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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

No, I'm the one who has it wrong. There were some blocks doubled when the system first went live, but I haven't gone up and checked whether any are left that way.

- Paul
 
Paul:
I worked with PNR mainly between Humberview and Halwest. I know some strange things were done east of Humberview so I am sure your quite correct when it comes to that area.


Bryan.
 
Some of the 'roughing in' of the signalling system makes sense - for instance, building the interlockings as 4-track installations when there was no fourth track planned for years. You don't want to come back and try to upgrade an interlocking with crossovers from 3 tracks to four!

But I wonder at why they mounted all the signals for the intermediate blocks on the missing tracks when it was clear they weren't needed for another decade. When they are finally put in service, they will be ten years old. That must be a signficant amount of aging and weathering. There must be a cost to that, likely more than they save by not coming back the second time to do the work.

- Paul
 
I can't answer that question other than to say that it was part of the contract to have everything wired and tested ready to connect to the track and put in service.
We were under the expectation that it would not be that long before they would be required.

Bryan.
 
innsertnamehere said:
The full list comes out in the fall, but these are the crossings I remember seeing mentioned at some point. There may be more than this:

LSW
- Burloak
- Kerr
Click to expand...

I'm surprised they didn't grade separate Fourth Line as a part of the recent project to widen it from one to two lanes each direction. I know it's a low traffic volume road now, but development and the widening will change that. Should have paid now to save later. Perhaps environmental issues/costs with the creek immediately north of the crossing?
 
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I went on a little excursion today, from Peterborough to Niagara Falls via GO. (Is this the longest journey you can take on GO?)

I went there via bus to Oshawa, then train, then bus from Burlington. Presto cost was just under $30 one way. I left Peterborough at 9:09 and got to Niagara Falls bus terminal at 1:45 PM or so (traffic jams on the QEW).

I caught the train back from Niagara Falls. It left the Niagara Falls VIA station at 7:20 PM and got to Union at 9:20 or so.

Some things I noticed there and while taking the train back from Niagara Falls...
  • The Lewis Road layover yard looks 3/4-finished. Tracks are in, but not yet connected to the mainline. This probably means there's another quarter of work not visible to me.
  • They're preparing for another track around the end of the lake, where the bridge is under construction.
  • The one track at West Harbour GO is not yet connected to the mainline at both ends. There is a second platform at the station, and space for a second track that is not yet there.
  • Burlington GO station was... interesting. I followed the signs to a bus loop on the north side, where there was a temporary station. All sorts of construction on the south side. Is this the station people have been mentioning as years overdue?
  • The train crosses the Welland Canal right at the foot of a set of locks. There was a huge red ship in one of the locks as we went past. Fascinating.
  • I did not see whether the Niagara Falls bus station sells or reloads Presto, as the Peterborough one does. The Niagara Falls station, unlike Peterborough, is also an agent for Greyhound. The Presto agent might be at the VIA station; there *is* a GO ticket machine there, plus Presto tap machines.I'm not sure when the VIA station is open; I think train service of any type is rather infrequent there.
  • The Niagara Falls VIA station is very close to the US border. Looking down the track there, you can see the bridge carrying the Robert Moses Parkway over the tracks on the US side; the bridge carrying the tracks over the Niagara Gorge is foreshortened and almost invisible.
I'm writing this at Union, waiting the the 11:13 PM Lakeshore East departure, which will connect to the last Peterborough bus at Oshawa.
 
Komiksulo said:
The Lewis Road layover yard looks 3/4-finished. Tracks are in, but not yet connected to the mainline. This probably means there's another quarter of work not visible to me.
Click to expand...

With the exception of some very minor cleaning-up (signage, paint and striping), the layover is in fact complete save for tying in to the mainline. PNR has crews working on the signalling, but are currently waiting for CN to send a track crew in to install the switch.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
smallspy said:
With the exception of some very minor cleaning-up (signage, paint and striping), the layover is in fact complete save for tying in to the mainline. PNR has crews working on the signalling, but are currently waiting for CN to send a track crew in to install the switch.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
Click to expand...

And since Metrolinx is not a monument to transparency, what should the hoi polloi expect after that? Service improvements? Elimination of deadhead runs?
 
Komiksulo said:
  • Burlington GO station was... interesting. I followed the signs to a bus loop on the north side, where there was a temporary station. All sorts of construction on the south side. Is this the station people have been mentioning as years overdue?
Click to expand...
I believe we are at four years of construction on that new station building. The Star wrote an article on the delays almost exactly one year ago. The relocated bus loop is a major inconvenience for local transit, and the Niagara GO service. Exiting the station from the North side at rush hour is quite the ordeal and a long detour from the south side.

It looks a few weeks away from completion, but it has looked like that for the past 4 months.
 
TransitBart said:
And since Metrolinx is not a monument to transparency, what should the hoi polloi expect after that? Service improvements? Elimination of deadhead runs?
Click to expand...

By the end of the year - hopefully - the trains from West Harbour will deadhead from Lewis Road, rather than out from Willowbrook. A third train to/from West Harbour won't be added until April, unfortunately.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
Komiksulo said:
  • The Lewis Road layover yard looks 3/4-finished. Tracks are in, but not yet connected to the mainline. This probably means there's another quarter of work not visible to me.
Click to expand...
There is intentional empty space that has enough room for future expansion to 8 tracks. I saw a diagram in one of the older Metrolinx documents, kitted out with 8 sidings -- 4 through and 4 spurs -- but this is far future stuff and not funded.

This might make it look more 'incomplete' than it really is.
 
smallspy said:
By the end of the year - hopefully - the trains from West Harbour will deadhead from Lewis Road, rather than out from Willowbrook. A third train to/from West Harbour won't be added until April, unfortunately.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
Click to expand...
Not surprising. My prediction was May 2016.

Any fourth train on the radar, given the four tracks at Lewis?
 
The GO Transit Control Centre in Oakville (adjacent to Oakville GO) is now "above grade" in a sense:

pTHdZCo.jpg
 
I'd posted articles on this some weeks back, it flew completely in the face of Tory's and Council's push for SmartTrack:
By Ben SpurrTransportation Reporter, and Jennifer PagliaroCity Hall reporter
Sat., July 16, 2016
The provincial transit agency is taking the rare step of initiating legal proceedings against the city, over a council vote that would allow townhomes to be built next to a south Etobicoke rail yard.

In a dispute that has implications for the mayor’s signature SmartTrack project, the Star has learned that Metrolinx delivered a notice of appeal to the city clerk Tuesday. It alerted the city that the agency is challenging council’s June 9 decision on the Mimico-Judson lands to the Ontario Municipal Board.

The notice asserts that council’s decision to redesignate a strip of land north of GO Transit’s Willowbrook rail yard as “mixed use” was made contrary to provincial and city planning policies, occurred without any public consultation, and “does not represent good land use planning.”

In voting 21 to 15 for the redesignation, a majority of councillors ignored the advice of city staff who had recommended retaining the property north of the rail yard as employment lands, which permit industrial, commercial and institutional use.

Metrolinx officials had also warned that allowing homes next to Willowbrook would limit the agency’s ability to expand activity at the rail yard to accommodate its regional express rail (RER) project.

Although Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack plan is a part of RER, Tory voted in favour of the mixed-use designation.

Asked about the OMB appeal Friday, the mayor’s spokeswoman said in a written statement that “SmartTrack is moving forward, thanks in part to our strong working relationship with Metrolinx and the provincial government . . . These appeals are not unusual, and we will continue to work with Metrolinx as the OMB process unfolds.”

Councillor Gord Perks said that the mayor and his allies “made a terrible, terrible mistake. And now we’re going to have to waste public money fighting each other about it.”

Because city staff are already on record as opposing council’s decision, the city would have to hire outside planners to support its case at the OMB, which would increase legal costs, Perks said. He added that it’s possible Metrolinx could subpoena the city’s own planners to make the agency’s case.

“This is one of the dumbest planning decisions I’ve seen in my career,” he said.

In a Marchreport to the planning and growth management committee,staff said keeping the Judson lands’ employment designation was important to “protect and support existing operations and future expansion opportunities” at the rail yard.

But at a May meeting of the planning committee, Etobicoke-Lakeshore Councillor Justin Di Ciano moved a motion — which was approved the next month by council — to designate the lands for mixed use.

As first reported by CBC, a company named Dunpar Developments has applied to build 72 townhomes and lowrise commercial buildings at the site, which is not in Di Ciano’s ward.

Metrolinx’s notice of appeal charges that “no public consultation had taken place prior to this change” at committee, and because Di Ciano moved his motion from the floor it didn’t appear on a public agenda beforehand.

Di Ciano has ties to the developer through his twin brother, Julien Di Ciano, who lists Dunpar as a former employer.

In response to the questions about his motion and the OMB appeal, Councillor Di Ciano said Friday these are complex planning issues and he didn’t have time to adequately reply by the Star’s deadline. He previously told council that he has sought “expert legal advice” on this issue and that advice was “crystal clear” that he was not in a conflict of interest.

Councillor Mark Grimes, who is the local councillor for the area, told the Star that his constituents are bothered by a concrete plant that currently occupies the employment lands near the rail yard, and redesignating the area would allow for more suitable redevelopment.

“The community wants them out of there, this is light at the end of the tunnel. In my mind this is how we’re going to get them out of there,” he said.
Click to expand...
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...-of-toronto-over-etobicoke-rezoning-vote.html
 
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