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Originally Posted by fusili
The first question is why not interline? We would be spending more money and for what reason? Second, a line going from Forest Lawn to Marda Loop and MRU seems terribly expensive with no clear right of way.
You could keep the 17th avenue portion at grade, just use different train consists for this route (2 cars vs 4 or 5; 80m vs 120m). Trains such as the Alstom Citadis are pretty flexible in their configuration, allowing variable lengths. San Francisco does exactly this with both BART trains and the MUNI trams using the same tunnel underneath Market street.
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Interlining would mean reduced capacity, particularly if some portion of the trains running along the NC Line are shorter so that they can run on the 17 Ave Line. Will there still be enough capacity? Maybe, but it does put a lower limit on the line, one we may eventually regret. Besides, the difference in cost between interlining and forced transfer is essentially meaningless; initially it could simply mean building an additional platform at Crossroads, hardly a huge expense, although I would favour an initial terminus at Erlton. I just don't think every line needs to go downtown, especially if we are building a system to serve the entire city as opposed to only the fifth of the jobs (and sixth of the destination if we include schools) that are located in the core. Forced transfers at Crossroads and Erlton might be somewhat more inconvenient for those headed to the core but it would be slightly less inconvenient for those heading to jobs in the SE and considerably more convenient for those commuting to places on the S LRT, like Chinook for instance. Allowing people who don't need to enter the core to transfer before getting there means we will need less capacity in the most clearly congested portion of the system. It would help to move the C-Train system from an entirely mono-centric system to a more poly-centric one where downtown is still the best served destination but others aren't simply after thoughts.
I'm not entirely sure that you are correct in your assertion that the SE Line needs less capacity than the NC Line. With far more employment in the SE than the north, I could see demand for the two levelling out.
Yes, it would be quite expensive to build out a 17 Ave LRT into a south crosstown line serving Marda Loop, the former CFB communities, and Mount Royal University. It would probably require ~6 km of tunnelling. I could easily see it as a project that would never be built precisely because of the expense. That said, it wouldn't hurt to have it as a long term vision for the line, something we might eventually get around to if demand and funding ever makes it realistic. Until such a theoretical time it would exist as something to plan around so that any projects in the SW, like the various BRT proposals, take into account the possibility of future transfers and are built accordingly.
Thinking about this in more detail, I suppose I would be fine with spur lines and interlining so long as a few factors are met. First, spurs should be built so that in the future they can easily be converted to independent lines that continue on. Second, the lines that are built should be done to C-Train standard. In the case of 17 Ave that pretty much means elevating it to just past 52 St. I think it is well worth it to spend 100-200 million to overbuild it instead of facing the prospect of spending much more at a later date to rip it out and rebuild it. I'm thinking that the tracks connecting the various lines would actually be useful in either case by allowing rolling stock to move between them. That way, even if each line has its own storage yard we could still get by with a single major repair facility for the who system.
As you (at least I think it was you) suggested that the SE LRT be built with a junction in place for an eventual 17 Ave spur, presumably somewhere between Inglewood and Crossroads Station, the 17 Ave spur should be built with a junction in place ready to take the line west to Crossroads and Erlton. In that case Crossroads Station would also need to be built in such a way that a second platform could be added with minimal disruption.
The other places where we could start new lines by initially building portions as spurs would be to the Airport and to MRU. A spur from the NC LRT could serve the HSR station and Airport before it eventually becomes an independent line between the NC LRT and the NE LRT with possible extensions east and west. A spur from the W LRT could take the 37 St ROW down to MRU and later be extended, as an independent line, north to the UofC and Brentwood and south to Rockyview and the SLRT.
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