Here is my guess as too how things will play out for the Westboro - Lincoln Fields segment over the next few years. 2010 - 2011: The EA will quietly take place with most of the focus on the first part of the LRT project and getting ready for it to be constructed. It will be completed near the...

Bridges going over an at-grade line would be pretty unsightly. And though the park might not be anything special it does add too the character of the neighborhood. Much of Richmond west of the more urban part of Westboro runs through a fairly well to do and desirable neighborhood and ensuring...

It would be ready made if you didn't have to account for grade separations which change the nature of how the corridor would be used (excluding its use as a park). The primary reason for originally choosing the Parkway was that it could be easily grade separated (only a few changes would have to...

The project as it is currently proposed is pretty much perfect for the city. It shouldn't be scaled back (nothing at grade, period, and certainly not running on streets downtown). Nor does it need to be expanded by turning it into a subway. Though the downtown section will be tunnelled, and...

Considering this is the largest public transit project since the original transitway....so in the past 25 years....I hardly see this as Ottawa getting more than Toronto. And though there will be extensions to LRT over time, there is unlikely to be another project on this scale in Ottawa for...

My girlfriend has decided she wants to come to Toronto for a day or two for shopping. But before we come we want to get an idea of what sort of interesting clothing stores there are in Toronto. Basically she is looking for kind of funky, interesting clothing. Local designers, or at least...

Windsor Station I don't think is much of a loss. Not that it can't serve some role, but Central Station is far more ideal. The biggest setback for Central Station is the tunnel under Mont-Royal which should be expanded and the fact that it is limited to electrified service only. But if Montreal...

The more exceptions the better. The FRA doing actual tests is important as now they can no longer use that as an excuse for rejecting EMU use (at least the one(s) they have tested), and gives transit agencies a reason, and hope, to push for further tests that will allow an even wider range of...

The big difference with the European EMUs is that they are somewhat smaller, such as the case of the Talent, better looking, faster, and can be bought off the shelf essentially. Because they are not as heavy they are much more nimble and suitable for regional rail with regular stops. Toronto...

Short answer, not much of an excuse. Long answer, it will probably take some time before more widespread use is adopted so I wouldn't expect much from GO right away. However, this is a huge step in the right direction though.

The Ottawa reno is coming along quite nicely. It is still one of my favorite stations anywhere and I often arrive a bit earlier than need be just because its a cool station to hang out in (assigned seating on trains between Montreal and Ottawa and now some of the Toronto bound trains has made...

Who actually serves Peterborough, GO or VIA, doesn't really matter too much. Since Peterborough hasn't been served in two decades (its service was ended in 1990) it is hard to guess just what traveller preferences and patterns will be. Having GO serve it with a limited stop train would seem to...

I can understand why some people are not keen on spending the money for a rail line to Peterborough. I also think that the project could be tweaked so that it offers more value for the money. However, I think the project is still justified because it still serves an important purpose...

Both cities face the same problems really. They want rail connections with the airport, which makes sense. They also have a lot of existing rail infrastructure which more and more people are realizing could be modernization and used for high frequency regional rail. Modernization programs are...

I will add this post too this thread because it doesn't really belong in a post on its own and does also relate to HSR in that it will affect the inner city line through Montreal. As many know Montreal has also been working a plan for an Airport-Downtown rail link. The original plan (seen...

I didnt see a thread for existing VIA Rail improvements so I thought I would add this here. Mods can move the post if there is a better place. On my trip from Ottawa to Kingston I noticed a lot of work being done. Between Smiths Falls and Brockville there were two sections of siding being...

Your right. The speed limits are 50 km/h near and at stations. In between, speed limits range from 70 km/h to 90km/h. The only exceptions are parts where it is rather curvy (the Transitway from Hurdman to South Keys has quite a few curvy sections). Most non-downtown stations have barriers...

I totally agree gweed. I wasn't trying to knock BRT as a technology. I was just pointing out some of the reasons why BRT is starting to fail in Ottawa. It isnt a problem with the technology necessarily, only the infrastructure hitting capacity.

That was why I said that it 'could' work well if they wanted to do more in downtown sections. During rush hour, your right, that has become the norm. A lot of it has to do with Rideau. That has become a huge bottleneck in the system. You can actually watch starting from 3:00 and see how the line...

Times like that don't tend to last very long. You may have a small jam at a station but because there is a passing lane it can usually work itself out quick enough. Even downtown buses routinely use the other lanes on Slater and Albert to pass. The reason all those buses were backed up in that...