Allandale25
Senior Member
In short: yes. And bidders will decide on how much or how little hydrogen they include.
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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
In short: yes. And bidders will decide on how much or how little hydrogen they include.
TOareaFan
Superstar
I was just discussing LV with someone......it was given the "ok" what, 2 years ago....and we are, what, 2 or 3 years before a shovel going in the ground......to build an inline station on an existing GO corridor in an area that gets a ton of press about how bad the transit service is....it takes ~5 years from agreeing to build a station to get a shovel in the ground to actually do that?
Allandale25
Senior Member
I wonder if there are any examples from any other provinces or states where the financial close process goes faster? I also wonder how it compares to what Caltrains is doing.
It's taken them a while to finalize the location of the LV staton: until sometime last year the thinking was south of King. Now that that's been studied, they know they don't have the width they need there, so it's going north of King. Advancing the planning for new stations in restricted corridors takes time unfortunately!
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PS: I was speaking with someone on the project last week, and they were telling me how crazy quickly everything's been moving on this. I stopped them and asked if they realized that the public perception is that all of this is taking forever. They were surprised.
raptor
Senior Member
TOareaFan
Superstar
Well, that someone presumably works for the same organization that sees nothing wrong with the way the Exhibition Station was wrapped up and probably does not understand why people who use it are puzzled that even if all other work was stopping why the pedestrian tunnel part was not finished/opened.
ML may do a lot of things well....but "thinking like a customer" is seldom one of them.
EDIT.......the cbc had an article in late 2016 (if I recall correctly) about residents being mad about the decision to locate the station north of King.....so it may have been a bit longer than your contact is suggesting.
crs1026
Superstar
There is nothing in that release to suggest any acceleration of track projects. No track, no progress.
The existing stations are beginning to feel 'small' - at least at peak, when there's a lineup at the ticket booth - but accelerating station construction does nothing - Nooooooooothing (imagine a Lastmanesque Bad Boy voice with bass boost and reverb) - to increase service.
Niagara - no shovels in the ground yet, negotiations with CN continuing
West Harbour - track work has languished since forever
Milton - restricted to current peak one-way service by track capacity, no relief in sight
Kitchener - big continuing issue west of Bramalea, several years before 401/409 tunnel is completed east of Bramalea
Barrie - Davenport RFP outstanding, north end RFP outstanding, freight trains using existing track north of Snider
Richmond Hill - track flooding issues prevent double track construction
Stouffville - double tracking in process north of Kennedy, but ML hasn't committed to the junction design at Scarborough and double track from Kennedy-Scarborough Jct not mobilised
Lakeshore East - RFP to expand the most limiting section (Don to Scarborough Jct) outstanding
Bowmanville - still negotiating with CP, no shovels in the ground
Why ML won't just admit that the big gains are years away, and stop this "look at the fancy stations" distraction strategy, I just don't get.
- Paul
The existing stations are beginning to feel 'small' - at least at peak, when there's a lineup at the ticket booth - but accelerating station construction does nothing - Nooooooooothing (imagine a Lastmanesque Bad Boy voice with bass boost and reverb) - to increase service.
Niagara - no shovels in the ground yet, negotiations with CN continuing
West Harbour - track work has languished since forever
Milton - restricted to current peak one-way service by track capacity, no relief in sight
Kitchener - big continuing issue west of Bramalea, several years before 401/409 tunnel is completed east of Bramalea
Barrie - Davenport RFP outstanding, north end RFP outstanding, freight trains using existing track north of Snider
Richmond Hill - track flooding issues prevent double track construction
Stouffville - double tracking in process north of Kennedy, but ML hasn't committed to the junction design at Scarborough and double track from Kennedy-Scarborough Jct not mobilised
Lakeshore East - RFP to expand the most limiting section (Don to Scarborough Jct) outstanding
Bowmanville - still negotiating with CP, no shovels in the ground
Why ML won't just admit that the big gains are years away, and stop this "look at the fancy stations" distraction strategy, I just don't get.
- Paul
Allandale25
Senior Member
For Bowmanville, an article in the local paper from a few weeks ago suggested construction could break ground in 2019. An email to clarify provided this: "Due to the scale of this project, we are currently projected to break ground in 2019." Would it be safe to assume they have any agreement with CP? Update: when I checked the Metrolinx website for the latest Board report, I noticed this: "Agreements to access the CP corridor for surveying and engineering investigations were finalized in February 2018."
For Milton, some track work for the 2nd track being put back in (picture below). Also, from the last Board meeting, I wonder when this report will become public: "The Milton Corridor Capacity Study was completed and the final draft of the report is underway, following an extension to include scenario and potential impact of express trains"
mdrejhon
Senior Member
Work may be progressing slower than many of us want, but there's more activity happening at the moment, although they have slowed-down-and-accelerated in spurts:
-- They finished the bridge over Desjardins canal in December 2017 (track yet to activate)
-- Portal was recently installed for new signals near there
-- I actually saw track laid just several weeks ago, the second track at West Harbour
-- The study for the bridge widenings (e.g. Birch)
-- The Centennial Parkway bridge (5 tracks wide) finally opened less than a year ago
-- Groundbreaking of Confederation GO. I see some work starting up there now
-- Groundbreaking of Grimsby GO
-- I visited a Niagara GO PIC a few months ago which illustrated to me some of the complexities that slows them down, but there's no languishing -- just continuous red-tape-cutting and obstacle-breaking with slow forward progress.
Also, Hamilton LRT progressing on schedule at the moment:
-- https://www.thespec.com/news-story/...moving-people-out-of-the-way-of-construction/
The expropriations (apparently quietly and gently done with consideration of resident needs) and relocations are almost complete now. Vacant houses & stores where the buildings are about to be demolished to make way for the upcoming LRT stations in too-narrow sections of the corridor.
There may have be overpromising certain timelines earlier (earlier not knowing the obstacles) but currently my impression is that work remains on schedule under the currently-planned Niagara GO timelines. Yes, we all wish West Harbour GO was utilized more extensively more quickly. That said, the current estimates being given for Hamilton-Niagara seems to have stabilized to fairly accurate looking timelines.
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rbt
Senior Member
That's a side-effect of the P3 model. Since everything is fixed price, all details need to be known. In short, the electrical plug placement for the screens at customer service need to be decided by customer service, maintenance, and the contractor before they can even consider hiring someone to do excavation.
With a process like TTC traditionally used, those details about the building could be figured out after construction started BUT the final price wouldn't be known. They allowed overlap between design and construction.
You can try just giving specs (X service, Y capacity, etc.) but you might end up with a contractor that does cut&cover through downtown when you had expected a bored tunnel; that hurt Vancouver economically enough that they've gone to detailed designs in their recent tenders too.
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crs1026
Superstar
I would parse this to read: "We now have agreement with CP that allows our surveyors and engineers to enter on CP property to start figuring things out". That's progress, but well short of a ground breaking.
There are places where things are getting done, certainly - but one has to stand back and look at what might be the critical path item that limits putting a higher level of service in place. The Scarborough Jct-Kennedy piece is a good example. Before too many years there will be double track from Kennedy north to Unionville, and that may enable better service. Which is certainly grounds for celebration. However the lack of double track south of there, and the lack of an enhanced junction at Scarboro Jct , means we won't see the full eight-trains-an-hour ST/RER promise anytime soon. What ML is promising and what they can deliver are two different things. The degree of victory declared when the partial DT goes into service, versus what they are leaving for later, will be a disconnect.
- Paul
KevinT
Active Member
I was on highway 7 between Rockwood and Acton yesterday and spotted a new rail connected facility going in on the north side of the Kitchener line. It had at least 3 tracks that appeared to approach and enter a building that was under construction. Does anyone on here know if that's something Metrolinx is building or a private industrial development?
robmausser
Senior Member
smallspy
Senior Member
drum118
Superstar
Mar 24
Track 1 is in place and ready for use from the top of the south ramp at Weston to Weston Rd, but no track 1 at Weston. Track tampering is taking place at Weston Rd area.
Stop off in Whitby on my way home from a birthday party and had my first look at GO Transit Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility in poor light.
My first look at the new Oshawa Station. Get a good view from the overpass and windows of the main lines. Elevator is hospital style.
Track 1 is in place and ready for use from the top of the south ramp at Weston to Weston Rd, but no track 1 at Weston. Track tampering is taking place at Weston Rd area.
Stop off in Whitby on my way home from a birthday party and had my first look at GO Transit Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility in poor light.
My first look at the new Oshawa Station. Get a good view from the overpass and windows of the main lines. Elevator is hospital style.