Toronto Union Pearson Express | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | MMM Group Limited

Wrenkin said:
It's hardly 5-10 minutes. This is the part right around the corner from where the Panorama lounge is. You end up walking into the Hall anyway. Also, the new trains are getting their own (high) platforms. They're not compatible.
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What's the advantage of using high platform trains as opposed to lowe platform like what GO uses?
 
BMO said:
What's the advantage of using high platform trains as opposed to lowe platform like what GO uses?
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I guess they figured they didn't want double-decker trains because people had luggage (who would go up?), and they didn't want via-style trains where you have to step up for the same reason. It's hard to imagine a single-level low-floor train.
 
Wrenkin said:
I guess they figured they didn't want double-decker trains because people had luggage (who would go up?), and they didn't want via-style trains where you have to step up for the same reason. It's hard to imagine a single-level low-floor train.
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Ah alright I see. Thanks.
 
BMO said:
OMG why would they build the platform all the way in the skywalk ?? Why wouldn't they just use the first platform closest to the station and closer to the actual Union Station so that better connections to GO and TTC could be had. As it stands this is at least a 5-10min walk (I know because I used to walk from Union to the CN Tower everyday when I was a tour guide there). This is going to confuse guests more. Who wants to be let off in the skywalk? At least in the main Union station they'd get off and be in the gran atrium and entrance which is an iconic landmark for tourists to remember how to get to. The glass-enclosed skywalk is pretty forgettable IMO.
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The Skywalk has been used as an airport terminal in many commercials (and a movie/show or two), so it seems appropriate. (Anyone remember the Porter check-in that used to be here?) Having the terminal at the far end of the station also maintains most of Track 1 (Platform 3) to be used by conventional GO services, with the short ARL train set not crowding out say the Richmond Hill train which could still use Track 1 from the east (but as a long-time Georgetown Corridor commuter, I'll miss the convenience of Track 1).

Taxis can load/unload on Station Street, which makes it a very short walk (and elevator ride) to track level. There's room in those shuttered sports stores that could hold a lounge and check-in machines.

I am not a fan of the ARL for many reasons, but this set-up makes the most sense for it and its flawed business model.
 
BMO said:
OMG why would they build the platform all the way in the skywalk ?? Why wouldn't they just use the first platform closest to the station and closer to the actual Union Station so that better connections to GO and TTC could be had. As it stands this is at least a 5-10min walk (I know because I used to walk from Union to the CN Tower everyday when I was a tour guide there). This is going to confuse guests more. Who wants to be let off in the skywalk? At least in the main Union station they'd get off and be in the gran atrium and entrance which is an iconic landmark for tourists to remember how to get to. The glass-enclosed skywalk is pretty forgettable IMO.
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This has always been the plan. They are building a new track and platform specifically for the ARL, so that it doesn't tie up one of the existing station tracks.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
ShonTron said:
The Skywalk has been used as an airport terminal in many commercials (and a movie/show or two), so it seems appropriate. (Anyone remember the Porter check-in that used to be here?) Having the terminal at the far end of the station also maintains most of Track 1 (Platform 3) to be used by conventional GO services, with the short ARL train set not crowding out say the Richmond Hill train which could still use Track 1 from the east (but as a long-time Georgetown Corridor commuter, I'll miss the convenience of Track 1).

Taxis can load/unload on Station Street, which makes it a very short walk (and elevator ride) to track level. There's room in those shuttered sports stores that could hold a lounge and check-in machines.

I am not a fan of the ARL for many reasons, but this set-up makes the most sense for it and its flawed business model.
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smallspy said:
This has always been the plan. They are building a new track and platform specifically for the ARL, so that it doesn't tie up one of the existing station tracks.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
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Hopefully you guys are right. As I said I used to pass by there everyday, even when the Porter Checkin was there, and I would always get stopped for directions to teh porter checkin as well as how to get out of there to the street. Hopefully with the construciton of the ARL lounge it'll improve that whole hallway/corridor.
 
raptor said:
Union Station ARL location (Skywalk):
ARL_Union_Rendering-800x600.jpg


Updated rendering of the DMU:
ARL_Vehicle-800x471.jpg


From:
http://www.metrolinx.com/en/projectsandprograms/airraillink/arl.aspx
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It doesn't have any relation to the structure it's actually inside, in terms of visual design. It looks nice but not in this location.
 
ShonTron said:
New track, or will Track 1 be stubbed, and accessed only from the east, which is what I understood the plan was?
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My impression was a new track that branches off from the northern most track with its own platform, and there appears to be room for it.
 
When I toured Union Station during Doors Open 2010, they said Track 3 was going to be the one used. A new platform makes more sense; Union Station is already bursting.

I'm actually glad they're going to use the Skywalk; that strip of real estate has been underused since its construction. The Blue Jays store and Porter have all moved out and left the place an absolute dead zone when there isn't a game or convention.
 
BMO said:
As it stands this is at least a 5-10min walk (I know because I used to walk from Union to the CN Tower everyday when I was a tour guide there).
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You must have been the slowest tour guide ever. If you were to pan left on that image there would immediately be emergency exit doors down to York West Teamway, next to that an Elevator, next to that what was a small Porter checkin area now vacant, and left of that the bridge over York Street. The perspective of that image is honestly only about 10m west of York Street and Union Station is on the other side of the street. How on earth could you take 5 to 10 minutes to walk that?

The glass-enclosed skywalk is pretty forgettable IMO.
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The exit into Skywalk actually allows people to look up at CN Tower, walk over York and look up York, and makes their most likely enter and exit through the Great Hall, whereas arrival into the lower concourse of Union would have them not seeing sunlight, in a mall, unlikely to pass through the Great Hall on exit, and completely underground. I actually think more people want to look out those windows and see the Great Hall than would want to see an underground mall. Locating the Air Rail either in the SkyWalk or where Travel Cuts was located makes the most sense from a passenger perspective, and when you factor in the different platform height and smaller train set the SkyWalk location really is the only sensible choice as it leaves another whole track available to longer low-platform GO trains.
 
EnviroTO said:
You must have been the slowest tour guide ever. If you were to pan left on that image there would immediately be emergency exit doors down to York West Teamway, next to that an Elevator, next to that what was a small Porter checkin area now vacant, and left of that the bridge over York Street. The perspective of that image is honestly only about 10m west of York Street and Union Station is on the other side of the street. How on earth could you take 5 to 10 minutes to walk that?
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I missed a train on Platform 27 the other day, and headed to the subway station. I was trying to catch a 5:40 train, got the platform at 5:41 ... walked a down a bit while looking at the schedule, and at 5:42 decided to head to the subway. I walked quickly back through the pathway around the VIA departure concourse, through the VIA arrivals area, through the GO concourse, across the moat into Union TTC station, onto the platform and boarded a train sitting in the station. When I looked at the clock it was 5:50. 8 minutes.

The ARL platform (1 or 2 I guess) is certainly closer to Front that platform 27, but I can imagine that when it's busy, it could take 5 minutes to walk there from the TTC Union station. Google says the walk is 300 metres - 4 minutes. With the way it's congested in rush-hour, I could easily believe 6 minutes.

I don't know where else you'd put these short platforms though ... makes sense to me.
 
ShonTron said:
New track, or will Track 1 be stubbed, and accessed only from the east, which is what I understood the plan was?
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A new track, tentatively named "Track A". It will lead off of Track 1 about where it leaves the Simcoe overpass, although this means that it will only be accessed from one of the western ladder tracks.

Dan
Toronto, Ont.
 
ssiguy2 said:
Another bad news story for Toronto commuters and the poor sould who live within 1 km of what will become the world's busiest diesel rail corridor.
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Is this seriously going to be the case? I can't imagine this could possibly be busier than the main line from Paddington in London, which is almost entirely diesel (except for Heathrow trains). And which, for what it's worth, doesn't seem to be depressing property values in Notting Hill, through which it passes directly.
 
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