Voltz
Senior Member
They could of course run more service between the Airport and Woodbine as required.
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Finch West Line 6 LRT
- Thread starter W. K. Lis
- Start date
They could of course run more service between the Airport and Woodbine as required.
Rainforest
Senior Member
That's an interesting option.
The way the UPX spur is built, any attempt to enhance it as mainline rail service results in a dilemma. Either run more frequent trains, but keep them short to fit the UPX spur design, and thus waste track time on the Georgetown mainline. Or, completely rebuilt the spur at a great cost and with much disruption, to accommodate properly long trains.
On the other hand, light rail should be able to use the spur, after some minor modifications. The direct connection from the terminals to Union would be lost, but the balance of train capacity and demand found. Short light rail trains between the airport and Woodbine Stn, and long mainline RER trains connecting much of Etobicoke and Brampton to Union.
If the same spur can be used to get Finch LRT trains to the airport, all the better. It would be a fairly fast connection, having about 3 intermediate stops between Humber College and the terminals.
TransitBart
Senior Member
Spoken like a person who may not use the service. This is delusional and defeats the purpose of having an airport train.
Rainforest
Senior Member
Yeah, I took it just once in my life
There is no perfect solution here. You can preserve your valued direct train, but then a pair of tracks that could be carrying 20k or 30k commuters per hour to / from Union, will remain occupied by a route that carries less than 2k.
Besides, UPX is direct for Terminal 1 only. For Terminal 3, you have to transfer to the monorail anyway. If the spur was converted to LRT, then perhaps it could replace the monorail as well.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
The Pearson Transit Hub (from link) is supposed to be located across the street (Airport Road) from the terminals. Which means that the Terminal Link Train (see link) may have to be configured or rebuilt.
In turn, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Finch West LRT, UPX, and other transit connections would be located at the Pearson Transit Hub.
In turn, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Finch West LRT, UPX, and other transit connections would be located at the Pearson Transit Hub.
rbt
Senior Member
The Terminal Link Train will probably be demolished and replaced by a series of high-speed walkways which connect both terminals to the new security/customs area in the new building.
All of that is subject to a large government commitment (beyond what we currently have) to expand transit to Pearson.
mdrejhon
Senior Member
Or simply use detachable 4-EMU trainsets, like this:
They come in quick join/detach format so they can scale up/down during peak, or for UPX-specific-route operations.
One 4-train EMU is light enough to go down the spur. The question is whether the bend radius is good enough, and whether the station can be extended to be 1 extra coach long.
Incidentially, this is one of the EMU candidates for GO RER, and it even also comes with dual-level platform door option (high & low level). A mix of low-floor-doors only (for whole RER network) + low+high doors (for RER network *and* UPX platforms *and* UPX spur). Meaning future UPX trains could serve the rest of the GO network as backup trains, and we'd not have a shortage of trainsets available.
Caltrain just ordered dual height door version of the same train:
This is the same train in Metrolinx' clipart (it's only one of the candidates) -- just with the dual-level door option.
I imagine Metrolinx could order 80% of coaches with low-doors only, and 20% of coaches with both levels. Choose "X" percent, replace the numbers, it doesn't matter -- but you get the idea.
That way, all coaches can go on the entire GO network, while a percentage of the coaches are reassignable (at any time) to the UPX network or high-floor platform stations. Massive network flexibility! They'd come in 4-coach pre-joined trainsets, and joinable to become up to 12-coach trains. And currently, the stations on UPX are (just about, barely) extendable to handle 4 coaches -- the station at Union is already 3.5 coaches long when you count ability to meet the door cutouts of the furthest doors (rather than train tip-to-tip) -- 4 coach is currently the proposed Metrolinx standardized length for GO EMUs.
Boarding overhead of bilevels: Although the bilevel nature is subject to debate (read: Sydney, Australia), our network is highly bilevel optimized with great station separation, that we'll more resemble Paris' good bilevel RER experience. I understand the pros/cons, and Sydney versus Paris' differing experience with electric bilevel commuter trains -- but I think given Metrolinx's network design & UPX situation -- it is likely workable without slowing down embarkation too much.
If push *came* to shove, stations can be modified to meet the low doors only (either via raised track or lowered station floors) -- a hugely expensive station modification but that wouldn't be needed right away with dual-level doors -- and you have full operational flexibility of using any GO platform as a backup station while a UPX station is being rebuilt (whether lengthening or platform level change, etc).
It's an imperfect compromise, but has massive operational flexibilities, and permits many paths of future network modifications -- while minimizing mandatory pre-requisites that interact with each other in any phased roll out.
That way, GO RER can merge UPX when electrified.
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SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
New map for the Finch West LRT from Metrolinx (source: http://www.metrolinx.com/en/projectsandprograms/projectpages/FinchWest.aspx)
Cobra
Senior Member
New map for the Finch West LRT from Metrolinx (source: http://www.metrolinx.com/en/projectsandprograms/projectpages/FinchWest.aspx)
Is it me or there's lots of stops that got cut? With proper priority lights, this one will be truly "rapid"
robmausser
Senior Member
I look forward to whatever rediculous names they give Islington, Jane, and Kipling stations
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
Here's the "old" map. Same station numbers but you're right, this line will really be rapid.
APTA-2048
Senior Member
As best as I can remember, Finch West always had a reasonable stop spacing. They also eliminated the Hwy 27 stop when they finalized the location of the Humber College stop.
Leo_Chan
Senior Member
Unless a stop is named after both a Park and Museum, I'm fine with it.
Edllguy
Active Member
I read the FinchWestLRT real estate study and they say that if a institution, business or residential property is within 500 metres of a station, it will benefit from the transit line in some increased capacity...
"The findings of this report suggest that the market demand for residential uses, and to lesser extent office and commercial uses, are expected to improve with the new LRT service along Finch Avenue West. Demand will be strongest in the areas that are within walking distance of a station, typically 500 metres. Strong increases in the value of single family homes, and other ground oriented housing types along the corridor, as well as land transactions and high density development applications and activity, are all early signals that demand may be maturing for higher density residential formats in this area."
"The findings of this report suggest that the market demand for residential uses, and to lesser extent office and commercial uses, are expected to improve with the new LRT service along Finch Avenue West. Demand will be strongest in the areas that are within walking distance of a station, typically 500 metres. Strong increases in the value of single family homes, and other ground oriented housing types along the corridor, as well as land transactions and high density development applications and activity, are all early signals that demand may be maturing for higher density residential formats in this area."
Hopkins123
Senior Member
The following could work:
Islington = Beaumonde Heights
Jane = University Heights
Kipling = Albion Centre
The Albion Rd stop itself, could remain called just that assuming the public is smarter than we take them for to make the differentiation.