[Admiral Beez]

I agree with the previous comment. Adding China as a comparison in this conversation does not advance the conversation. I have spent enough time travelling around China by train, plane and car to experience the scale of building of their transit systems and to have some appreciation for what has been accomplished. But beyond the technologies, how China has built out, and continues to build out their systems, is not relatable to the western world.

Interesting summary of China's rail expansion.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

Interesting summary of China's rail expansion.

Something that I want to point out regarding China's Rail Network is that the government has plans to try and force majority of passenger rail towards the High Speed Network. That will allow them to expand freight rail service on the conventional lines.

 

[JasonParis]

Let me guess, Mike Harris refused an idea that actually made common sense? Wouldnt be surprised if this was during his era.

After all, that's why we're getting this project built 25 years after the fact.

I think @interchange42 may know the answer here.

 

[interchange42]

I think @interchange42 may know the answer here.

The north-south section of the Mississauga/Toronto border has "always" been where it is now, aligned with the straight section of Renforth Drive from the 401 on up. (The 427 eventually swings onto that alignment for most of the way to Steeles.)

Sometime back in the 80s IIRC, Mississauga suggested that when the industrial area south of Eglinton and close to the Etobicoke Creek began to be developed, that they would be better suited to service it, so the border west of Renforth to the Etobicoke Creek should be moved from alongside Eglinton to through the hydro corridor to the south. Metro Toronto was like "what you smokin' Missy?" and counter-suggested that Toronto get everything between Eglinton and the 401. The Province was basically "settle down, we're not changing any boundaries" and that was that.

42

 

[JasonParis]

In a perfect world, I'd have preferred if Toronto/Etobicoke's border would have continued to follow Etobicoke Creek encompassing all of this, plus most of Pearson itself, and the Village of Malton. If we were devising it from scratch around what makes the most sense now, we'd do that. Having said that, it will never happen.

 

[innsertnamehere]

In a perfect world, I'd have preferred if Toronto/Etobicoke's border would have continued to follow Etobicoke Creek encompassing all of this, plus most of Pearson itself, and the Village of Malton. If we were devising it from scratch and what makes the most sense now, we'd do that. Having said that, it will never happen.

In an ideal world I would probably push the northern boundary up to the 407 as well to include areas like Thornhill and Southern Markham, which largely function more closely with the City of Toronto already than they do with the areas of their own municipality north of the 407.

 

[JasonParis]

We are getting off-topic, but 407 is also akin to a natural boundary, when really, the current Steeles boundary basically divides an integrated community by service levels.

 

[Transportfan]

It might have been, many years ago, before they realigned Renforth and Eglinton. But after they realigned everything, over 50 years ago, there's almost 200 metres from the intersection, west to the boundary. Renforth only becomes the boundary, at that curve, between Matheson and the 401.

I've drawn the approximate location of the boundary below.

View attachment 375747

Good observation. The section of Renforth Drive that was on the line was the southernmost part of the old Indian Line. Airport Road originally ran straight down and converged with Indian Line at the eastern terminus of Lower Base Line (Eglinton), forming a tripoint.

From link

 

[Amare]

The north-south section of the Mississauga/Toronto border has "always" been where it is now, aligned with the straight section of Renforth Drive from the 401 on up. (The 427 eventually swings onto that alignment for most of the way to Steeles.)

Sometime back in the 80s IIRC, Mississauga suggested that when the industrial area south of Eglinton and close to the Etobicoke Creek began to be developed, that they would be better suited to service it, so the border west of Renforth to the Etobicoke Creek should be moved from alongside Eglinton to through the hydro corridor to the south. Metro Toronto was like "what you smokin' Missy?" and counter-suggested that Toronto get everything between Eglinton and the 401. The Province was basically "settle down, we're not changing any boundaries" and that was that.

42

The things you learn on UT never cease to amaze, that's some good insight right there. Probably one of the best cole's notes lessons provided on UT because of the quick analogy references.

 

[EYorker]

Thanks for the detailed replies @smallspy and @duffo .

It's good to know that these new capabilities are baked into the line, and also on the TYSSE. But the bigger question will be if the TTC sees fit to operate Line 5 that way. It will hopefully create a paradigm shift in their attitude to rail operations. I hope they can get away from the "shut it down" mentality, as you put it duffo. We shall see how that pans out once the line is operational.

One would hope on the surface section, that if a car decides to drive onto the right of way, that service could still theoretically run as long as one direction of track is clear. Because we all know how great some drivers can be here. I would much rather see some delayed service, than none at all.

 

[trtcttc]

I hope they prioritize speed of service versus just the level of service. Don’t have a lot of hope after what happened to St.Clair and Spadina but hopefully they would’ve thought about how to prevent bunching on the surface sections

 

[smallspy]

Thanks for the detailed replies @smallspy and @duffo .

It's good to know that these new capabilities are baked into the line, and also on the TYSSE. But the bigger question will be if the TTC sees fit to operate Line 5 that way. It will hopefully create a paradigm shift in their attitude to rail operations. I hope they can get away from the "shut it down" mentality, as you put it duffo. We shall see how that pans out once the line is operational.

One would hope on the surface section, that if a car decides to drive onto the right of way, that service could still theoretically run as long as one direction of track is clear. Because we all know how great some drivers can be here. I would much rather see some delayed service, than none at all.

Some of those capabilities are out of the TTC"s hands, however.

Crossover placement, for instance. With the number and location of crossovers, they will be hard pressed to run a service more frequent than every 8-to-10 minutes if they are going to be single-tracking sections. (For the record, the headway on the TYSSE when they single-track operations is 7-to-8 minutes.)

The "shut it down" mentality stems mostly from what makes the most sense from an operational sense - which unfortunately doesn't always make it easiest for the passengers. For instance, many of the weekend shutdowns over the past couple of years involved trains shunting over manual crossovers that were not yet tied in with the signal system. This is something that the TTC really didn't seem comfortable with 10 years ago - but the realization occurred that doing so will make life easier for everyone, so there we go.

Dan

 

[Johnny Au]

Oakwood station's main entrance has pick-up sticks gracing its façade:

Photo taken by me yesterday

 

[daniel_kryz]

Pretty lazy but okay. I was looking for some more inspiring and even immersive 3D art, not just an abstract window covering.

 

[felix123]

Oakwood station's main entrance has pick-up sticks gracing its façade:

View attachment 376485
Photo taken by me yesterday

Yikes that is some bad art (not a comment on the pic!).
I wonder if Metrolinx uses this outfit: