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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

West Harbour work continues today (Oct 20):
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Oct 20
Can we get some of the drone folks to shoot to new corridor from Carlaw to the Humber to see how long it will be before the current 2 tracks are shifted to it to allow the removal of the existing Eastern Ave and Queen St E to be remove starting with Eastern. It would be nice to see this new corridor. The OL will replace that corridor.

The new bridges along with the east retraining wall are in place with sound barriers wall being installed today. The bridges have a higher clearance as well wider span for wider sidewalks. East seem to have 2 extra lanes as well.

Queen
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Eastern
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vistaway said:
West Harbour work continues today (Oct 20):
View attachment 605910
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Lots of ballast going in..............but doesn't look the like the rail itself is quite finished yet.

Would our knowledgeable rail folks care to comment on the order of operations here?
 
Northern Light said:
Lots of ballast going in..............but doesn't look the like the rail itself is quite finished yet.

Would our knowledgeable rail folks care to comment on the order of operations here?
Click to expand...
The rail work looks to be happening in a typical and orderly fashion. The gap between the existing bumper posts and the new track is not a big thing to finish - but its being left unfinished tells the story.

The rumour mill has varying opinions about whether the crossovers between the two main tracks will be upgraded. The new turnouts appear to be good for 45 mph, but if the crossover remains at 15 mph, GO will mostly stick to the south main. Not critical to extension of GO but an example of a detail that would be nice to have done now to give flexibility and do it right the first time. (recognising that it's a cost item, of course)

As to signalling..... which is the last step..... I'm told, don't expect anything soon. The tcd for putting the new track in service may still be months away.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
The rail work looks to be happening in a typical and orderly fashion. The gap between the existing bumper posts and the new track is not a big thing to finish - but its being left unfinished tells the story.

The rumour mill has varying opinions about whether the crossovers between the two main tracks will be upgraded. The new turnouts appear to be good for 45 mph, but if the crossover remains at 15 mph, GO will mostly stick to the south main. Not critical to extension of GO but an example of a detail that would be nice to have done now to give flexibility and do it right the first time. (recognising that it's a cost item, of course)

As to signalling..... which is the last step..... I'm told, don't expect anything soon. The tcd for putting the new track in service may still be months away.

- Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks, Paul!
 
Chris R. said:
Do they straight the tracks manually or do they get straightened by trains going over them?
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Thanks for the pics!

They run a machine called a tamper over the tracks, which uses lasers, high-precision differential gps, and magic to align them. As it moves along, stopping at every tie, it picks up the tracks and shifts them to exactly where they need to be, while jamming vibrating chisel-like tools down the side of each rail and in between the ties. The vibrations cause the ballast rocks to jump around and tetris themselves into the correct positions to lock the ties in place. The machine then lowers and lets go of the track, re-measures it, then either tweaks it again if necessary, or scooches ahead to do the next tie. (There may be larger machines that do a few ties worth at a time, I've edited this description to match the machine in the video I linked below.)

Here's some excellent footage of a tamper working away on Waterloo Region's ION light rail tracks a few years back. This section looks a bit weird because it's gauntlet track (two track sections overlapped about 8 inches off center from each other), but the principle is the same for all track:

 
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KevinT said:
Thanks for the pics!

They run a machine called a tamper over the tracks, which uses lasers, high-precision differential gps, and magic to align them. As it moves along, stopping at every tie, it picks up the tracks and shifts them to exactly where they need to be, while jamming vibrating chisel-like tools down the side of each rail and in between the ties. The vibrations cause the ballast rocks to jump around and tetris themselves into the correct positions to lock the ties in place. The machine then lowers and lets go of the track, re-measures it, then either tweaks it again if necessary, or scooches ahead to do the next tie. (There may be larger machines that do a few ties worth at a time, I've edited this description to match the machine in the video I linked below.)

Here's some excellent footage of a tamper working away on Waterloo Region's ION light rail tracks a few years back. This section looks a bit weird because it's gauntlet track (two track sections overlapped about 8 inches off center from each other), but the principle is the same for all track:

Click to expand...
A tamper is a big piece of the puzzle when it comes to laying and setting up track, but it is by no means the only one.

Ballast needs to be dumped first in order to provide something to support the track itself.

The ballast needs to be shaped in order to provide that support - so a ballast regulator will pass back and forth, levelling the ballast to the tops of the ties and shaping the shoulders that will hold the ends of the ties.

The tamper than comes by and does its work, raising, lining and levelling the track. But it will require multiple passes to do this, along with several more passes of ballast each, followed by the ballast regulator.

Once the tracks are at their final height and alignment, a dynamic stabilizer will then run over the track and vibrate it, helping lock the ballast together and into the track structure. This helps with handling the various stresses (temperature, loading, etc.) as well as allowing the track to reach its final allowed speed faster.

Because that's the final process of the whole thing - breaking it in. Track needs to be passed over by many trains in order for everything to settle and achieve its final state - with some standards requiring as many as 1 million tonnes to pass over it before trains are finally allowed to operate at the final speed.

Dan
 
6ixGod said:
Metro6 has some great videos on Toronto transit history.

Here’s a one hour video of GO ALRT.

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Closest thing we will get now is GO RER and the 407 Transitway. Both imo not nearly as good as the ALRT plan. The speed and frequency would be unmatched, if it lived up to its hype.
 
robmausser said:
Closest thing we will get now is GO RER and the 407 Transitway. Both imo not nearly as good as the ALRT plan. The speed and frequency would be unmatched, if it lived up to its hype.
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If the Transitway has actually become something related to the Ontario Line running from Unionville to Renforth there's really not much difference from ALRT except the 40 years... But no, I don't think there's much doubt of how much we lost by cancelling ALRT.
 
robmausser said:
Closest thing we will get now is GO RER and the 407 Transitway. Both imo not nearly as good as the ALRT plan. The speed and frequency would be unmatched, if it lived up to its hype.
Click to expand...
I'd assume with the province's latest Transportation plan, the central 407 transitway would be replaced by the Ontario Line extension, and the spurs to Oshawa and Burlington would be the same technology.
 
nfitz said:
I'd assume with the province's latest Transportation plan, the central 407 transitway would be replaced by the Ontario Line extension, and the spurs to Oshawa and Burlington would be the same technology.
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You are correct. The MTO 2051 plan removed the bus transitway and replaced it with a regional metro. I'd assume the REM is the inspiration.
 
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