Transit Fantasies

[mcj]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

It would break my heart to have Pacific Central still be grossly underutilized just because it looks nice and I think could really be dressed up with Thornton Park in front and the new development that will be spurred by the hospital. But it certainly doesn't have the same opportunities to integrate with multi-modal transport the way Waterfront does.

Agreed, I'm a bit hesitant to suggest which the end terminus would be. Either Waterfront or Pacific Central I would be happy about, assuming the final choice comes with a large scale rehabilitation plan. You just can't beat Waterfront's current and future access to multi-modal transportation though and with cold logic that would be the better choice for that reason alone.

Ideally in the long term VIA steps up service in BC and Pacific Central gets the love it deserves.

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Would anything need to be "negotiated" to do your proposal? I would assume if Canada is willing to pay for the quad tracks and the extra stations, the U.S. wouldn't care about adding them especially if International trains still only stop at the terminus and the Surrey station and aren't delayed by the local trains. But I wonder if you need any of those local stations past Guildford. All of the super commuters from the Valley would already be on board the train, and assuming they are either commuting to Surrey or Vancouver I don't think it would be worth building the three additional stations.
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I think issues with track ownership and rights would be the point of negotiation, just something in writing that says we can run additional service on the tracks. It was brought up as a potential issue to this idea another time something like this was discussed.

As far as the stations are concerned, that would be my maximum buildout proposal, however they would need to lay the tracks so that building out the stations is possible when the time comes. An initial operating segment of local express trains between Guildford and Waterfront would make sense currently. If the tracks go down the TCH then Carvolth is right there though and would make express bus service to the Fraser Valley slightly more efficient, plus there will be the BRT service between Maple Ridge and Langley Centre in the next decade. The suggestion for the 232st / Fraser Highway station is also just due to the tracks running through that area anyways and would give some connectivity to Aldergrove/South Langley, although the ridership would be an issue with current population.

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Also, how you would fit four tracks alongside the TCH? There certainly wouldn't be enough space to put them in the median and after 160 St in Surrey there isn't extra space beside the highway, so you're either looking at expensive tunneling or expropriation.

Four tracks would just be for the station areas, most of the trackage would just be double tracks.

I'd imagine the station at 104 Ave to be either where the old toll station for the Port Mann bridge was east of the interchange, or elevated above the interchange on the south side of the TCH.

Expropriation after 104 Ave is kind of inevitable, there's not even space for two tracks. Plus we'd be expropriating the full length of the track from the border until it meets the TCH anyways, it's East Langley but that's still going to be an expensive expropriation effort. Not to mention all the expropriation/tunneling on the north side of the Fraser that would have to happen in any scenario.