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Pictures and construction update from Metrolinx for the Stouffville Line. Portion of the second track with concrete ties shown. Also, temporary Steeles closure coming.


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Work on Water Mitigation

Over the past year, community residents have expressed concern over corridor drainage and rising water levels due to our work. In addition to putting forth a water mitigation plan, this strategic effort has been put into action. This includes last week`s digging and installation of a storm pipe on the east side of the track between Marilyn Avenue and Sheppard Avenue.

Work Performed/Construction Activities:
  • Sub-excavated soil to the east side of the track in between Kennedy and Steeles Avenue, ensuring soil is competent and secure
  • Then filled the excavated area up to proposed design subgrade with sub-ballast material.
  • Pulling out cables in the trenches and ducts under the Steeles Avenue crossing to allow for connection of bungalow at new location to the northwest corner; and connecting gates and cantilever to the southwest corner.
  • Laid concrete ties to the east side of track in between Steeles Avenue and Kennedy Road
  • Excavating trenches for laying cable and duct to southwest corner of Steeles Avenue
  • Testing and certifying sub-excavated subgrade to the east side of the track in between Kennedy and Steeles Avenue.

Work Scheduled for This Week:
  • Dewatering
  • Directional drilling under the track and road for signals and gates
  • Grading sub-ballast and pre-ballasting in Kennedy road and Steeles Avenue
  • Installation of culvert in Kennedy road and Steeles Avenue
  • Double handling of ties and rails

Steeles Avenue crossing closure December 15-18

As a part of our improvement to railway crossings, Metrolinx is undertaking the installation of the east side crossing panel at Steeles Avenue, which will necessitate the closing of the crossing next weekend.This work is a part of how Metrolinx is transforming the existing GO rail system to deliver a new rapid transit experience and provide your community with the transit options you deserve.

In order to safely complete this work, Metrolinx has coordinated with the City of Toronto to close Steeles Avenue between Kennedy Road and Midland Avenue from Friday, December 15 2017, starting at 11:00 pm, through to Monday, December 18 2017, re- opening at 5:00 am.
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wopchop said:
Great to see this announcement. I hope it included a couple hundred bucks for tearing down the plywood at the Exhibition tunnel ...
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I hope so, considering that this month is it's 3 year anniversary of not being finished on time. And over 5 years now since it's started.

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I emailed Han Dong's office about it. We'll see what excuses they come up with.
 
TOareaFan said:
Do plywood tear downs need an EA?

Last year I pushed my way thru the tunnel after MLS Cup Final i was beside 2 visitors from Seattle......they commented how horrible and “third world” the tunnel was....as we got to the north stairs to exit one said, roughly, “ah, that explains it, it’s under construction”.

Imagine what those same two would say if they are back for Saturday’s match and they see the tunnel in precisely the same state as last year!
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They were certainly correct about the state of that tunnel, but I just have to take a bit of solace in that Seattle -- surely not just in my opinion -- has the single most unimpressive rapid transit of any large, progressive city I've ever visited. Not to mention shocking poverty on the downtown streets and a sorely-lacking nightlife. I somehow still like Seattle despite its shortfalls, but maybe shoot back with that if they're at the game tomorrow ;)
 
Allandale25 said:
Pictures and construction update from Metrolinx for the Stouffville Line. Portion of the second track with concrete ties shown. Also, temporary Steeles closure coming.


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Great update, Allandale! It's always exciting to see more double-tracking work for GO, but of course I wish they'd have taken this opportunity to remove the level-crossing.
 
Regarding GO RER to Kitchener:

All-day 2-way GO feasible by 2024, but only if well-funded: transit expert
Province agrees to clear timelines and clear funding by April 2018
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Accomplishing what Kathleen Wynne's government has promised — to have all-day two-way GO service between Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo by 2024 — is doable according to a local transit planning expert, but only if the Liberals throw enough money at the project to get past any unforeseen snags.

"There's really no technical reason, no physical reason why we can't have two-way all-day GO service by 2024," said Jeff Casello, professor at the University of Waterloo's School of Planning. "The Chinese were able to build 1,300 kilometers of high-speed rail between Beijing and Shanghai in three and a half years."
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Still, Casello said he's watched as plans for a better connection between Toronto and K-W have been announced and re-announced, but with little follow-through.

"I came to the region 13 years ago and we were talking about two-way service between Toronto and Kitchener then," he told The Morning Edition's host Craig Norris on Friday.

"And it's incredibly frustrating for residents here, and I think equally frustrating for residents in Toronto, to be having this talk about really good rail service connecting the two cities — including this innovation corridor — for this long and not having any real progress."

"It's time for the province to be serious about this connection," said Casello.
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On Thursday, NDP MPP Catherine Fife's private member's motion asking the majority Liberals to include the Toronto to Waterloo Region corridor of the Regional Express Rail in its Long-Term Infrastructure Plan and commit to firm funding and timelines by April 2018, got all-party support in the legislature.

"I think this government is in a place right now where they understand that there is ultimately a trust issue," Fife told CBC News after the motion had passed.
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But Casello warns the government needs to be generous as it sets about crunching the numbers for this long-promised, much-anticipated project. And that means being ready to throw extra money at the project for when it hits a snag.

"The issue is, if we're going to stick to a time window, and there are going to be unforeseen delays, there's going to be things we don't expect to find. The only way that you catch up that time is you allocate more [financial] resources."
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...-toronto-wynne-liberal-fife-casello-1.4439515
 
I've never seen a document state exactly how many km RER will be and how many at-grade crossings it will have when the first sections are done by 2025. Anyone know?
 
The core RER network won't have too many at grade crossings, but they will definitely exist. There will be a bunch on stouffville and Barrie, and a few on Lakeshore. Kitchener will be 100% grade seperated provided it ends at Bramalea. Most of the grade crossings in the network are on the outer, rural sections which aren't going to be seeing 15 minute service. Barrie and Stouffville have quite a few in the core network, but Metrolinx is at least planning to eliminate the worst ones before RER starts. Barrie even has a few farm driveway crossings near King City that will be pointless to separate since they will have AADTs of something like 4.

Stouffville is probably the "worst" line for at grade crossings, almost every crossing is way above the index of when you need to seperate. I wish Metrolinx had more of a grade separation budget as they could be doing a lot more than the 2 crossings they are currently planning to do. Danforth, Progress, McNicoll, Kennedy, Denison, Highway 7, McCowan, Kennedy (#2), 16th Avenue, and probably Major Mack should all really be done.
 
The goal should be 100% grade separation, but it's a case of you only swallow the elephant if you do it one steak at a time. There needs to be an ongoing budget provision of $XM per year, gradually working down that list of level crossings over a couple of decades.

Those documents actually lay out a transparent and measurable basis for getting on with this. I wish other ML capital programs were this well justified and documented. We may all have individual quibbles or personal views on which crossings matter most, but I can't dispute the choices they made. Those crossings certainly belonged close to the top of the list. And, there is a relatively light political influence on the priorities.

It's not always easy to find nice things to say about ML, but in this case I'd say it's a solid plan.

- Paul
 
Thanks for the links, very informative.

There are actually relatively few grade crossings on the RER section of GO as most are on the Barrie line north of Aurora, LSW west of Aldershot, and only a handful on Kitchener to Brampton & LSE in Toronto itself. There is absolutely no reason why the entire GO network needs grade separation except a few at major road crossings where it has a significant effect on traffic or safety.

RER should have a medium term plan to get rid of all grade separations on all the RER lines bringing RER up to full subway/Metro standards. It will need this anyway as the system ridership soars to well over a million within probably 2 decades. RER is a total game changer that could quadruple the size of the subway/Metro system within 15 years. and offer subway level service.

This is how cities like Madrid and Sao Paulo were able to massively expand their systems within 20 years. They didn't start from scratch on most lines but simply upgraded a lot of the ones they already had. This is also the case in Tokyo and German U-Bahn where most of their subway lines are converted rail lines to subway standards using catenary powered subway cars. Catenary Metro vehicles are "off the shelf" and Toronto's nearest subway neighbour uses them exclusively........Cleveland.
 
BTW, forgot to mention.........I still didn't see a total length of what RER will be in km. Anyone know?
 
Does anyone know if York University station will be closing once the subway extension opens next week and the new station at Downsview Park opens?
 
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