Fritter
Active Member
Does it not need to be open in time for the election campaign?
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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
Megaton327
Senior Member
I will copy below my comments from the last time this discussion came up:
That was also my initial reaction but there is a very good reason for it: it's located right next to Highway 404. Long-term, the traffic on the 404 is just going to get worse as the northern areas along it become more populated, and as future extensions are built around Lake Simcoe.
I think that the government wants the station there so that rush hour commuters who get on the 404 up north get off it at Bloomington and switch to the train for the rest of their journey, releasing capacity for people further south on the highway into downtown. This is very forward-thinking and I think it will likely prove to have been a very wise decision somewhere approaching 2030.
The proof of this attitude is in those signs that were piloted on the QEW to try to entice people to get off at Burlington/Appleby/Bronte/Oakville instead of continuing downtown by car. I think you'll start to see planning and initiatives like this as our highways get expanded and the communities along them continue to grow and grow.
As for the cost, the station is almost entirely a parking garage, a massive one at that--those are expensive. Doing a very quick google search, Oakville's parking garage cost ~$41M completed in 2012, and according to the MTO Gormley GO station cost $22M having only a large surface lot and no garage. If you adjust the Oakville garage cost for inflation and consider that this is an entire station not just an add-on garage/compare it loosely to Gormley+Oakville, $70M seems almost exactly right, and reasonable for the scope of the project.
Regarding no all-day service, 1) as said above it's to take the load off the 404 at peak hours, 2) Aurora GO is currently hilariously over-capacity, I would imagine there are even a few hundred people who would take the train each day but have stopped bothering due to the lack of parking--my family is very near this point for rush hour travel, it's gotten to be more trouble than it's worth. Bloomington GO is situated at a location where a significant amount of Aurora GO's potential passengers can drive to Bloomington and have it take just slightly more time than driving to Aurora GO, counter-balanced by the ease of finding parking taking less time--so it could serve to free up desperately needed parking space in Aurora by the rush hour crowd, freeing it up for the people who want to use the midday trains rolling out soon. I used to take the GO bus to Union from Aurora midday sometimes and there simply isn't parking anymore after 7 AM, yet alone midday...if that continues, the midday trains won't get nearly as much ridership at Aurora as they would with available parking.
So it's a much bigger picture than it appears at first glance.
Present addendum: I had previously thought this station was getting ~2000 parking spaces vs ~850 at Gormley, and predicated my argument for a parking garage based on that. Apparently the station will only have 950~1000 spaces total between the garage and surface lot. However, it has become clear to me that the site is constrained between the rail corridor, highway onramp, and geography of the area/site conditions, preventing a large sprawling surface lot. The garage allows that many spaces to exist in the smaller space available, and more importantly, can be expanded in the future by adding more levels (GO has previously stated, e.g. at Burlington, that garages can be expanded upwards given future demand). Also, Covered garages/an indoor station accessed from the garage are also much more appealing in rain, and especially in snow, which is important if we want to entice people already driving in their nice, warm/cool, enclosed car on the highway to get off and take transit mid-route.
crs1026
Superstar
I wonder if there is any commercial development planned for the location.
- Paul
- Paul
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
It will be interesting for sure. Aurora Go station has a significant number of riders who drive to the station and the station itself is constrained by the surrounding urban environment. Bloomington would be an ~10 min drive from Aurora, albeit on a different line and one that has not yet been identified for all day 2 way service. Will office commuters switch to Bloomington Go or, as we have seen elsewhere, will old habits die hard and they continue to use Aurora?
Personally I have a preference for using hwy 9 as as sort of northern boundary for the GTA and as a northern GO Bus route running across the region. However this line veers pretty far east that it would not be very useful for Newmarket residences and there is little in the way of population to the East.
Personally I have a preference for using hwy 9 as as sort of northern boundary for the GTA and as a northern GO Bus route running across the region. However this line veers pretty far east that it would not be very useful for Newmarket residences and there is little in the way of population to the East.
Garuda
Active Member
With the station under construction and service capacity going to expand rapidly over the next few years, it got me thinking. It's time for Metrolinx to consider building a subdivision line connecting the Barrie Line to Richmond Hill Line (I don't know the names of the respective rail subdivisions)
In the attached image, I propose a 5km line from south of Aurora GO to just north of Bloomington GO. The intention of this connecting subdivision would be to act as a relief valve in case one of the lines gets shut down. Instead of calling buses to replace service, trains could use the connecting route to provide service in case of an emergency. We could also see the first interlined route outside of Toronto proper. A trip could stop at Bloomington GO, take the connecting route and continue to Barrie GO. VIA's Canadian could also use this route (instead of reversing near York University and maybe use Bloomington GO as a station.
With the land being developed soon, Metrolinx should take the steps to set land aside for a potential subdivision.
In the attached image, I propose a 5km line from south of Aurora GO to just north of Bloomington GO. The intention of this connecting subdivision would be to act as a relief valve in case one of the lines gets shut down. Instead of calling buses to replace service, trains could use the connecting route to provide service in case of an emergency. We could also see the first interlined route outside of Toronto proper. A trip could stop at Bloomington GO, take the connecting route and continue to Barrie GO. VIA's Canadian could also use this route (instead of reversing near York University and maybe use Bloomington GO as a station.
With the land being developed soon, Metrolinx should take the steps to set land aside for a potential subdivision.
Attachments
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Looking at the schedule for the Richmond Hill line.. I couldn't help but notice that it takes 15 minutes to travel between Richmond Hill and Gormley GO! That is only 8.5km.. That means the trains are averaging around 35km/h between those stations, which seems shockingly low given the distance between them. Even the super windy and slow (35mph IIRC) Stouffville corridor makes it between Mount Joy and Stouffville (8.0km) in 9 minutes.. Anybody know why the travel time is so high?
ShonTron
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I wonder if it's padding. It's only 10 minutes between the stations going southbound.
smallspy
Senior Member
It doesn't actually take 15 minutes. What they've done is build in a lot of padding into the schedule so that a train running late from Richmond Hill may still end up arriving at Gormley on time.
If you look at the southbound schedule, they've given the trip time as 10 minutes. That's much closer to what the reality is.
Dan
Toronto, Ont.
Momin
Senior Member
Northern Light
Superstar
This story references the RFQ Metrolinx is putting out for the added track in the Lakeshore East Corridor.
I have a question; why bother with another RFQ?
I mean they've done these for multiple previous projects in recent years.
Am I wrong to assume those contractors which are 'qualified' to do this type of job are relatively few, well known and likely to be the same bidders as in the recent past?
If not, please enlighten me. (seriously).
Because at first blush this looks like process for the sake of process, instead of just putting the final tender out to the groups you know are qualified.
dowlingm
Senior Member
additional process created due to media stories about Metrolinx being taken to the cleaners by companies who perform rail work for them?
I suspect it's not the main contractors/consultants that they're looking at, but rather who they're partnering with. I haven't worked on projects quite this size, but I can say that sometimes you get a great primary contractor, but end up with really shitty sub-contractors that screw up the schedule. Given that the RER timeline is pretty tight, I'm guessing they want to make sure that whoever is actually bidding has their ducks in a row.
christiesplits
Senior Member
I asked GO Transit about the status of the construction at Exhibition Station. They said that construction was finished (?) I'm assuming they mean construction impacting station entrances and platforms.
It's a real shame. The station is the gateway to the The Ex, Enercare Centre, BMO Field, Amphitheater, Liberty Village etc. and the station looks like a wasteland, with tattered tarp signs, shoddy way-finding, chain link fences and uneven platforms.
It's a real shame. The station is the gateway to the The Ex, Enercare Centre, BMO Field, Amphitheater, Liberty Village etc. and the station looks like a wasteland, with tattered tarp signs, shoddy way-finding, chain link fences and uneven platforms.
TOareaFan
Superstar
Isn't an RFQ required each time because the respondents are all partnerships of companies with different expertise......and there is no guarantee that
1. The partnerships are constant (after losing 3 in a row the A and B in "ABC Partners" might start to doubt C and think it is better they submit as ABG Partners)
2. New entrants / partnerships might emerge
3. Someone previously deemed qualified might have, for example, gone years and millions over budget on a project and might not be deemed qualified anymore
1. The partnerships are constant (after losing 3 in a row the A and B in "ABC Partners" might start to doubt C and think it is better they submit as ABG Partners)
2. New entrants / partnerships might emerge
3. Someone previously deemed qualified might have, for example, gone years and millions over budget on a project and might not be deemed qualified anymore
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
Feds announce $752M for Toronto-Waterloo GO line
"The funding will make approximately 40.2 km of new track and grading between Mount Pleasant Station and Union Station along the Kitchener GO line"
"The funding will make approximately 40.2 km of new track and grading between Mount Pleasant Station and Union Station along the Kitchener GO line"