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Finch West Line 6 LRT

Not like it matters really, knowing the TTC the LRVs wont even sniff anything close to 60 km/hr let alone the 70kh/hr that's being complained about.
 
Presumably the speed limit, and not wanting to hit automobiles at 70 km/hr.
Speed limit. During a public meeting about Hamilton LRT last November, someone asked the speed limit of the LRT in Hamilton and they said just like any surface LRT it will be limited to the speed limit of the road.

Which I hate. It makes no sense. There are fewer collision points, the LRT trains follow a more predictable trajectory (the rails duh) and the drivers are skilled and trained operators. They should be able to have a different speed limit from the rest of the road on the grade separated sections (between intersections).

I don't understand North America's adversion to fast transit. I usually ride my bicycle because it's faster than transit, but especially in winter, I'd honestly much prefer transit.
 
I don't understand North America's adversion to fast transit. I usually ride my bicycle because it's faster than transit, but especially in winter, I'd honestly much prefer transit.
Isn't the Paris maximum speed also 60 km/hr for their tram network?
 
Speed limit. During a public meeting about Hamilton LRT last November, someone asked the speed limit of the LRT in Hamilton and they said just like any surface LRT it will be limited to the speed limit of the road.

Which I hate. It makes no sense. There are fewer collision points, the LRT trains follow a more predictable trajectory (the rails duh) and the drivers are skilled and trained operators. They should be able to have a different speed limit from the rest of the road on the grade separated sections (between intersections).

I don't understand North America's adversion to fast transit. I usually ride my bicycle because it's faster than transit, but especially in winter, I'd honestly much prefer transit.
We should at least making the speed limit for LRT 10 kph higher than the limit for vehicles on the roadway to reflect the reality that traffic tends to exceed the limit if congestion allows for it.
 
Not sure their speed limit, but in the Hamilton example the street had a speed limit of 50km/h, and it should really be 40km/h through much of the lower city, but the LRT should be able to hit 60km/h if it can.
Not that I disagree with you, but isn't the rationale for 40km/h (or any lowering of speed limits) remains the same for any vehicles on the same road? It's not like the LRT ROW will be separated by jaywalk-deterring barriers.
 
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Not that I disagree with you, but isn't the rationale for 40km/h (or any lowering of speed limits) remains the same for any vehicles on the same road? It's not like the LRT ROW will be separated by jaywalk-deterring barriers.
Looking at some LRT ROWs, there might as well be such barriers. I can't see too many people clambering over the Hurontario LRT ROW outside of designated crossings. A fence may not be a bad idea.

1725408666568.png
 
Not like it matters really, knowing the TTC the LRVs wont even sniff anything close to 60 km/hr let alone the 70kh/hr that's being complained about.
You should see what they do with the TRs in the middle of the Allen. Transit is such a joke with the TTC.
 
Looking at some LRT ROWs, there might as well be such barriers. I can't see too many people clambering over the Hurontario LRT ROW outside of designated crossings. A fence may not be a bad idea.

View attachment 593583
Looking at the completed median guideway on Eglinton, you’ll find that barriers are only placed next to curves and special track sections (crossovers). The purpose is presumably to protect road users from train derailment, essentially a light crash wall.

I haven’t reviewed enough of the completed Finch guideway to confirm the same pattern.

The streetcar network primarily uses railings/barriers on platforms to protect passengers from neighbouring road traffic (see Spadina, Bathurst, St. Clair, Cherry). As such, it would appear that pedestrians on tracks are not a concern for TTC/ML.
 
You should see what they do with the TRs in the middle of the Allen. Transit is such a joke with the TTC.
 
Looking at some LRT ROWs, there might as well be such barriers. I can't see too many people clambering over the Hurontario LRT ROW outside of designated crossings. A fence may not be a bad idea.

View attachment 593583
You will find some fools crossing those Hurontario tracks where there is no curb between the tracks or with 2 curbs depending what gets planted between the curbs. Where there is 4 curbs, there should be no one trying to cross the tracks since the curb are at different heights with plants in them.

There are a few pads between roads for Eglinton, Finch and Hurontario with the Finch painted red I believe as I don't have a photo of them at this time. No idea what the pads are for and fully pour concrete.

Other than the crossover track areas on Eglinton as well at the stations, anyone can cross the tracks freely.
 
Which I hate. It makes no sense. There are fewer collision points, the LRT trains follow a more predictable trajectory (the rails duh) and the drivers are skilled and trained operators. They should be able to have a different speed limit from the rest of the road on the grade separated sections (between intersections).

I don't understand North America's adversion to fast transit. I usually ride my bicycle because it's faster than transit, but especially in winter, I'd honestly much prefer transit.
This is what I'm saying. Why spend all this money and build all this infrastructure to simply have trains travel at the same speed as the road traffic? We could have just saved a ton of money and constructed a BRT instead. People will argue capacity. Trams can carry more people than an articulated bus. But that's the type of stuff that only transit/ urban planning geeks like ourselves care about. Most "everyday" people who ride transit and don't give it a second thought don't care about stuff like that. All they care about is how quickly can they get to their destination.

These trains need to be seen outpacing cars.

The aversion to fast transit in Canada comes from the current fad in transit, which is to construct these low floor, tram/LRV lines.

Cities across Canada seem to no longer desire constructing high floor LRTs. Even when they have proven themselves reliable and faster. Calgary C-train & Edmonton's Capital and Metro lines vs the newly constructed Valley west line which uses the low floor trams/ LRVs.
 
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I don't see how the floor height of the LRV materially affects how quickly the service runs, or how reliable it is.

These LRTs are supposed to be a higher order form of local transit (which is why the higher capacity should matter to the general public). Local transit will never outpace a car, except at rush hour when traffic is stationary. In order to have the trams be able to outpace a personal car, you'd probably need a stop spacing similar to the GO train, and then it becomes less a useful transit line for local needs, and more so an expensive showcase of technology that serves an incredibly limited market.
 
I don't see how the floor height of the LRV materially affects how quickly the service runs, or how reliable it is.

These LRTs are supposed to be a higher order form of local transit (which is why the higher capacity should matter to the general public). Local transit will never outpace a car, except at rush hour when traffic is stationary. In order to have the trams be able to outpace a personal car, you'd probably need a stop spacing similar to the GO train, and then it becomes less a useful transit line for local needs, and more so an expensive showcase of technology that serves an incredibly limited market.
Then why are we branding them as subway lines?
 

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