innsertnamehere
Superstar
Have a feeling it's like the TTC with the avoidance of tight turn radii, sure they can do it, but they would rather not for matienence reasons.
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- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
So hamilton is not getting all day service, even with all the new room they will have now? Ridiculous. Is it because it will make the trip longer?
nfitz
Superstar
???
The article said getting Hamilton all-day service was a top priority. But that it wasn't going to start next year.
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
junctionist
Senior Member
It sounds like the province wants to be ambitious with the architecture of the new Hamilton station. I think my message about how public buildings--including transit stations--should be spaces which communities can take pride in is finally getting through to the government. Too often have we built lousy utilitarian buildings at the hearts of our communities. Stations and other public buildings are important opportunities for architecture and art. Those buildings bring together people from all walks of life to use valuable services like transit and libraries.
nfitz
Superstar
Presumably it doesn't sound good enough to them either, if they are contemplating a significant increase in the near future.
It's another broken Liberal election promise. And I fail to see what benefit this does for the 2015 Pan Am games.
Is GO buying the line from CN an option? I thought this was a critical one for CN.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
what this does during the Pan Ams is that it lets them run extra midday trains which wasn't really possible before. They would have to pay a large sum to CN which may not be feasible for a day to day basis, but I'm sure CN would be more than happy to let them run some trains through mid-day for the Pan Ams provided they are willing to pay.
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
See? and they said after the pan am games? So they really mean 2020 then. I thought the whole point of moving was to use the CN line since there was more room for traffic. If it was critical, CN should have blocked this move entirely. This is on the MTO. Again.
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drum118
Superstar
The line is critical to CN as its their gateway to the US 2 routes and I don't expect CN to sell it to Metrolinx.
To add more room for tracks is going to be expensive as it is next to the harbour water edge and dealing with 2 junctions including CP one.
Its not a broken promise, but a costly one that has no money for it now.
Even upgrading CP tracks to TH&B station is costly and will interfere with CP operations.
When the 3rd track was added some years ago, it took some doing to get it to the Bayview Junction as well through Royal Botanical Gardens.
I need to look at the photos I took during this construction to make sure, but Plains Rd bridge will have to be rebuilt to get more tracks under it. A shear retaining wall will have to be built from Plains Rd to the Hamilton Yard leads to get the extra tracks in. That will require a Federal EA.
Metrolinx will be put into the same position for the CN Grimbys Sub as CP Galt Sub where 4 tracks will have to be built from Hamilton to where CN cuts off it with the rest of the line being 2 tracks to NF for all day service or peak service.
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Where did you get that? My impression is that the GO station will just as utilitarian as every other suburban GO station. The somewhat impressive looking pedestrian overpass is done out of necessity: the tracks are already submerged in a trench.
My impression is that the original Beaux Arts station will remain a private event space.
On the whole, the James street station is something of a bittersweet victory for me. I really prefer the TH&B art deco station - which is a truly beautiful station, and very centrally located. The new station has more expansion capacity and allows rail services further west to the Niagara region to take shape, but it's psychologically pretty far removed from downtown Hamilton.
junctionist
Senior Member
It was in the article drum posted. However, the only rendering in the article on thespec.com doesn't make it look particularly special. Like with the Eglinton LRT stations, we'll just have to wait and see if Metrolinx knows what great architecture is and what a "high quality public realm" entails. Generic glass boxes and concrete plazas might be an improvement over GO's bare bones shelters and parking lots, but they still won't fit the bill. Hopefully, that's not what they have planned.
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
So all the service to Hamilton will be another mountain to climb.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Its a fairly complex station, it will right up there with Pickering as one of the nicest GO stations once finished. Its a dual platform station, not a huge megacity terminus like Union, I don't know how much more you can expect.
denfromoakvillemilton
Senior Member
Oh I agree the station will be very nice, I'm just concerned about the implementation of all the service insert.
nfitz
Superstar
The Liberals stood there during the last election, and promised full-day service to James Street North in 2015. In what way is this not another broken Liberal promise?