GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[Allandale25]

Media article on Barrie Line construction and a recent meeting with Metrolinx and residents.

Double talk: Metrolinx outlines future for second set of tracks

Details around timing of years-long project remain unclear, but transit official says 'our aim is to make GO rail competitive with car driving'

www.bradfordtoday.ca

 

[Northern Light]

Media article on Barrie Line construction and a recent meeting with Metrolinx and residents.

Double talk: Metrolinx outlines future for second set of tracks

Details around timing of years-long project remain unclear, but transit official says 'our aim is to make GO rail competitive with car driving'

www.bradfordtoday.ca

This is what jumped out at me in the piece:

Say what? It was? Are we counting from the first time GO RER was mentioned?

Another decade pushes this out to 2033. Yikes!

 

[rbt]

This is what jumped out at me in the piece:

View attachment 470390

Say what? It was? Are we counting from the first time GO RER was mentioned?

Service will be phased in, but it's gotta be from today.

2033 to double track and electrify to Barrie South/Allandale stations shouldn't be very surprising. That northern piece on Barrie Line has got to be some of the lowest priority upgrades in the system considering most of the time today even the hourly bus has available capacity.

The more central sections to Aurora (or even Bradford) will be in service long before then.

Union platform reconfiguration to support full RER service will also take 10+ years just based on how long it took to do the shed.

 

[innsertnamehere]

I don't believe full double tracking to Barrie is in the GO Expansion books, at least not yet, as far as I'm aware. 15-minute service is only supposed to run to Bradford, with hourly service to Barrie from what I recall... which can probably be handled with passing tracks.

 

[Allandale25]

Media article on Barrie Line construction and a recent meeting with Metrolinx and residents.

Double talk: Metrolinx outlines future for second set of tracks

Details around timing of years-long project remain unclear, but transit official says 'our aim is to make GO rail competitive with car driving'

www.bradfordtoday.ca

And a local non-transit fan writes in.

LETTER: Twinning of GO line fraught with unresolved issues

'Why not encourage businesses to locate in the 905 areas instead of encouraging tens of thousands of workers to travel from the 905 areas to Toronto?' questions letter writer

www.newmarkettoday.ca

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

It was always sidings north of Bradford. Once the Innisfil sidings are done, Barrie should get way more diesel service.

 

[crs1026]

This is what jumped out at me in the piece:

View attachment 470390

Say what? It was? Are we counting from the first time GO RER was mentioned?

Another decade pushes this out to 2033. Yikes!

The original promise for the entire RER network was 2024, which shifted to 2024-2025, which shifted to......

Premier unveils plan for expanded service to Barrie

Premier Kathleen Wynne hopped off a southbound GO train at the Barrie South station shortly after 9 a.m., Friday.As it was almost two hours after the last train usually leaves

www.simcoe.com

To be fair, the Ford Government's 2018 restatement of the Business Case did recognize that 2025-2031 was a more realistic timeline.

People who say "I told you so" generally get a poor reaction.... but, well, some of us did. The pace of work and the pieces that were not started, let alone falling in place, has made that obvious for a while now.



- Paul

 

[Northern Light]

I've given the matter due consideration.

I know you don't hang around in the development threads (buildings) that often @crs1026

But I've come to the conclusion, we need CentreCourt to get into building transit. Their time is money attitude is needed.

 

[robmausser]

Everyone always sees things in extremes, but GO RER is always a project of incremental improvements. This was never a big start from scratch capital project, this all really started in 2009 with grade separations of key areas, like Georgetown South. The work will continue with grade separations, and then station platform doubling, PTC installation, double tracking and lastly electrification.

All throughout the process we will incremental improvements on the GO system. And we will probably see the electrification of the first line prior to 2033.

 

[crs1026]

I've given the matter due consideration.

I know you don't hang around in the development threads (buildings) that often @crs1026

But I've come to the conclusion, we need CentreCourt to get into building transit. Their time is money attitude is needed.

I suspect Centercourt has a clear vision of what a project plan looks like, knows how to line up its subs, and can get the drawings and paperwork done. Arguably they only have the municipal development application and review process in their way. (/s). Their left and right hands probably report to the same brain.

No one has really ever redirected the RER, er, GO Expansion vision and scope. But Ml spent several years in a funk trying to figure out how to contract (or avoid being the buyer) , and how to project manage (or how to avoid project managing). And then several years trying to execute procurement.

Of course, Centercourt only gets paid when the customers can move in.

Metrolinx generates a steady stream of photo ops without ever topping off its towers. The model suites get celebrated without any concrete ever getting poured. Closing day has little connection to that narrative.

- Paul

 

[innsertnamehere]

the biggest difference for centrecourt vs. other developers is they operate 12 hour shifts for construction. That's basically it, they run 7-7 on their sites instead of 7-3. I'm sure they pay a pretty premium for it, but they also throw their buildings up extremely quickly and can move their efforts on to the next one.

 

[Northern Light]

the biggest difference for centrecourt vs. other developers is they operate 12 hour shifts for construction. That's basically it, they run 7-7 on their sites instead of 7-3.

Well, that and they are way faster out of the gate on average, from permit issuance to shovel in the ground. They rarely let the grass grow under their feet.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Well, that and they are way faster out of the gate on average, from permit issuance to shovel in the ground. They rarely let the grass grow under their feet.

yup. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in their offices - I'm sure there is a ton of pressure to get permitting processed and shovels down.

 

[cplchanb]

Everyone always sees things in extremes, but GO RER is always a project of incremental improvements. This was never a big start from scratch capital project, this all really started in 2009 with grade separations of key areas, like Georgetown South. The work will continue with grade separations, and then station platform doubling, PTC installation, double tracking and lastly electrification.

All throughout the process we will incremental improvements on the GO system. And we will probably see the electrification of the first line prior to 2033.

problem with this mentality in this age is that the longer they stretch it out, they more costs will increase over time. we witnessed the most savage price increases for construction ever last year.
cost escalations will lead to value engineering which usually leads to scope scaleback (as we saw with what was originally thought to be EMU purchases...). this leads to under developed projects and hence the vicious
death spiral continues....
the faster they build it the faster the potential ROI

 

[ProjectEnd]