GO Transit: Construction Projects (Metrolinx, various)

[DavidH]

GO has a tender out for a parking structure plus finishing work on the new tunnel (elevator, platform, etc) at Ajax GO.

http://www.gotransit.com/pcs_PUBLIC/en/TENDERS/CURRENTTENDERS/TenderAds/RQQ-2009-SI-027.htm

Given the joint tender for all of this, I surmise that the parking structure will be located in the lower parking area next to the exit of the new tunnel that is in construction.

Hopefully they can fend temp parking somewhere close by as they did in Whitby; Ajax parking is overflowing most days as it is.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Lakeshore line construction progress report -

The third track has been laid down between Port Credit and 9th Line (halfway between Clarkson & Oakville). Ballast is being placed this week to level the tracks, its the final step before completion, though it does not mean that trains will be running on the track after this work is completed. There is much still signaling and station work to be done.
Track work is underway in the Oakville to Clarkson section.

A portion of the new third track has been in use since last Monday already (a small extension going over the credit river) currently its speed restricted to 30mph.

The new third track when completed will also be speed restricted to 25-30mph for several weeks, perhaps even months.

The tracks west of Port Credit have been properly re-aligned. Eastbound trains no longer have to go through a 45mph turnout to access track 3/the south platform, allowing for a quicker and much smoother stop.

The lining of the western portion of the platform at Port Credit has been completed. The lining for the north platform at Clarkson is almost complete and work is currently being done to install the platform heating system. Progress at Oakville is a little further behind.

The new signal plant at Port Credit is completed and has been in use since last Monday. The Kerr st. signal plant is also complete but the 3rd track leading up to it has yet to be placed. It will likely be finished at the same the time Oakville GO station is completed.

On the other side, Platform modifications are all but done at Scarborough GO station(finally! 3 different contractors have worked on the platform). Paving, lighting and shelters have all been completed.

Also an storage track has been completed at the Henry street storage yard, just west of Whitby. This will allow for a 3rd train to be stored overnight. Eventually one additional morning rush hour train should come from here, however the track is currently not being used(not sure what their waiting for...).

- end of report.

 

[smallspy]

A portion of the new third track has been in use since last Monday already (a small extension going over the credit river) currently its speed restricted to 30mph.

The new signal plant at Port Credit is completed and has been in use since last Monday.

The new bridge and the new interlocking at Port Credit have been in place and in use since at least November 16th.

Also an storage track has been completed at the Henry street storage yard, just west of Whitby. This will allow for a 3rd train to be stored overnight. Eventually one additional morning rush hour train should come from here, however the track is currently not being used(not sure what their waiting for...).

- end of report.

Last I heard they were waiting for the wayside boxes to be wired up. The extension of the existing tracks, along with the moving of the wayside boxes, was completed long ago.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

The new bridge and the new interlocking at Port Credit have been in place and in use since at least November 16th.

True got the timing mixed up. Its the track re-alignment thats being in place since last Monday.

 

[smallspy]

True got the timing mixed up. Its the track re-alignment thats being in place since last Monday.

That makes sense. When I was there last month the switches for the old interlocking were still in place, even if they weren't being used as such.

It'll be nice to finally get rid of that silly 45mph PSO on Track 1.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[Platform 27]

Great report, vegeta. Two quick questions:

Is the part of the project further west of Ninth Line (ie, through Oakville yard and Oakville station as far as Kerr St.) already finished or running a bit behind the part you discussed?

What's a ballpark date for 30 minute off-peak service being rolled out? May? September?

 

[drum118]

Great report, vegeta. Two quick questions:

Is the part of the project further west of Ninth Line (ie, through Oakville yard and Oakville station as far as Kerr St.) already finished or running a bit behind the part you discussed?

What's a ballpark date for 30 minute off-peak service being rolled out? May? September?

Work is taking place in Oakville Yard Finally for the new main line. There is a switch to be cut into the current #2 track west of Ford Dr to connect to the new track that connects with the industrial track that has been upgraded to mainline.

They were using the tie laying machine last week east of Winston Churchill and should be up to Royal Windsor Dr this week.

The Oakville station is ready for tracks and to go east as part of the old drill track has been removed.

It was strange going over the PC River and Mississauga Rd new #1 track after watching it get built. Even watching the switches been removed as well the tracks relocated. There was a different feel going over the ends of the PC bridge on track #3.

I would say May is when we should see 30 minute service even if the new mainlines are not finish in Oakville Yard.

There is still a fair amount of work to be done on the Clarkson platform new section before work can start on the south side of it. It will be late Jan/Feb before the new track #1 can see service as a new switch has to be cut into the current #1.

I found it strange that none of the new shelters are open on the existing Oakville platform considering what taking place today.

I also surprise that the new #1 track hasn't been place over the new bridge and that most likely has to do getting in the new #1 track in Mississauga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m3C3PC2OHs Arrived at Oakville station Dec 03-09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocxl9FU9KE0 Oakville Yard South
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDel-27Z6n8 Clarkson-Royal Windsor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1xGVIakbw PC - Clarkson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy5Blg0KdLQ Appleby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32hpJB0p5C4 Ties been moved

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Oz5aHvLAQ Diamond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzVoxsW458Q Brampton Station

 

[kettal]

Does anybody know the status of the passing tracks on Barrie and Stouffville? When will new service be added to take advantage of it?

 

[smallspy]

Agreed. It'll be damn nice to see it go. Though the degree of curvature on the eastern portion of PSO coming into the station has not changed, although its not as sharp as the western portion was. I'm hopeful it'll at least be upgraded to 60mph, that way it at least won't effect trains stopping at Port Credit at all anymore.

The reasoning of the PSO was the fact that you had three different curves (heading westbound: right hand to platform, left hand through the platform, right hand back to straight over the level crossing). Now that the track is being straightened they should be able to lift the PSO as the track to the east of the platform appears to be within CN's track specs for track speeds.

There is one just like it between Port Credit and Long Branch at mile 11.5 to 11.8
Trains are limited to only 80mph through it.

That's new - they used to be allowed full track speed through there. Can we chalk that up to CN's "maintenance" practices, just like the lowering of track speeds elsewhere?

Ah one of lifes great mysteries.
I haven't heard of any tentative date or even an official word on it yet. I'm starting to get a little nervous myself.

The last I heard from one of my contacts at GO, they had been passing around a couple of different variations of a potential schedule, all with projected January start. This was a couple a months ago - and I haven't heard anything since.

Also crewing might be an issue. Especially with the purposed mid-day Barrie and Stouffville service coming on-line at the same time. Not sure if we'll have enough qualified people by May...

Nitpick - the mid-day service will only run as far as Newmarket and Unionville. It was supposed to begin in January as well, but I don't know if that is still the case.

When it does happen, for what I understand it seems as though the 1/2hr service will initially be just mid-day, between the rush hours. The post pm rush hour service will only remain hourly(hopefully not for long).

That was the plan when I last heard about it a couple of months ago.

Equipment is not a problem with many idle trains between the rush hours.
20 more mp40 engines and 25 more bi-level coaches are to arrive shortly. The mp40's will increase service reliability. In the past 6 month's alone I have personally had two ph59's(the old engines) die on me resulting in cancelled trains.

Not sure exactly what the new coaches will be used for. Either for increased rush-hour service or more 12 –coach trains. I'd go with the latter as there is still the issue of capacity constraints on the Kingston sub portion of the Lakeshore east line that must be addressed before any significant increases in rush hour service can be reliably accommodated.

Some are to extend current trainsets to 12 car trains, and some are for new trains. GO now uses 41 trainsets every day, 12 of which are 12 cars long. There are more than enough cab and wheelchair accessible cars available.

Theres a 7 mile long stretch of double track between Guildwood (mile 321) and Durham Jct(314) that is shared by GO and VIA trains. This portion will have to be triple tracked. There are also no location for trains to cross tracks in this section.

The EA to triple-track this section starts in the new year. I don't think that additional crossovers are necessary however, as there is only one station in this stretch.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[Platform 27]

The last I heard from one of my contacts at GO, they had been passing around a couple of different variations of a potential schedule, all with projected January start. This was a couple a months ago - and I haven't heard anything since.

I suppose it would be possible to see midday service in January if GO was somehow granted default access to the original two tracks and, in the event of a conflict, CN opted to slide its freights over to the new track, slow orders and all. That's certainly not in keeping with how landlord-tenant relations have been in the past.

The only direct comparison that springs to my mind is when the Burlington-to-Bayview third track was finished, and sat there in "breaking-in" mode for what must have been almost six months. It was only after CN was quite happily using all three lines at full speed that GO extended trains to Aldershot.

Also, I'm guessing the schedule board for train operators in January has already been circulated by now, no?

Nitpick - the mid-day service will only run as far as Newmarket and Unionville. It was supposed to begin in January as well, but I don't know if that is still the case.

IIRC, vegeta steers his beasts mostly on the Lakeshore lines, so I don't know if he can help us out here, but there's been a real paucity of information on what the state of play is with the new passing tracks up there. Obviously, drum can't really pop up and back easily with his camcorder so we haven't been able to watch progress tie by tie.

For starters, can anyone remind me again precisely where these passing tracks start and stop? And where do things stand in terms of completion?

Secondly, at least at one point I recall reading that the off-peak termini were going to be East Gwillimbury on the Barrie line side and Mt. Joy on the Stouffville line side. This won't be the case? Unionville in particular seems like an awfully short turn, at only 30 clicks from Union.

Also, has any thought been given to interlining services such that, say, some off-peak Lakeshore West trains carry on past Union towards Markham rather than having them all head to Oshawa?

Lastly, on the subject of trackwork outside of easily-observable range, is it possible I caught a mention in passing either here or somewhere else that the twinning of the Credit River bridge near Georgetown is already underway?

 

[hwy7]

Lastly, on the subject of trackwork outside of easily-observable range, is it possible I caught a mention in passing either here or somewhere else that the twinning of the Credit River bridge near Georgetown is already underway?

Crews have been working on the site for several months. I have a picture, but it's from April. Judging from what I can see from the train, the building crews are currently doing a lot of work on the project.

 

[smallspy]

Also, has any thought been given to interlining services such that, say, some off-peak Lakeshore West trains carry on past Union towards Markham rather than having them all head to Oshawa?

That actually happens today, although it isn't listed in the timetables.

As for a scenario as you mention, what about the people to the east? Would service be more frequent west of Union than east on the Lakeshore lines?

Lastly, on the subject of trackwork outside of easily-observable range, is it possible I caught a mention in passing either here or somewhere else that the twinning of the Credit River bridge near Georgetown is already underway?

It is possible - and true. They were working on the footings a couple of months ago.

Perhaps. Not quite sure how it came about as that PSO has been present ever since I've had knowledge of that track - though that has only been for a few years, I'm just starting out my career.

I have track maps from around 2003 for instance - complete with a 95mph limit for all passenger trains - and there is no indication of a PSO between Long Branch and Port Credit.

Yes I was aware of that EA. Unfortunately it'll be a couple of years before we see the end result - a 3rd track in use. I only pointed that out because due to the current situation an extra set of crossovers could be useful.
For example if there was a crossover east of Rough Hill, then the 1843 could leave union a minute or 2 earlier and cross over ahead of the VIA stopped at Guildwood onto the south track. The VIA could then cross over at Guildwood on to the north track and then go around the GO while its stopped at Rough Hill at 1904(dwell time for this stop is twice as long as a normal stop due to the large amount of people getting off at this station). The VIA could then cross over to the south track, as there is an approaching westbound GO scheduled to arrive at Rough Hill at 1907. There are other trains that could benefit as well, but if the line was 3-tracked in that location, additional crossovers wouldn't be necessary at all.

Fair enough - although it is likely that Rouge Hill would have platform access on all three tracks, and so the VIA could continue on the middle track as necessary while the GO operated on the southern-most track.

Also the new 3rd track from Scarbrough to Union (specifically CN Cherry street - where the line crosses over the Don river) sat idle for several months too.

Far longer than I thought was reasonable, actually. Not to mention that the third track from Don to Danforth was in place and operable for a good 6 months before the rest was done. And then there's the issue with the UCRS, and the upgrade of the signalling there to allow for two-way operation....

Yes if something major like that was going to happen we would have already gotten wind of it weeks ago. And even of it did fly under the rader, a reasingment day would still be required. Notice of which is posted about 3-4 weeks ahead of time. Theres been no such notice.

Which is why I am thinking that the January date has been pushed back - no one in head office (at least at the levels that my contacts work) seems to be sure of when it is going to happen.

This passing track was installed with "hand throw" switches at both ends. This means that a train scheduled to enter the passing train(likely the northbound) would need to stop before the switch. A crew member would then get off the train and throw the switch. He would have to stay at the switch while the train proceeds into the passing track at a restricted speed. Once the train clears he would throw the switch back into the normal position so that the opposing train would not have to stop to get the switch when it passes. The crew member would walk back up to the front of the train where they would wait until the opposing train passes them. Then he would need to repeat the same procedure on the opposite end of the track to re-enter the mainline. Needless to say its all very time consuming and mind-boggling that they would use this method. We couldn't understand why they wouldn't just spend the extra money and implement CTC (signalize) on at least this portion of the track. In the future the whole line will need to be signalized to accommodate the future purposed increases in service anyway so why not start it here?

Apparently the installation of CTC requires that an EA is filled out, as it is a means of increasing the number of trains that can run.

By the way, those switches are #20s, good for 45mph - and I seem to recall that they were already set up for motors and machinery. At least the siding, whenever it is finally used, will be of a reasonable speed.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.

 

[Allandale25]

Looks like there have been updates on the GO Transit - West Toronto Grade Separation website:

http://gotransit.ca/PUBLIC/en/news/WesttorontoDiamond.htm

 

[andomano]

^^ Bad link... try this instead....

http://gotransit.ca/PUBLIC/en/news/WesttorontoDiamond.htm

The only thing to really take away from this release is that the total piles driven to date is 1820 of 2338 (just over 3/4 of the piles are completed).

 

[Allandale25]

The only thing to really take away from this release is that the total piles driven to date is 1820 of 2338 (just over 3/4 of the piles are completed).

Thanks for catching the broken link.

Yes, I agree that it doesn't tell us much about the project, but I do think that it is valuable to have more information on the progress of the project. I wish that GO would do this with other projects they are working on. Not only does it keep the local community updated, but it can show commuters that work is being done to improve the transit system.