Sauga89
Active Member
According to the InSauga news site, Metrolinx has issued a number of expropriation notices in Oshawa related to the Bowmanville extension. Apparently, Metrolinx needs to widen the right-of-way in a few spots.
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GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
crs1026
Superstar
We are broadly on the same page, but I can’t resist quoting some management guru (I forget who) who offered the line “(Organizational) Culture eats strategy for lunch”
The reason secrecy is so toxic at ML is that it has become culture (ie habit). The lack of information may only be an inconvenience for us spectators, but it is crippling to ML as it prevents open communication and examination of issues and challenges - it hardly matters to the management team if things go badly when any analysis of outcomes is thwarted by non-admissions and always rosy PR. The lack of public oversight and accountability is enabling the failure to manage outcomes.
Until this is corrected, any drive towards outcomes or accountability will fail. So I would say secrecy is a bedrock failure rather than a secondary complaint.
The formula for accountability that was drummed into me over the years was pretty simple
- What (ie scope)
- By When (timeline)
- With what resources (spend)
If someone who manages work is not talking in those terms, my simple mind says they are failing to discharge their employment obligations, be that direct employment or contractual commitment.
ML’s failure starts at Board level - its public face is celebratory, not oversight. And it flows downward from there.
- Paul
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SkylineHorizons
Active Member
I cannot tell you how many people I've nearly hit while operating through that section in Hamilton in the past, including one harrowing close call with a women carrying a baby. They're not going to up the speed to what you are suggesting, if they did fatalities would be weekly occurrence.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Hasn’t stopped Brightline!
Killer Train: Brightline death toll surpasses 180, but safeguards are still lacking
Brightline trains have killed 182 people, significantly more than publicly known, an investigation by WLRN and the Miami Herald has found.
www.wlrn.org
lastcommodore
Active Member
Would have to agree, I also can't see Metrolinx doing so either given their focus on safety and the amount of grade separations they are performing. The whole rail corridor along Hamilton pretty much needs to be grade separated, which given MX would be lots of $$$ and lots of time... But it needs to be done eventually, and i'd rather see it done now than in 30 years. I think a frequent Hamilton-Toronto direct connection is severely overlooked.
A common response to grade separation talk are things like, "But places like Japan have this railroad crossing with trains every 5 minutes!" however I think this discounts the fact that Japan has a significantly stricter culture wrt obeying infrastructure rules. Brightline was mentioned, and although i technically have no data to prove this, i suspect if it was built in Japan you'd see at minimum a third the collisions that are seen when you put Floridians behind the wheel.
crs1026
Superstar
There's nothing in the Hamilton streetscape that prevents ML/CN from erecting secure fencing and anti-trespass mats as has been done elsewhere.
It would definitely change the pedestrian patterns in the area - residents clearly treat the right of way as a park through that stretch. But it can be enforced.
Brightline is not that good a comparator because the street layout in its most hazardous area has a busy street/highway that parallels the tracks with numerous turnoffs and intersections with odd sightlines and traffic signal ambiguities. And, Floridians are a different breed of drivers. The hazard in Hamilton is mostly from commercial vehicles which may be slow to clear the crossings. Those crossings mostly have good sightlines and approaches.
- Paul
It would definitely change the pedestrian patterns in the area - residents clearly treat the right of way as a park through that stretch. But it can be enforced.
Brightline is not that good a comparator because the street layout in its most hazardous area has a busy street/highway that parallels the tracks with numerous turnoffs and intersections with odd sightlines and traffic signal ambiguities. And, Floridians are a different breed of drivers. The hazard in Hamilton is mostly from commercial vehicles which may be slow to clear the crossings. Those crossings mostly have good sightlines and approaches.
- Paul
reaperexpress
Senior Member
Furthermore the pedestrian permeability in Hamilton is relatively decent via legal crossing routes. There are a few stretches where a pedestrian bridge/underpass may be warranted but for the most part it seems reasonable to construct more serious trespasser deterrents.
Currently CN doesn't seem to be making any serious attempt to discourage trespassing. There are many spots with well-trodden paths across the railway, not because people are cutting fences, but because there was never a fence to begin with:
Cheever St:
Avondale St:
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Sauga89
Active Member
Metrolinx says it will soon remove an abandoned section of track at Burlington GO station. I think it used to be a platform track.
(EDIT: I initially forgot to add a link to the notice. The link is there now.)
(EDIT: I initially forgot to add a link to the notice. The link is there now.)
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ScreamingViking
Active Member
It was. West of the platform accesses to the north lot a stretch of track is already gone, though there are still lengths of rusted rail along much of one side of that platform (and to the west of the station too, but I think the switches at both ends have been taken out).
legoswmonkey
New Member
Based on the "Corridor Missions" chart MX showed at the board meeting, a fourth Burlington platform and the Burloak grade separation are the only things holding up 15-min off-peak service to Burlington (I'm assuing the Grimsby station is not actually a blocker for this). I can see Burloak finishing this year, does anyone know if there's an RFP/Q out for turning the north platform back to an island?
lastcommodore
Active Member
Perhaps this is part of it? I don't see why MX would remove the 4th track instead of letting it rot as it has for years and elsewhere, unless they are planning a total rail replacement there.
WB62
Senior Member
This is a couple years old so I’m sure the design has changed since, but their plans are to reinstate a track where the abandoned one currently is, and connect it to the existing tracks on both sides.
crs1026
Superstar
I was out by Caledonia station today - the most obvious point being a general lack of construction labour or activity. Just one work vehicle shifting material around way back in the laydown yard, at a very relaxed pace.
South of Eglinton there were plenty of new wood ties laid out - this looked more like a tie project on the existing track than laying new track. The only major stockpile of concrete ties I have seen lately is around Midland just north of Scarborough Jct.
I would love to know how much ML pays for flagging (either directly or as a sub contract passed through contractors' billings). Those guys in the white pickup trucks are there even if there is no work going on at the site on any given day. Next time you ride GO, count the white pickup trucks at job sites. An expense that could be controlled that clearly isn't being controlled.
- Paul
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South of Eglinton there were plenty of new wood ties laid out - this looked more like a tie project on the existing track than laying new track. The only major stockpile of concrete ties I have seen lately is around Midland just north of Scarborough Jct.
I would love to know how much ML pays for flagging (either directly or as a sub contract passed through contractors' billings). Those guys in the white pickup trucks are there even if there is no work going on at the site on any given day. Next time you ride GO, count the white pickup trucks at job sites. An expense that could be controlled that clearly isn't being controlled.
- Paul
crs1026
Superstar
Interesting how the design allows trains on the outside tracks to run through at full speed, but trains on the middle track must take a speed restriction to pass through.
- Paul
Jonny5
Senior Member
Did VIA use that platform before moving to Aldershot when it opened in 1992? That's too far back for my recollection.