What in the world are you talking about? These are heavily used rail lines that are actively under construction.
What are you talking about? You can still deck over operational rail corridors & reclaim the space above for public use. Or didn’t you know that? I guess not. A number of cities have done that. Rail Deck Park was to be that.
 
What are you talking about? You can still deck over operational rail corridors & reclaim the space above for public use. Or didn’t you know that? I guess not. A number of cities have done that. Rail Deck Park was to be that.
Deck over a viaduct? Where has that happened? Rail Deck Park was right downtown, and not a viaduct.
 
Viaduct? It’s mostly all rail lines. Original pic. And I’m speaking of mostly downtown area. It is an eyesore.
The pictures are all of the viaduct that was constructed in the 1920s, outside of downtown, where the existing rail line runs along side Line 3. If you want to discuss the non-elevated mainline west of Union, then it's nowhere near Line 3 and that thread is at https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/rail-deck-park.25731/
 
Funny, I don't think of Toronto as being either unfinished OR unambitious because they don't cover over rail lines. I don't find them to be remotely aesthetically unpleasing, and I think that motions to deck over rail lines and bury transit overhead power lines are cynical ideas to waste money and reduce the individuality and personality of the city.
 
The pictures are all of the viaduct that was constructed in the 1920s, outside of downtown, where the existing rail line runs along side Line 3. If you want to discuss the non-elevated mainline west of Union, then it's nowhere near Line 3 and that thread is at https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/rail-deck-park.25731/
Thanks. But no thread needed. I was just making a general visual observation of the CN Tower pic & all those unsightly rail lines downtown.
 
Thanks. But no thread needed. I was just making a general visual observation of the CN Tower pic & all those unsightly rail lines downtown.
I don't think any of those photos show the railway tracks downtown. The only one with the CN tower in, is a photo of the elevated Toronto Viaduct, east of downtown. The viaduct was constructed in the 1920s (and being reconstructed now). I don't know how you build a park on top an embankment. At the roof line of the new subway stations?
 
Funny, I don't think of Toronto as being either unfinished OR unambitious because they don't cover over rail lines. I don't find them to be remotely aesthetically unpleasing, and I think that motions to deck over rail lines and bury transit overhead power lines are cynical ideas to waste money and reduce the individuality and personality of the city.
And I completely disagree with you. ✌️
 
Funny, I don't think of Toronto as being either unfinished OR unambitious because they don't cover over rail lines. I don't find them to be remotely aesthetically unpleasing, and I think that motions to deck over rail lines and bury transit overhead power lines are cynical ideas to waste money and reduce the individuality and personality of the city.
Not disagreeing with you for the most part, except that Millennium Park is very much part of the individuality and personality of Chicago.
 
Not disagreeing with you for the most part, except that Millennium Park is very much part of the individuality and personality of Chicago.
Millennium Park is a deck over a trenched railway corridor, so it doesn't apply to the joint corridor. Plus whilst Millennium Park is kinda nice, Millennium Station is anything but. It's dingy, and literally feels like someone built a train station in a parking lot (because that's what it is).
 
unsightly rail lines downtown
The corridors can be dingy and ugly. But beautifying them is very far down the list when there's so much work to be done on making GO a true two way all day transit network.

Besides, if you're concerned about aesthetics, remember that the train takes 70-100,000 cars off the road; 90% of those people are going downtown. So wait till you see how unsightly another 20 jammed highway lanes heading into the core look.

And finally, building parks on decks is not a good idea because the waterproofing membrane under the park needs to be replaced every so often. Which is not the best idea from a maintenance/ops expenses perspective.
 
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Decking over a rail corridor on a berm makes no sense - for one it would add even more visual bulk to a relatively benign landform. If there are any missed opportunity, it would be not building under the berm at key locations (e.g. Queen) to allow for the expansion of existing community facilities/park space.

AoD
 

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