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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

innsertnamehere said:
Kitchener
Scarboro St
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The Scarboro Crossing should close with a replacement spiral pedestrian bridge similar to the one in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Residents in Old Malton Village and politicians for Peel Region need a reality check - it's not their god given right to be able to drive over that crossing when active transportation like walking or biking will suffice.
 
Coolstar said:
I wish that was the case, but the Finch Avenue East crossing will remain at-grade due to the cancellation/deferment of the Finch-Kennedy GO Station. Until then, none of the RER lines within the 15 min portions will be fully grade-separated. The thing is, can Metrolinx grade-separate the intersection without the GO station?
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That's a good question. I suppose it would be possible, given that's basically what they did at Confederation GO (Centennial Pkwy was grade-separated back in 2015ish, and the rail portion of the GO station still isn't anywhere close to operational).

The plans for Finch Station may be more tightly integrated with the street itself though (bus layovers on the street as opposed to an off-street bus loop, etc), so that may impact things. It may reach a point where the cost of roughing in/future-proofing all of those design elements may approach the cost of just building the station at the same time.
 
gweed123 said:
That's a good question. I suppose it would be possible, given that's basically what they did at Confederation GO (Centennial Pkwy was grade-separated back in 2015ish, and the rail portion of the GO station still isn't anywhere close to operational).

The plans for Finch Station may be more tightly integrated with the street itself though (bus layovers on the street as opposed to an off-street bus loop, etc), so that may impact things. It may reach a point where the cost of roughing in/future-proofing all of those design elements may approach the cost of just building the station at the same time.
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There was a grade separation at Centennial pre-2015 - they simply replaced it. It was an old substandard one like you see elsewhere closer to downtown Hamilton.
 
innsertnamehere said:
There was a grade separation at Centennial pre-2015 - they simply replaced it. It was an old substandard one like you see elsewhere closer to downtown Hamilton.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of that. The first time I had ever driven through there is when they were building the current one, and they had an at-grade road going around the one side. I suppose my point still stands though, in that it is feasible to build/rebuild a grade separation immediately adjacent to a location where you intend to build a station.
 
reaperexpress said:
I have considered this idea in the past, and it would certainly look satisfying on the map. But like @Northern Light said, it is extremely unlikely that the cost could be justfied. The main reason is that Newmarket and Aurora themselves make up such a large portion of the line's ridership. If it were a line which served many intercity trains continuing onward to major cities beyond Barrie, then it might be worth having a dedicated intercity line bypassing the commuter centres. But it's not worth it just for Barrie, Collingwood and Orillia.

Unfortunately I don't have time at the moment to do any back-of-the envelope calculations to ballpark the time savings it would bring.

A much more practical improvement for Bradford, Barrie and points north would be to run limited-stops services on the line. Given that trains currently run the line in 1h40 making all station stops, express trains could easily run the line in less than 1h30. Once the line is double-tracked from Union to Aurora as planned, it will become possible to have multiple stopping patterns for the all-day service, with express trains from Barrie and local services from Aurora.
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Thank you.

I live right at Downsview Park GO/Sheppard West Station and would love to take the train up to Barrie sometimes. But it's 1 hour and 20 minute trip from Downsview alone. For that travel time I'm hoping in my car instead as I could probably get there in 45-50 minutes.

But you're right I guess once double tracking happens it may decrease travel time.

Metrolinx really needs to have a hyper focus on cutting down travel time on both bus and train service. This then maybe give people like me an incentive to actually take the service.
 
gweed123 said:
I wasn't aware of that. The first time I had ever driven through there is when they were building the current one, and they had an at-grade road going around the one side. I suppose my point still stands though, in that it is feasible to build/rebuild a grade separation immediately adjacent to a location where you intend to build a station.
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Yup, no worries. This is how it looked before (isn't historic streetview amazing?). Centennial used to be a provincial highway back in the day, I believe the initial grade separation was constructed in the 1920's when they build the mountain access as well.
 
kingkam said:
Thank you.

I live right at Downsview Park GO/Sheppard West Station and would love to take the train up to Barrie sometimes. But it's 1 hour and 20 minute trip from Downsview alone. For that travel time I'm hoping in my car instead as I could probably get there in 45-50 minutes.

But you're right I guess once double tracking happens it may decrease travel time.

Metrolinx really needs to have a hyper focus on cutting down travel time on both bus and train service. This then maybe give people like me an incentive to actually take the service.
Click to expand...

45 minutes outside of rush hour, sure. That's when it's toughest for transit to compete as it's very difficult to beat 110km/h travel speeds of a freeway.

GO service is going to improve pretty significantly for travel times with level boarding and electrification, but don't expect 45 minute travel times when the current time is 80 minutes. Maybe more like 65-70 minutes.
 
70MPH is 110Kmph. So if you take into account that there is traffic you are about the same with station stops. It's a lot more productive to take the train because you can work while on the train but you cant while you are driving, even with Autopilot.
 
gweed123 said:
That's a good question. I suppose it would be possible, given that's basically what they did at Confederation GO (Centennial Pkwy was grade-separated back in 2015ish, and the rail portion of the GO station still isn't anywhere close to operational).

The plans for Finch Station may be more tightly integrated with the street itself though (bus layovers on the street as opposed to an off-street bus loop, etc), so that may impact things. It may reach a point where the cost of roughing in/future-proofing all of those design elements may approach the cost of just building the station at the same time.
Click to expand...
Looks like you're right. According to this response, the Finch Grade-Separation will still take place as part of the early works.

1608060454016.png
 
Bordercollie said:
70MPH is 110Kmph. So if you take into account that there is traffic you are about the same with station stops. It's a lot more productive to take the train because you can work while on the train but you cant while you are driving, even with Autopilot.
Click to expand...
By the time go expansion is done, autonomy will be fully solved in cars.
 

Request for Proposals Closes for Milton GO Station and Station Operations West Facility Project
December 14, 2020
TORONTO – The request for proposals stage has closed for teams to submit their bids to design, build and finance the expansion of Milton GO Station and a new Station Operations West Facility for the GO Expansion Program.
Following a fair, open and transparent request for qualifications process, three teams – Milton Transit Group, Milton Integrated Transit Team, and Ledcor MM Partners - were prequalified and invited to respond to a request for proposals in April 2018. Milton Transit Group and Ledcor MM Partners have submitted their proposals by the deadline.
Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx have begun to evaluate proposals and expect to announce a preferred proponent in February 2021. A fairness monitor is observing the entire procurement process.
Click here to learn more about the project.
 
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