Quote:
Originally Posted by jlousa
If the street cars were below ground the would cease to be street cars... 
Pretty sure there is enough space to double track and have a bike path, the problem is to do so would necessitate removing the existing track and shifting it. Depending on the condition of the existing track by the time anything is done with it, we might need to replace it anyways. The only problem would be where stations are placed there would need to be extra property acquired to accommodate everything. |
Any use of the Arbutus tracks for transit implies that the existing railway tracks will be replaced with all new rails & power systems, since the CPR is famous for doing minimal maintenance on tracks that aren't heavily used. Since these have been left to rot since 1999, and therefore haven't had any maintenance since then (notice the abundant weed growth along the rails & between the ties), there's nothing there worth keeping & reusing. Send the rails to a steel recycler, and figure out what to do with the creosote-laced ties.
As seen with the demo line between C-Line Olympic Village and Granville Island, new concrete ties with rubber gaskets holding the rails to the ties and continuous-weld rails make a quieter and smoother ride. If you're going to spend millions on new transit, you are better off following the demo line example and invest in the infrastructure so the line can run trouble-free in the beginning when you're trying to build ridership.