crs1026
Superstar
If catenary is the preferred choice then fine, they should get on with it and build the damn thing. The amount of time this has taken just to get figure out the technology, little alone build it, is absurd.
I have NEVER said that catenary was a bad choice. My points have been centered on the huge infrastructure costs and construction times it will take. If Metrolinx thinks those initial costs are justified then go for it. The only thing that I have against catenary that is unique to it is the horrid visual pollution. A catenary corridor makes any line look like an industrial zone from the slums of Calcutta but that is a personal point of view.
Actually, I don’t think you are off base here. I suspect ML and the pols realise that catenary will just about ruin the visual appeal of, say, Sunnyside. And that, as well as cost, sends them looking for Hail Mary solutions like hydrail.
Sorry, folks, there is no silver bullet.
Take careful note of where the Arctic Circle is. And also note, as detailed a number of times prior in this string, that passenger trains are also run over this line:
https://www.scandinavianrail.com/scenicrail/sweden/arctic-circle-train
For some odd reason, batteries and diesel don't do well in that climate...
In fairness, the Norwegian rail line to Bodo, which is also within the Arctic Circle, is diesel and it runs just fine. The difference is volume and length and a few other things.
The issues for the GTA are: ‘pick your poison’ and ‘just spit it out’. If the true vision, due to affordability, is 30 minute headways delivering mostly 905 commuting and a measured regional service, perhaps diesel is just fine. If there is commitment to 15 minute 2WAD and a more intensive station set that creates a true urban ‘surface subway’, we are gonna need catenary...... and that has consequences.
Neither ML nor the pols will come clean about what their true vision and intent is. Instead, they promise Nirvanha but dither because they don’t actually have the cash, and the collateral damage (eg visual pollution from catenary) is too scary.
Just get on with it, or tell us otherwise.
- Paul