torontocolin
Active Member
They say Lansdowne to Dundas, but presumably they mean Lansdowne to Bloor or Keele? Lansdowne to Dundas is not very far, and the space for a fourth Kitchener track was already set aside in that part of the corridor.
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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
crs1026
Senior Member
As written it's ambiguous. We know that the fourth track will encroach the Railpath as it exists all the way from Wallace Ave down to its current end at Dundas. We also know that the Railpath is being extended southeast beyond Dundas, not just to Landsdowne and beyond. We also know that their rail works involve both the Wallace-Lansdowne stretch on the Weston Sub, and Lansdowne-Strachan on the Newmarket Sub.
If ML thinks they can come out and discuss only the Dundas-Landsowne leg, without shedding some light and giving some room for advance community input on the other parts, well, that's their usual tone deafness to proper public consultation. But with the meeting right around the corner, I'm going to take the high road and hope that they provide useful information about their plans from top to bottom. It's good to see this construction moving forward, let's hope they will give enough detail and listen sufficiently that it's a good result.
- Paul
torontocolin
Active Member
Unless something has changed, the impact to the existing railpath should stop a couple hundred meters south of Bloor, north of the 128 Sterling Rd site, and well north of the current end point at Dundas. South of there (and north of Wallace) the space for the track is already there; it's really just the area where they need to route around the station platforms which is the issue.
Lansdowne to Dundas does include the expropriated former junk yard which will eventually hold a bridge over the Barrie line and a public park, so maybe they want to talk about that? Given the site of the meeting however, they should know that they will be aggressively questioned about the area around Bloor GO whether they are prepared to discuss it or not.
Lansdowne to Dundas does include the expropriated former junk yard which will eventually hold a bridge over the Barrie line and a public park, so maybe they want to talk about that? Given the site of the meeting however, they should know that they will be aggressively questioned about the area around Bloor GO whether they are prepared to discuss it or not.
crs1026
Senior Member
An interesting read - the good news is, ML actually working on adding track on the Guelph Sub, the not so good news is, another mayor discovers how ML handles community outreach....
www.wellingtonadvertiser.com
- Paul
Metrolinx requesting access to local properties for GO line expansion studies
ROCKWOOD – A Metrolinx plan for a second set of train tracks in the Kitchener GO Transit corridor has Guelph-Eramosa council and local landowners looking for more information before they grant consent for preliminary studies. Metrolinx is currently asking permission to access private and public...
www.wellingtonadvertiser.com
- Paul
salsa
Senior Member
An interesting read - the good news is, ML actually working on adding track on the Guelph Sub, the not so good news is, another mayor discovers how ML handles community outreach....
Metrolinx requesting access to local properties for GO line expansion studies
ROCKWOOD – A Metrolinx plan for a second set of train tracks in the Kitchener GO Transit corridor has Guelph-Eramosa council and local landowners looking for more information before they grant consent for preliminary studies. Metrolinx is currently asking permission to access private and public...
- Paul
Can't decide whether I'm more annoyed with the NIMBYs, or Metrolinx's non-existent effort in community outreach.
crs1026
Senior Member
Dealing With Elected Representatives 101 says, a) No Surprises and b) give them enough information to be ready for constituent reaction and to look effective in handling them. They can diffuse a lot of backlash if they are properly oriented.
The Council is perhaps hoping for a stop in Rockwood, so they may position as unhappy as a tactic even if it’s a good news story over all. But the reported request of the landowner is truly egregious.....hey, get all your vehicles out of our way, and your livestock too. Arrogant as heck.
ML’s secretive and one-sided approach to the public, combined with its refusal to say anything substantive when asked a direct question, deserves a real calling out. Neither this government nor the last one seem to care....maybe they like it that way.
- Paul
Allandale25
Senior Member
Blog post detailing the construction work happening this weekend on the Lakeshore East line.
lenaitch
Senior Member
I certainly don't equate a landowner wanting details of requested access - or at least time to give them informed consideration - and to not incur personal costs, on the same level of NIMBYism. Also, the issue of possible closed crossings has a very real local impact in terms of possible costs for school bus re-routing, extended emergency response times (possibly increasing insurance premiums), etc. They may well be a local cost to achieve a greater good that the local community sees little benefit from.
crs1026
Senior Member
I took my first trip on the Stouffville line in a couple of months today. I noted a lot of progress, but there is still an awful lot to do before any of the double track can go into service. North of Agincourt, there is lots of second track in place.... but until the tunnels are completed at Milliken and Agincourt, and until the bridges south of Agincourt are built (and work on those is still at an early stage), this new track will have gaps and is of no real value.
South of Agincourt, there is one new track in use, but much of the old roadbed has yet to be removed. Where it has been removed, there is more bare earth exposes than new subgrade in place. And a couple nasty looking excavations and drainage challenges yet to be addressed.
There were survey crews out south of Kennedy, so planning must be happening for that bit.
What that means is that any new nights/weekend service is just utilising the existing single track, and is not a sign that double track is going into service. My bystander’s tcd is next Labour Day for that.
- Paul
South of Agincourt, there is one new track in use, but much of the old roadbed has yet to be removed. Where it has been removed, there is more bare earth exposes than new subgrade in place. And a couple nasty looking excavations and drainage challenges yet to be addressed.
There were survey crews out south of Kennedy, so planning must be happening for that bit.
What that means is that any new nights/weekend service is just utilising the existing single track, and is not a sign that double track is going into service. My bystander’s tcd is next Labour Day for that.
- Paul
Garuda
Active Member
Lots of work happening on the Kitchener Line in Guelph this weekend. Pictures taken along the "street running" part of Kent Street and the Yorkshire crossing.
crs1026
Senior Member
I was handed a little crow to eat with my Thanksgiving turkey this year - after venting about how the Hamilton Jct interlocking is a long ways from getting reworked to enable increased Hamilton service, CN actually started making changes last weekend and (I'm told) will continue with the work over the fall. So far, a couple of switches have been moved further north, which creates just enough room to squeeze in some new turnouts to re-attach one of the two connecting tracks to the CP line to Hunter Street. If you refer back to message 5668 in this thread, you can sort of see the difference.
If work stays on track to the New Year (always a big "if" with this sort of construction), the new track from West Harbour to Bayview will be complete, and the chokepoint between CN freight and GO movements will have been mitigated, which brings 2WAD service all that much closer. It's a complicated task..... good to see ML finally found the money and the sense of urgency for this work, after several years' worth of kicking stones.
- Paul
If work stays on track to the New Year (always a big "if" with this sort of construction), the new track from West Harbour to Bayview will be complete, and the chokepoint between CN freight and GO movements will have been mitigated, which brings 2WAD service all that much closer. It's a complicated task..... good to see ML finally found the money and the sense of urgency for this work, after several years' worth of kicking stones.
- Paul
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Northern Light
Superstar
Silly question, I'm sure, but I apparently need to learn something............what's with that bizarre-looking (to me) alignment for that connecting track with the 2 distinct curves on its way over?
crs1026
Senior Member
I have two theories on that. One is that it’s the simplest and cheapest way to have connected the existing alignment to the relocated turnout, particularly if it’s just temporary until the next bit of trackwork is added.
The other theory is that the next step will be to install a turnout in that midsection, so the odd curve is a diverging route but there will be a straight route added. Note the red surveyor’s stake (or conduit marker?)....that may be the midline of a further track addition. When I imagine the eventual design, that seems a very likely prospect.
Of course, someone may have simply decided to add a “wheeeee” factor to the ride, but you are correct, it’s not really the way one would want a train to wobble its way thru the junction ;-)
- Paul
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Allandale25
Senior Member
So just to visualize what's going to happen, is this how the third will be extended through this area?
crs1026
Senior Member
^That would be my guess, yes. And add a set of xovers from your new red track to give a route towards the xovers just below the line truck.
The red line you drew ties to the south connecting track to CP plus the new track to West Harbour. The added xovers would give a route to T3, keeping trains out of the way of Brantford bound trains at Bayview.
- Paul
The red line you drew ties to the south connecting track to CP plus the new track to West Harbour. The added xovers would give a route to T3, keeping trains out of the way of Brantford bound trains at Bayview.
- Paul