ssiguy2
Senior Member
I think they should just use standard Metro cars just like the other subway lines except these will have catenary power supple. This is a subway line and should use subway cars.
|
|
|
You've got it.The tracks and trackbed sit on the tunnel liner, which is built in segments, and as best I can tell the TBM Tunnel liners get removed entirely where a station is built, so the tracks would have to come out with it.
Since the tunnel liners are several peices that are put together for each ring, I can't see it being possible to remove only part of it and leave in the bottom part, each whole piece would have to come out.
This picture should give an idea of the inside of such a tunnel.
Backtracking on SmartTrack: http://m.torontosun.com/2016/01/24/backtracking-on-smarttrack#.VqWb-yuqY_c.twitter
Hilarious to have the guy who backed Miller and Chow post an editorial in the Sun of all places....
For a downtown station, could you use the outer two bypass tracks at the southern end of the Union Corridor for a station snugged up against the new towers/GO bus terminal. You could have some station access above through the new tower, but main pedestrian could be by digging a new main entrance path north into, up and out of the Dominion building on Front. You could tie into the LRT platform as well from the Dominion basement.
View attachment 64803 View attachment 64802 For a downtown station, could you use the outer two bypass tracks at the southern end of the Union Corridor for a station snugged up against the new towers/GO bus terminal. You could have some station access above through the new tower, but main pedestrian could be by digging a new main entrance path north into, up and out of the Dominion building on Front. You could tie into the LRT platform as well from the Dominion basement.
Metrolinx has been planning on running two way all day services on the GO lines, running a regional express line for the Lakeshore lines, and electrifying the Lakeshore and Kitchener lines:
http://your32.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/The-Big-Move-Next-Wave-Project-Profiles.pdf
So no Kathleen Wynne did not pull the GO RER plans out of her behind for the election. She just got more ambitious with existing plans by looking to introduce more frequent levels of services to more sections of the lines (15 min or better level or service) and looking to electrify more of the lines. As part of next wave project Metrolinx was looking to spend $7.5 billion (2014) on GO lines. What the GO RER is doing is increasing that spending to something like 13 billion for better level of service and electrification, fare integration, and integration with local services. GO RER should have been done long time, which is why you don't see much criticism leveled against it compared to other transit projects. It reaches more of the region and it is money well spent.
As for what you are saying about ridership, anybody can see that these lines will be well used and the region is dying for this level of service. Also Metrolinx is planning on increasing the level of services gradually which will help to build up ridership and not just introducing everything at once. There are places in Europe and other places with smaller populations than Toronto who have levels of service superior to what GO RER is planning on so I don't see why a region as big as Toronto cannot handle it even with all the car usage her. GO RER should be the backbone of our transit system.
Of course politics and expert planning go hand in hand. Well duh. The politicians control the money. The bureaucrats at Metrolinx or TTC can come up with all the plans they want but without money from the politicians, it will just collect dust.
We blast certain politicians for pulling transit plans out of their behind like Tory with SmartTrack and Rob Ford with nonsense like subways on Finch. With SmartTrack there are no official Toronto plans offering this type of service. It has never been brought forward by anybody in Toronto because those lines are owned by GO and they would be the ones building something like this. If the city of Toronto wants something like this, they need to go to GO and the province. SmartTrack was flawed which is why it is getting pulled apart when it's actually studied by the experts especially the nonsense on Eglinton West.
Where are all the studies pulling apart GO RER apart? There are none because everybody can see it makes sense and should have been done a long time ago. The city of Toronto has spent the past one year trying to make the original SmartTrack plan work and has failed in doing so. Shows how flawed the plan was.
There are already plans for two massive towers on each side of the rail corridor where you had proposed the bridge. Those proposals already include a "Greenway" park over the tracks. Given the various unknowns on final design, timelines, space required etc, a smarttrack platform here might not work. I think a better approach would be to have an underground station connecting close to the TTC, or at least using the existing platforms in the interm.
Personally one major worry I have is that the RER grand plan will fizzle away leaving us with a fraction of what was promised... which is a reasonable prediction considering every other transportation grand plan over the decades had this happen. So if, say, a longstanding priority like electrified Lakeshore E+W express rail doesn't exist by 2031, but a newfound priority like RER on Stouffville or Barrie does - I'm going to accuse the Prov of putting politics ahead of expert planning.
I'm not proposing a bridge. I'm saying excavate a new teamway under it all, so that you're funneling foot traffic north underground. You'd probably still have an access to that building, but the intention would be for the main flow to go under the whole development and up through the Dominion building to PATH and street level.