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Metrolinx/GO Georgetown Corridor Project

Okay then... so if he says "Yes" then what would you have said?
 
Let GO finish their work as quickly as possible. It's similar to what happened on St. Clair. The residents got it delayed, but it still had to get done, it just took even longer and the disruptions to businesses were even worse. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Or, just plain stupid.
 
With all due respect back, I don't feel I have to defend my line of questioning and be told that I'm insulting the principles of free and open discussion by asking this question.
This specific situation that has been all about where you live and/or work. Just ask anyone who has had to live through this for past year and has had their quality of life suffer and/or incurred damage to their property as a result.
Platform 27 made an opinionated comment about my post, I would like to know where he or she is coming from in their response. Isn't that all about "free and open discussion?"

So what do you think is the best outcome?

1. They get it finished as soon as possible
2. They get delayed by injunction and it continues slowly through the summer
3. They stop this project for good
4. Some other outcome?

I know your situation is stressful, and that leads to emotional reasoning, instead of rational reasoning. I suggest buying a good set of noise-cancelling earphones. You might even get to return them for a full refund once this is over if it gets completed quickly.
 
I do think the people of ANY community should see some sort of benefit from these projects. Be it added service, reduced noise from trains in the future or even money. I further believe that we should build things more sensitively.

However, we need to finish what what was started because it will make things better for everyone.

I say this having just had a highway built THROUGH my neighbourhood. Many people opposed it, but it's now easier for pedestrians, cyclists and residents because the traffic is diverted onto the highway instead of down our main artery.
 
To end the suspense I'm sure you were all waiting in... ;)

1) No, I'm not currently living within earshot of the WTD.
2) I've lived in close proximity to pile-driving projects for civic infrastructure on three prior occasions in my life, been bothered by it, but survived.

Regardless of how I or anyone else might answer either of the above questions, I think we all have a right to try to offer valid insights about this situation. And mine is this:
At some point (and maybe now is not yet that point), it becomes preferable to soldier through these irritations as fast as possible, rather than take an alternative where there is a less acute irritation that lasts longer. It's like the old analogy about it just being better to rip the band-aid off as fast as possible, grit your teeth through the pain, and move on.

They've whacked 80% of these piles in. It was loud and irritating. I get it. But the last 20% won't be worse in any substantial way. The CTA-ordered alternatives would draw out the piling phase until something like February 2011 and substantially increase the cost to the taxpayer, which is certainly worse from a needs-of-the-many standpoint, and could well be as bad or worse for those of you near the Junction.
 
Hot off the GO tender wire:

Call For Request to Qualify and Quote

Request No. RQQ-2009-RCI-052

Engineering Services for Georgetown South Strachan Avenue Grade Separation


Metrolinx is accepting Requests to Qualify and Quote for Engineering Services for Georgetown South Strachan Avenue Grade Separation.

A Mandatory Site will be held at 10:00 am on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at the Strachan Avenue Grade Crossing, Toronto. Failure of Consultants to be present and registered from the time the meeting is called to order until the meeting is adjourned will result in exclusion from the site. Consultants are limited to ONLY two (2) people from each firm.

[...]

Only Consultants who possess the following experience and qualifications will be considered for award of this Contract:

  • Corporate: Grade Separation Experience in road/rail or rail/rail, Large Civil Projects and Track and Signal Design
  • Project Team Staff: Project Manager with 25 years experience, P. Eng. and/or PMP and/or CET licensed to practice in the Province of Ontario and with experience relevant to the contemplated work, Railway Engineer, Structural Bridge Engineer, Road/Municipal Engineer, Engineer of Record, Piling Specialist, Geotechnical Engineer, Hydrologist, Utility Engineer and Railway Signal Specialist with 20 years experience, P. Eng licensed to practice in the Province of Ontario and with experience relevant to the contemplated work.
 
From GO's West Toronto Diamond page:
Upcoming weekend work - February 26 to February 28

Steel sheet piling (different from the steel pipe piles] will be installed under the existing GO Weston Subdivision track north of Old Weston Road to provide ensure that the future excavated rail corridor is water tight. See site map in Zone D to identify the area of work.

Track removal in preparation for sheet pile installation will begin on Friday, February 26 at 11:00pm. Conventional construction equipment and cranes will be used to remove portions of the track.

The steel sheet pile installation will be carried out using the PTC vibro. To complete this work, all railway traffic on the GO Weston Subdivision will need to be detoured. The railway traffic that will be affected includes GO service, VIA Rail passenger service and CN freight operations.

This type of railway work is generally carried out over the weekend to minimize the overall impacts to train services.

Construction Schedule

Steel sheet piling work will begin on Saturday, February 27th with the PTC vibro from 9:00am to 7:00pm.

CN tracks crews will reinstall the section of track on Saturday evening, beginning at 7:00pm to 1:00am on Sunday, February 28th when the track will be re-opened. This work is necessary for the subsequent construction of the depressed rail corridor.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your continued support of the project.

Odd how they warn that the affected railway traffic will include "GO service" when there's no Georgetown line service on the weekend and the tracks ought to be back in time for the commute on Monday morning. I assume Via's weekend trains out to Waterloo and beyond will take take The Canadian's route up the Newmarket subdivision and then back their way onto the York subdivision before eventually righting themselves at the Halwest wye.
 
They don't need to back onto the York subdivision for westerly travel. The Canadian does it because it is headed east on the York sub. I'm surprised that they are using sheet piles at all since their T-shape interlock between the piles was meant to reduce handle that. My guess is that this is to allow excavation to begin before all the regular piles are in place due to extreme delays caused by piling rule changes (they were getting 8 piles per day before but now only get 1 or 2).
 
To end the suspense I'm sure you were all waiting in... ;)

1) No, I'm not currently living within earshot of the WTD.
2) I've lived in close proximity to pile-driving projects for civic infrastructure on three prior occasions in my life, been bothered by it, but survived.

Regardless of how I or anyone else might answer either of the above questions, I think we all have a right to try to offer valid insights about this situation. And mine is this:
At some point (and maybe now is not yet that point), it becomes preferable to soldier through these irritations as fast as possible, rather than take an alternative where there is a less acute irritation that lasts longer. It's like the old analogy about it just being better to rip the band-aid off as fast as possible, grit your teeth through the pain, and move on.

They've whacked 80% of these piles in. It was loud and irritating. I get it. But the last 20% won't be worse in any substantial way. The CTA-ordered alternatives would draw out the piling phase until something like February 2011 and substantially increase the cost to the taxpayer, which is certainly worse from a needs-of-the-many standpoint, and could well be as bad or worse for those of you near the Junction.

You have to understand this is different than St. Clair. These are man made earthquakes where people cannot even speak in their homes for much of the day. You might say boohoo to them and criticize them or hindering development however there should be measures taken to reduce the noise level. You can't really blame them, after the noise is gone the air quality is gonna be reduced along with their life expectancy... It's too bad that there are such low standards for the implementation of transit initiatives with GO transit.
 
You have to understand this is different than St. Clair. These are man made earthquakes where people cannot even speak in their homes for much of the day. You might say boohoo to them and criticize them or hindering development however there should be measures taken to reduce the noise level.

I guess we can all agree on the fact that they are bearing the brunt of the expansion/construction (although I am not sure they are "earthquakes"). I have often wondered wether they are better wtih the slower/quieter process that will just drag on the intrusion longer or if they would be better just letting it go and getting it over with.....sorta like taking off a band aid (without diminishing their suffering) is it better to slowly peel it back or just yank it off in one gut wrenching tug?


You can't really blame them, after the noise is gone the air quality is gonna be reduced along with their life expectancy... It's too bad that there are such low standards for the implementation of transit initiatives with GO transit.

Now you seem to be saying that the noise abatement measures are an attempt to stall the whole thing so that the trains never run?
 
You have to understand this is different than St. Clair. These are man made earthquakes where people cannot even speak in their homes for much of the day. You might say boohoo to them and criticize them or hindering development however there should be measures taken to reduce the noise level. You can't really blame them, after the noise is gone the air quality is gonna be reduced along with their life expectancy... It's too bad that there are such low standards for the implementation of transit initiatives with GO transit.

Is it just me or are NIMBYs resorting to new meoldramatic lows? Pretty soon they're going to say that they'd rather live beside a panopticon of Neo-Nazi pederasts who play Norwegian Death Metal at 170db at 2 in the morning than deal with some daytime piledrivers that will be finished in, like, 2 months.
 
Is it just me or are NIMBYs resorting to new meoldramatic lows? Pretty soon they're going to say that they'd rather live beside a panopticon of Neo-Nazi pederasts who play Norwegian Death Metal at 170db at 2 in the morning than deal with some daytime piledrivers that will be finished in, like, 2 months.

That's the first time I've ever heard anyone reply to anything I've said with the term NIMBY, it goes to show that most throwing around that word don't take the time to grasp exactly what is being said. If you're satisfied with GO trains not being electrified that's fine, but at the end of the day I bet it's not your children breathing the air. Especially considering that GO lines can be run more effectively with electrification, there isn't even a debate.

When's the last time you've visited Junction when construction was underway? I live at St. Clair and Lansdowne and the ringing is clear as a bell to the point where at times opening the window during the summer is very annoying... If its very annoying for me I couldn't even begin to imagine how someone at Dundas and Keele might feel.
 
I think the idea is that electrification is a great idea (and one that GO is studying) but that running diesel trains for a few years is better than running the current level of service until the wires are strung.

I would also like to say that I spent eight months living in a house that backed onto the Lakeshore West line--a significantly busier line in terms of GO train service--and did not smell even the slightest hint of diesel fumes. I think you can tough it out for a few years until the catenary goes up.
 
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I think the idea is that electrification is a great idea (and one that GO is studying) but that running diesel trans for a few years is better than running the current level of service until the wires are strung.

+1

There are plenty of corridors, be they railway and road, where this line of thinking needs to apply.
 
That's the first time I've ever heard anyone reply to anything I've said with the term NIMBY, it goes to show that most throwing around that word don't take the time to grasp exactly what is being said. If you're satisfied with GO trains not being electrified that's fine, but at the end of the day I bet it's not your children breathing the air.
The objections to lack of electrification by the Weston group are clearly NIMBYism by virtue of some of the other complaints they have made. BTW, I have children, and I live near a busier fully diesel GO line than the Weston sub.
 

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