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^When I see platform shots like this one, I'm always interested in looking for what may be roughed in for the future.

It certainly looks to me like the ability to raise the platform to level-boarding with the lower level of a bilevel has been thought out.

Full height single level boarding? I'm less sure.

Electrification? No pads for OCS installation, and no sign of bonding yet, but it's early days for that.

ML's standard design appears to keep all steelwork well above ground level. That can't be a coincidence.

I'm sure hoping we see the sidings progress this summer, possibly something can be hoped for in service by end of the 2023 construction season.

- Paul
 
Saw this Tweet which shows the canopies going up on Guelph’s second platform.


Just the picture:
View attachment 450804
Y'all are so quick you're posting my content before I get around to doing it! (It's totally fine, I think it's hilarous)

Something else I noticed from that walk is that some signal relocations are required. It's incredibly frustrating that the feds plopped it in there with no regard to future plans. The most egrgious example: where the Guelph Sub will be grade separated from Silvercreek Parkway...

FmmZXkqaUAAu-Oa.jpg


Who friggin thought that was a good spot to put those?
 
Who friggin thought that was a good spot to put those?

LOL. It’s a great spot….. see the nice big gate so the signal maintainer can access them easily from the dead-end?

I don’t know what is planned for that road, or how long that plan has been alive, and I’m all for future proofing, but if designers addressed every future project that *might* happen, nothing would get built cheaply. That CTC has been there long enough that any skepticism the CTC installers had about the road project actually moving ahead has been vindicated.

But fear not….. those 2-aspect signals don’t provide the range of indications that will be needed for proper full-speed passing when the new track is placed in service, so they will likely get replaced anyways. Not a big deal to relocate them at that time.

- Paul
 
LOL. It’s a great spot….. see the nice big gate so the signal maintainer can access them easily from the dead-end?

I don’t know what is planned for that road, or how long that plan has been alive, and I’m all for future proofing, but if designers addressed every future project that *might* happen, nothing would get built cheaply. That CTC has been there long enough that any skepticism the CTC installers had about the road project actually moving ahead has been vindicated.

But fear not….. those 2-aspect signals don’t provide the range of indications that will be needed for proper full-speed passing when the new track is placed in service, so they will likely get replaced anyways. Not a big deal to relocate them at that time.

- Paul
Agreed on the access point for maintainers, but still think it could have been a little further west or east. As a local, I can tell you there's a difference between 'yeah maybe we'll get around to upgrading this road in the next couple decades, if we get funding', and this earmarked grade separation adjacent to an active draft plan of subdivision within a designated mixed node, all identified in City plans. It may not be that much more to relocate them, but it is just one more extra cost, and one more example of an inability to coordinate infrastructure in this country.
 
Agreed on the access point for maintainers, but still think it could have been a little further west or east. As a local, I can tell you there's a difference between 'yeah maybe we'll get around to upgrading this road in the next couple decades, if we get funding', and this earmarked grade separation adjacent to an active draft plan of subdivision within a designated mixed node, all identified in City plans. It may not be that much more to relocate them, but it is just one more extra cost, and one more example of an inability to coordinate infrastructure in this country.

One would need to see the exchange of communication between the CofG and Metrolinx to know the back story - was ML asking CofG to get on with things, or was CofG warning ML that they needed to rethink their design?

Considering that the CofG is communicating in detail about the GO project, one would hope they tried to connect the dots with ML.

Personally, I would be disappointed if the eventual end of double track were east of Paisley - because both the Paisley bridge and the Highway 6 bridges are already built for double track. Why not capitalise on that foresighted investment and get the interlocking out of the way of that grade separation once and for all? But perhaps the little bit of embankment widening required isn't in ML's work plan or budget.

- Paul
 
One would need to see the exchange of communication between the CofG and Metrolinx to know the back story - was ML asking CofG to get on with things, or was CofG warning ML that they needed to rethink their design?

Considering that the CofG is communicating in detail about the GO project, one would hope they tried to connect the dots with ML.

Personally, I would be disappointed if the eventual end of double track were east of Paisley - because both the Paisley bridge and the Highway 6 bridges are already built for double track. Why not capitalise on that foresighted investment and get the interlocking out of the way of that grade separation once and for all? But perhaps the little bit of embankment widening required isn't in ML's work plan or budget.

- Paul
It was a federal / VIA Rail project, was it not?
 
It was a federal / VIA Rail project, was it not?

The original CTC installation? Yes, it was VIA with GEXR as the host railway at the time. Completed late 2015.

More recently, ML has renewed a lot of the track components in that location.

Was the grade separation proposal on the books back in 2015 ? If so, it hasn't moved much in 7 years.

- Paul
 
The original CTC installation? Yes, it was VIA with GEXR as the host railway at the time. Completed late 2015.

More recently, ML has renewed a lot of the track components in that location.

Was the grade separation proposal on the books back in 2015 ? If so, it hasn't moved much in 7 years.

- Paul

The E.A. I linked to above is dated 2012
 
Personally, I would be disappointed if the eventual end of double track were east of Paisley

Unfortunately I think you will be disappointed. The city website lists:
Metrolinx is re-installing a second track between Silvercreek Parkway and Guelph Central Station to accommodate increased rail service.

----
From what I remember about the Silvercreek grade separation, the city wants it to be mostly funded by the proposed development south of the railway corridor as it's not considered necessary without that.

The city also did a recent study/consultation of crossings to see what, if anything should be done about them. https://www.haveyoursay.guelph.ca/rail-crossing-study. There are some attached documents with a bit more info.

The biggest one is Edinburgh where the city wants to put in an underpass. The current city capital budget lists a $58mil item for "Edinburgh Rail Crossings" in 2031.
 
Speaking of the Guelph Sub....

Article posted today.

How close is two-way, all-day GO train service between Kitchener and Toronto?​

Work continues incrementally on infrastructure to provide service that previous Liberal government promised would be running by 2024​


By Cheyenne Bholla
Record Reporter

KITCHENER — Almost 10 years after the previous provincial government first promised two-way, all-day GO service to Waterloo Region, work continues but it’s still not clear when the service will be implemented.
In 2016, Metrolinx first extended GO train service between Toronto’s Union Station and Kitchener, with two morning and two afternoon trains. That same year, Kathleen Wynne, the Liberal premier at the time, promised to have two-way, all-day service running by 2024.

As 2024 approaches, the current Conservative government under Premier Doug Ford is moving forward with the “largest transit expansion plan in Canadian history,” a spokesperson says.

“In the past few years, we have increased service to Halton Hills, Guelph and Kitchener by nearly 45 per cent with new midday and late-night options for commuters,” said Dakota Brasier, a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson.
Work has recently been done in Guelph.

Rehabilitation of retaining walls and the repair and replacement of two bridges were completed in December. Work on the retaining walls had to first be completed before a second track could be replaced. Retaining walls hold back the dirt so that Metrolinx can expand the corridor.

Construction of a second passing track in Breslau is ongoing, and construction of a maintenance storage track near Rockwood will begin this year, said Brasier.

In May 2022, Metrolinx, the provincial agency in charge of GO service, announced a contract with Dagmar Construction Inc. to build a second platform at Guelph Central GO Station, a new storage track for maintenance vehicles and a 2.6-kilometre passing track in Breslau.

The passing track, one of three to be constructed along the Kitchener Line, would allow trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other between Kitchener and Guelph. This work is set to be completed in early 2024.

Trains now have to share a single track with freight traffic, slowing down service because passenger trains have to wait on a siding until freight trains pass.

Improvements at Bloor GO Station and West Toronto Railpath are also set to finish in 2025 as part of the bigger project.

The massive two-way, all-day transit project requires a capital investment of at least $806 million and would see trains between Kitchener and Union Station every hour — 30 minutes during peak times.

Brian Prudham, a partner with Momentum Developments, said in a recent interview that two-way, all-day GO service would be “single largest game-changing project” that could help out a company like his.

Although he said business is good, more transportation options would further open the Kitchener housing market to the Greater Toronto Area.

“All-day GO opens up options for folks to spend a bit less on housing in K-W while offering the employment opportunities of Toronto,” said Prudham.

“It creates a deeper amenity base for K-W dwellers as a one-hour train ride to Toronto at any time of day means access to professional sports and world city attractions in the arts/culture and festival/event realm.”

In 2016, the Wynne Liberals also pledged $43 million to the Region of Waterloo to develop a transit hub at King and Victoria streets in Kitchener, creating a centre that would connect light rail transit, Grand River Transit buses, GO trains and Via Rail trains.

Regional spokesperson Lynsey Slupeiks said the region will provide an update on the hub when a report is released, possibly as early as February.

Work on the transit hub, including new platforms for GO trains, is proceeding in downtown Kitchener, but the construction of a new transit hub building has been on hold as the region worked to line up the rest of the funding needed for the $106-million project, beyond the $43 million the province has agreed to pay.

With more limited GO trains today, the vast majority to trips between Waterloo Region and the Greater Toronto Area are still by car.

Commuters, shoppers, students and others took 64,000 daily trips in both directions, but GO trains accounted for only 1,000 daily trips — just under two per cent, according to Ministry of Transportation data from 2016.

The 2016 census found 18,205 people commuting in both directions between this region and the Greater Toronto Area. Only 10 per cent of these commuters (1,850 people) used public transit including GO trains and buses. Cars, trucks and vans carried 86 per cent of commuters.

The use of public transit — and the number of commuters to and from the GTA — decreased after the pandemic hit.

In 2021 commuting fell as many employees worked from home in the pandemic. The census found 15,620 commuters moving in both directions between this region and the Greater Toronto Area. Only six per cent (695 people) used public transit while 93 per cent commuted by car, truck or van.

With files from Jeff Outhit
https://www.therecord.com/authors.bholla_cheyenne.html
Cheyenne Bholla is a Waterloo Region-based reporter at The Record. Reach her via email:
cbholla@therecord.com
 

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