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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

It has not yet, no. They're really slacking on this. It's been in a similar state for what feels like months now (we had first movement in October or November, IIRC). If any of my sites took this long to do this little work, both the crews, and likely me, would be out of a job...

And this is why you didn't go for the handle Project Purgatory or Project Interregnum or Project Unending. LOL

You're actually paid to get stuff done; and you do!
 
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Hey guys, this is my first time posting here…

Anyway, these were some shots I took at Guelph Centrale of the second platform progress. Things are looking very good right now.
 
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Hey guys, this is my first time posting here…

Anyway, these were some shots I took at Guelph Centrale of the second platform progress. Things are looking very good right now.
Welcome to UT! Guelph Central is really shaping up well. Now, hopefully it gets the service it deserves soon-ish. Even a handful of weekend trains would be appreciated.
 
Hey guys, this is my first time posting here…

Anyway, these were some shots I took at Guelph Centrale of the second platform progress. Things are looking very good right now.

Let me join @SaugeenJunction in welcoming you to UT. Excellent first post, I look forward to many more!
 
Had a look today of Weston and Mount Dennis station.

Weston is finished and the only change I saw since my last visited was all the fencing is in place between the track as well on the platform. Signals lights turn sideway. The MoW equipment is still in the same position that I shot the last time I was there and odd it still there months later.

Mount Dennis stills has a lot of flashing still to do. Sound wall barriers have been installed with clear plexiglass starting at Eglinton going north.

The landscape still the same conditions as the last visited.

See the rest of the posting in the Crosstown thread.
 
From the above:

As usual, I will be the Grumpy Gus about ML's project reporting

Metrolinx refuses to publish timeline or even Phase milestones (let alone scope definitions) for anything. Lots of stuff is happening out there, sure, but how much have any of its projects advanced towards an end state? And are any long-lead project elements - which become more important as projects advance, because these lead times then define the closest possible completion dates - at risk? Have any end dates moved (forward or backwards) from last quarter? (Do we even have end dates?)

This kind of activity-based reporting, where you report whatever great things have been accomplished lately with no reference to overall project metrics, would have gotten me fired in my career (although I tried it a few times). The people I reported to were far too clever to buy that kind of story - if ML's Board is competent, I would expect a lot of hard questions being asked. If we saw more evidence of that, we might trust more.

The Barrie line is a good example. Certainly there is all sorts of fence construction and grading happening..... but the fences have gaps, the grading has gaps..... hard to discern a "Phase I" that has actually finished. Just more new starts announced and celebrated, and then work moves on somewhere else. leaving things that will take longer (like the larger culverts) unstarted, and hence despite all the work we are no closer to the end date..

ML also has a real "Project Based ADD" where they celebrate that new things are starting to the exclusion of things not yet completed. There is no discipline to revisit work in progress to show that it is advancing.

The item about East Harbour is interesting. Sounds like this will be one of the most major sub-projects on the Ontario Line and has many preparatory steps before shovels hit the ground. It would be interesting to see the timeline for this element placed next to the timeline for Osgoode Station. One has to wonder if that comparison would show that there is all the time in the world to find a better station design for Osgoode without compromising the in-service date for the Ontario Line.


I know @crs1026 like to keep tabs on the numbers below and so I will bring them forward:

Fully consistent with the last quarter's numbers, and most importantly there is no sign that anything has been dropped from scope.

The "Early Works" envelope is now more than half spent. It's fair to ask if the results achieved match the intended or actual spend to date.

People asking about the fate of Smarttrack will be reassured that the line item for SmartTrack stations is still there - with about $1.3B yet to be spent.

- Paul
 
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