Canadian LRT/RT projects U/C

[J.OT13]

RailFans/O-Train Fans has posted the recent Ottawa Stage 2 presentation, along with dozens of contraction images. Impressive progress.

https://www.railfans.ca/news/stage-2...cember-17-2021

Here are a few highlights. Plenty more on the website.

East

Place d'Orleans Station, suburban east ends main bus-rail transfer.





Montreal Station, local transfer station.



Flyover between Blair Station, the current terminus, and Montreal Station, looking east (towards Blair Station).



West

Tunney's Station, the current terminus.



SJAM-Byron tunnel.





[IMG]https://www.railfans.ca/images/easyblog_articles/751/we

st/b2ap3_large_20211218-022216Byron-4_November_2021.jpg[/IMG]

Algonquin Station, future south-west (Line 1) terminus.



Lincoln Fileds Station, transfer between outbound Line 1 and 3. Three tracks, two platforms, washrooms and retail.



Moodie LMSF



South

Bayview Station, transfer between Line 1 and Line 2. Major expansion of Line 2 platform level, doubling the length of the platform, adding a second platform and a new entrance to the MUP and the future Trinity development via a ped bridge (65, 56, 23 floors).





Corso Italia, urban infill station that will serve thousands of proposed new residential unit, an existing community centre and much more.





Dow's Lake, thousands of residential units recently built, u/c and proposed, along with the future new Civic Hospital, eastern Ontario and Western Quebec's (and Nunavut) main trauma centre. Doubling the length of the platform, and two new elevators (up from a single elevator since 2001 opening).



Carelton Station at Carelton U, the busiest station for the first 20 years, but will have competition from Dow's Lake, Corso Italia and Bayview in the future.



South Keys, transfer between the airport Line 4 and the main Trillium Line 2.



Two of three new stations at the far south end in empty fields and woods.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

How long is that Pedestrian bridge?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

How long is that Pedestrian bridge?

I think we would have been better off if the bus station had been relocated closer to the train station. That road that runs around the shopping centre could have been moved. That is not exactly a cross-platform transfer. But just like Hurdman Station, the bus side of things are being poorly designed. The people who are designing this station obviously don't use transit and don't understand that this long walk between the bus station and the train station adds to overall travel time. At the present time, all transfers at this location are cross platform.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

How long is that Pedestrian bridge?

Park-and-ride to the O-Train station: 70 meters
O-Train to bus station: 90 meters
Bus station to mall: 80 meters

Total: 240 meters.

A second bridge within the fare-paid zone will be built so that riders can transfer between the train and buses without going through fare gates or scan their Presto card.


https://otrain.railfans.ca/line-1-st...place-dorleans

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I think we would have been better off if the bus station had been relocated closer to the train station. That road that runs around the shopping centre could have been moved. That is not exactly a cross-platform transfer. But just like Hurdman Station, the bus side of things are being poorly designed. The people who are designing this station obviously don't use transit and don't understand that this long walk between the bus station and the train station adds to overall travel time. At the present time, all transfers at this location are cross platform.

I'm relatively happy with the set-up of Place d'Orleans Station. Not only does keeping the existing bus station save tens of millions of dollars, but the current station offers decent protection from the elements and a proper indoor waiting area (though not heated or cooled). Had they built a new station a mere 40 meters east, you know it would have been bare bones like Hurdman or Tunney's, with nothing but a few off the shelf bus shelters.

[J.OT13]

Great video of progress along the west and east O-Train extensions. Plenty of angles and closeups we haven't seen before.

• Video Link

News from recent updates, escalators will be installed at Lincoln Fields and Algonquin stations, which seems pretty early considering both are opening in 2025-26. Track work along the east extension should be completed by the end of 2022.

[gunnar777]

Are one-seat rides (as limited services) between Bayview and YOW still a possibility, or has that been cancelled outright? iirc that was being planned, but I can't find anything lately that refers to the trip to downtown as anything but a 3-seat ride, as opposed to 2.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by gunnar777

Are one-seat rides (as limited services) between Bayview and YOW still a possibility, or has that been cancelled outright? iirc that was being planned, but I can't find anything lately that refers to the trip to downtown as anything but a 3-seat ride, as opposed to 2.

Could maybe, possibly happen off peak when major events happen at the EY Centre. The two limitation are the frequency of 12 minutes (due to the mostly single tracked nature of Trillium) and the platforms on the airport line (Line 4) being half the length of the main Trillium Line (Line 2), so we'll be running 40 meter Alstom LINTs on Line 4 and a mix of 80 meter Stadler FLIRTs and coupled Alstom LINTs on Line 2.

Speaking of the FLIRTs, some new videos released by OC Transpo:

• Video Link

• Video Link

[J.OT13]

A few snapshot updates from RailFans Canada:

Corso Italia Station on the Trillium Line, a new urban infill station.




https://otrain.railfans.ca/snapshot-...ation-december

The new flyover where Trillium crosses the VIA Rail tracks. Previously, this was a diamond crossing that caused some conflicts and scheduling issues.






https://otrain.railfans.ca/snapshot-...cember-22-2021

And on Confederation West, the impressive Lincoln Fields Station. Quite a lot of progress on the steel structure, one of few going up so far. The station will feature three tracks and two platforms (a side and centre). It will be the point before Lines 1 and 3 split towards Algonquin and Moodie respectively. Transfers between Lines 1 and 3 will be done cross-platform.

The station will have public washrooms, retail and a major bus loop serving urban west-end routes.









And the tunnel portal just north of Lincoln Fields where trains will run under the Byron Tramway Park towards downtown.





Quite a few more images on the website:

https://otrain.railfans.ca/snapshot-...january-6-2022

[JHikka]

Rapid transit in the Golden Horseshoe - everything is either existing, under construction, or in advanced planning with construction start in coming years. Map is roughly 2030. By augustAP12 on Twitter

[J.OT13]

RailFans now has a TTC map available, with existing and u/c lines. Track geometry, switches, platforms, railyards, pocket tracks are all there. They are working on adding Go lines as well.

https://otrain.railfans.ca/system-map

[gunnar777]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Rapid transit in the Golden Horseshoe - everything is either existing, under construction, or in advanced planning with construction start in coming years. Map is roughly 2030. By augustAP12 on Twitter

I love a good future rapid transit map as much as the next enthusiast, but this one is over the top, due to the inclusion of bus lines.

[Innsertnamehere]

Scarborough Subway Launch Shaft appears to be approaching completion:



https://twitter.com/ScarbSubwayEXT/s...702061584?s=20

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by JHikka

There is so much underway in the GTA that even transit enthusiasts have a hard time keeping up.

I was under the impression that:

- the Yonge subway line was being extended one stop further North to a station called “High Tech”
- the alignment for the extension (resurrection) of the Hurontario LRT into downtown Brampton hadn’t been decided yet
- GO service to Kitchener (past Mt Pleasant) was planned for AD2W at 60 min frequencies
- Regional rail (15 min service) on the Barrie Line was only going as far as Aurora
- Dundas BRT was planned to extend all the way to the Hwy 5/6 intersection in Waterdown (Hamilton)
- Lincolnville station was going to be renamed “Old Elm”.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

There is so much underway in the GTA that even transit enthusiasts have a hard time keeping up.

I was under the impression that:

- the Yonge subway line was being extended one stop further North to a station called “High Tech”
- the alignment for the extension (resurrection) of the Hurontario LRT into downtown Brampton hadn’t been decided yet
- GO service to Kitchener (past Mt Pleasant) was planned for AD2W at 60 min frequencies
- Regional rail (15 min service) on the Barrie Line was only going as far as Aurora
- Dundas BRT was planned to extend all the way to the Hwy 5/6 intersection in Waterdown (Hamilton)
- Lincolnville station was going to be renamed “Old Elm”.

The Yonge Line is getting extended about 7km to High Tech road in Richmond Hill - exactly how many stops it will have hasn’t been determined yet but it will have at least 4 and no more than 6.

Brampton City Council has returned to supporting a tunneled alignment along Main St / Hurontario into downtown, though it has yet to receive funding.

GO RER service will end at Bramalea, with 30 minute service to Mount Pleasant and hourly to Kitchener from my understanding.

GO RER service on the Barrie Line was recently announced that it was being extended to Bradford with (I believe) 30 minute service running to Barrie.

The Dundas BRT study runs from Kipling to Waterdown, however my understanding is that it only includes dedicated lanes between Kipling and UTM, with “priority infrastructure” beyond that to Waterdown (upgraded shelters, signal priority, etc).

Lincolnville station is indeed being rebuilt to the south right now as a “normal” station without having to walk through the train yard and will be renamed Old Elm.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by gunnar777

I love a good future rapid transit map as much as the next enthusiast, but this one is over the top, due to the inclusion of bus lines.

Including the "RapidTO" bus lines is a huge stretch (the Dufferin bus should not in any universe be called rapid transit ), but BRT lines belong. They functionally operate little differently from the LRT lines. The map also visibly differentiates between frequent and non-frequent/peak-only commuter trains, and between tram and LRT lines.

I'd say it's a good map - more comprehensive and truly accurate than any TTC-specific map.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

The Yonge Line is getting extended about 7km to High Tech road in Richmond Hill - exactly how many stops it will have hasn’t been determined yet but it will have at least 4 and no more than 6.

Brampton City Council has returned to supporting a tunneled alignment along Main St / Hurontario into downtown, though it has yet to receive funding.

GO RER service will end at Bramalea, with 30 minute service to Mount Pleasant and hourly to Kitchener from my understanding.

GO RER service on the Barrie Line was recently announced that it was being extended to Bradford with (I believe) 30 minute service running to Barrie.

The Dundas BRT study runs from Kipling to Waterdown, however my understanding is that it only includes dedicated lanes between Kipling and UTM, with “priority infrastructure” beyond that to Waterdown (upgraded shelters, signal priority, etc).

Lincolnville station is indeed being rebuilt to the south right now as a “normal” station without having to walk through the train yard and will be renamed Old Elm.

Thanks. Like I said, plans change all the time, and so much is being planned that it's nearly impossible to keep track of all of this, and you have to kind of crowdsource your knowledge among people who follow transit developments in specific parts of the region.

The map looks like it reflects that, rather than being a single source of truth from an official agency like Metrolinx.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

GO RER service will end at Bramalea, with 30 minute service to Mount Pleasant and hourly to Kitchener from my understanding.

It's unfortunate that RER is terminating at Bramalea and not going at least one stop further to Brampton City Centre to link up with the LRT & BRT lines.

Also odd that the Milton line through Mississauga isn't RER - while on the opposite side, having RER service all the way up to Bradford in the north seems excessive. Anyone know the reasoning behind these decisions?

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

It's unfortunate that RER is terminating at Bramalea and not going at least one stop further to Brampton City Centre to link up with the LRT & BRT lines.

Also odd that the Milton line through Mississauga isn't RER - while on the opposite side, having RER service all the way up to Bradford in the north seems excessive. Anyone know the reasoning behind these decisions?

Conflicts with freight. For the first, GO owns most of its corridor between Union and Kitchen but there's a bottle neck from Georgetown to Bramlea owned by CN where its main freight route passes through the metro area. There would need to be tracks added but part of the corridor isn't wide enough due to how close buildings are to the tracks in places like downtown Brampton. Particularly given the need for larger stations with additional facilities.

Same with the Milton line as this is owned by CP and is CP's main freight corridor through town. For frequent all day service there would need to be not only corridor widening but also probably some grade separations due to the danger posed by such frequent rail traffic. And in both cases, it isn't clear how the freight operators would feel about having overheard wires.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Conflicts with freight. For the first, GO owns most of its corridor between Union and Kitchen but there's a bottle neck from Georgetown to Bramlea owned by CN where its main freight route passes through the metro area. There would need to be tracks added but part of the corridor isn't wide enough due to how close buildings are to the tracks in places like downtown Brampton. Particularly given the need for larger stations with additional facilities.

Same with the Milton line as this is owned by CP and is CP's main freight corridor through town. For frequent all day service there would need to be not only corridor widening but also probably some grade separations due to the danger posed by such frequent rail traffic. And in both cases, it isn't clear how the freight operators would feel about having overheard wires.

Thanks, figured that issues of track ownership might be the culprit.

I guess when the time comes that service needs to be expanded into these areas, they'll just either have to be tunnelled or take a bit of expropriation to widen the rail corridors.

[WhipperSnapper]

ownership map. 8 years old but, don't think it has changed too much

https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2014/10...y-growing-gtha