIA Rail used to use it for their Peterborough train, once upon a time. And before that CP used it for their passenger trains to Montreal and Toronto (as well as for freight heading downtown).

 

[smallspy]

The Don sub, which includes the bridge is owned by Metrolinx, yes.

Nitpick: that is the western-most end of the Belleville Subdivision, which west of Leaside serves as CP's mainline to eastern Canada.

Dan

 

[innsertnamehere]

The half-mile bridge is provisionally where high-speed rail is supposed to go, at least from previous VIA plans for the new rail line.

We have yet to see if the upgrade to full high speed rail will change the access route into Toronto.

If it is used for that purpose however, I do suspect that the bridge structure itself will be demolished and replaced with a new 2-track span, likely with a reduced number of support columns (a nice decorative cable-stay structure, anyone?)

 

[junctionist]

In my younger days, I wanted to cross it for some adventure. It was an icy night, and the bridge has no railings. The deck is just railway ties with large gaps between them. I swear my foot could go through some of the gaps. Now, I went to abandoned factories and all sorts of places where no one had thought about safety in decades for adventure, but I didn't cross it. The point of this story is that it might have to be completely rebuilt for safety reasons

 

[crs1026]

In my younger days, I wanted to cross it for some adventure. It was an icy night, and the bridge has no railings. The deck is just railway ties with large gaps between them. I swear my foot could go through some of them. Now, I went to abandoned factories and all sorts of places where no one had thought about safety in decades for adventure, but I didn't cross it. The point of this story is that it might have to be completely rebuilt for safety reasons

If reactivated, it would be rebuilt with railings and steel walkway... the safety standards are more demanding these days.

Replacing with a new bridge is a good example of the scope creep that may have happened when the proposal shifted from HFR to HSR. I'm pretty sure that the HFR plan would have simply refurbished the girder spans and replaced the wood decking. The piers look to be good for another hundred years. Much cheaper than tearing it down.

- Paul

 

[bearcat]

If reactivated, it would be rebuilt with railings and steel walkway... the safety standards are more demanding these days.

Replacing with a new bridge is a good example of the scope creep that may have happened when the proposal shifted from HFR to HSR. I'm pretty sure that the HFR plan would have simply refurbished the girder spans and replaced the wood decking. The piers look to be good for another hundred years. Much cheaper than tearing it down.

- Paul

would the bridge with current piers be able to support two tracks? or would the plan have been a single track connection to Union?

 

[nfitz]

would the bridge with current piers be able to support two tracks? or would the plan have been a single track connection to Union?

I'd think one would suffice, with the relative infrequency of Alto's service. Unless Metrolinx wants to use it for Peterborough and/or north Ajax and north Whitby services.

 

[Northern Light]

would the bridge with current piers be able to support two tracks? or would the plan have been a single track connection to Union?

The current piers could not support two tracks without significant alteration or replacement.

***

Single track.

You're talking about ~3.5km of single track between segments where passing is plausible (Bala sub) and (CPKC)

Even if you extend to Union, its ~8km.

For the 3.5km variation:

This is not and never will be a high speed segment of rail, but if you averaged, 50km/ph you'd clear this section in 4'30, with a buffer, that allows one train each way every 15m or 30 minute frequency without a conflict.

Now, trains need to arrive and depart on schedule or that all goes sideways. But that's sufficient for purpose.

If you assumed no passing for 8km.....that's more of an issue. The transit time at the above noted speed is 9m 36s. That still allows 30M service, just with a tighter buffer.

 

[crs1026]

It's not impossible to build a double track segment immediately to the north (east by timetable) - especially if a flyunder is planned to reach the north side of the CPKC main line.... and possibly a bit of double track to the south (west) .... the short stretch of single track would not materially harm timekeeping for a less than HSR level build.

- Paul

 

[jcam]

The half-mile bridge is provisionally where high-speed rail is supposed to go, at least from previous VIA plans for the new rail line.

We have yet to see if the upgrade to full high speed rail will change the access route into Toronto.

If it is used for that purpose however, I do suspect that the bridge structure itself will be demolished and replaced with a new 2-track span, likely with a reduced number of support columns (a nice decorative cable-stay structure, anyone?)

Or they would double the pier size and widen like they did over the Humber for a very similar design/size bridge. https://www.botconstruction.ca/proj...-line-structures-and-widening-weston-ontario/