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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

The new number 1 track for Weston Sub will be in place once the tunnel is done along with the new Eglinton GO/UPX station, Weston Station and at Bloor St as most of it is in place. One other area that may need tracks is north of King St to Dundas. There are 3 tracks to Bramalea today as before. Then you got the Woodbine station EA to be done before it will require track work as well building the station.

Desjardin Canal Bridge is done except the 3rd track from it to Bayview Junction along with new switches and hooking up the new signals for all 3 tracks as well CP junction.

Stouffville double track has been done in many location, but other areas still needs to be done. Agincourt, Milliken and Kennedy are being worked on and it will be 2021 before these stations are double track. How to double track from Kennedy to the Lakeshore line is unknown at this time.

Got to add tracks for the Barrie line from King St to Steeles. Until the grade separation is done, that 2nd track is not require as well build the Caledonia Station.

As for what to happening between Bramalea and KW, that is a big question to be asked.

There are 2 grade separation to take place in Oakville.

When is Confederation Station going to be built as well the 2nd 2 track bridge for it as well doubling tracking the line from it to West Harbour including the station??

What is Going on for Exhibition Station??
But Bloor station isn’t even close to ready for a new track 1. New pedestrian access tunnel(?), shift of the rail path and the track 1 overpass at Bloor to shift. Does Bloor need to be regraded?
 
I would assume the other big piece is the Scarboro Junction Grade separation(s). It now has its own page here.

As someone who takes the Stouffville Line regularly this is a blessing. The crossing at Corvette Park is should be grade separated via a staircase rather than a tunnel.. it is too isolated for a tunnel to operate safely.

Danforth would benefit from grade separation in the same way that St Clair did.

This begs the question though.. why relocate Scarborough GO station? Right now it is in a good location.
 
But Bloor station isn’t even close to ready for a new track 1. New pedestrian access tunnel(?), shift of the rail path and the track 1 overpass at Bloor to shift. Does Bloor need to be regraded?
It will take a year at the worst to build track 1 at Bloor. Bloor new track will require some grading, but not much. The platforms are setup for track 1 now. Up to ML when work will start at Bloor.
 
As someone who takes the Stouffville Line regularly this is a blessing. The crossing at Corvette Park is should be grade separated via a staircase rather than a tunnel.. it is too isolated for a tunnel to operate safely.

Danforth would benefit from grade separation in the same way that St Clair did.

This begs the question though.. why relocate Scarborough GO station? Right now it is in a good location.

Maybe it's located too close to where they need to put some of the grade separations?
 
It will take a year at the worst to build track 1 at Bloor. Bloor new track will require some grading, but not much. The platforms are setup for track 1 now. Up to ML when work will start at Bloor.

That's what it *should* take, I agree.

My question remains: have all the consultations with the Railpath communtiy been completed? Is there a final design? Has the procurement been completed? How about Mount Dennis?

ML should be managing to a "critical path". The 401/409 tunnel arguably is the longest lead time item. Will all the other tasks be done by the time the tunnel is finished? Or will there be more items left to do?

- Paul
 
^ there is another consultation coming up.

 
Just to get into fine detail about why Scarborough needs attention....

Through this location there will have to be a local track for eastbounds, and a local track for westbounds. At Scarborough, there is a branching with two tracks to Stouffville and two tracks for Oshawa. Stouffville trains will run every 15 minutes, and Oshawa trains will run every 15 minutes. Coming out of Union, and going towards Union, that's a train every 7.5 minutes each way. Over time, those headways may be reduced.

The problem is that no matter how you use the trackage, with a 'flat' junction there is a need for one set of Stouffville trains to cross over one set of tracks used by Oshawa trains. And vice versa.

Only happens once every 7.5 minutes....Sounds simple? The devil is in the need for the route to be clear a couple minutes ahead of each train. If the route isn't clear, the approaching signals will be restrictive, and trains will have to slow down. That reduction will begin several signal blocks - ie several miles - away from the crossover point. So that once-every-7.5-minutes use of the crossing point requires up to 4-5 minutes of dedicated advance signal time at the crossover. During that time, the crossing is not available to trains on the other route. Even with precise scheduling and operation, that leaves little room for train delays.

There will also be two express tracks for use by VIA and express GO trains. In theory, the two southmost tracks could be used as express pathways, so they don't have to factor in the math.....but....if the middle tracks are used as the express tracks, as the present platform placement along the LSE dictates, the crossover movements not only have to clear the opposing local GO movements, but the express tracks as well. In a flat layout, they would be blocked once every 15 minutes for 4-5 minutes.

The solution is likely a grade separated flyover or flyunder similar to Rahway NJ. There are plenty of precedents, it's a simple matter of figuring out how to rough it in. The grades and road crossings involved are what may make it desirable to move the platform locations for GO Scarborough.

- Paul

Scarboro Jct r3.jpg
 
Maybe it's located too close to where they need to put some of the grade separations?

Not really. There is grade separate at the station already as part of the platform is on a bridge over St Clair.

The track splits off just east of Scarborough GO so any grade separations would not affect it.

I am not sure where they think a relocated Scarborough GO station will go as there is nowhere for it to go unless you tear down a subdivision.
 
I would think any station (re)location would have to accommodate a reasonable grade (either up or down) to allow for a future grade separation at Danforth. By splitting off both Stouffville tracks from the LSE local lines - the flat junction CRS speaks of - they would need enough space for platforms on both sides of each route far enough away from where they need to start the grade.
 
I am not sure where they think a relocated Scarborough GO station will go as there is nowhere for it to go unless you tear down a subdivision.

There is loads of room to the southwest of the station where the former rail yard is. In fact, they could move the entire station it's own length to the southwest before having to think about any housing expropriation/purchase. Moving the station in that direction would also give them more distance between the station and any potential rail-rail grade separation.

.. isnt a bit curious that suddenly metrolinx wants to grade separate everything on the stoufville line south of the havelock sub that via hfr is running? I know someone posted about Via HFR potentially using that route in the Via thread..

This has been in the plans for quite some time. It's only now that they've actually started to move forward on it.

Dan
 
.. isnt a bit curious that suddenly metrolinx wants to grade separate everything on the stoufville line south of the havelock sub that via hfr is running? I know someone posted about Via HFR potentially using that route in the Via thread..

I don't know if that prospect is "on" or not....but..... it might align to what Metrolinx will show at the upcoming TPAP meetings ie a new layover facility on the Don Branch. Hard to tell if there would still be a thru track. The below slides were emailed out by the Riverdale South residents for a presentation that was recently given prior to the TPAP meetings.

- Paul

PS: The electrification up to Pottery Road is a very puzzling item, also.

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Well now, that's different; on so many levels.

If I'm reading that correctly, they're proposing to twin track the Don Branch for the portion designated as a layover facility. That, I believe will require reconstruction of the rail embankment.

I take it they would store trains on both the new track and the 'mainline' (which isn't right now since it goes nowhere).

If the intent is storage on both tracks, that would preclude VIA HFR from running through at this location.

This may be related to the apparent move to abandon the Portlands/waterfront spur and the associated rail yard. There is clear talk about improved access to the Unilever site, which would imply no tracks at all north of Lakeshore, east of the Don.

All this, in turn has impacts on the OL discussion again, if VIA HFR is to be routed through Stouffville Sub.

So many balls in play here.

***

I may have to oppose this yard; given the associated access road project, it may prove very disruptive to plans for Lower Don Park.

Discussions inside the City have been getting serious around removing the Bayview offramp cloverleaf and reducing Bayview to one-lane each way to allow for a more park-like setting.

Seeing such gains offset by another road, the widened Don Branch and electrification set ups is an in issue.

***

To stir something further in...........

As part of discussions over how to deal with flooding on the Bala sub......one of the options raised was re-routing GO RH via the Don Branch, but taking it past the rail bridge, and having it hug the DVP across Pottery Rd before dropping back into the existing RH alignment.

The alternative was raising the grade of the entire Bala, and doing so in a way that would allow a grade separation at Pottery Rd. The impacts and costs would seem to rule that out.

Does that discussion factor into this? Hmmmmm

I should add, in the above scenario, the give-back was that the existing Bala from just north of Pottery to where it merges w/Don Branch would have been removed and made park space.
 
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