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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
canarob
Senior Member
I checked from the train earlier this week and didn't see any progress. I wonder if this work is even still planned for this year?
TwinHuey
Active Member
Let me know when you see any changes and I'll do a fly over...
Mr Finish Line
Active Member
I'm pretty sure a new signal tower went up north of the bridge a month or 2 ago. Around that time we were discussing there being some construction activity over a weekend and I think after that I noticed the signal tower. I've been meaning to do my yearly flyover but haven't had the time yet.
Mr Finish Line
Active Member
reaperexpress
Senior Member
They don't need to. The existing express track between Danforth and Guildwood is long enough for an express train to overtake a local already.
nfitz
Superstar
Perhaps I'm wrong, and there will be express Lakeshore East trains in August (or September). Time will tell - but I doubt there will be.
crs1026
Superstar
Time is very fluid in such a big project, and from the sidewalk it sure looks like much has yet to be done......but because shifting the GO tracks out of their current alignment is mission critical to making progress on the Ontario Line, I have confidence that GO will be back to three tracks sooner than later.
- Paul
reaperexpress
Senior Member
Grading work for the second track has been completed in the vicinity of Downsview Park station, but it is positioned in a way that makes it unusable.
The station is designed for 3 tracks with two side platforms, so in the interim 2-track configuration there needs to be a gap between the northbound and southbound tracks, like at Rutherford.
You can see that the grading for the second track is not adjacent to the future second platform:
For the second track to be built where the grading was done the second platform would need to be extended east, but the bridge abutments over Sheppard Avenue recently built to support the second platform reflect the original design with space for 3 tracks, not a design with the platform shifted east. (See photos by @ProjectEnd ).
This is not really a problem but it means that the grading near Downsview Park station has effectively not been done because it will need to be redone in the correct location before the second track can be installed.
The station is designed for 3 tracks with two side platforms, so in the interim 2-track configuration there needs to be a gap between the northbound and southbound tracks, like at Rutherford.
You can see that the grading for the second track is not adjacent to the future second platform:
For the second track to be built where the grading was done the second platform would need to be extended east, but the bridge abutments over Sheppard Avenue recently built to support the second platform reflect the original design with space for 3 tracks, not a design with the platform shifted east. (See photos by @ProjectEnd ).
This is not really a problem but it means that the grading near Downsview Park station has effectively not been done because it will need to be redone in the correct location before the second track can be installed.
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reaperexpress
Senior Member
But returning three tracks into service would make shifting the tracks for Ontario Line construction much harder.
Having only two tracks in service in the future 6-track corridor gives them more room to have a buffer between the construction zone and the active tracks. So I would assume that they are in no hurry to return three tracks into service until the embankment work is complete.
smallspy
Senior Member
The project plan that I saw for the corridor does call for the third track returning to service with the shifting of the tracks to the new southerly alignment. It was originally supposed to happen in October, but it isn't clear to me whether that schedule will still hold.
That schedule also didn't list East Harbour, so I'm not aware if the third track will be able to continue through that construction site.
Dan
Metroscapes
Active Member
The vision was 3 tracks to Galloway, but future-proofing for 4 tracks to Durham Junction. A future third track was also planned east of there to the Bowmanville extension, interchangeably being shoehorned north of the Kingston Sub and overtaking the northern CN track and building a new one for freight on the south side. But that was 10+ years ago, things were in flux, and I know there was a lot of hand-wringing about the lack of a third track progressing for the eastern MSF at that time. Incredible it is taking this long.
crs1026
Superstar
Another facet of how keeping ML's plans secret, and not being transparent about when and why the scope has changed, is making ML ineffective.
- Paul
dowlingm
Senior Member
I dislike Metrolinx’ “good news only” comms strategy but I don’t see what difference it makes to their effectiveness. Unless we think they are scanning forums like these for ideas to get them out of holes they dug themselves?
crs1026
Superstar
Organizations that have this latitude to bury problemsand rewrite their commitments inevitably develop a disfunctional culture where problems are not candidly raised, discussed, analysed, and corrected.
Metrolinx is well down this road.
If the original version (take your pick) were documented as a "commitment", there would have been more accountability around scope and scope creep. Perhaps some of the iterations might not have been worked on. Perhaps more would have moved to execution. Perhaps wasteful redesign would have been avoided.
LSE is a good example of "ready, aim, aim, aim, aim....." paralysis - that's not indicative of an effective, results focussed organization.
- Paul