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Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s

And Keelesdale Station has the York Memorial Collegiate Institute building next door that went up in flames earlier this year. There would have been water flowing down into the hole that was the station box.

The station box was barely affected by the fire, and water isn't that much of an issue for an empty concrete box. Issues were related to the construction site itself, and repairs to roads and sidewalks hampering access to the site.
 
,2 years is a long time, not sure why you guys are all fretting and being pessimistic for. We've seen buildings go from dirt in the ground to over 12 stories high. These stations r underground for the most part making construction during the winter time still viable.

More workers will be made available at these sites soon enough.
. keesedale station was a whole in the ground a year ago, now it's almost finished

The complexity of a 12 storey building is noting compared to a transit system.

I have a really hard time seeing this coming together in time. We’re going to need a significant amount of time for testing, which means that Crosslinx really has less than a year and a half to get two interchange stations complete along with everything else that is incomplete. They haven’t even finished underpinning Line 1 yet, let alone build any of the interchange station structures. This doesn’t pass this sniff test to me, not at all.

At this point you’d typically expect to see a lot station finishes to be installed, especially things like escalators and elevators. To say they’re nowhere close to that point would be an understatement
 
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I’ve been following the Crossrail developments in London. I remember two years out from the originally scheduled completion, the underground station structures were complete, some escalators were installed, and some of the visual finishes (wall tiles, signs, etc...) were being installed. It felt like a 90% compete transit line. Yet that project has been severely delayed.

The Crosstown right now has none of that. Underpinning Line 1 isn’t even complete right now. We’re nowhere close to being at the same point Crossrail was in its development. It’s laughable to even compare their progression.

now obviously these are two totally different projects, and you can’t directly compare their progression. But nevertheless, this is not looking good. It feels like we'll need a miracle to have this running anywhere near September 2021
 
I for one look forward to the exciting revenue service exclusively between Mt Dennis and Caledonia ?
Could be Oakwood or Fairbanks.

,2 years is a long time, not sure why you guys are all fretting and being pessimistic for. We've seen buildings go from dirt in the ground to over 12 stories high. These stations r underground for the most part making construction during the winter time still viable.

More workers will be made available at these sites soon enough.
. keesedale station was a whole in the ground a year ago, now it's almost finished
Meanwhile construction experts are shaking their heads... Eglinton is far more complicated than Keelesdale
 
Really curious to see how long Metrolinx is going to take to announce that the Crosstown is again delayed. Sooner or later some inquisitive reporter is going to do some digging around and figure out that transit stations typically aren't a pile of dirt a mere 22 months out from revenue service. They better get out ahead of this, before the narrative becomes "Metrolinx is hiding the fact that their mismanaged, over budget, and already delayed $5.4 Billion transit line has been delayed yet again".

Knowing Metrolinx though, they won't acknowledge this until some Toronto Star reporter forces them to through a FOIA request. Just like how they conveniently failed to notify the public that the project was over-budget.

I ranted about this once before, and I'm sure most readers thought I was out to lunch, but I will say it again. I am not a lawyer and this is not a legal opinion. But hear me out.

If Crosstown is already known to be behind schedule, and the delay is of a material level, it needs to be reported as such in ML's quarterly financial reports and in its annual report. The annual report bears an auditor's certification. Auditors have legal and professional responsibilities when they certify an annual report as accurate and truthful.

I don't know where the line falls between "ought to disclose publicly" and "is legally obligated to disclose publicly" - but one wonders if activists or opposition parties might try and push this lever if ML is found to be sitting on a bad news story. IMHO it would certainly serve ML right.


- Paul
 
I ranted about this once before, and I'm sure most readers thought I was out to lunch, but I will say it again. I am not a lawyer and this is not a legal opinion. But hear me out.

If Crosstown is already known to be behind schedule, and the delay is of a material level, it needs to be reported as such in ML's quarterly financial reports and in its annual report. The annual report bears an auditor's certification. Auditors have legal and professional responsibilities when they certify an annual report as accurate and truthful.

I don't know where the line falls between "ought to disclose publicly" and "is legally obligated to disclose publicly" - but one wonders if activists or opposition parties might try and push this lever if ML is found to be sitting on a bad news story. IMHO it would certainly serve ML right.


- Paul
History trends to repeat itself. The TYSSE delays were known internally to the TTC many years before the news broke out. By 2011/2012 the TTC should have seen signs that the project was falling behind schedule. By 2014 it was well known internally that it will not open on time and need more money. Early 2015 they finally admitted they need money and is delayed another year. Nothing happened for years while the snowball was growing. The only signs of delay was written in TTC's CEO report saying there is a risk with slow progress - some transparency Andy Byford brought to the TTC. There is no equivalent for ML.

ML being less transparent than TTC will never admit anything. Considering Ford's job is on the line here. They have to somehow boost trust in the 4 PC transit projects, admitting they can't manage building one line is a huge no-no. Of course there is a chance ML is delusional and simply takes Crosslinx' words that the project is on track.
 
ML being less transparent than TTC will never admit anything. Considering Ford's job is on the line here. They have to somehow boost trust in the 4 PC transit projects, admitting they can't manage building one line is a huge no-no. Of course there is a chance ML is delusional and simply takes Crosslinx' words that the project is on track.
There’s only 21 months to go till the scheduled completion date. They won’t be able to suppress the truth much longer, and I don’t see how doing this is supposed to help the premier in front of an upcoming election.
 
Of course there is a chance ML is delusional and simply takes Crosslinx' words that the project is on track.

Other P3 contracts that IO has put in the public domain (well, partially, anyways) have had schedules covering the amount of periodic reporting that the vendor has to provide, and ML’s rights to verify information for themselves. One assumes Crosstown’s contract is similar.

- Paul
 
More workers will be made available at these sites soon enough.

Is there any evidence that lack of labour is the root cause of schedule slippage?

I have been down this road. There are only so many workers that can work on a job site at one time, especially if the tasks are highly interdependent and one critical-path item is holding up the following steps. Some things just can’t be done in parallel. No point adding electricians until the concrete work is complete, etc.The added people just stand around (burning your labour budget) or they actually get in the way.

Sure, maybe they can take up slack in later steps, and do more things at once. But “just add labour” is not a silver bullet when construction projects get behind.

- Paul
 
There’s only 21 months to go till the scheduled completion date. They won’t be able to suppress the truth much longer, and I don’t see how doing this is supposed to help the premier in front of an upcoming election.

The premier will blame any Crosstown problems on the previous government.

And in this particular case, he won't be necessarily wrong. At least, it would require a detailed analysis to determine when the relevant mistakes were made, during the Wynne's watch, or under the current government.
 
Honestly, I am not super worried whether the Crosstown comes into service in 2021 or in 2023. Either way, it is a dramatic, game-changing improvement for this corridor. A delay of a year or two is nothing, compared to the situations in many other major corridors that are waiting for their lines for decades, without any luck.
 

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