GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[nfitz]

Some's going to be difficult to sell. Especially where there's already that overpass in place over the expressway!

 

[Allandale25]

Which overpass is that?

Some's going to be difficult to sell. Especially where there's already that overpass in place over the expressway!

 

[ShonTron]

Which overpass is that?

Kingston Road - looking west from Guildwood Station.

 

[Northern Light]

Some's going to be difficult to sell. Especially where there's already that overpass in place over the expressway!

How thoughtful of the planners to leave ample room for a third track and a wide bike trail w/linear park! Such foresight!

 

[aquateam]

Local community meeting on Lakeshore East widening.

LMAO that first picture is hilarious.

"TRAIN? Now where did that train come from? How dare it encroach on our property!!"

*Ignoring the fact that those train tracks were there before these people were even born

Thing is tho, nobody is saying those things. Seems area residents (or Nimbys) get painted with an awfully negative brush on public forums, often for nothing more than wanting their voices heard in transportation projects. If groups like these result in, say, more attractive and naturalized embankments and noise walls, it's a good thing. And a benefit to the city as a whole. I for one would rather real neighbourhood input than what some view as the ultimate scenario: soulless flophouses where "citizens" don't care about their neighbourhood cuz they're too busy watching netflix or taking selfies in their self-contained cruise ship condo's gym.

I thought that preventing scenarios like this and other incompatible land uses was the entire reason that we accept restrictive zoning, multi-year planning approvals, and sky-high property prices.

 

[steveintoronto]

From the Inside Toronto article:

Specifically, Potts said discussions need to take place around sound levels after the completion of the rail line, the height of sound barrier walls, and mitigating vibration from the new rail line.

RER is touted to be EMU (at least along that route, there's talk of electric locos hauling coaches, but I suspect that may be rendered moot, but even there ) and *much* quieter and lighter, so infrasound as well as audible are far less.

GO looks at a quieter ride on Montreal’s electric commuter train

Mayor-elect John Tory and Metrolinx want to electrify the rails around Toronto. The Star took a ride on Canada’s only other electric commuter line between Montreal and Deux-Montagnes, Que.

By Tess KalinowskiTransportation reporter
Fri., Oct. 31, 2014
[...]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ide_on_montreals_electric_commuter_train.html

Herald confirms our electric trains are quiet
Matt L | April 23, 2014 | 55 Comments
The Herald yesterday ran a story on just how quiet the new electric trains are. In a polar opposite there was a lot of noise on twitter about how the article was initially presented but after getting past that it provided some really useful information on just how good these trains are. Here’s the useful bit:

Informal noise sampling by the Herald measured the highest level inside electric multiple unit (EMU) number 129 at 72.9 decibels, compared with 83.6dB reached inside a locomotive-hauled train and 92dB in a diesel multiple unit between Puhinui and Homai stations on Auckland’s southern railway line.

With just the air-con switched on before the electric motors kicked in, the top level was 69dB.

A rule of thumb is that every increase of 10 decibels represents a doubling of noise, meaning a jet aircraft taking off at 100dB is roughly eight times as loud as a passenger car clocking 70dB at 105km/h.

Differences were even more pronounced outside the various trains, where the electric was at least four times quieter than diesels accelerating out of stations.

It reached a top count of 77dB when pulling out of its Wiri depot, compared with a high of 99.6dB for the DMU and 101.6dB for a loco-hauled train thundering away from Puhinui Station.

But being far quieter than the trains they will be replacing in a line-by-line rollout to mid-2015 presents a serious new challenge for the electrics, as they will be harder for pedestrians to hear coming.

That means rail operator Transdev is asking its drivers to take extra care to sound warning alarms when approaching level-crossings.

The differences in noise levels are substantial and it’s something I’ve noticed on the few times I’ve been lucky enough to have a trip on one of the EMUs. It’s quite telling also as I still remember a conversation with a one of the senior engineers involved in the project over a year ago. He told me that while they knew these trains would be quieter, they weren’t sure just how they would compare to a carriage in an SA set (the loco hauled ones) which are noisy if you’re in a carriage near the locomotive but can be quite as you move away from it. I’ve graphed the results the Herald recorded.


Note: This chart has been updated to represent perceived loudness rather than simple decibels.

The vast improvement in the exterior noise is impressive and something that is bound to be a welcome relief for those that live, work or play alongside a rail line. In fact if the figures are right then the new trains are quieter on the outside than the existing trains are on the inside. I think it will hugely improve the viability of increased densities along the rail corridor. You can get a sense for how quiet they are from this video [...]

https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2014/04/23/herald-confirms-our-electric-trains-are-quiet/

 

[salsa]

How thoughtful of the planners to leave ample room for a third track and a wide bike trail w/linear park! Such foresight!

The same planners who gave us Eglinton West!

 

[crs1026]

At least the Fords didn't sell out Scarborough by selling the land out from under the city, just when the width was needed for LRT.

- Paul

 

[Edward Skira]

Media Advisory

Minister of Transportation to Make an Announcement
July 20, 2017

Steven Del Duca, Minister of Transportation and Shafiq Qaadri, MPP for Etobicoke North, will make an announcement. They will be joined by Mark Ciavarro, Vice President, Regional Express Rail Implementation, Metrolinx.

Date: Friday, July 21, 2017

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Etobicoke North GO Station

1949 Kipling Ave.

Etobicoke

 

[Amare]

Ughh here we go, Del Duca back at it again.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Ughh here we go, Del Duca back at it again.

Yes, back at it making tangible progress towards transforming transit in the GTHA! Excited to see what tomorrow holds!

 

[Megaton327]

Yes, back at it making tangible progress towards transforming transit in the GTHA! Excited to see what tomorrow holds!

Indeed. Maybe a tim hortons is opening down the street from Etobicoke North?

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Indeed. Maybe a tim hortons is opening down the street from Etobicoke North?

I'm serious about him being a great transport minister! We're moving towards some really good things in the GTHA on the transit file.

And for the record, I love the Tim's at Oakville GO

 

[44 North]

I'd agree, except for the fact that most often these groups seem to have an agenda of, "Let's make the requirements expensive or cumbersome enough to kill the development." Very rarely are they about actual compromise. Just look at the quote @jje1000 pulled up. It's blatantly clear they find the level of traffic growth unacceptable. They aren't concerned about the aesthetics of the sound barrier.

That's just one quote, and I highly doubt any group thinks they can kill anything. Reality for anyone backing onto the shared portion of LSE+Stouff is that it already is a rail highway, is extremely busy, and loud as all hell. Even if any expansion was hypothetically 'killed', it'd still be loud and busy. Not directly defending anyone backing onto a rail corridor, but they in particular have been putting up with more than most, and have been for quite some time.

If they try to form a coalition that demands to put the rail line underground, then yeah people should obviously question them. But right now they probably want their voices heard and to not be trampled over by non-local forces. And who knows how the Prov's plan will pan out since it's mostly a concept, or the City's weird SmartTrack thing. Lake Shore SuperGO is already years late and the Prov's plans morph every election. I'd be demanding a noise wall, a nice one with transparent sections, and attractive landscaping. We've spent a lot more for a lot less elsewhere.

And yeah maybe property values have a large part to do with this. But I still believe that the finer-grained areas of the city generally care more about neighbourhoods, livability, urbanity, and the city as a whole than views emanating from newer vertical private-amenity neighbourhoods.

 

[nfitz]

At least the Fords didn't sell out Scarborough by selling the land out from under the city, just when the width was needed for LRT.

There's still plenty of place left for LRT on Eglinton West. Ironically, it's the option for the cheap subway, subway, subway they gave up (mostly because they probably never read or had the capacity to understand the contents of the document they signed.